Mersey Valley

I was at the AGM of the Mersey Valley today. The state of maintenance of the Trafford managed areas is a real cause for concern. One of the first things that our Tory council did was to withdraw grounds maintenance funding from the Mersey Valley warden service, saying that they could maintain the areas more cost effectively themselves. Regrettably, that grounds maintenance has now pretty much reached zero for the Mersey Valley in Trafford. 

So the Mersey Valley staff that remain are getting it in the neck over the state of maintenance but they can’t do anything about it. They can only do the maintenance on the Manchester side of the boundary. You can’t really expect Manchester to pay to maintain Trafford, but ridiculously this seems to be the argument that Trafford are employing. All in all, these are difficult days for the Mersey Valley.

Mike Cordingley

First posted 9 July 2009 http://gorsehill-labour.blogspot.com/2009/07/mersey-valley-joint-committee.html