Labour Party visits Santa as they fact find in Southport

SOUTHPORT retailers, residents and Labour campaigners have been discussing how to save local high streets as part of Small Business Saturday. Shadow Treasury Minister Peter Dowd MP and Labour's candidate for Southport, Liz Savage, were out and about as part of a Labour campaign to listen to local concerns, asking how it can help and explaining its plans to assist small business owners and troubled high streets.

Speaking to local retailers and residents at the opening of Santa's Grotto in Wayfarer Arcade, on Lord Street, Liz Savage heard that the Government's much trumpeted plan to reduce the business rates will actually leave most shops on the Town's premier retail destination completely untouched.

Liz Savage explained:- "High business rates is the number one problem Lord St retailers have complained to me about. Yet the government, which sets the rates in the 1st place, proposes a solution which leaves many of the retailers here in exactly the same boat as their premises are above the low ceiling the government has set for assistance. It's great the government is finally listening to our calls to look again at business rates but it doesn't go anywhere near the level of reform we want to see. To qualify businesses must have a rateable value below ₤51,000, so this won't really help Lord St and it's misleading of the local MP to claim it will."

The team also visited Birkdale Village to talk to local business owners to explain Labour's plans and listen to residents concerned about recent closures such as the RBS bank branch, which shut its doors for the last time, in November 2018.
To find out more visit:- SouthportLabour.Org.UK.

Our Santa Watch Webcam this Christmas

THIS year’s webcam will be online, on both YouTube and our own webpage from around 2pm, GMT, on Christmas Eve (Monday, 24 December 2018) until 8pm Christmas Day. Please check out Southport Reporter Twitter account for updates. This is a live webcam, but it is child friendly and will be, as usual, part of the Christmas Father Christmas Webcam networks. This is a time lapse from 2017 camera footage, so you can see what might happen this year... We are told that Santa will say:- "Hi," at some point like last year, but we cannot say when that will be... Please put this address into your browsers:- LiverpoolReporter.Com/WebCam/SantaCam in advance... This year's camera will be sponsored by Mind Games Southport, on Hill St, Southport. If you do not already know, Mind Games are Southport's only Independent and Locally Owned Jigsaw Puzzle Shop, but they also stock lots of interesting stocking fillers as well...

Santa Grotto at Wayfarers Shopping Arcade Southport

SANTA'S Grotto opened on 1 December 2018, at Wayfarers Shopping Arcade, and we got to see the bag man for ourselves. The money raised from Santa's Grotto will be going to charity, thanks to Southport Lions Club who are running it again this year. This is 1 of the many highlights that are taking place at the Arcade.

If you missed him over the 1st weekend, he is in the arcade on:-

► 8 December to 9 December 2018, from 11am to 4pm.

► 15 December to 16 December 2018, from 11am to 4pm.

► 22 December to 24 December 2018, from 11am to 2pm.

Other events at the Arcade will include live music. 1 of the live performances will be the Southport String Ensemble, a group of young string players, aged 4 to 18, directed and coached by Sarah Marks. They will be playing a selection of Christmas Music from 1:30pm to 3pm, on Saturday, 15 December 2018.

That's not forgetting a group of adult string players called:- 'Iridium' who will be performing on Sunday, 16 December, from 1:30pm to 3pm. Plus, do not miss the:- 'Julie Ann Carr Singers' who will fill the arcade with the festive sounds of Carols, from 1pm to 3pm, on Saturday, 22 December 2018

That's not forgetting live radio broadcasts, with Dave Turley, thanks to Sandgrounder Radio, from 10am, ever Saturday and Sunday, until Sunday, 23 December 2018.

More information can be found online at:- WayfarersArcade.Co.UK.

Shelter warns over 3,000 children in the North West will be homeless this Christmas

NEW analysis from Shelter has found a 175% increase; more than double; in the number of homeless children in the North West in the last 5 years. The charity warns the impact of the housing crisis will be felt across a generation as one in every 103 children in Britain is now homeless. The leading homelessness charity estimates that over 3,000 children in the North West will now wake up Christmas morning without a permanent home. An increase of 33% more than in 2017. Of these 316 will spend their Christmas in a Hostel or B'n'B, often with 1 family in a single room, sharing bathrooms and kitchens with other residents. The charity is calling on the public to support its urgent Christmas appeal; to give families the vital helpline advice and services they need in order to keep their homes over the festive period. New research found that 131,000 children in Britain are now homeless, the highest number in over a decade. The worst affected local authorities in the North West include Manchester, Salford and Trafford. In England, there are an average of 5 homeless children for every school in the country. Shelter has found that teachers who worked with homeless students reported that they saw the situation causing severe emotional trauma leading to emotional stress, anxiety and problematic behaviours. Teachers have reported homeless students facing a range of practical challenges from keeping track of possessions and uniform, to staying clean due to limited access to bathroom or laundry facilities. New report The Housing Crisis Generation examines the scale and impact of homelessness on children in Britain today. To support Shelter's urgent appeal please visit:- Shelter.Org.UK or text:- 'SHELTER' to:- 70020 to donate ₤3.

Greg Beales, director of campaigns at Shelter said:- "No child should be homeless. But for the generation growing up in the housing crisis, this is the grim reality for many. The number of children hidden away in Hostels and B'n'B's is enough to make anyone's heart sink. These are not places for children. We hear about cold, damp; even rats. Young children are sharing beds with multiple family members, trying to play in dirty public corridors, and having to leave their block in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. Over the last 5 years, hundreds of thousands of children have known what it's like to be homeless. The impact these young people cannot be overstated. It doesn't have to be this way. If we act now, we can change tomorrow to make sure every child has somewhere they can call home."