Liverpool
Life
www.jmu-journalism.org.uk
30th - October - 2012
Fright night arrives in city
The news this week
Liverpool City Council has decided that £143m needs to be saved in Liverpool in the next four years, this is to include a huge £11m reduction in public spending. See more page 5
Crowds of people swarmed the streets of Liverpool today in search of Halloween costumes. Smiffy’s fancy dress shop on Bold Street has had customers queuing out of the door since last weekend. Meanwhile down at Curious Orange, Quiggins in Grand Central, this guy (pictured) was doing his job of terrifying visitors.
ROAD RAGE! By Josh Parry
Roadworks that have crippled Smithdown Road in Liverpool are now expected to take an extra four weeks, causing more delays for commuters in what one local business has described as a ‘disaster’. The work, which is a combined effort by Liverpool City Council and Scottish Power, started in late September and although it was originally planned to last just six weeks signs around the area are now saying warning people to expect delays for ten weeks. Businesses in the area are feeling the effects of the traffic problems, with some claiming the roadworks are causing decreased footfall. Sally Ayres, manager of Oxfam furniture on Smithdown Road, has hit out, saying that she was not notified and that it has had an adverse effect on her charity shop. Mrs Ayres said: “Everyone is
so frustrated with the roadworks, they’re just rushing past our shop and not coming in to browse as usual.” The amount of donations in the store means that Oxfam has to pay for a waste company to take away excess donations once a fortnight, costing the charity shop hundreds of pounds each time. Mrs Ayres explained: “Usually we’d have to pay for waste to be removed no more often than every three or four months. We fill up quite quickly, but because no one is buying we simply have no more room. We have three floors chock-a-block with furniture, meaning we’re paying out every one or two weeks to have excess donations removed.” Mrs Ayres also believes that, had she been informed in due course, the charity shop could have planned ahead to avoid the problems and saved hundreds of pounds.
Misery for shops as no end in sight for Smithdown disruption
Scottish Power roadworks have been blamed She said: “It has been a massive disaster that could have been avoided if we had some warning, we could have planned ahead and reduced the number of donations we were taking.” When the roadworks first began a representative from the council, Damien Richards-Clarke, speaking to JMU Journalism, said: “When they carry out work, the responsibility falls with the util-
ity company that is carrying out the work, in this case, Scottish Power. On the stretch of road, we have contacted every single business in the direct vicinity of where the works are taking place.” However, the recent extension to the original six-week deadline appears to be the subject of perhaps some miscommunication between Scottish Power and The Liverpool City Council, with a coun-
cil spokesperson admitting they knew little of the new timescale. The spokeswoman said: “We’re laising with Scottish power to see if they need an extension to their original deadline and we’ll be providing information as soon as possible. We had one meeting with them yesterday but we’ve come back from it and asked them to be more specific about what they’re trying to do and what timescale they want to do it in.” The roadworks are causing continious headaches and delays for commuters using public transport. trying to get through Smithdown Road, a main route to the City Centre. Aaron Gregg, a 25-year-old JMU Multimedia Computing student, said: “I was late to my lecture this morning as I had to wait for almost half an hour before a bus finally stopped with some room for passengers!”
New York City at risk as a deadly hurricane known as ‘Frankenstorm’ hits the east coast of America with devastating consequences. See more page 5
Gay arts festival comes to Liverpool from the 30th of October until the 30th of November. See more page 7
Steven Gerrard has critised Everton’s performance following this weekends Liverpool Derby Clash. See more page 11