Wirral's independent local news website
Welcome to “Sunday Snippets” a weekly feature from birkenhead.news. It is a round-up of important local news stories from the last seven days. Click or tap on each story to read the full article.
A kitten had an incredible 250-mile motorway journey when he hitched a ride under a lorry bonnet from Southampton and ended up in Wirral.
The cheeky hitchhiker was found by the lorry driver as he made a delivery from Southampton to the Asda supermarket in Liscard and could hear his engine purring in a more unusual way than normal.
Workers at the store went to investigate and found the nine-week-old black and white kitten covered in oil and very frightened but thankfully otherwise unscathed.
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Biffa has informed Wirral Council that they have been unable to reach an agreement with trade unions representing their workforce and planned industrial action beginning on Monday 5 December is now likely to go ahead.
This will affect all services provided by Biffa under their contract with Wirral Council for six days from Monday 5 December to Saturday 10 December, meaning there will be no household bin collections, bulk bin collection (including from schools), bulky waste collections, street cleaning or emptying of public litter bins.
To help mitigate the disruption, residents are being asked where possible to keep hold of their waste until the next scheduled collection date. Alternatively, residents can take both bagged general rubbish and loose recycling to their local Household Waste Recycling Centre.
Consultation on plans to make major improvements to one of Birkenhead’s key junctions and high street areas is now underway.
The proposals combine three schemes which would see changes to Grange Road, Charing Cross junction and Grange Road West in Birkenhead town centre.
The work follows the successful bid by Wirral Council for £2.969million funding package from the UK Governments Future High Streets Fund to carry out the improvements.
After a successful pilot scheme encouraging motorists to switch to a ‘greener’ way to travel, on-street electric charging points – provided through a number of lighting columns on Wirral streets – is set to continue.
More than 50 on-street electric vehicle charging points were installed around the borough in 2021, focused primarily in Hoylake, Wallasey and Woodchurch. These facilities made it easier for owners of electric vehicles to stay charged up and were aimed at encouraging more people to consider making the switch away from petrol and diesel.
The council committed to reducing the borough’s carbon emissions when it declared climate emergency in 2019 and the charging points, installed as part of a £100,000 scheme, help to provide the greener network that residents need to reduce their emissions too.
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A Bromborough charity is celebrating Christmas with its own seasonal shopping weekend and a ‘virtual’ Santa’s Grotto.
Wirral-based Autism Together has created these two events to help raise much-needed funds for the charity.
The festive shopping weekend is taking place at Autism Together’s recently reopened Bromborough Pool Garden Centre, giving the opportunity for the public to grab a range of Christmas gifts, with many items made by the autistic adults the charity supports.
Aldi has announced plans to start work on rebuilding its Prenton store at the end of this year.
The existing Aldi in Prenton store will temporarily close on Saturday 24 December at 6pm and is expected to re-open in November 2023.
A spokesperson for Aldi said that the business is committing to long-term investment in Prenton by replacing its current store with a new, modern food store and improving car parking for customers.
A campaign to provide some extra festive sparkle for hundreds of local children in need got underway this week with the launch of Wirral Council’s annual Christmas gift appeal.
Organisers are asking residents and businesses if they can donate different types of gifts to ensure presents are available for children of all ages – from babies up to 16-year-olds.
The appeal was launched in 2020, and thanks to the incredible generosity of so many people and businesses, it has helped to make sure that hundreds of local children and young people receive at least one Christmas gift.
Residents can now access a raft of new virtual and in-person Les Mills fitness classes at leisure facilities across the borough.
Partnering up with the international fitness brand, Wirral’s programme will include 38 virtual classes and 30 in-person instructor-led classes in the borough’s fitness centres every week.
Both members and non-members will be able to access Body Pump, Body Combat and more classes, led by virtual Les Mills instructors from across the globe. To host the new classes, leisure centres including Leasowe, Guinea Gap in Egremont, Europa in Birkenhead, and West Kirby have had new equipment and platforms installed, including large screens to host the interactive sessions.
HSBC UK has set out plans for its branch network in 2023, identifying those that will close, as well as outlining investment in its branch infrastructure and digital banking.
The Bromborough HSBC branch at 58 Bromborough Village Road, is scheduled to close in July 2023, as one of 114 branch closures earmarked for next year.
Over the past five years, use of the bank’s branch network by regular customers has fallen by 65%. Footfall in the vast majority (74%) of closing branches has reduced by at least 50%. The decline in branch use has accelerated so much since the COVID-19 pandemic that some of the branches closing are now serving fewer than 250 customers a week.
It is well known that museums and colleges deliver world-class public services to local communities, inspiring and educating young and old alike.
Now in a unique partnership, two are joining forces to inspire and engage the next generation.
Wirral Met College and National Museums Liverpool have committed to an educational partnership, which builds a programme of engagement and training, that will see students and local community members, actively informing exhibition content, taking part in workshops, talks, curriculum-based visits and work experience placements.
Tranmere notched up their ninth game in a row without a win across all competitions with a goalless draw at Northampton Town.
Rovers had the first real chance at goal just before the quarter hour, when Josh Hawkes forced Cobblers’ keeper, Lee Burge, to make a save.
Burge then pulled off an outstanding double save, denying both Kane Hemmings and then Paul Lewis on the rebound.
This is the birkenhead.news weekly round-up of police activity in and around Wirral during the previous seven days.
Visit our “What’s On?” guide for Wirral and the surrounding areas in the coming weeks.
See the What’s On? Guide …
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