Wirral Council leader Dave Jackson writes his column exclusively for the Wirral Globe.

DO you ever feel as if you've been rushing around like crazy, and then you're not quite sure what it was all about?

I suppose that's a bit of a daft question for many people with Christmas approaching! Anyway, that's what I've felt like this week. It's been one of those weeks with hordes of meetings in different places. For different reasons, all the meetings have been just one small bit in a giant jigsaw which is about the overall prosperity of Wirral.

Each bit is vitally important, but on its own it doesn't look much and takes up a lot of time and energy. Sometimes it's not obvious until the jigsaw is completed exactly why that piece matters so much.

I can't really tell you everything that's going on at this stage (because I don't necessarily know it all myself). I can give you a sort of of flavour of last week.

There was a meeting to continue negotiations which may help retain a number of jobs in Wirral. There was a meeting with GEC to discuss the joint approach to the UK government to help them gain access to the Shipping Intervention Fund, which would in turn allow them to start shipbuilding again on the part of the old Cammell Laird site that they own.

If this was to become a possibility then it would not only fit in with the plans we have for that area to encourage maritime industries, alongside the present Cammell Laird ship repair yard. This would also bring a large number of jobs back to Birkenhead. (Don't forget, this is only a small piece of the jigsaw and there's a long way to go yet.)

There were also a number of information and lobbying meetings about Merseyside's quest to keep Objective One status after the current agreement runs out. We're reaching a critical time point here when decisions are due to be made. There's a summit taking place in Luxembourg this December which may influence which way the final decision goes. At the moment everything may hang on which set of statistics are used to calculate entitlement and we're trying to build some flexibility into the system.

I know I've been critical in the past about some elements of Objective One, but the truth is that most of my criticism has been aimed at the time it takes to achieve anything, now finally we are starting to see some real results. It would be tragic if at the moment it is starting to make a real impact, we were to lose it.

We're also getting close to the point where the government announces the money they are going to allocate to each local authority. Lobbying from all the Merseyside authorities is taking place about the way finances are calculated and the resources we need to operate properly in your best interest.

See what I mean?

It's a bit of a patchwork quilt, but it's all about bringing jobs and money into Wirral, and making sure you get the maximum benefit you can from anything that's available.

It's hard work, but experience has shown over the last few years that it pays off, and with a lot of patience and persistence we can achieve things we never believed were possible. Here's hoping.

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