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Southport Co-Op and the Royal
British Legion Commemorate WW1 Christmas Pudding Donation
THE Co-operative's food store in Southport has
donated over 300 Christmas puddings to the nearby Royal British
Legion Care Home in a move designed to mark the support given 100
years ago to troops serving in World War One.
In 1914, in order to give soldiers fighting in France some seasonal
home comforts, The Co-operative sent hundreds of puddings from its
factory at Middleton, near Manchester, to the front line.
This year, around 2,000 of the festive desserts are going to The
Royal British Legion's Care Homes and Break Centres around the UK,
with The Co-operative's food store in St James Place, Southport,
arranging for a supply of the puddings to be served as part of the
festive fayre planned for veterans and their families at Byng House,
Southport.
Ian Hall, Operations Manager for The Co-operative Food in the
Southport area, said:- "To donate the Christmas puddings to
the troops was a magnificent gesture and one that The Co-operative
Food wanted to commemorate in communities across the UK this
Christmas; as a community retailer I am pleased to have been able
to support our local Royal British Legion care home, and I am sure
that the veterans at Byng House will enjoy the festive fayre."
10 point plan to tackle empty
properties in Liverpool
A further 2,000 empty properties blighting
communities across Liverpool are set to be brought back into use.
The Cabinet is being asked to approve a £5 million 10 point plan, to
tackle 'voids' across the City using a range of new initiatives
which includes expanding the Homes for a Pound scheme and taking
more assertive action to acquire rundown properties from owners.
The proposals include:-
► Establishing an empty homes task force which will draw in expertise
from the public and private sector, community organisations, social
enterprises and housing associations.
► Additional funds for acquiring and compulsorily purchasing
properties and a voluntary acquisition scheme which will see homes
sold on the open market following improvement, or leased to housing
associations.
► An expansion of the Healthy Homes vacants scheme which tackles
poorly maintained properties and then bills the owners for the work.
► The launch of 'Homes for a
Pound Plus'; a variation on the Homes
for a Pound schemes, but where the Council will make properties
structurally sound with owners required to carry out internal
refurbishments.
► The creation of a 'loan and
repair'
scheme to help owners make
properties habitable.
► The introduction of an
'Interested Developer' list for small
investors, local builders and accredited landlords who are
interested in acquiring and refurbishing empty properties in the
City. They will be connected with owners looking to dispose of
properties.
Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson said:- "Empty homes are a
blight on our communities and are a huge deterrent to people wanting
to live in an area. We have made great progress in the last two
years in bringing back 1,300 properties back into use across the
City, but we are not complacent and know there is much more to do if
we are to tackle this issue even further. We want to send out
a strong message to the owners of empty properties that it is simply
not acceptable to allow their homes to be a magnet for fly tipping,
anti social behaviour and general blight. They owe it to the City
and their neighbours to keep their homes in good condition, and if
they don't then we will take enforcement against them."
Assistant Mayor and Cabinet Member for housing, Councillor Ann
O'Byrne, said:- "This commitment is in addition to the 1,000
homes we have already said we will bring back into use through our
new strategic housing partnership with Redrow and Liverpool Mutual
Homes. It takes to over 4,000 the number of empty properties we have
either tackled or plan to bring back into use. Driving up the
quality, standard and range of properties in the City is a priority,
and this is just part of a much bigger picture such as the building
of new homes and the introduction of landlord licensing to improve
life for private sector tenants."
The £5 million allocated for the scheme is coming from the Council's
Capital programme and will be further enhanced by private
investment, the recycling of funds through loan repayments, sales
revenue, income from leases and charging owners for work carried out
in default.
The report will be considered by the Cabinet on Friday, 19 December
2014. |
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New cancer
centre for Merseyside & Cheshire moves a step closer
PLANS to develop a
world class specialist cancer hospital and research centre in the
heart of Liverpool have been given resounding approval from
patients, the public and local authorities in the region.
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust wants to
develop a new hospital providing expert care and carrying out
ground-breaking research and clinical trials on the same site as the
Royal Liverpool University Hospital and the University of Liverpool.
Services would also continue at its current sites in Wirral and
Aintree and its chemotherapy and outpatient clinics in hospitals
across the region. The Wirral site could continue to care for round
90 per cent of patients who live nearby, although inpatient beds and
the most complex care would move from to Liverpool where there would
be on-site access to intensive care and other key specialties.
Now the results of the Transforming Cancer Care public consultation
on the proposals, which ran from July to October, have been
independently analysed by experts at Liverpool John Moores
University.
In total, 91% of people supported the vision for expanding and
improving cancer care and 88.5% said the proposals for the new
hospital would achieve it.
Even in areas where some people would have further to travel if
inpatient beds and the most complex care moved to Liverpool, there
was strong support. In Wirral, 78% of people supported the vision
and 71% said the proposals would achieve it. In Cheshire West and
Chester, 82% supported the vision and 74% said the proposals would
achieve it.
Proposals for the new hospital have also received unanimous approval
from the Joint Health Scrutiny Committee for Cheshire and
Merseyside, which was established by the region's local authorities
to consider whether the new hospital was in the best interests of
people's health.
Two Councillors from each of the eight local authorities involved –
Cheshire West and Chester, Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St
Helen's, Warrington and Wirral*; heard evidence from a range of
witnesses at a series of meetings in public in November and
December. At its final meeting on 4 December 2014, the committee voted
unanimously in favour of a motion to support the proposals for
Transforming Cancer Care.
Andrew Cannell, Chief Executive of The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre,
said:- "We passionately believe this £118m investment will
significantly expand and improve cancer care in Merseyside and
Cheshire with an additional radiotherapy site, a more central
location with on-site specialties including intensive care, and
enhanced research capability through closer working with the
university. Needless to say, we're thrilled that patients, the
public and the local authorities have given their resounding
endorsement for us to develop an outline business case for the new
hospital in Liverpool and the associated redesign and improvement of
our Wirral site."
Councillor Richard McLinden, Chairman of the Joint Health Scrutiny
Committee for Cheshire and Merseyside, said:- "This has been a
very thorough scrutiny which has look at all the issues connected
with this scheme and afforded people both the opportunity and time
to give their views. As Chair I am delighted at the Committee's
unanimous endorsement of proposals that will provide state of the
art facilities for both treatment and research at the new Liverpool
site, as well as improvements to the current Wirral site."
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre will now develop an outline business
case, which it expects will be approved in summer 2015. A full
business case will follow a year later, enabling building work to
start in 2016. The new hospital in Liverpool would open in autumn
2018 and work to remodel and upgrade the Wirral site would be
complete in 2019.
For more information about the Transforming Cancer Care proposals,
visit:-
transformingcancercaremc.nhs.uk.
The full consultation analysis from Liverpool John Moores University
can be viewed or
downloaded.
The appendices are online at:-
transformingcancercaremc.nhs.uk.
* Cheshire East
Council opted not to be part of the committee as only
a small number of its residents are treated at The Clatterbridge
Cancer Centre. |
