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Issue:- Saturday, 15 August 2015

New company to be set up for bin collections

LIVERPOOL City Council is to press ahead with setting up a new arms length company to operate its waste collection service; after the workforce voted overwhelmingly in favour of the move. The Council's current contact for waste collection services is delivered by Enterprise Liverpool Limited (ELL), a joint venture between the City Council and Amey plc, and ends in November 2015. At a mass meeting this morning, staff who collect bins across the City agreed to sign up in principle to an enabling agreement which outlines the broad terms and conditions of an agreement between the council, trade unions and staff meaning the Council will now not progress to procuring the contract externally. "Liverpool Waste Management and Related Services (LATco)" would be wholly owned by the City Council, and aims to cut costs and improve services including supporting residents in achieving a 55% recycling rate by 2020.

Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, said:- "I am pleased that the workforce has supported this move, as it gives us the opportunity to introduce a service that the workforce and Council believe in and 1 in which all parties work together. The new proposed service arrangements will support us in reaching our aspirations and our recycling target, which will deliver major savings to Tax payers of the City. Our overriding aim is to ensure that the City's residents have an efficient, top quality, high performing refuse and recycling collection service. They want to know that their bins will be collected, when we say we are going to collect them. There have been extensive discussions with the unions and workforce and they have given us confidence that the service can be improved, performance and productivity increased and customer satisfaction and expectations met. We believe that this is a way in which we can deliver a better, more cost effective and productive service."

George Patterson Regional organiser for the GMB, commented:- "The Trade Unions and Mayor Joe Anderson have today agreed bringing the refuse and recycling services in to a LATco. The Trade Union have worked extremely hard together with the Mayor in delivering an agreement that we believe will improve the refuse and recycling service and will also reduce the cost of the service to the council. We look forward working with the new company and the Mayor to help deliver his vision of a cleaner, brighter, sparkling city."

Discussions are also set to get underway regarding a LATco for street cleansing ahead of the current contract with Amey ending in March 2016.

NHS Trust Development Authority appointment new Non Executive Director of NWAS

THE NHS Trust Development Authority (NHS TDA) has confirmed the appointment of Richard Groome as Non Executive Director of North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust. Richard Groome is a Chartered Engineer and member of the Royal Society of Public Health. Living in Shropshire, Richard has extensive business and family connections in our area and has been heavily involved with major public infrastructure projects like Alder Hey and North Staffs Hospitals, Manchester Waste, GMPA, Oldham Housing and Manchester street lighting.

Previously a Non Executive director with the Shropshire Heath Authority, he has also worked with West Midlands Ambulance Services (WMAS).

Chairman for North West Ambulance Service, Wyn Dignan comments:- "We're delighted to welcome Richard Groome to the Service and are confident that he will be a positive addition to the Trust Board. Richard has a wealth of experience within the healthcare and public sectors, and this will be invaluable to the Trust, particularly his previous work with our ambulance colleagues in West Midlands."

Non executive appointments to NHS Trusts made by the NHS TDA are subject to the Code of Practice of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

Richard Groome has been appointed from 6 August 2015, until 5 August 2017, and is entitled to receive a remuneration of Ł6,157 per annum. He has declared no political activity in the last 5 years.

384,000 homes and businesses can now get high speed broadband

ALMOCT 50,000 homes and businesses in Liverpool City Region, Merseyside, have been reached by the Government's nationwide roll out of superfast broadband, figures published Wednesday, 12 August 2015, revealed. More than 384,000 have been reached across the North West, with Merseyside Connected making high speed fibre broadband available to 49,678 premises across the local authority areas of Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St. Helens and Wirral. The Government roll out is delivering superfast access; internet speeds greater than 24 Mbps; to those properties not covered by existing commercial networks and is on track to take superfast access to 95% of the UK by 2017. More than 4 out of 5 UK premises already have access to superfast speeds, and the roll out is currently reaching an additional 40,000 homes and businesses every week. This comes following news last week that BT will make up to Ł129m available to extend the Government led roll out of superfast broadband.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale said:- "Reaching 3 million properties is a huge achievement and I'm delighted that this includes more than 384,000 in the North West. Our roll out of superfast broadband is transforming lives up and down the UK as every day thousands more homes and businesses are gaining access to superfast speeds. It's fantastic to see that the roll out of superfast broadband is now delivering for customers and for the Taxpayer. The levels of people taking up superfast broadband in areas where we invested public money are beyond our expectations, and BT is now reimbursing the public purse to deliver further coverage across the UK. This now means that BT will be providing up to Ł129m cashback for some of the most hard to reach areas."

The additional funding will be made available to local authorities to reinvest the money in providing further superfast broadband coverage to even more homes and businesses, and much earlier than originally planned.

Councillor Gary Millar, Cabinet member for business and enterprise at Liverpool City Council, the lead local authority for Merseyside Connected, said:- "I'm delighted Merseyside Connected has reached almost 50,000 premises across our region. Each month, even more green fibre enabled street cabinets are being installed by Openreach engineers across the local authorities of Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St. Helens and Wirral. This is a really significant development for the people of Merseyside, to ensure the region can thrive business wise in the digital age, but also to ensure residents can access valuable services and information online, find the best deals on products and services, and tap into all the latest entertainment and social media."

Bill Murphy, BT's managing director for next generation access, said:- "This marks another very important stage in the rollout of an exciting technology, which is transforming the lives of communities across Merseyside and the UK as a whole. BT's multi billion pound investment in superfast broadband through its involvement in partnerships and its own commercial programme has already made fibre broadband available to many hundreds of thousands of households and businesses in Merseyside and the numbers continue to grow rapidly. Our engineers are rolling out the technology at a world class pace, reaching thousands more premises every week. Successful broadband partnerships are creating a lasting legacy, which will play a key role in the future prosperity of communities for many years to come."

The following sets out the numbers of homes and businesses reached by the rollout to date in the North West:-

► Cheshire - 80,759
► Cumbria - 90,408
► Greater Manchester - 30,033
► Lancashire - 133,789
► Merseyside - 49,678

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Deceased estates notice - Lilian May Jackam

Pursuant to the Trustee Act 1925, any persons having a claim against or an interest in the Estate of Lilian May Jackam (also known as Lillian May) Jackam (Deceased), late of Birch Abbey Rest Home, 55 Alexandra Road, Southport, Merseyside, PR9 9HD, UK, who died on 04/10/2018, are required to send particulars thereof in writing, to the undersigned Solicitors, on or before 24/05/2019, after which date the Estate will be distributed having regard only to claims and interests of which they have had notice. Churches Solicitors, 12 High Street, Fareham, Hampshire, PO16 7BL, UK. Ref:- 'T553015.'

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