Labour’s GAIN digs for victory in Meols Cop.

LabLabour’s GAIN digs for victory in Meols Cop.

Labour supporters have been out whipping Meols Cop Fields into shape by planting hundreds of young trees and picking up litter.

Members of their Group Action in Norwood project and the Southport Labour Action team joined forces to plant 500 early saplings, known as whips. It followed a request for assistance from a local charity group which suddenly found itself unable to do the planting.

The Southport Labour activists were left muddied but unbowed after putting in three varieties of tree; Norway Spruce, Silver Birch and Rowan. The whips will hopefully grow to put a natural screen between the popular playing fields and the nearby busy road.

Labour’s Norwood candidate, Mhairi Doyle and Kew Candidate, Janis Blackburne helped get the teams together to tackle the project.

Mhairi Doyle explained:

” Labour’s GAIN team have been really active locally and involved in all sorts projects to help residents and were asked if they could stand in at short notice. The GAIN project leader then asked Janis and I if we could get involved and we were delighted to help.”

“We’ve been doing a lot to assist local residents across Southport. From getting the return of 30-minute parking, to helping the Kew Park campaigners save Ovington Drive park; to clearing beaches in Ainsdale and hiring skips for residents to clear their clutter in Norwood. It’s been good fun and is real and practical help for our community.”

Janis Blackburne says activities like this are a big part of why Southport Labour is increasingly recognised as a force for good in the town but it doesn’t end there:

” Projects like this are at the heart of our community-based approach but we’ve also recently revealed the appalling rise in foodbank numbers locally and the problems at our hospital when our opponents either kept quiet or denied them.”

“We’ve challenged the Lib-Dems over what we believe was the appalling poor behaviour of their councillors at Area Committee when they rounded on two young local mums and we have exposed the local Tory MP repeatedly, for instance over false claim we were “scaremongering” over the hospital and things like his claiming the limelight for decisions he wasn’t part of, like the knife wands funding. ”

“We think things need to change in Southport. We only have two councillors here at present but we are getting things done and after May 3rd hopefully we’ll have some others and then we can do even more for the good of the town.The trees aren’t the only things planted in Southport, our support is.”