Forums Forums Street News The State of Wirral these days 2022?

So the Council Tax has gone up again, [when will it ever go down?]
And the first excuse we get is the Goverments fault! Really? No bad management?
Have you seen the state of the place, Seacombe [ or as i call it these days, S***hole] looks likes Bidston's tip second dropping off point!
We have weeds some as high as a metre tall gowning all of the place, i don't think there is a road or street [ unless you have a Councillor living there!] not over grown, in the last week or two the quad bike have been out spraying weed killler around, but they are three months too late, next year will be even worse as the seeds would have been blown all over!
Also what's with our grass verges no getting cut any more, well in the poor area's anyway, the ones in Heswel, West Kirby etc are all cut don't we have million pound contracts with ground maintenance firms? So why aren't they doing their job? The same can be said for the grids there is still 80% of these still blocked up around Wirral, and they say rain is on the way so that will be more flooded roads!

Personally, I'd prefer to see LESS mowing, not more. Your manicured lawn may look nice to the civic minded, but they are a desert as far as wildlike is concerned.

Of the two, I find wildlife far more interesting than tidy-minded civic guardians. I hope they do even less of this sort of destruction and poisoning.

Some of the "bad management" is the Council failing to meet Government mandates. The Government has continually reduced Council budgets whilst increasing mandatory functions, conditions and targets. Look at green belt, virtually every Council has had to put forward plans to build on green belt, not through choice but because of the rules the Government created. The Government then proudly tell you how bad the Councils are for allowing Green Belt to be built on.

Wirral desperately needs more industry and yet we are being forced to destroy industrial and commercial areas for housing. Being a housing supply for Liverpool won't work out well for Wirral soon Council's are going to be funded more through business rates than they are now.

The sneakiest part of this is the use of Government grants to Councils where the Government has 100% control over the funding, use and allocation. If the Council doesn't apply for grants then they are sidelined in future applications for grants, this forces them to do projects which might not be necessary. Around 40% of the Council's finance is specific grants from the Government.

The days of a Council setting its own budget and plans have well gone, now the budget setting is almost entirely what services they can cut just to meet Government requirements.

If you want the grass cutting or weeds poisoned more often .... which other service are you going to cut to obtain the funding? Which Government rules are you going to break in doing so?

It is the Council's policy not to mow or poison at certain times of the year and in certain areas as part of the desire to rekindle wildlife diversity and population. The UK has lost about 50% of its insect population in the last 50 years, that is a loss of pollinators for plants and loss of food-chain for many other creatures, the eco-systems have been gradually destroyed and nobody knows where the tipping points are.

Not forgetting that the funding is very heavily subsidised by volunteers performing a lot of actions and raising money, this disguises how short of money the Council is.

I'd rather they mowed less and fixed the drains! I've seen quite a few bunged up solid. For verges and grassy areas, they seem to be mowing the very narrow ones and in larger areas just mowing a 1m strip round the edge which seems like a good compromise solution to me. It's giving something back to wildlife, when we've taken so much away. I like watching the various grasses with their subtle colours waving in the breeze (apologies to hay fever sufferers!) Let's face it, the days of carpet-bedded roundabouts and manicured verges are gone. I used to enjoy the carpet bedding, but I think leaving more grass unmown is a step forward, not back, in the grand scheme of things.

Years ago, when you came back from a long summer drive your number plate'd be splattered with numerous unfortunate insects. That doesn't seem to happen any more. Unmown verges will help to boost insect numbers, which in turn will help to feed the birds and support their populations.

You are right Greenwood. I've had tostop to clean the windscreen in the past. These days it's a clear at the end of the journey as when you started. Much of it is the bloody farmers spraying insecticide everywhere. There are laws against it, but they are not enforced. They can't be as the inspectors have been cut back to a ridiculous level. You are more likely to be struck by lightning than to get caught and the fines are derisory.

We need MORE wilding than less. One of the benefits is that rodents thrive too and they are preyed on by owls. Want to hear owls hooting? Then don't mow the grass

I'd forgotten about owls, used to see them regularly in Birkenhead, their favourite perch being atop telegraph poles. Its a long long time since I've seen one in town. There's no shortage of mice, cats are always catching them.

Owls need large areas of unmowed grassland where mice thriv on the seeds.

Owls are crap as domestic mousetraps. Cats are better.

Thanks for this Diggingdeeper,
But forgive me, i thought the most of the work done, ie drains, grass cutting, street lighting was put out to contract?
If this is the case surly those firms putting in bids, would do so for three years of more, the way things look now, its as if the Council has said we can't afford to pay you just do less, so what is it?
As for the grass not getting cut, i just find that a load of cobblies, it looks a bloody mess, you want firms coming here to invest and employ staff and you have weeds growing out every where it looks so run down, and as you have left it so late to control it will be even worse next year and money will be even tighter won't it, If i remember correclty there are Bye -Laws ith regards over growning gardens full of weeds? But its ok to have the streets full of them .As for uncut grass verges that's just asking people to fly tip rubbish!
I just come thought New Brighton, and noticed all the no parking time limit post and signs gone up, i would hate to thing how much all that cost? and wonder what the the Council will do with New Brighton in a year or two as they have just killed it off, who in there right mind is going there to pay to park,
Wirral the town that doesn't have an functioning Town Hall Its like the old saying, Will the last one out turn the lights off!

Putting out to contract was effectively a Government edict at one time, less so now but it also reduces financial and reputational risk to the Council. The contract specifies pretty exactly what work is done.

Most of the Wirral has had its weeds sprayed according to the contractor https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...fvwv7XxADX/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true. Allowing for the two week delay if you don't think your weeds have been sprayed (I am 99% sure ours haven't) then contact the Council https://www.wirral.gov.uk/about-council/contact-us/how-contact-council - and your local Councillor if you want.

New Brighton has introduced parking charges for its main car park some time ago and now has put an overnight restriction on parking to stop the use of public parking for residential use.

New Brighton was killed off when we decided to put a shopping precinct in a prime leisure area. Yes it has made New Brighton busier but you could claim the same for Woodchurch every since ASDA opened there.

Every town/borough Council is going through similar problems, Wirral Council is doing well compared to many others.

I'm tired of seeing pot holes in roads everywhere and grass & weeds growing out of the pavements. Like you said, you don't see it in Heswall, west kirby etc, just Birkenhead, Wallasey etc. Its a disgrace.

Thank you Sneakypete atleast i am not alone in this!
Just want to add something else for a Council moaning of lack of money, why have they top dressed the strip of road from the Clown round about up to the traffic lights, near Morrison's, there was some cracks in the road [ show me a road that doesn't?] which had a hot tar filler applied, but now its had a loose grit dressing, i rode over it this morning on my way to work and thought the dark patches was loose grit so rode as slow as i could, traffic was me a this time of the morning, [ the dark patches looked like water ] I want to know why it was resurfaced, there are worse roads out there crying out for repair but never get it, the main prom road was done a few years back and the lane close to the prom wall is appalling, the same can be said for Church road runing pass the Town hall in Seacombe, i could have done a better job myself with a butter knife!
Wirral the only place where you can drive down a few hundred metres of a road and find two or three surfaces, hard then loose back on to hard? Of course the loose grit ones have loose grit all over the roads footpaths for years to come!
I have also started going over Tower Bridge road, to think that cost over three million to do two years ago and what a cock up of a road system a round-about that everyone treats as a T-Juncion, crossing points on raised ramps that drivers think are speed humps! Bus stops on the main drag causing tail backs, when some one hails a bus[ when there not on strike that is?]
The only road signs you see are the no over taking ones!
Yeah! Another cock up?

Because the tide comes over the road at New Brighton they have to seal it otherwise the whole surface can disappear quite rapidly, especially in winter when the tarmac is brittle. I think there is a concrete surface under the tarmac which creates additional problems like adhesion and drainage.

The grit they laid down looks like the micro-tarmac stuff they lay these days and which I was originally very sceptical, they will come back and recoat it after it has been driven down.

Hopefully Church Road will fail inspection and the contractor will have to come and redo sections that fail.

Tower Bridge Road is an A road, I'm amazed the Council are permitted to do a non-standard layouts. It isn't any safer for pedestrians when you give drivers more distractions, I find the same with speed bumps, they are a distraction that takes the drivers attention on what is going on around him.

Anyway we are about to get another grant of the Government to do more road work, this micro-management of Council's responsibilities by central Government doesn't help. Councils should be given an annual allowance, not grants in bits and pieces.

Hoylake Road had signs saying it was closed for 6 nights at 7PM to 12AM from 18th July. The works ran over that time and it was closed on Tuesday and Wednesday but they didn't even cone off the road, and cars and buses were still driving down it and then having to do a U-turn. Bad management.

Anyway, I think there are worse roads about and Hoylake Road didn't need resurfacing.

Was also wondering, why did they resurface Hoylake road with tarmac and Bidston Road with grit?