WELCOME.

Thank you for visiting our site.
We are here to help the people of Southport to maintain as much control of the council as is possible.
We run campaigns and hold the officers of the council to account when making plans
to alter the performance of any item in the old Southport County Borough Council area.
We welcome new members and a special welcome to anyone wishing to become one of our activists.

ELECTIONS 3rd May 2012.

We have 3 candidates for the elections for Sefton Council Councillors on 3rd May 2012. These are:

Meols Ward - Margaret Brown,

Norwood Ward - Jacqueline Barlow

and Dukes Ward - Harry Forster.

See further details on the Wards section by clicking the above names

A STRAIGHTFORWARD AND SIMPLE MESSAGE TO THE ELECTORS OF SOUTHPORT:-

On the 3rd May all electors in Southport have the opportunity to have YOUR say on what YOU think of how well 7 of this town's previously elected representatives have carried out the duties for which YOU elected them.

You MUST bear in mind that you are NOT being asked to select a Member of Parliament, a European politician, a knight of the realm or your favourite act on X-Factor. You are electing someone to represent this town's best interests on Sefton Council. Those elected will NOT speak in the House of Commons, will NOT have overpaid jaunts to Brussels and will (probably) never be on X-Factor. They will simply in the main act as go-betweens for the people of Southport battling for their fair share of Sefton Council's services. One or two may become Cabinet Members and actually be in a position to decide policy; the majority will simply follow their own party's political lines, whether that is in the best interests of our town or not. As an aside, The Southport Party also wants a reduction in the numbers of Councillors and a reduction in their allowances. All 3 of the party leaders on Sefton Council have publicly announced their support for this to happen - it is a long overdue improvement. We are disgusted that so many of the leaflets we are seeing for other parties concentrate on matters for which Councillors have ZERO responsibility - the work of Parliament and Europe are NOT the concern of local Councillors!.

A vote for one of the 3 major parties is a vote wasted, giving this town the continuation of what we have now. A vote for lesser parties, however worthy their cause may be, will never give you a Councillor who puts SOUTHPORT first rather than their individual chosen feelings. A vote for any UKIP candidate, for example, is simply a vote for a single individual whose ambition is to become, by his own hard work, an affluent MEP. In 2006 he said: "I strongly support the Southport Party in their endeavour to fight for what is best for Southport and to take us out of the control of Sefton Council Officers and from Cabinet Members — most of whom were elected to represent the best interests of Bootle." In 2012 he is putting up candidates AGAINST us - is he really worthy of being a Councillor for our town?

The important point to note here is that the simple goals of this party include support for whichever decision is in the best interests of Southport and NOT simply in the best interests of a NATIONALLY-BASED political party or someone's personal beliefs.

All Southport's Councillors (and one or two officials, probably) got a kick up the backside, which they readily admitted, in 2002, when THREE Councillors were elected for this party. The other parties were thoroughly relentless in their efforts to discredit us for a number of years until they realised we were not going away. At this point they decided simply to ignore us and never mention our name. But we are still here, and this year we are contesting the Dukes, Meols and Norwood Wards.

To stand any chance of this town regaining its previous status before the catastrophic reorganisation of 1st April 1974, you know where to put your cross. We have now endured 38 years of contempt by Sefton Councillors from the south, countless disastrous schemes affecting our town and have been bled dry for the sake of other towns in this rotten borough. Tell Sefton Council that we have now had enough of their nonsense and want something better.

We desperately need to catch up with the investment that has been poured into the south at Southport's expense. This change of mind could be started by YOU on 3rd May by giving our opponents yet another kick to show them they have reverted back to their former ways and are disastrously failing this town ONCE AGAIN by their own incompetence.

Our advert in the Midweek Visiter of 25th April tells the story as it really is especially regarding the utterly over-the-top speed bumps along Bankfield Lane and Rufford Road, much reminiscent of the similar bumps along High Park Road:

OUR CORE BELIEF.

The party desire is to have Southport leave Sefton Council and become the major part of a new unitary authority within the traditional county Palatine of Lancashire more suited to our resort status.
This new authority could gain population numbers to suit the Boundary and Electoral commissions by taking in an area which would encompass parts of the current West Lancashire Council area from the River Douglas in the North to the River Alt to the South and all towns and villages along the A59 road corridor, which would include Hesketh Bank, Tarleton, Rufford, Burscough, Scarisbrick, Ormskirk, Aughton, Formby and Southport.
All these towns and villages would be within 10 miles of Southport.
The town Halls of Southport and Ormskirk would be the main civic buildings.
This new authority would have two hospitals and Edge Hill University.
The authority would be less diverse and much easier to manage, and could be called “South West Lancashire.”

The Party continues with its core desire to have Southport leave Sefton Council and become a major part of a new unitary council within the traditional county of Lancashire (but not under Lancs County Authority) which would be more suited to enhancing its residential resort status and the immediate areas and communities around it.

The Boundary and Electoral committees have been informed of this desire to connect the Towns and villages from the Rivers Alt at Hightown in the South to the River Douglas At Tarleton in the North and the communities along and inside the A59 corridor Through Ormskirk, an area of about 10 miles radius of Southport.

If the Government were to reorganise in the future, this would be our Submission.

An intermediate suggestion would be for Southport to be a parish or Town Council, leading to a füll unitary council status.

We continue our Opposition to being in the Liverpool City Region and it having a London style Mayor over us.

The Party had five candidates in the 2011 elections and without the hindrance of a national election it doubled its share of the vote without gaining a seat. Our candidates and election organisers once again worked very hard to achieve this result.

We continue to fight for causes of public disquiet, the Traffic calming speed signs have been erected on Preston New Rd, and hospital issues are still causing much concern, as are the beach and severe parking regime. A very concertive campaign involving a 3000 signature petition which was presented to a füll Sefton Council meeting and debated, and much TV and press coverage was partially successful in saving a third of the nursery staff at the Botanic Gardens, that fight goes on as it is again further threatened. Party members also joined the fight to stop the building of thousands of houses on green belt land.

DECLARATION

The Southport Party will continue to help and advise residents with their concerns if possible, and wage campaigns against matters of public concern, and will continue to hold open meetings twice a month at the Royal Clifton Hotel. The Party will continue to put forward candidates in selected Southport Wards, however with or without councillors our resolve is to drive up the Standards that are neglected by Sefton Council to those expected of a safe, clean and friendly resort, and to press for a return of the quality of services and facilities we used to enjoy in Southport when it had the lowest rates in the country, including a reversal of the creeping centralisation to Bootle when the opposite was promised. The Southport Party is an apolitical self funding party dedicated to Southport and its residents.

D.C.Cobham. Political Secretary. November 7th 2011