Published 24th April 2023. Originally written and submitted about two years ago.

This proposal to transfer the responsibility for the control of weeds on pavements and back streets in Morecambe is put forward on the grounds that Lancashire County Council (LCC) are only making a minimal effort to provide a weeding service

The majority of Morecambe residents receive no weeding service at all. They do pay Lancashire County Council for this service and they should receive it.

If responsibility for weeding pavements and back streets is transferred to Morecambe Town Council (MTC) the residents will receive a far superior service.

MTC employees are already doing the work. They are cleaning and weeding back streets that have been neglected for years by LCC. They are also weeding the built environment in all areas of the town where the neglect is worst.

If MTC has control of this work, MTC will decide who does and does not receive a weeding service, not LCC. Decisions made locally are much superior.

To put what LCC does into proportion, LCC admit that they only spend around 172 hours weeding in Morecambe in a year. The two MTC operatives do this number of hours in three weeks.

Lancashire County Council were approached under an FOI request to provide information as to the amount of the budget for weeding in Morecambe. They provided the following statement:

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Further to your request for information, made under the provisions of the above Act, please see below our response.

1. It is difficult to break this down into the specific costs as we don’t necessarily quantify or record such specifics of hours and costs in the categories requested. But the below is, not necessarily 100% accurate but not far off;

• Total for carrying out the weed treatment incorporating all costs including vehicles/ equipment/ product and person hours etc.
• Total Cost £10,587.26 
  Total Person Hours 172hrs 

We don’t quantify administration time or cost in such detail relating specifically spent on the many different aspects of highways maintenance activities we undertake.

1. Not Applicable
   1. This information is only in relation to this financial year as would be unable to quantify the previous year accurately after the City Council no longer undertook the function.

Last summer when the elections were taking place intense pressure was brought to bear on LCC to do something about the pavement weeds in the West End. They eventually turned up when it was raining and commenced operations. To use these chemicals in wet weather is very bad for the environment and it is ineffective.

MTC would only do chemical weed control when the sun was shining.

How much would it cost?

There are around 540 streets in Morecambe.

https://geographic.org/streetview/england/north_west_england/lancashire/lancaster/morecambe.html

The streets vary in size and we have presumed the average length to be about 150m. The weed growth needing attention will be variable.

If we presume that an operative can spray a street in an average of two hours and that all streets will be sprayed, this comes to a total of 1080 hours.

The spraying will be done selectively so that the streets most in need get attention. Many streets will need little or no attention.

It is essential that the spraying only be done in bright sunshine. The total number of hours of sunshine in April, May, June, July and August (153 days) is around 946 hours.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/uk-climate-averages/gctgxjs8q

This is an average of 6.18 hours per day but many of these hours of sunshine will be outside working hours.

It is hard to know correctly, but could we say there might be 40 days when we get a full sunny day and that six of those hours can be worked? If we presume this, then that is 240 working hours. If we have three operatives that is 720 hours.

If we say that half of the streets need to be sprayed, at two hours per street that works out to 540 hours.

If the job needs more hours, we have the operatives on hand anyway so our costs will not change. We will be employing the operatives whether or not they are spraying weeds.

An advantage of taking this work on is that LCC should, hopefully, pay MTC £10,587.26p annually and it will cost us around £2000 in the first year for weed killer, PPE, tools and training; falling to half of this in following years because the tools will last multiple years. We are employing the operatives anyway so MTC will be around £8000 to the good every year, if LCC continues to fund the work. Spraying will massively reduce the amount of hand tool weeding that is required so we will see a big increase in the productivity of our operatives. Morecambe will change into a much more attractive town. A town that will have more visitors, a town where more people want to live, and a town with a buoyant property market.

There is so much upside to this that it is not a case of being able to afford to do it, but rather how could we afford not to do it?

What might the effects be?

It is hard to find accurate data but suppose one fifth of the streets in Morecambe are of terraced houses with back streets. One fifth of 540 is 108 streets. Suppose every street has an average of fifty houses and a clean back street increases terraced property prices by £4000. If this is correct, then the total price increase of just the terraced houses amounts to £21.6 million. A rising tide lifts all boats, so this increase will ripple out to other classes of property across the town. Some might say this is fantasy, but we do know that a clean back street affects the price of the houses there. The question is, by how much?

A clean town attracts more visitors. More visitors means more successful businesses, which in turn means more employment and higher wages. We can’t know the full economic value of a clean town but we do know it is positive.

Things to consider.

The legal position.

Lancaster City Council are our parent authority and they have refused to use weed killer. When members of MTC complained loudly to Lancashire CC about the weeds last year Lancashire turned up and sprayed weed killer (in the rain) despite Lancaster City Councils resolution not to use it. The basic questions are: Can Lancaster City Council forbid what we intend to do? If we do take on weeding, are we acting as the paid agents of Lancashire CC with a SLA or will we bear the ultimate responsibility for weeding and be the legal weeding authority, accountable only to the voters? If the former, it would seem sensible for Lancashire CC to have a SLA with us, just in case we failed to provide a good service. From a financial perspective it would be advantageous to have commitment from Lancashire CC that guarantees the funding for a large number of years. There would be a lot of money at stake with a multi-year agreement so we would need a lawyer who is not employed by either Lancaster CC or Lancashire CC to write up the agreement.

It might be better to have a SLA with the County for another reason. It might protect us from interference from Lancaster, our parent authority.

29th May 2022.

Morecambe Liberal Democrats have made over 700 reports in the past eighteen months and most concern the illegal dumping of waste in the back streets of Morecambe. Lancaster City Council has responded well to our campaign and has always tried hard, but their resources are limited. Recently they must have been working harder than ever because there is much less to report.

We do a regular tour of about 200 streets and back streets to report the dumping of illegal waste and this past couple of weeks there has been a very big improvement.The public doesn’t hesitate to complain about their local council so it’s only right that Lancaster City Council should get credit when it’s due.

I am absolutely delighted to be able to say this. Well done to all involved.

I wish I could be as positive about Lancashire County Council.

Let’s get one thing clear. Lancashire County Council staff are as good as any other group of people and just as capable of good work. The staff at Lancashire CC have to ride through the same potholes as we do and they are just as let down by their County Council as we are. It is not their fault that we are waist high in weeds, or that the street drains are blocked, or that we have a huge deficit of worn out road markings, or that the potholes from last winter are still unrepaired with only three weeks to go to mid-summer day.

The common factor in this sad tale of neglect is the Tory government and the Tory admin at Lancashire County Council. The true morals and principles of the Tory Party have been exposed by their support of the great dissimulator, Johnson. Where else, apart from the Tory Party, could you find a group of people who are prepared to countenance being led by such a person? The fish rots from the head down and the Tories smell as if they are in an advanced state of decomposition.

But at least we are going back to pounds and ounces. That must be the reason for the neglect; the Tories in charge at Lancashire CC are probably gleefully concentrating on the re-introduction of pounds and ounces! That’s the Tory idea of progress. To re-create the glory of the British Empire when men were men and women were grateful. When pounds and ounces dominated the world.

It’s not even April 1st. It’s not a joke. This is what they (and we) have been dragged down to.

13th December 2021

A group of us went down to help in the North Shropshire election last week. In the morning we were leafletting and after lunch we helped with the direct mail to the voters. The atmospheric buzz at the Wem H.Q is infectious and it has spread out into the streets.  In late afternoon a group of us went out canvassing with Ed Davey.  We were briefed on the issues that matter to the voters there and we set out. I received a pleasant surprise at the first door I knocked on when a big gruff man opened it. Almost before I could speak he had clocked my yellow scarf and he said “For the first time in my life I will be voting Liberal Democrat.” I said to him, “Really I should stop talking and be content with that, but just so I know precisely, could you tell me why?

“Yes, I can” he said. And he went on to define the Tory’s problem in a few words. “Because Johnson is a lying bull shitter.”

I thanked him, wished him a good day, and headed for the next front door.

It wasn’t long before I discovered that a very large number of voters in North Shropshire shared his opinion.

Once you start knocking on doors you soon get a feeling about which way an election is leaning and this one feels very good indeed.

9th October 2021.

Today I did my rounds of the alleys that we have cleaned in the last year looking for any fly tipping there might be but there was not a lot to find.  There is plenty of litter and weeds but the fly tips of large items are much fewer.

This is great progress on a year ago and it has been driven by the four hundred plus fly tipping reports Morecambe Liberal Democrats have made.

This year we must prioritise weeding and litter clearance in these same back streets.  If we can do this the transformation of the town will have moved massively in the right direction.

A transformation on this scale will increase property prices and prosperity.

So how do you fit in to this?

Morecambe Liberal Democrats are being rewarded at the ballot box for their work.  We have won three elections in the recent past with high hopes for the elections coming up in the next year.  As we succeed the work increases.  This means that we need helpers and new members.  We need people to join a team that is making a huge difference locally.  We need people to deliver leaflets and people who will stand as councillors. We need members who will come to meetings to give us the benefit of their point of view.  

If you are here reading this it is probable that you have some sympathy with our work and we would like you to join us.

You can call me on 07961 738 325 or Email: hartp1777@gmail.com.

If you would like to join our party here is the link: https://libdems.secure.force.com/LiberalDemocrats/SupporterJoining

Please come and join the team that is actually doing the work and really making a difference.

8th October 2021.

The political messages and methods employed to attract government subsidy and private investment are often contradictory. 

If we want government subsidy it is important to convince the Treasury that our town is more miserable, deprived and dispirited than the next most deserving place. 

If we want private investment, the important thing is to give investors the impression that they are becoming involved with a dynamic, go-ahead town, full of people with the will and the ability to succeed as they add value to whatever they come into contact with. The ability to add value is fundamental to success whatever the source of incoming cash, but how do we show outsiders that we can do this?   

The answer is standing there before us in plain sight, we are doing it already, we have made big progress in the past year, and the process is gathering pace with Morecambe Town Council leading from the front. 

What is it?  One word answer: Cleaning. 

If you compare the state of Morecambe with how it was a year ago (we have the photographs) it has improved.  After several groups and individuals started vigilante cleaning and Morecambe Town Council decided to hire people to do even more of this work, Lancaster City Council have become sufficiently motivated to show that they are still relevant.  They have finally pitched up with significant amounts of labour and machinery to give the town the service that it deserves.  (I know that there is more to do). 

I have reported nearly 400 environmental problems (mainly fly tips) in the last eleven months. Other cleaning vigilantes have also been reporting much more.  It has been a collective effort, born out of anger and frustration, and this brought progress. 

Go around the back streets now and there is very little fly-tipping in comparison to the way it was.   

In the past year we have moved some way to achieving what we need to achieve.  I believe that the efforts being made by local people and Morecambe Town Council has motivated Lancaster City Council to greater efforts to improve Morecambe. Things are going well even if there is a long way to go. 

The big problem now is weeds in back streets and in the next year there is a chance to change this as well. 

When we do all this work the town becomes more attractive to outside investors.  Who are these outside investors?  Apart from big businesses, they are the people who come to live here. In the inverse of the way we attract subsidies, these people come because they would rather live here than the next best place.  

They are all bringing their £150,000 to buy a house and/or bringing skills that will increase our prosperity. 

If we carry on improving the town through our own efforts, we will have more trouble attracting government subsidies.  But who wants to live in a town that looks like it needs subsidies anyway? 

7th April 2021.

After many months of persistently reporting potholes in Morecambe Central we have some good news for some of our streets.

Brunswick Road from Sefton to Alexandra, the full length of Battismore Road, and Clarendon Road East from Regent Road to West End Road are all going to be completely resurfaced. 

Hard to take is the omission of Dallam Avenue, Thirlmere Drive, Carleton Street, Arnside Crescent and other streets full of decent taxpayers that have road surfaces as bad or worse than the chosen ones.

It is all the more galling when it is remembered not one road in Morecambe Central was included in the previous re-surfacing list announced on the 11^th March.

We really need to send someone new to County Hall to represent us.

Our road repairs are still hugely underfunded.  If we want to fix the roads we have to fix our County Council first, and the only way to do this is to change your representatives at County Hall.

A Tory vote is a vote for bad roads, no weeding, blocked drains and being lumped in with Blackpool.  Morecambe Central has had a Labour County Councillor for years and look at the neglect here.

The Liberal Democrats have made a fantastic transformation in Morecambe Central before their Councillor has even been elected.  Just think what they could do if they actually had a budget!

Vote Paul Hart on 6^th May and demand better.

11th March 2021.

My friend, Councillor Jim Pilling, has had a good few weeks. Whilst we have been battling to clean and re-claim the back streets, Jim has been battling on the Western Front, that is, the old Frontierland site on the Promenade. We have all had enough of Morrisons holding the town to ransom by trying to maximise their gains (or minimise their losses) on this site. There is the dreadful looking fence that is always either falling down or needing painting. The constant pedalling (until recent years) of redevelopment fairy tales designed to gull the public into thinking that something is actually going to be done with the site; and now year after year, the silence, stasis and desolation that comes from a greedy company determined, no matter what, to extract maximum profit from the town.

Jim Pilling, like the rest of us, has had enough of this behaviour and he has brought pressure on Morrisons to improve the way the site looks. They have responded by repairing and repainting the fence, at long last. The next stage is to cover the eyesore with works of art by local artists. Morrisons have demanded sight of the artworks before they are installed, but it may be that this project is taking on a life its own because in amongst the 60 participating local artists, some are taking the law into their own hands and installing their art work unilaterally, in effect challenging Morrisons to remove it themselves if they don’t like it. Such is the artists’ enthusiasm for the project, and such is the anger of local people with Morrisons, they feel well justified in pressing on regardless of Morrisons’ wishes.

With the obvious exception of the East Side Gallery in Berlin at 1.3 km, it looks like the result is going to be one of the longest walls of artworks in Europe. It could become a huge tourist attraction in itself.

Have a walk past during your daily constitutional exercise and see the transformation emerging as the weeks go by.

Jim, this is local activism at its best. We are lucky to have you.

But these belated good works should not in any way get Morrisons off the hook for the disrespect they have shown to us all as they struggle to recoup their perhaps unwise investment in the site. The prevarication has got to stop because the uncertainty caused by lack of action is damaging the town and holding us all back. After twenty years it really is about time Morrisons took their medicine and put this site up for auction. If Morrisons do not take concrete steps to bring this saga to a swift close I think a boycott should not be ruled out. There are plenty of other supermarkets to do our shopping in. There’s one next door in fact.

8th March 2021.

This election is being stood on its head.  Normally, the councillors that have held power coming up to the election try to tell the people how well they have done; how things have improved under their care.

The opposition, who are hoping to be elected, normally go on about how bad things are and how things have gone to pot.

Well this time it is all different. We Liberal Democrats are crowing on about the two miles of back streets we have deep cleansed, most of which is staying clean because the residents are now fighting for them to stay clean. We are broadcasting how much the town has improved in the last half year.  We are saying it looks great. And it does. Words like miracle, game-changing, and tranformative are being bandied about.

But the Labour Party, who have been in charge here for years, are stalking the town, hunting down the worst fly tipping obscenities they can find, and then posting them on Facebook to show how bad things are! They have a Facebook group especially for this!

They are pointing up, wherever they can find evidence, how ineffective their tenure has been.  They have been in power for years and at the end of it all they are telling us how badly they have managed things and how ineffective they are.

Why are they behaving so crazily?  Because the evidence of improvement is everywhere, but they are not responsible for it.   They are obviously mad about this, but how mad are they?  Well they are mad enough to be going into an election telling people that things are awful in the hope of discrediting an opposition who have wrought a stunning improvement with volunteers and no budget!

The Liberal Democrat opposition are broadcasting to the World on Facebook how much the town is improving and how clean it is. While we are doing this, the Labour Party are broadcasting to the World on Facebook, fly tip porn of the grossest sort. This just isn’t right and they should stop doing it. Are they trying to keep visitors away from Morecambe?

This is sad desperation of a rare and confused kind. It’s good that they shoot themselves in the foot, nothing new there, but Morecambe shouldn’t be collateral damage.

If this is what Labour have come down to it really is time for Morecambe to say goodbye to them.   

28th February 2021

In the early twentieth century it was often said that the nation that could make the most steel would win any war.  In Europe’s war rooms there were sometimes references to Blood and Iron.

The Council looks upon fly tipping as a war and those who fly tip are the enemy.  Talk to the hard-working council employees who do the clearing and you will find some who make an act out of not caring what is thrown at them and others who are profoundly depressed at cleaning up only to find the place fly-tipped again the next day.   These poor souls don’t quite realise that “the enemy” has enough ready ammunition to inundate the town if they all brought out what is stored in their yards.   If fly tipping firepower will win this war, the Council is as beaten as the Americans in Vietnam.  There is enough fly tipping ammo stored in the yards of Central Morecambe to change the world.

This vast amount of held-back rubbish that residents cannot afford to have taken away is making a social problem of gargantuan proportions. The mould covered rubbish is stored in the only bit of space that the children can play in.  It sits there glowering back when the depressed resident looks out of the kitchen window.  It is causing a mental health crisis, a public health crisis and a reduction in all property prices.

We all hate fly tippers don’t we? Some people call them scum, reptiles and other choice epithets.  Try thinking of it another way.

Perhaps when someone fly-tips into a neglected, weed and dog-muck infested back street with blocked drains, it is a protest against abandonment.  Perhaps it is a cry of anguish from a person who is probably hard-working but profoundly depressed by their domestic circumstances.

Why not think of fly tipping as a protest against crushing inequality?  Similar to the protests against the poll tax. 

If you are rich and have a five door car, and maybe a trailer for it, you can take your old furniture and fridge to the tip, get rid of it for free, and then go home to live nicely.  If you are poor and car-less you have to pay £40 or live in squalor. That is unfair and no wonder people fly tip in protest.

What do we do now?  There has to be an amnesty to alleviate the social problems being caused by rubbish stored on domestic premises.  It is reducing whole areas to slums, blighting the lives of children, and causing mental health problems for large numbers of people.

The problem is not the people. It’s the policies that have caused an un-winnable war.  They have to change.

19th February 2021

The election campaign has taken a very ugly turn.

Margaret Pattison, the sitting County Councillor for Morecambe Central is posting lies on her Facebook page. She has posted an incorrect statement about who has been doing back street deep cleans.  The original poster has acknowledged the mistake and taken down the post.  Margaret Pattison has been informed by more than one person that the post is untrue.  She is repeatedly removing these corrective posts and leaving the lie for all to read.  We do not have to stoop to lying.   We have the truth about the last four years straight from her own pen.   

The following post has appeared yesterday on Margaret Pattison’s Facebook page.

“Potholes.

In Morecambe Central and Out Moss Lane.

Our streets have been neglected over the last 4 years.

The last 3 weeks I have reported 23 pothole, 2 lots of fly tipping and a tree taking over a pavement and 2 street lights out.

Every Saturday I will be taking your requests of potholes I can report on your streets.”

She says: In Morecambe Central and Out Moss Lane.

“Our streets have been neglected over the last 4 years.” 

That’s correct Margaret, but you have been our County Councillor for the past 4 years.  What have you been doing?

I wouldn’t have mentioned Out Moss Lane but seeing as it has been raised it has to be said that the back streets there have been in a deplorable condition for years.  We surveyed it and took photographs on the 4^th December 2020.  The neglect there is truly shocking.  No-one cares about these families.  We would really like to clean there but we have so much to do in Morecambe Central.

Our streets have been neglected the last 4 years?  Dead right they have!  Who is supposed to have been fighting our corner all that time Margaret?  You have!   As you rightly say, it is a 4 year record of neglect.   

Margaret, if you stop lying about us we will stop telling the truth about you.