PEOPLE living near Culcheth High School have suffered “shambolic” treatment at the hands of borough council officers in the aftermath of the school building project, according to Labour campaigner Chris Vobe.
Withington Avenue, Beech Avenue and Clarke Avenue have been left strewn with building materials, drains are 
blocked, an alleyway covered with graffiti and pavements and road surfaces pitted with potholes.
Complaints from residents have been met by “stonewalling” and “blatant disregard” says Mr Vobe.
He said: “Council officers have left this part of the village with utter contempt.
“As it stands, this part of Culcheth is receiving nothing except appalling treatment from council officers. The planning department has already ridden roughshod over Culcheth, and it seems now that the highways department is going down the same track.
“That is why people in Culcheth must unite against this dreadful treatment, and come together as a community to send a message to the Town Hall. These officers should make no mistake: we will not allow our area to be treated with such utter contempt.”
Mr Vobe said residents had endured two years of building works with considerable disruption to their environment.
They were told from the outset was that, when the work was completed, their needs would be taken into account.
“When I visited Withington and Beech avenues recently, I was horrified at the state of disrepair the council had allowed this area to fall into. 
“All people are asking is that the council takes some responsibility and restores this area to a proper standard. But Town Hall officers have been shambolic in their response – and they haven’t kept to their side of the deal.”
Mr Vobe said he contacted the council and was told that Withington Avenue wouldn’t receive upgrades until 2013 – a year later than originally promised.
“This decision has been taken by an officer without any consultation with the political administration of the council.”
He claimed an officer had described Beech Avenue residents as “inconsequential” and suggested that residents should “take some responsibility” and pick up litter themselves.
Sharon Walls, the borough council’s public realm manager, said: “Withington Avenue was intended to be included in the 2011/12 programme of resurfacing works. Unfortunately, as works at Culcheth High School completed later than anticipated and due to all roads having to be re-assessed following the two severe winters, it was necessary to amend the schedule resulting in Withington Avenue work being postponed until next year. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the delay to this scheme.
“In the meantime, the road will continue to be inspected on an ongoing basis. Any blocked road gullies will be cleaned out and potholes will be reinstated as necessary.”
Pictures show Chris Vobe highlighting the condition of the road surface in Withington Avenue and blocked drains near the junction with Warrington Road.
Residents suffer shambolic treatment
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
12 Comments
Public Realm Manager? Another glaringly obvious target for the cuts
Chris should you not be contacting the LABOUR run Council, as a high profile member of the Labour Party surely you should be able to get this sorted
So what’s new! This Labour run Council has consultation with residents at the bottom of the pile. This same state of affairs takes place in other parts of North East Warrington. We all know about the inadequacies of the Planning Dept which elected members has chosen to ignore. However, the Highways Dept, in my view, are much worse. Despite protestations from the Leader of the Council make no mistake that WBC is definitely run by its Officers without any consultation with either the Policial members or its Residents. When residents object they are treated with the utmost contempt. Residents must use the Ballot Box in May 2012 to make a difference!
I don’t see why you would think that Jim. No other councillors seem to have control over what officers get up to in this council. At least Chris has the balls to say out loud what the rest of you should have been saying all along and what the residents of this town think. You all need to show some guts for once and stand up to the employees of the council.
About time someone had the guts to speak out. Terry o’Neill and the rest of his councillors just let the Officers run the show. If these Officers told Terry that it was a good idea to wear a wet fish on his head, he’d be down to the river before you could say jack flash, he’s so under the thumb! To suggest that the people we actually elect make the decisions at WBC is a joke. At least Chris Vobe actually stands up to them, and his own Party when he needs to. good on him!
The smug satisfaction of Cllr Regan’s posting is a tad misplaced. Most of the damage to roads and footpaths around the school arose whilst it was being built, which for the most part was when the Lib-Con cooperative was supposed to be running the show. I don’t recall any concerns of the local residents being publically raised by the Cllr Regan and his colleagues at that time, as Chris Vobe to his credit has done now. Why does the Parish Council not join with him in support of the residents’ complaints, instead of trying to make political capital out of a matter which should be a prime concern of theirs?
That “decisions have been taken by officers without any consultation with the political administration of the council” was self evident throughout the Lib-Con co-op’s successive terms of office, as was its willingness to accept of that state of affairs. Most people in Warrington, judging by widespread expressed concern, have first hand experience of WBC officers “stonewalling”, “having blatant disregard for the public and treating them with utter contempt”. Even after this situation was well and truly exposed and criticized in the Ombudsman’s report, some members of the Lin-Con co-op continued to speak highly of the officers who had been damned by that report. Did the Parish Council take up the political cudgels on behalf of the residents of Marton Close, when they were experiencing the consequences of the officers “contempt and blatant disregard for them?”
Grey Man who is running the council the officers or elected members.
you should display your name
It’s clearly the officers. I shouldn’t do any such thing. But I am happy for you to get my name and contact details off the administrators if you’d like to get in touch or know who I am. I have no connection with the council so if you’re suggesting there is a political agenda, there is not.
I am a resident of Warrington who first took an interest in the shift of control away from elected councillors at the time that somebody in the council was determined to sell off Walton Hall without consultation and based on very questionable accounts. We still don’t know exactly who that was or what was behind it all. But what was obvious was that it was down to the people of Warrington to do something about that, just as it was in the case of Marton Close and the destruction of planning records. And just as it surely will be in other cases including Peel Hall Park and the ‘affordable housing’ in Lymm.
In the case of the planning department, there is a complete failure for whatever reason that starts at the top of that department and we have heard nothing from any councillors with the exception of Kevin Reynolds to suggest that some serious questions need to be asked. Neither have any councillors openly challenged the award of huge pay rise to senior officers at a time of swingeing budget cuts. Diana Terris and Andy Farrall should have been hung out to dry by councillors for what in my opinion at least is money grubbing.
You have abdicated your responsibilities and it is obviously down to the residents of this town to fill the vacuum you and your colleagues of all parties have created. This is not a party political point because all parties are equally impotent. You have all failed. I sincerely hope you all get the reaction you deserve at the next elections – apathy and disgust.
High profile? A legend in his own lunchtime!
Well if he can do in his lunchtime what 57 councillors have never managed to do before – then surely he is a legend!
Council Tax Payer, you suggest, “Residents must use the Ballot Box in May 2012 to make a difference! Who exactly would you suggest they vote for? Have you forgotten the antics of the last Lib/Con administration? When confronted with mass public protest re the sell off / offloading of Walton Hall and Gardens they very publicly promised not to progress the matter any further until there had been a full open and transparent public inquiry, yet within minutes they had gone behind closed doors and unanimously voted to carry on as previously planned! They stood back whilst Bewsey Old Hall was lost – when they knew full well that the restoration could have been included in the Sankey Valley Regeneration Project – just one word of commitment could have saved this important part of Warrington’s heritage. Have you also forgotten the undemocratic way they dealt with Woolston High, Stockton Heath and Longbarn Primaries? The youth centre? etc, etc, etc? If we had 57 candidates with as much backbone as Chris Vobe appears to have, then maybe using the ballot box would make a difference!
Exactly. Our elected representatives have essentially handed control of this town over to (and let’s be absolutely clear about this) COUNCIL EMPLOYEES to such an extent that voting is becoming irrelevant. I hope Jim Regan comes back on as well as others to address this point rather than just having their usual pot shots at other parties. I know they’ll deny it, but it’s increasingly self evident. What is happening in the town is essentially a continuation of what happened before and the reason for that is because the people who are really in control haven’t changed.