From R Carty:-BY a coincidence I was in Wallasey Town Hall and learned of the meeting of the sub-planning committee to discuss the application for the Derby Pool site, Wallasey, on Thursday November 13. I listened from the public gallery and was not impressed by this example of local democracy. Some councillors were asking to defer the planning consent (successfully as it happened but only for one week) until public opinion made itself heard.

This was opposed by Labour councillors on the allegation that the public knew all about it. This allegation was based on the fact that a legal notice was placed in the local press in miniscule print.

Apparently the site was sold last August and I doubt whether one in a thousand Wallasey residents knew about it or the proposed use. It wasn't until letters appeared in the Wirral Globe that the public had an inkling of what was being proposed.

One Labour councillor stated the site did not belong to Wallasey villagers but to the public. How he squared this by selling the site to Whitbread is beyond comprehension - stupidity or cynicism? Whitbread obviously knows about the pubs and eating houses in Wallasey Village so how do they expect to draw custom to the new pub? I suggest it is because of the uniqueness of the unspoilt site a few yards from the seafront.

It is the uniqueness of the site that should have been the fundamental reason for the Labour party to have given this proposal the maximum publicity, instead of trying to rush it through before people knew what was happening. Labour should have published, through the press, drawings of the new pub and surrounds and its proposed use to give the general public time to form its views.

The councillors representing our parents and grandparents unbelievably were more in tune with youth than their present day Labour successors. Over sixty years ago they targeted youth and built a swimming pool. New Labour wishes to build a drinking, eating and smoking establishment. The plan should be opposed, and if the site is to be redeveloped an enclosed swimming pool with sports facilities for youth should be built to take its place.

I suspect the proposed plan is to turn another of Wallasey's assets into cash to facilitate more development in Birkenhead. Wallasey has had two swimming pools demolished to save expenditure. The shopping precinct sold, the repair of the main bridge protracted causing loss of business to Wallasey residents. Complaints of a similar nature have been made by Hoylake and West Kirby residents.

The proposal for use of the Derby Pool site has been deferred for consideration by the full planning committee tomorrow Thursday, November 27. I suggest it should be referred to the full council and give an opportunity for public opinion to be heard. This is another incident that should make Wallasey and other Wirral residents wary of voting labour at the next municipal elections. In effect voting labour means giving control to a Birkenhead-biased council.

I am particularly annoyed that the young who are criticised for mindless vandalism in Wallasey are ignored. The pools, pier etc have been demolished and no effort to replace them. Boys and girls can not afford fancy pubs.

Hawarden Avenue,

Wallasey

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.