Metro Mayor and local leaders call for:- "discharge free" Mersey by 2030

STEVE Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, has announced plans to ensure a discharge free River Mersey by the end of the decade. Speaking following the COP26 conference in Glasgow, Mayor Rotheram said:- "We have made enormous strides since the 1980s when Lord Heseltine rightly described the state of the River Mersey as 'an affront to the standards a civilised society should demand of its environment. The river today is an environmental success story but, as recent public anger over the discharge of untreated sewage into our rivers and seas shows, we cannot be complacent and must do all that we can to ensure we care for our great river. To that end, I want to use the powers enshrined in our devolution deal to eliminate discharges of untreated waste into the River Mersey by the end of the decade."

To start the campaign, Mayor Rotheram will advise businesses and organisations that currently discharge waste into the River Mersey of the plans, inform them of progress made to date, and explain the importance of eliminating untreated discharges by 2030. The Metro Mayor will also advise businesses of his intention to ensure the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority does not invest in projects that do not act to prevent untreated sewage discharging into the rivers.

The Liverpool City Region's original devolution deal, signed with central Government in 2015, recognises that:- "The River Mersey has undergone the greatest clean up of any river in Europe over the last 30 years. Through the commitment of local stakeholders, the transformation in environmental performance has been internationally recognised and this means the river is once again a great asset for tourism and trade."

The devolution agreement commits the Liverpool City Region to:- "commit to the cleanest river standard by 2030 and commit to a discharge free Mersey by 2040."

The Metro Mayor's announcement will bring that commitment forward by a decade. The plan is backed by Lord Heseltine who, as Environment Minister in the 1980s, was a driving force behind establishing the Mersey Basin Campaign Partnership, which was instrumental in bringing together public and private sector organisations to carry out the original clean up.

Lord Heseltine said:- "In 1981 I looked out of my hotel window 1 night.  There was this mighty river which had played so critical a role in our history, and we had turned it into an open sewer. I had a vision. Let us restore its quality and environment. Let us bring back life and pride. The clean the Mersey campaign was born and much progress followed. After 25 years the momentum faltered. Today's announcement is that vision reborn. I congratulate Steve Rotheram and all who played a part in this decision. I believe that we should see this as a world class initiative.  Clean water is going to be 1 of the great challenges of the decades ahead the Liverpool City Region can put itself at the front of the race to show people across the world how it can be done."

Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, said:- "The Mersey is an iconic river, central to the history of the North West and the UK. The health of the river is inextricably linked to the health of our communities, and so we must find more modern solutions for the management of sewage rather than rely on this archaic method. It is essential we do everything we can to protect and manage our rivers and water resources to ensure they enhance the area and benefit our residents and local wildlife and ending untreated waste discharges by the end of the decade is a vital step in the right direction."

Survey reveals that School not Covid is a major cause of children's mental health issues in 2021

PARENTKIND have released its:- 'Parent Voice Report 2021' that provides new detailed evidence of parents' views on their child's mental health, Schooling and education. The seventh wave of the charity's annual parent survey results are broken down into a wider range of demographics. Findings offer a snapshot of parental opinion across diverse communities.

Parents' concerns about children's mental health had reduced during Lockdown and School closures, but have returned to pre-Pandemic levels. There a significant rise in parents reporting the incidence of mental health and wellbeing issues in 2021.

Parents are concerned about a range of mental health and wellbeing related issues.  The top 5 concerns for parents are: Exam stress (55%) Anxiety (54%) Homework related stress (49%) Bullying (49%) The pressure to constantly engage with social media (48%).

Over 30% of parents expressed more serious concerns about their children's mental health linked to; self harm, sexual harassment, substance abuse and eating disorders.

The importance of child mental health has become more widely accepted than ever before, as the myriad impacts of the Pandemic and public healthcare measures have continued to take a toll on children and young people. When it comes to their child's experience at School, many parents continue to be concerned about a range of mental health and wellbeing-related issues.

In addition to greater experience of homework and exam stress, parents of children 11 to 18 years old significantly are more likely to report experience of anxiety, pressure to engage with social media, depression, and online abuse. This highlights the additional weight of responsibility on Schools at Secondary level and beyond to support young people's mental health at the stage they become most vulnerable to social, emotional and academic pressures.

Even at Primary School level, 30% parents say their child has experienced homework stress and 32% have experienced anxiety issues, while 29% say their child has been bullied. It also discovered that 13% Primary parents within the report sais that their child has experienced depression. It went on to find that 14% suffered from social media pressure and 13% from online abuse.

Separately, we find that 60% of parents agree that bullying is dealt with fairly at their child's School. This suggests the majority of parents support Schools' response to the problem but bullying remains a widespread area of concern.

Mental health support and knowledge within Schools is hugely important to parents and their priorities for this are to see mental health support workers embedded to provide timely support and professional, age appropriate counselling services.

As many as 88% of parents deem mental health development an important focus within the curriculum. When it comes to where parents would want to see any additional education funding directed, child mental health services rose to 2nd place priority in 2021 just behind learning resources. This year's research shows that mental health and wellbeing have moved to the top of parent priorities for their child's education and Schooling.

Parentkind CEO John Jolly says:- "Our Parent Voice Report 2021 shows that mental health and wellbeing is a major priority for nearly 90% of parents. Mental health is seen by parents as a hugely important area for Schools and the curriculum to focus on. Parents want to see mental health support workers embedded in Schools to provide timely support and professional, age appropriate counselling services. The recent announcement by Government of money for this is welcome but a drop in the ocean compared to the need. The importance of child mental health has become more widely accepted than ever before, as the myriad impacts of the Pandemic and public healthcare measures have continued to take a toll on children and young people. Sadly, School itself appears a major contributor to children's poor mental health and there is an urgent need to address this."