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New move for
Stanley Street Quarter
A new company is set to be
formed to take forward the development of Liverpool's 'Gay
Quarter'. The City Council's cabinet is being asked to
endorse a proposal that a community interest company be established
for the Stanley Street Quarter.
Since 2011 the quarter has been recognised as a distinctive part of
the City centre with a considerable economic potential. A steering
group, supported by the Council, was set up to deliver a programme
establishing Stanley Street as the City's 'Gay Quarter'
and a
distinctive destination locally, nationally and internationally.
A community interest company will give stakeholders in the area a
greater involvement in the quarter's future direction and enable
more opportunities and flexibility to generate income from grant
funding and other sources that would not be possible as part of the
Council.
"The Stanley Street Quarter has been a success story.
It is a vibrant area which not only
has a great night time economy but also has a number of highly
successful independent traders.
But the vision for the Quarter needs to be driven forward and it
should be the local stakeholders who are directly involved in their
area who need to be at the forefront of that vision. Community
interest companies are operating successfully in other areas such as
Ropewalks and the Baltic Triangle and this is the best way forward
for Staley Street." said Councillor Nick Small, cabinet member for employment,
enterprise and skills.
The proposal will be considered by the cabinet on 6 December 2013.
If endorsed, it is anticipated that the community interest company
will be registered in time for the new year. The Council will
continue to support the CIC after its founding to help ensure the
initiative's success.
Andi Herring, the Project Officer for the Stanley Street Quarter,
said:- "Being able to stand on our own two feet as one of the
City's CICs is a natural next step for the area. The support and
investment since the original recognition, as well as the huge
potential for funding opportunities, means that the Quarter is in an
ideal place to be transformed into a destination that the City and
the LGBT community deserves.
The community is certainly behind it and we have made sure that is
built into how the CIC will work. Members of the community, local
stakeholders and residents all have spaces reserved on the board as
well as an open and transparent communications strategy.
We don't want to create a space and expect people to come, we want
the community to shape the space and make it one that everyone can
enjoy."
The Liverpool City Region is home to over 94,000 LGBT people, the
same figure as San Francisco; one of the world's best known LGBT
destinations, in addition to the thousands who travel to the City
every day for work or as tourists.
The new CIC intends to launch its website and a huge public
consultation for the New Year which will let members of the
community shape the area's direction and get more involved. |
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EU demands more
miles to the gallon
LIBERAL Democrat environment spokesman Chris Davies MEP has
welcomed the news that the EU has agreed a deal to increase the fuel
efficiency of cars and cut carbon emissions.
Davies was a key part of the team that negotiated the hard hitting
new regulations.
Representatives of EU governments meeting in Brussels on Friday,
29 November 2013, had agreed to a deal that will see the new target
of 95g of carbon dioxide emitted per kilometre travelled phased in
over 1 year in 2020. The original proposal would have required all
cars to comply on 1 January 2020; but now some firms can market less efficient
cars up until the first day of 2021.
In addition car companies will be given 'supercredits' for selling
electric or very high fuel efficiency vehicles. This will allow them
to put some gas guzzling motors on the market.
Davies has worked on the legislation and welcomed the deal as good
news for commuters and the UK car industry.
He said:- "The Germans were trying to protect their domestic
industry that produces gas guzzlers that not only pollute the
atmosphere but also drive up the cost of petrol for everyone.
I'm not happy the Parliament has had to make any concessions at all
but with David Cameron siding with Angela Merkel instead of his own
domestic car manufacturers our hands were tied.
Britain's drivers could have been better off it were not for
Cameron's interference but now we have had to weaken a good deal
solely for German manufacturers like BMW and Daimler.
The UK is a net exporter of cars to EU markets and British
engineering knowhow and manufacturing quality means that our
industry was always able to hit the new targets.
More efficient cars not only reduce global warming they also
increase the number of miles the car can travel on a tank of fuel;
cutting down on the costs of motoring for hard pressed families.
This deal will help to protect British jobs and shows how our
influence over EU laws has helped the UK to build a stronger economy
built on manufacturing."
UKIP parental leave views are
'simple sexism'
A North West England
Liberal Democrat Euro-MP has launched a blistering attack on
UKIP for their sexist approach to Nick Clegg's proposals to update
the system of parental leave. Currently fathers have less right to
parental leave than mothers and under Clegg's proposals, both
parents would have the right to share parental leave. UKIP MEP Paul
Nuttall has claimed that "men and women are inherently different"
and that:- "caring for babies comes much more instinctively to
women" in condemning the new proposals. Davies said:-
"Nuttall likes to make a big thing of his 'man in in a pub' persona
but he seems to be forgetting that The Pub Landlord is a comedy
character not a role model. Nick Clegg's proposals will let women
and men decide for themselves how to divide up parental leave.
Individual parents know what is best for their own situation and
Nuttall's comments are straight out of the Victorian era. Given his
comments on breast feeding he clearly doesn't know anything about
inventions such as the breast pump or the fridge either. Since
Godfrey Bloom left the party there seems to have been a vacancy for
blatant sexism at the top of UKIP. Clearly Paul Nuttall is filling
it with glee."
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