‘Open cemetery whilst crematorium is being built’ says local MP
(24/06/09)

West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper is calling for the cemetery at Pippin Street to be opened as soon as possible as local families are bearing the extra costs of burying a loved one.

For years grieving families in West Lancashire have been forced to use burial grounds and / or crematoria in Liverpool, St Helens or Sefton. This has left families facing an extra ‘death tax’, which can cost them up to an additional £1,000 to bury their loved one in a neighbouring local authority area.

Over the past four years Rosie has been fighting hard to secure a crematorium and burial grounds in the area even though West Lancashire Borough Council declared that they were not obliged to provide a cemetery.

Throughout the campaign Rosie has listened to many really emotional stories of people having to bury their loved ones many miles away at substantial extra cost and who have found it difficult to visit the grave because of the lack of transport and distance. Some local residents have kept their loved ones ashes in their sideboard as there isn't a garden of remembrance.

Planning permission was granted for a crematorium and burial ground in October 2008 for a site on Pippin Street.

Rosie said:

“When I became an MP I could not believe that an area the size of West Lancashire had long run out of burial space and that the Local Council hadn't met their moral obligation to their council taxpayers. Residents who have a family member die pay a premium to get their relatives buried or cremated in nearby local authority areas. This is unjust, unfair and morally unacceptable. Now after four years we have secured planning permission and I am working to get the cemetery opened as quickly as possible although I do appreciate that the crematorium will take longer to build.

“The current situation is that the developer is negotiating with interested parties with a view to signing contracts and beginning work; as well as negotiations about the highway works associated with public transport access. I would expect the Borough Council to be active and supportive in working with the developer to get the facility open as soon as possible. West Lancashire residents need a cemetery now.”

MP gets written commitment from Jack Straw: “No plans for a prison in Scarisbrick”
(09/06/09)

West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper is reassuring any local residents still concerned that there are ‘no plans for a prison in Scarisbrick’.

Rosie secured the written commitment from Justice Secretary Jack Straw in a letter from his department and through an answer to a Parliamentary Question. Since Scarisbrick was revealed to have been on an early list of potential sites for so-called ‘Titan’ prisons drawn up last year, Rosie has been campaigning for absolute assurances from the Ministry of Justice that there are no plans to build a prison on the Southport Road site.

MP Rosie said:

“Jack Straw has confirmed to me, both in writing and through a Parliamentary Question, that the site was considered ‘not suitable for development’. He went on to say categorically that there are no plans to build a prison in Scarisbrick."

“I have sought further commitments and we’ve got as close as you ever can to being assured that it will never happen. I want to reassure all residents in the area that this means there will be no prison in Scarisbrick. I am grateful to hear this and I am sure Scarisbrick residents will be to. I have written to all constituents in the area already to reassure them about the situation but now I have this written confirmation I will be writing to local residents again."

“Let me be clear - I would oppose any plans to build a prison on this site.“

In his answer to Rosie’s parliamentary question, Justice Secretary Jack Straw said:

“The site at Scarisbrick was one of a number of sites brought to the attention of the National Offender Management Service as part of the site search exercise for ‘Titan’ prisons to hold 2,500 prisoners. It was assessed, but not considered suitable for development as a Titan. There are, therefore, no plans for a prison at Scarisbrick.” Click on the image to the right to view the newsletter sent out across Scarisbrick informing residents of the assurances from Jack Straw.

MP Rosie: “8 years is a long time to wait for a bus”
(12/06/09)

West Lancashire MP Rosie Cooper is calling on local bus company Arriva to act faster to ensure all of its buses are accessible for people with disabilities.

Rosie took up the case of a local disabled teenager, Victoria Young, who was left stranded in Wigan for 3 hours due to a lack of buses with low-floor access. After hearing about the incident, Rosie asked a question in a Parliamentary debate on public transport accessibility and asked what the Government is doing to ensure private bus companies are improving access to buses for disabled people.

Speaking in the debate, Rosie said:

“The Government's free concessionary travel pass shows commitment to enabling disabled people access to public transport, but it is rendered useless if private bus companies neglect their duty to provide accessible transport. I would like to ask my hon. Friend the Minister to agree that… no disabled person the length and breadth of this country should have to accept not being able to use public transport.”

Transport Minister Paul Clark said that the instance highlighted in the Advertiser of Victoria being stranded in Wigan for three hours before finally being forced to pay for a taxi at a cost of £17 was “totally unacceptable”:

“A concessionary bus pass or a disabled person’s bus pass will not help if there is no access to the facility in the first place. That is why the work we have been doing with critical operators… is intended to move us sensibly towards making accessibility a reality. Of course, we all want that to happen sooner, but the time scale is sensible in terms of meeting requirements and phasing in new vehicles.”

The Government has introduced legislation to ensure all trains are accessible by 1st January 2020, and all local scheduled bus services by 1st January 2017.

However, Rosie says this is not good enough:

“I applaud moves by the Government to ensure all buses will be accessible by 2017. However, although I realise that people may be used to waiting around for their bus to arrive, I think 8 years is a long time to wait for a bus by any standard. I have written to Arriva again to urge them to speed up their timetable for introducing accessible buses in West Lancashire and getting rid of the cast offs from the Wirral.”

We need confidence in school procedures
(24/06/09)

Labour MP Rosie Cooper sets out the issues raised in her Westminster Hall debate on procedures for appeals against school governing body decisions.

The debate intended is to highlight how the existing complaints procedures within schools governing bodies can fail children and their parents.

I argue that the current practices cannot guarantee that complaints will be treated with absolute independence and objectivity, how the very nature of governing bodies makes them reliant on education professionals, and the lack of alternative means for parents to make complaints.

The problems facing parents making complaints are illustrated by a number of cases, including one where they've had to wait for over nine months for a complaint to be investigated. Governing bodies are limited by time and training and are in many cases are often over-reliant on the education professionals. The very people against who parents are complaining. This is simply because of the close relationship between the headteacher and the governing body.

Also, where parents are dissatisfied with the outcome of a complaints investigation there is no further redress beyond the governing body. Once a school's complaints appeals committee has made a decision, this is the end of the road for the parents. Local authorities and government departments are loathed to interfere in local decisions and limited to specific areas in which they can intervene.

Ensuring minimum standards and maintaining the quality of decisions is one of the most fundamental problems with the governing body. There has to be an independent adjudicator whose role is to ensure that not only is justice done but is seen to be done.

In a previous research report, the respected Joseph Rowntree Foundation actually suggests that governing bodies are not structured to handle complex cases.

Therefore, I strongly welcome the new provisions with the Apprenticeship. Skills, Children and Learning Bill currently before Parliament, which proposes a new parental complaint service to be operated by a local commissioner and for this to be introduced as a pilot programme.

It remains the case, whatever system is introduced, that parents need to be assured that governing bodies will deal with complaints in a fair and unprejudiced way which reassures them that their concerns are being listened to and that their children's future education is protected.

Where this is not the case, parents must have the option to pursue the complaint with an outside body and seek justice, and young children have their voices heard and are protected.

This article is also published on the ePolitix website - to view the article through ePolitix, click here.

Comment for Advertiser on Association of Train Operating Companies Report
(16/06/09)

In response to the report Rosie said:

“I very much welcome the Association of Train Operating Companies report as it shows further strengthens the case for a railway in Skelmersdale. It is wrong that the largest town in the area is not connected to the rail network. I am determined that this must and will change. I have made my views on this issue known in my response to the initial rail consultation. In recent weeks I have met with Network Rail to express the absolute necessity for a railway station in Skelmersdale; and the real benefits it would offer local residents. I will continue to fight hard on every occasion to deliver a new rail link for the town."