Lancashire Labour Rose–February2016
Latest news from
Lancashire County Council
SkelmersdaleWest Division /
CountyCllr Julie Gibson
Skelmersdale West Division
Cllr Gibson 07876 844276

Hello and Welcome
Welcome to my latest newsletter which details some of the work that I’ve been involved in across the Division and at County Council. A special “hello” to those new members who have joined the Labour Party and to those members who may have left and re-joined, it’s good to have you all on board. Labour Party membership across the Division has increased and this is really good to see. I hope you have all had an invite to the Constituency Labour Party (CLP) meetings and that you will turn up and take part and get to know your fellow members.
We have some important elections coming up (see right) and I will be co-ordinating the election campaign for the Skelmersdale West Division (covering Ashurst and Skem South) and working with colleagues in Ormskirk to ensure Labour targets the seats it needs to retain control of West Lancashire Borough Council. It would be great to see more members joining us on the doorstep. Don’t worry if you’ve never campaigned before, training will be given and you’ll be with an experienced and friendly bunch! Canvassers, leafletters are always welcome so if you’d like to give it a go, please get in touch with me on the contact details above.
Partnership with West Lancs Borough Council delivers benefits for elderly residents across the Borough
The “benefits check” campaign was launched last summer and is a joint project between Lancashire County Council's Welfare Rights Unit and West Lancashire Borough Council. Just under 2500 over 75's who receive some help towards their rent or Council Tax were identified and written to. Figures up to December 2015 released show that 368 residents have responded so far resulting in 176 successful claims generating an annual cash gain of £563,578.49. Cllr Julie Gibson said: “This is fantastic news. This money will go directly to claimants in the Borough helping to improve the health and wellbeing of some of our most elderly and vulnerable residents.” / Elections 2016
May 2016 will see Borough Council elections in West Lancashire as well as elections for the Police and Crime Commissioner. We have some excellent candidates who are seeking election. I hope you will find time to come out and support them.
Ashurst Ward
Gail Hodson has been selected as the candidate for Ashurst Ward.
Skelmersdale South
Donna West has been selected as the candidate for Skem South Ward
Police and Crime Commissioner
Clive Grunshaw has been selected as the Labour candidate.
Skem South Labour Councillors

Nicola Ian Donna
Pryce Roberts McKay West
07807 991675 01695 733291 01695 729350
Ashurst Labour Councillors

Yvonne Gail Liz
Gagen Hodson Savage
01695 728177 01772 815223 01772 379394
News for Skelmersdale West Division
County Cllr Julie Gibson
Covering the Wards of Skelmersdale South
and Ashurst
  • Roads and Footways: There is an on-going programme for re-surfacing work. Here is a list of re-surfacing work that has taken place so far across the ward: Templemartin; Uppingham Road; Waverley and Wilcove.Carriageway resurfacing has also been completed at Gardiners Place and Gladdon Place.
  • Road defects: Between April – Sept 2015 a total of 2709 highway defects were identified by regular Highway Safety Inspectionsin West Lancashire. 2607 (96%) of these were repaired within 20 working days. (figs LCC Capital Programme update Nov 2015). If you spot a pot-hole you can either report it to me, or directly to LCC on 0300 123 6780
  • Cycle path on Westgate/Railway Road roundabout: The designs and programming of the scheme are ongoing.Further updates will be given throughout the year.
  • Speeding cars: Iproblems: stal Workers Day have had a number of issues reported to me about speeding cars in the Ward. I am working with the police and the Road Safety Partnership to look at these. I have managed to get some SpID’s (Speed Indicator Devices) installed across the Ward in Kestrel Park, Sherrat Street, Witham Road and Liverpool Road.
  • Community Safety/White Ribbon: As part of my Community Safety responsibility I was part of the team that led this year’s White Ribbon Campaign at the County Council. The campaign aims to highlight and raise awareness of violence against women and encourage men to take a stand against it by making a pledge never to support or condone violence against women.
  • Hate Crime: The County Council, the Police and the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner came together at Police HQ to outline our joint commitment to tackling hate crime. Hate crime is defined as any crime which is hurtful, unfriendly or unfair to the victim because oftheir disability, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation and transgender identity. As part of my Community Safety role, I have been appointed as the County Council’s Hate Crime Prevention Chamce HQ to outline our joint commitment to tackling hate crime. I have been appointed as the County council'pion to take this work forward.
If you would like more information on my work in the Ward please visit my website at / National Postal
Workers Day
Support your
Postie!!
I combine my County Council role with my day job as a postwoman. As an active member of the CWU trade union Irecently led the celebrations for National Postal Workers Day which was part of our campaign to support a people’s postal service. #peoplespost. Here I am pictured below with my fellow postie colleague and leader of the council, Cllr Ian Moran, (front row first and second left) and other members of West Lancashire Labour Group.

Trade Union Bill
The Conservative Government’s anti-trade union bill is currently making its way through parliament. West Lancashire CLP recently passed a resolution, drafted by myself, calling on the Government to scrap this legislation. The Bill will place restrictions on a Union’s ability to negotiate and represent their members and undermine some of the excellent partnership work that has been built up between Trade Unions and employers. The TUC is organising a number of events and campaigns highlighting the detrimental effect that this bill will have and the threat to workplace relations. You can join the campaign by logging on to the TUC website and pledging your support for trade unions and against the bill.

Published byCty Cllr Julie Gibson,c/oLancashire CountyLabour Group, County Hall, Preston