A recent press report suggested the demeaning idea for a possible renaming of Southport to ‘North Sefton’ for electoral purposes, which even prompted one Councillor to call it idiotic. It was good to see a cross-party ‘up-in-arms’ reaction to this appalling insult which was reaffirmed at the Southport Area Committee meeting on 8th June.. Not since the great con trick which gradually turned the EEC into the EU have members of our Party witnessed such a deplorable bureaucratic and manipulative suggestion. This drip, drip erosion of our freedoms, town heritage and our sense of belonging continues under our own unwanted administration. Couple this with the current Brussels debacle and it begs the question: “Are we now seeing a direct threat to the basic concept of democracy?”

Our town has been a long-standing Classic Resort for over 100 years, as can be seen by the enclosed photograph. But now, over 50% of this heritage picture has been sadly replaced by ‘honky-tonk’ buildings, with cheap tent-like structures and a lofty block of austere flats. All this is dominated by a 50 metre high concrete ‘gallows-type’ structure which now straddles the Marine Lake, where there was once an elegant Victorian bridge as old as Blackpool Tower. This classic bridge, however, was neglected for over 30 years by Sefton Council, allowing yet another piece of Southport’s heritage to disappear.

So, long before the ‘yoke’ of the current administration descended upon the shoulders of our residents, Southport WAS already a well established Classic Resort and we don’t need a highly-paid consultant firm to claim that it is THEIR new concept for our resort. Residents are well aware of the fact that they already live in an elegant town which is something special to all of us. We should be proud of this fact and be prepared to defend it against current and future intrusive bureaucratic interference, thus protecting it against any further deterioration.