Rallying to support worst town

THE people of Warrington have rallied to the town’s support following the controversial report from the Audit Commission criticising local public services.
warrington worldwide was inundated with emails and telephone calls from the moment the report of the Commission’s Comprehensive Area Assessment findings appeared yesterday (Wednesday) morning.
They came from civic leaders, politicians, business people, voluntary service representatives and ordinary men and women in the street.
Most condemned the Audit Commission for producing a flawed report – and many were critical of the national press for misinterpreting the report to brand Warrington “the worst town in the country.”
Ian Marks, (right) leader of Warrington Borough Council, described the CAA as “a shambles” and said the report offered an inconsistent snapshot that bore little resemblance to reality.
He said: “There is little consistency between what inspectors seem to have picked up from their paperwork and what is really happening on the ground. Not a single issue they have red-flagged matches what our residents tell us matter to them.
“All this begs the question whether there is any real correlation between a local person’s experience of what it’s really like to live and work in a place and the subjective judgement of an auditor in London.”
Colin Daniels, (left) chief executive of Warrington Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “The whole basis of the Audit Commission report is to say the least questionable. Unfortunately Warrington hit the headlines recently regarding the Ofsted Report on child protection but other recent independent reports have made clear that the town in terms of prosperity and economic activity is amongst the best in the country.”
Coun Bob Barr, a member of the borough council’s executive board, said: “Warrington’s economic success and relative prosperity work against us. It is very hard to get resources to deal with the pockets of unemployment, deprivation and ill health when most of the town is productive and economically successful.
“Unfortunately the fruits of that success are taken away and spent in other parts of the country. Despite that, projects such as Orford Park, the proposed developments around Gulliver’s World and the kickstart housing in the inner areas will all provide jobs and training. Unfortunately getting rid of deep rooted deprivation and inequalities isn’t something that gets solved in three years.”
David Mowat, (right) Prospective Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Warrington South condemned the attack on Warrington and said the facts were quite different to what had been reported.
The 2009 Cities Outlook Report ranked Warrington 8th out of 64 major UK conurbations in terms of average prosperity level.
According to the Audit Commission itself, 59 per cent of Warrington 16-year-olds got five or more A*-C grades at GCSE level, putting Warrington in the top 10 per cent of LEAs in the country. Employment in the town was in the top quartile in England, with 83.1 per cent of working-age people economically active.
He added: “The Cheshire countryside around the town is amongst the most beautiful in the country. The Audit commission red flags were in specific areas, raising focused concerns about inequality rather than absolute measures.
“The national media got it wrong by interpreting these focused concerns in a sloppy way. It is wrong to say that our quality of life in Warrington is low. It is not.”
Borough councillor Paul Kennedy said: “I chose to live in Warrington in 1987 and I choose to remain living in Warrington. I was not wrong then and am not wrong now.

“Warrington gets a bad press because of Londoncentric reporters, many of

whom probably don’t know where Warrington is, let alone visit our town

to see for themselves.

“We all need to be careful, if we beat Warrington up, investors will go elsewhere.

“All of these reports and assessments are just a job creation

scheme, I never get excited when they award four stars and never get

downhearted when they award three red flags.“
warrington worldwide readers, commenting on the Audit Commission report, were massively critical of its findings. While they acknowledge Warrington had its problems, the majority dismissed the report as flawed.
Voters in an online poll on this website were also massively against the Commission’s report.
As reported here yesterday, the Warrington Partnership, representing all public services across the borough, is to make representations to the Audit Commission when a review of the national findings is carried out next year.