What kind of jobs?

The government has slashed funding – much worse in the North West than in the South.

The heath service, care for the elderly, children’s services, police, fire service – everything will be drastically cut. 

To make up for the short-fall in grants, the council has to increase the amount raised in rates.  One way is to build more houses and to open land up to development.

But please note – the cuts in services can be reversed with a change of government: once the fields are built over, they are gone forever.

Of course we need jobs.  We are promised thousands of jobs by developers greedy for land.

What kinds of jobs are these?  Warehouses don’t need large numbers of workers – it is all automated. 

Maybe there will be a few computer programmers and a couple of managers.  And when the promised jobs don’t appear, once the warehouses are built, what can the council do then?

We need houses, they say.  But the existing population of St Helens is not growing. In fact it has fallen slightly in recent years. Who is going to buy all these four-bedroom detached houses? 

Commuters from Liverpool and Manchester, that’s who! 

And commuters are unlikely to do their shopping in the town or take part in the life of the town.  St Helens will become a dormitory, with no centre, no character, no sense of belonging.

It doesn’t have to be like this.  

I see plenty of empty sites and boarded up businesses when I travel round the town. We should concentrate development in the heart of the town, where the jobs are needed, with decent pay.

Lorna Lyst
Newton-le-Willows