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."

It’s called vote buying.

Originally Posted by justbecause

It’s called vote buying.

...what a silly comment... it's called community activism...

Originally Posted by Gwhizz

...what a silly comment... it's called community activism...

No it is not! It is guilt tripping! The Labour council have desecrated so many majestic trees in Southport they thin that this will make up for it. It won't, these saplings were going to be planted anyway - no matter who was called on to do it! Definitely intended to grab votes! That is what the Labour promotion poster states - or did no-one notice?

Originally Posted by Gwhizz

...what a silly comment... it's called community activism...

It’ll be interesting to see if the “community activism” continues after the 3rd of May.

Originally Posted by justbecause

It’ll be interesting to see if the “community activism” continues after the 3rd of May.

To be fair to labour they are better at sticking around regardless of the result, for example Liz Savage kept on going in the town despite not gaining a seat and a lot of “but is she local” statements from the lacklustre libs. I think if looked close enough you’d see a bit more desertion from the libs, for example:

1) has Cllr Lewis been doing much in formby since his unsuccessful parliamentary campaign, he’s actually hopped wards letting the Norwood voters down running surgeries in another ward before pushing his colleague out so he can run for her seat
2) not much of cllr maguire was seen since her defeat by Damien Moore but possibly could be to do with being politically “stabbed in the back” from her colleagues who not a single one has passed comments or thanks since she stepped down to let a former wavertree candidate and assistant of John Pugh have a go.
3) John Pughs “town centre first” campaign soon became just another broken link even whilst he was still MP
4) the Lib Dem flagship bandwagon of saving the A&E if you follow through the links on the page: http://www.southportlibdems.co.uk No longer exists which seems somewhat trite given the noise and how they position themselves.

So to be fair I’d say labour had a bit more staying power and a lot less issues within the party itself and there’s far less blaming all others around for their inaction. It’s a lot easier to blame the Tories and Labour for things versus the libs as they haven’t done anything!

When it comes to the intention behind these activities then anyone, who thinks the motives are entirely philanphropic, should not be allowed access to sharp objects or be left unattended near busy roads.
This applies to all colours on the Political Spectrum.