When our party recently suggested that an award should be given to our town’s gardening staff, in particular to their team leader, for producing such beautiful floral displays each year, creeping ‘seftonisation’ again raised its ugly head when a Council spokesman was quoted as saying that “there is no longer an award for the Freedom of Southport”.
Strange, isn’t it that the Council is quite happy to use the town’s name to enter ‘Britain in Bloom’ and even boast about winning this accolade occasionally, but when it comes to residents being so pleased that they may want to reward our town gardeners for their combined effort - surprise surprise! Sefton Council tells us that the ‘Freedom of Southport’ is redundant and cannot be used. It appears to have been binned and unceremoniously dumped without any public consultation on the matter.
Who are these people who are trying to force feed us with their caster oil bureaucracy? These very same people are using similar tactics in their stealth-like attempts to rename Southport into ‘North Sefton’. Even in the recent TV programme called ‘Coast’, some of our coastline was referred to as ‘Sefton Sands’ even though it is the name of a small hamlet near Maghull located some 5 miles from the sea.
With our heritage of over 200 years, Southport residents, who really are dedicated and proud of our historical town, should help to rid ourselves of this current ‘choking’ administration. It now appears that if we wish to recognise local and outstanding people who have been such a great asset to our resort we are not allowed to do so by the current cobbled together administration with its mere 31 year history. Sefton’s insignia, depicting an iron cross, could not be more appropriate.