Town “ahead of the game”
on contaminated land
by David Skentelbery
WARRINGTON is “ahead of the game” in its efforts to clean up contaminated land across the borough, according to council leader Ian Marks.
He said: “We are trying to deal with the problem is a fair, open and transparent way.
“As a council we are doing well – we are ahead of the game on this issue.”
Coun Marks (pictured) was addressing a meeting of the council’s executive board which was considering a report by environmental health and protection manager Phil Woods which indicated that it would still take more than 10 years to complete cleaning up contaminated sites.
It is already five years since the council formally adopted a strategy for identifying and cleaning up contaminated land.
The town has 644 known contaminated sites – but some of these have already been wholly or partly dealt with and no longer pose a risk, according to Mr Woods.
Contaminated sites are ranked according to the level of risk and Warrington has 309 classified as “high”, 279 as “medium” and 40 as “low.” A further 15 sites have yet to be categorised.
The main sites currently within the work programme are at Sankey Bridges, the former Burtonwood Repair Depot – part of the airbase site – closed landfill sites at Gatewarth and Westy Park.
Coun Roy Smith, executive member for community services, said inspection of contaminated land was a slow business and it could take two or three years to deal with one site. It was necessary to involve residents and also to make every effort to ensure the polluter paid for the clean up.
Coun Fiona Bruce expressed concern that some householders were having to pay as much as ?7,000 for work to be carried out while their next door neighbour had it paid for by the council.
She was told the council was paying for the work where a house had been sold after the authority was aware that was a pollution problem. But where a house had been sold prior to the problem being discovered, the householder was responsible.
However, in cases of financial hardship, the council could waive or reduce the cost.
The board was told identified contaminated sites would be dealt with on a priority basis according to the level of risk.
Warrington has a substantial legacy of potential contamination due to its industrial past. The planning system today ensure that new developments are on land suitable for their use.
But risks posed by contamination were not routinely considered until the late 1980s so many homes and areas of public open space may have been developed in unsuitable locations.
Marie swaps high fashion
for high wire for charity
by John Hendon
WARRINGTON woman Marie Toller swapped high fashion for a high wire to raise money for charity.
She dressed down for the task ? donning army-style boots and wearing camouflage make-up.
Marie, who works for Henshaws Society for Blind People, and normally dresses the part as she organises s****y balls and fashion shows, took part in a day of tough physical and mental challenges in the Lake District to help launch Henshaws? High Five Challenge which aims to raise ?5 million over the next three years.
She was partnered by Peter Parsons of the Co-operative Bank in the challenge, which included using the longest zip wire in the country.
Adventurous Marie said: ?The whole day was great fun, challenging and exhausting, but at the end of the day I really felt that I had achieved something. It was a day spent doing activities that I would never normally have the opportunity to do. It was a real adrenaline rush jumping off a 30ft high Tom-Tom pole.? Corporate partner Peter lost the sight in one eye after falling.
He said: ?I?m now partially sighted and suffered acute post traumatic stress. My girlfriend Joanne put me in touch with Henshaws and they were brilliant, helping me turn myself around very quickly. I saw this challenge as my turn to help them! ?I wasn?t sure what I?d let myself in for, but height was my biggest fear. Like Marie, I also found that the sense of achievement I felt afterwards was the most rewarding part of the challenge.? Marie has already raised ?600 and her team hopes to raise ?3000. Her husband and two girlfriends joined her on the challenge.
There is still time to sponsor Marie for completing her challenge, log onto her Just Giving site, www.justgiving.com/toller
Corrie girl Diane
goes up a degree
by John Hendon
FORMER Coronation Street ?factory girl? Diane Carney could have taught her ex- boss Mike Baldwin a thing or two, having just graduated with a business management and IT degree at the Warrington Campus of the University of Chester.
Diane, who for five years in the late 1990s was a background artist on ?The Street? says she is now looking to star in a new role in business management.
The 35-year-old left school at 16, excited by the prospect of earning a wage and working in entertainment. Several seasons in Butlins, Pontins and Haven were followed by her Granada TV sewing factory role, which she supplemented with office temping work.
Diane said: “I found that I enjoyed working within a professional business environment and decided to leave background work at Coronation Street to concentrate on my career as a project administrator within a global management consultancy.
“I began to regret not staying on at school to do A levels and wondered whether it was too late for me to do something about it. I have since found that it’s never too late to start learning again.
“I eased myself in gently with a few GCSEs, then went on to take an A level in English Literature. With these successes under my belt, my confidence was building and the prospect of continuing on to a degree course became exciting rather than daunting.
“As part of my professional development, I wanted to learn more about different aspects of business. The university course sounded ideal, not just for the content but also for the fact that you can study part-time. It exceeded my expectations.?
Woman obtained ?7,700
through false claims
by court reporter
A WOMAN who claimed benefits as a single parent when she was living with a partner was sentenced to a 220 hours Community Punishment Order and ordered to pay back the overpayment.
Jennifer Melling, 32, formerly of Crosby Avenue, Warrington, appeared before the Warrington Magistrate’s Court charged with falsely claiming ?7,703 in benefits from the borough council and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Melling, now of Clarence Street, Leigh, pleaded guilty to three charges of benefit fraud. She has to complete the community punishment within 12 months and pay ?75 costs.
Between September 2004 and June 2005, Melling defrauded the council of ?545.83 Council Tax Benefit, ?3,162.64 Housing Benefit and the DWP of ?3,994.55 Income Support.
Adrian Webster, the council’s benefits manager, said: “Benefit cheats are getting the message that they cannot abuse the benefit system and steal from the rest of society. They are not just defrauding the government, but their own tax paying neighbours and communities in Warrington.
“We have introduced new methods of data matching – and the obvious message to benefit cheats is you will be caught. This case is yet another clear demonstration of our determination to tackle benefit fraud,” he added.
Fraud operations manager for the DWP Roy Paul said: “The public is fed up with cheats who steal money from the taxpayer when it should go to those in genuine need of help.”
People in Warrington can give information about alleged fraudsters free and in confidence on the National Benefit Fraud Hotline on 0800 854440.
Police “crackdown” puts
the brakes on crime
by staff reporter
HOME Office statistics published today show that positive action taken
by Warrington?s police in their ?Crackdown on Crime? last September put the brakes on the rising trend in the total number of crimes being recorded.
AFter close monitoring of the crime trends during the first half of the year police throughout Cheshire implemented a preplanned operation that pulled together operational policing activity.
The initiative began in September and ran through the second half of the year and had the specific remit of addressing the rising crime trends.
It drove down the rise in crime with a reduction of 10.5 per cent being achieved compared to the level recorded at the beginning of the year.
The police service as a whole had experienced a rise in the number of crimes being reported last year and the picture was no different in Warrington and the rest of Cheshire. Violent crime rose compared to 2004/05 by 18.9 per cent peaking in July last year. However by the end of March this year as the Crackdown on Crime initiative took hold violent crime in Cheshire fell to its lowest level since February 2005.
Assistant Chief Constable David Baines said: “I know the public will be concerned about the rise in violent crime. What I would like to explain is that violent crime covers a wide variety of offences from the most serious of crimes to common assault and harassment. It is in the lower level crimes like harassment and common assault that the police are seeing the highest rises. I would like to reassure the public that serious violent offences are not committed every day in Cheshire and that the county remains a very safe place to live and work.
?Last year we took positive action to address the problems of anti-social behaviour on our streets. To improve street standards, officers were tasked with intervening in incidents of yobbish behaviour to make it clear to people that such behaviour was and remains unacceptable in today’s society.
?As a consequence the number of fixed penalty tickets issued for violent crime offences nearly doubled last year to enforce these standards. This positive action has impacted on the number of lower level violent crimes recorded last year”.
ACC Baines added; “Last year we also took positive action to address violence in the home which also had an effect on the numbers of violent crimes recorded. We now record incidents of domestic abuse whether or not the victim decides to make a complaint. This practice allows us to build a better picture of what is happening to individual victims and provides us with evidence against an offender that will allow the police to bring a prosecution. “
Last year the number of offenders brought to justice in Cheshire rose by 28 per cent compared to the same period in the previous year. Partnership working between all the agencies involved in Cheshire’s criminal justice system has been instrumental in putting more offenders before the courts and achieving justice for victims.
Residents accuse council
of “pettiness” over bins
by Lesley Wilkinson
SCORES of angry Warrington people are fuming because their bins have not been emptied ? due to alleged ?pettiness? by Warrington Borough Council.
One couple complained that their bin was left uncollected because the lid was just two centimetres open.
As a result, the rubbish was left as a health hazard in an area plagued by rats in the past few months.
Pauline Oldknow, of Common Lane, Culcheth said: “I know the council sent a letter round saying they would not collect the bins unless the lids were shut.
“But on collection day my husband, Keith, threw in a beer box and the lid was just two centimetres up – and the bin men left it.
“I just think this is pettiness as they never even touched the bin to try and move it.
“Previously the bin men have been very helpful, often taking extra rubbish bags from the site. Many neighbours whose bin lids were ajar, also had them left uncollected.
“It is ridiculous to leave the bins, especially in this weather. I don’t usually complain about anything, but this is outrageous. My husband is fuming as for a week now we will have to take our rubbish to the tip,” she said.
Many people have complained to the council and some claim to have waited up to 40 minutes to get through on the telephone.
One woman had taken a bag out of her bin to get the lid flat and run after the binmen to have it collected, but they ignored her.
Bob Williams, head of communications, said: ?The majority of customers have responded positively to the new wheeled bin policy to encourage recycling, improve the local environment and some potential health and safety issues.
?However, with any new scheme there have been cases where some customers were not aware of the policy and others where they disregarded it.
?Only 406 bins were not emptied out of the normal collection run of about 15,000.
?Unfortunately it is clear to us that, in the case of some householders, the message has not got through. If correct use is made of domestic waste bins, blue bins and green bins, then there should be no need for bins to be over-filled.
?Once this new approach has bedded in we have every confidence that the people of Warrington will play their part in the critical national issue of recycling, one that is being faced by every local authority and community.?
