Formby First

As Chair of the Formby Partnership I'm spending a lot of my time thinking about practical steps to encourage the community to 'shop local'

Supporting Village Shops

This week I've attended two meetings in which the focus of attention has been Formby Village.

The first meeting was a of a small working party of Formby Parish Councillors trying to set a series of priorities for improvement in the village following the recent upgrades to barriers and planters. Members were keen to distinguish between small scale improvements with a view to the next 'Village in Bloom' competition and longer term more strategic issues. In this latter case we are concerned about how to make the village an attractive place to visit and more importantly a place to shop.

It was this second concern that has focused the minds of members of the Formby Partnership, of which I am presently the Chair. Last year the Partnership set up a small working group that successfully sponsored and organised the 'Music Live' festival. This small group met again on Monday evening to make plans for another festival later this year.

At the heart of both of these meetings is the desire to support, encourage and enhance the 'Shopping and visit experience' in the heart of Formby.

One final word the Formby Partnership does not just concentrate on the village centre, we are actively trying to recruit members from the business community across the whole of Formby, interested? Please let me know.

Latest issues reported to Sefton

Recently I used the Sefton Plus web site, On-line form to report a couple of issues to do with Street Lighting. I also used the 'fix my street' web site. I was impressed with the outcome using the Sefton Plus service directly.

Please try it out yourself.

I've used it again today to report the following:

• There is a blocked drain next to street light 4 in Chapel lane. Whenever there is heavy rain the gutter floods at this point and passing traffic throws up splashwater across a third of the footpath. This is a problem that has existed for months and really ought to be addressed as a matter of urgency.
• Access across the  footpath North of Sixteen Acre Lane on the eastern side of the Formby By-Pass appears to be blocked by a large greenhouse installation and the fact that the adjoining field is now in use for horse grazing. There does not appear to be any footpath across these sites when there was in the past. Can you investigate this issue please?

You immediately receive a reference number so that you can follow the report up later if needs be and I also received an email from Sefton Plus to acknowledge the report and a promise of action within a set time. Well done to the Sefton Plus staff.