“Thank you Mr Mayor. And thanks to my fellow Green councillors for allowing me to represent them in our response to the petition. I speak as a pedestrian, a cyclist and a driver.

The election was some time ago but I hope I’m not too late to thank the residents of Bebington for electing me. They did so knowing what I stood for – amongst other things, safer roads for people of all ages.

I’d like to thank Mr Jones for taking the time to set up and run the petition. I might not agree with it but I acknowledge the time and effort it takes to run a campaign like this. I know from his work that he has Wirral’s best interests at heart, but I’m very clear when I say that this petition is misguided and all 6 of its key points are, in my opinion, wrong.

The evidence is clear on the reduction in road danger that 20mph can bring. The World Health Organisation endorses a 20 mph speed limit as best practice where motorised traffic mixes with pedestrians and cyclists. Officers and councillors have done an excellent job making the case for our ambitious plans.

Lowering speed limits where appropriate is an excellent use of our admittedly meagre resources. I can see why some residents wonder why we are spending money on our plans, but in a purely financial sense we can be confident it will pay for itself in a remarkably short amount of time.

Congestion has and will not increase with speed limit changes. Congestion, as we all know, is caused by too many cars in a finite space. 20mph will improve this by creating the conditions for more walking and cycling.

There is a reason that Merseyside Police support the work done so far on Wirral. Fewer collisions and injuries (or worse) will allow our amazing blue light services to focus their attention where it is really needed. It staggers me that we have created a system of transportation that is so reliant on an almost daily emergency response. I want to see an end to this, and lower speeds will get us part of the way there. Speeding is anti-social, and creates enormous risk.

The petition suggests the impact on ‘road safety’ will be limited. Mr Mayor, I have attended meetings and met with people who have lost loved ones to road traffic collisions. If we could have spared just one of them, it would have been worth it. The stories are too harrowing to tell, yet for some reason we report them like the weather and nothing changes.

Well, change is coming.

Now, I do understand the negative response. Old habits die hard and driving our cars at 30mph is second nature for many. That doesn’t make the policy wrong though. We have a culture that is in large parts built around access to services, friends, family and work by car – and quick access is expected. The downsides are too big to ignore now. Continued death and injury, school run chaos and clogged urban roads. 

Mr Mayor barely a week goes by without a story in the Liverpool Echo about yet another death on the roads of the Liverpool City Region. 

How many of us read them in absolute horror? We have a plan for ‘Vision Zero’, Mr Mayor. Signed and sealed! Press photos done! Who in this room backs it? Who here is ready to put words into action?

Some of us believe in Vision Zero… while some have Zero Vision.

Think of the lives we could save and the suffering we could avoid. Think of the massive wider benefits that it could bring – healthier citizens, more vibrant local high streets, increased independence of our children and grandchildren – and a clear pathway to reduced transport emissions.

I’m probably getting ahead of myself, but 20mph is a key part of our ambitions to increase levels of sustainable travel.

Is every single road on the list appropriate for 20mph? Perhaps not. I’m more than willing to admit that. The sensible thing to do is to continue the roll out and tweak as necessary from there. To pause everything would not be a conservative approach, it would be reckless.

Tomorrow night the next phase of 20mph roads will be discussed by members of the Environment committee. My ward features heavily so myself, my fellow ward councillors and the residents I represent will be watching.

Mr Mayor, no less than ELEVEN schools stand to gain from safer roads JUST IN BEBINGTON via tomorrow nights decision. Who would deny those children and parents the safe streets they so often ask us for? 

Children cannot vote so it’s up to us to represent them as best we can.

Mr Mayor I campaigned hard on matters of road safety and massive investment in active travel. Thousands of leaflets, emails and countless conversations on door steps. 20mph formed a key part of our campaign. For something apparently so unpopular, imagine my surprise when I gained the trust of well over 3000 Bebington residents.

I want to finish with something to energise councillors of all political colours. Reducing speed limits in this measured way is 100% the right thing to do. On top of road danger reduction 20mph helps address a whole range of our strategic council priorities around health, the environment and the strength of our communities across Wirral.

Most importantly of course, it will save lives.

Mr Mayor, there are no accidents on our roads.

Collisions are the result of design and policy.

We need to make changes to our streets now. Too many families have discovered the cost of inaction. They have paid the ultimate price.

No more delays. No more pauses. No more excuses.

Full steam ahead for 20mph on Wirral.

Thank you, members.”

Saturday 18th November 2023. Liverpool City Centre.

“Thank you Jeremy, Kenaan and Liverpool Friends of Palestine.

Hello, marhaba, salam alaikum, shalom.

My name is Jo Bird. I’m honoured to be the Green candidate for Birkenhead MP.

In my former workplace, the Labour Party, Jewish members like me were 40 times more likely than other members to be targeted for disciplinary action. I’m one of many Jewish people expelled retrospectively by Starmer’s Labour Party.

I joined the Green Party. One of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

The Green Party was the only national party that called for ceasefire, six long weeks ago. Before 13,000 innocent men, women and children were killed.

Hamas is wrong to kill civilians like Omer Simon Tov, 4 years old. Hamas should free their hostages. And Israel is also wrong to kill civilians, like Sham Abusalama, 5 years old. Israel should end the siege of Gaza.

Only the Green Party has consistently supported ceasefire now, peace and justice.

Green councillors have worked with trade unions across Merseyside to end our complicity with Israel’s war machine through our Merseyside Pension Fund.

There are 15 MPs on Merseyside, elected by we the people. Only 6 of our MPs voted FOR ceasefire.

We the people, we need to elect better politicians. MPs that will vote FOR ceasefire. Councillors that will seek justice for everyone.

We all know, if there is no justice there is no peace.

No justice, no peace.

No ceasefire, no vote.
No ceasefire, no vote.”

Dear Sir or Madam,

We are writing to object to your proposals to scrap the 418 bus service on the Wirral.

The withdrawal of bus service 418 will negatively impact residents attempting to get to work, to get to Arrowe Park Hospital and to reach local schools. It will reduce residents’ ability to shop locally, to access community & leisure facilities and it will increase social isolation. There is a low level of vehicle ownership in wards along the route and scrapping this service will have a huge impact on our residents who need it most.

Scrapping the 418 bus service will mean there is no bus serving Prenton Hall Road and the surrounding streets, creating a huge gap in the network coverage.. All the while, buses from west Wirral on their way to Birkenhead and Liverpool overserve Woodchurch Road, often more than one bus arriving at a time, whilst Prenton Dell residents are to be left with nothing.

Anyone living on the Old Chester Road or roads off it, trying to get to Arrowe Park Hospital will have to get a bus into Birkenhead and out again, doubling their journey time. The 418 is the only bus that connects residents at the lower end of New Ferry to Arrowe Park Hospital. Alternatives are significant walk away, especially for the elderly and those with impaired mobility.

You, Arriva, outline how you want your “buses to be more than just a mode of transport…something to help everyone make valuable connections” how you want to “help individuals connect with their communities”. Retaining the valued 418 bus service would do just that.

The Arriva Group states

• you are ‘rooted in our local communities…still a local company at heart in the markets where we operate’. Retaining the valued 418 bus service would demonstrate that you are in fact rooted in our local communities.
• “Contributing to a more sustainable future is at the heart of our vision to help shape a future
• where passenger transport is the best choice” Retaining the valued 418 bus service enables residents to choose to use the bus.
• “’doing the right thing’ is one of our core values”. Retaining the valued 418 bus service is an opportunity to ‘do the right thing’.

We are also frustrated at the lack of consultation. At no point were residents consulted and at no point have the views of Councillors been sought.

We hope that you will reconsider your proposal to scrap the 418 bus service on the Wirral and look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Councillors Jo Bird, Chris Cooke, Harry Gorman, Naomi Graham, Judith Grier, Ed Lamb, Craig McDonald, Ruth Molyneux, Kieran Murphy, Jason Walsh

Discrimination remains in many areas of life such as housing, education, employment and health and LGBTIQA+ Greens campaign for a fairer and more just society.

“We aim to increase awareness and understanding of LGBTIQA+ issues within the Green Party, progressive movements and society as a whole. We also aim to increase awareness and understanding of Green and progressive values among LGBTIQA+ people.
“LGBTIQA+ Greens aim to build a more sustainable and just society where everyone is valued, respected and empowered regardless of their sexuality, gender identity or intersex status.”

Jo Bird

Luke Agnew

Jane Turner

Paul Davies

Ruth Molyneux

Cllr. JO BIRD “They came for me in November 2021 for talking, 3 years earlier, about the racism I deal with as a Jewish person and for standing up for people facing injustice.”

LUKE AGNEW  “Within six hours a party bureaucrat had searched my social media and decided I was a supporter of socialist appeal for sharing an article 3 years prior. I was expelled for life because of it.”

JANE TURNER  “Labour seemed not to notice that I’d resigned and might not have noticed until my membership failed to renew, so I joined the Green Party as a way of underlining that they absolutely did not represent me anymore.”

PAUL DAVIES  “I read online about the Core Values of the Green Party and realised (after a long read) that they had already adopted most of the policies that I had been struggling for years to get the Labour Party to adopt.”

Cllr. RUTH MOLYNEUX “The policies around environmental, social and economic justice are impressive and Green Party Councillors voted against the closure of the local services I had been campaigning to save.”

The Wirral Green Party today called for an end to gill netting in the area. The motion, proposed by Councillor Pat Cleary and seconded by Councillor Judith Grier, will be put before today’s full Council meeting (July 10th).

Gill nets are a type of fishing net that is left unattended in the water. They work by entangling fish by the gills as they try to swim through, which kills or fatally injures them. Gill nets are non-selective, meaning that they can catch a wide variety of fish, including young fish, fish of protected species, and non-target species.

The Green Party motion notes the harmful effects of gill netting on fishing populations and other marine life, especially porpoises and fish-eating birds such as grebes and divers. The motion also notes that other authorities such as Cornwall Council, Devon County Council, and Northumberland County Council have imposed location-dependent restrictions on gill netting.

The motion calls for the introduction of a bylaw in consultation with the Fisheries Authorities that would prevent gill netting in Special protection areas and Ramsar sites around the Wirral Coast. The motion also calls for the review of council-issued licences around parking on Wirral beaches, which allow fishermen to bring equipment such as gill nets onto the beach.

Decades of overfishing combined with the increased warmth and acidification of our oceans means our marine life is under stress like never before. The recent heat-wave in the waters around our coast with temperatures 5 degrees above normal has astounded scientists. It is a clear and siren call as to the ongoing and accelerating collapse of earth’s life-support systems.

The least we should do as a council is to ensure we are not making these huge problems even worse by facilitating additional stress on our marine life via unsustainable fishing practices.

“Gill netting is an indiscriminate fishing method that has no place in our modern society,” said Councillor Cleary. “We are calling on the council to take action to protect our marine environment and ban gill netting in Wirral’s protected areas.”

Councillor Grier said: “The relevant authorities need to move at pace to protect our marine life in the Dee Special Protection Area & the Mersey Narrows and North Wirral Foreshore Ramsar site. Gill-netting is unacceptable and needs to be stopped as soon as possible.”