I’ve written to MP, and with no reply at all
ALTHOUGH I currently live and work in Thailand I am still on the register to vote at general elections in Southport and indeed I did just that last time the seat was contested.
I understand Mr Moore, as the elected member of Parliament for Southport, is supposedly the go-to man if I have any concerns, questions topics I wish to raise about HMG.
Alas after seven emails about various subjects, all couched in polite language, I understand Mr Moore gets a tad touchy if he feels a constituent is getting uppity and critical of either himself or the Government and subsequently blocks them on social media.
That has not been an issue for me; I have in no way been controversial in my communications to Mr Moore.
However the result: natch, nada, nothing in return.
Mr Moore seemingly does not answer the constituents he has not already blocked.
I think given this lack of engagement with the Southport electorate, the job of caseworker for Damien Moore must be one of the cushiest positions in Southport? Dave Sheekey via email THE recent press reports concerning Southport’s Member of Parliament, Damien Moore, in which he appeared to dismiss the effect of comments appended by an official on emails relating to future proposals regarding the Southport-Manchester rail services, have shown how little Government really understands the problems passengers on this line will have and are having, owing to the complete recasting of the timetable, depriving the town of its direct links to Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly Station.
This matter has been ongoing for some years and, doing some back referencing a couple of years, I found that OPSTA and SRTF were already well on the case, doing their best to get across to the powers-that-be how detrimental the planned changes to train services would be.
Also included at that point were members of the North West Stations Alliance who shared similar concerns on the same line between Wigan and Manchester.
Because this line, in its 35-mile length, serves major dormitory populations who are highly dependent on its reliability and convenience as a means to access places of work, it is vital that the best provision is made for those commuters and others.
Surveys have repeatedly indicated a 60% commuter usage of Manchester Piccadilly-destined trains, as opposed to the 40% who would benefit from a Manchester Victoria service.
The previous MP for Southport, John Pugh, did as much as practicable to promote the town’s rail interests when the opportunity arose in Parliament, and I am sure a visit to the House of Commons Library and a few checks in Hansard would back up what I have said.
I do not believe that Southport has been “disrespected” by the Liberal Democrats as Mr Moore claims.
I am also somewhat bemused by Mr Moore’s raising a Parliamentary Point of Order following the raising in Parliament by the Member of Parliament for Wigan, Lisa Nandy, of the issue of the emails and their content.
She was rightly expressing her concerns, and those of her constituents, affected by the same timetable issues.
Old or not, these email documents cuments will formpart form part of the annals of government business from day to day and officials who wish to comment on them should do so in a proper manner and not in a dismissive way which suggests to me that it pigeon-holes and trivialises the real concerns of the area’s rail travellers.
In January this year Transport Secretary Chris Grayling paid a visit to Southport and met with local campaigners, being made well aware of the case for retaining a train service to Manchester Piccadilly.
We are now in the first few days of July, having suffered several weeks of timetable meltdown owing to insufficient rolling stock being available, partly caused by delays in cascading trains from other areas, and continuing blight from Network Rail’s North West electrification programme running way behind schedule, with Southport-Wigan-Manchester line travellers and Preston-BoltonManchester line travellers having to abide weekend travel diversions and replacement buses until at least November 4 of this year, according to Network Rail.
If there was ever a case for a few backsides being kicked in high places, then this surely must be it.
I am reminded of an occasion in my first job when my boss, knowing I could handle a vintage manual typewriter, asked me to send a postcard - yes a postcard - to the shop fitters who had not finished an urgently required job.
It arrived the next morning at their premises, and was first read by the manager of that company.
The workmen were round like a shot. Job done.
No surveys, no emails, no risk assessment in those days. The message on that postcard? Very simple really, and it should be asked of our Member of Parliament and those officials involved, when pursuing the very real concerns expressed over the Southport-Manchester railway line - its timetables, rolling stock, and latterly, timekeeping reliability. “Why are we waiting?” John M. Eccles
Southport
TURN ENGINE OFF
PLEASE switch your engines off while waiting outside schools.
It’s nearly the end of term but even a few days would make a huge difference.
As well as breaking the law, it is dangerous and discourteous for neighbours to the school, and the staff and children of the school.
Please notice those who walk to school.
They haven’t frozen in the winter or melted in the summer.
Lots of other drivers are guilty of leaving engines running and I hope they take note as well.
It’s an easy change to make and the professional drivers out there should be leading the way.
However, children are particularly vulnerable because of their small lungs and their height and the way in which a lot of cars flock to a small area at pick-up and drop-off time.
Why would you endanger your own child and their friends just so that you can sit in the cool and listen to the radio? Switch it off.
Name and address supplied
READ UP ON SAFETY
RECENTLY two fairground workers were sent to jail following the death of a child on a bouncy castle.
If you are considering hiring a bouncy castle for a party, or