Woodbank Office Solutions Continues Support for Liverpool Children's Charity with Impactful Donation

ANNALEIGH Livens, Early Years Manager at:- Greenhouse Multi Cultural Play and Arts Project was absolutely thrilled to receive a Konica A3 Printer, generously donated by Janet Bowden, Managing Director at Woodbank Office Solutions Ltd.

Upon receiving the donation, Annaleigh said:- "We use a printer every day to print all our important documents, educational materials, labels. Literally everything you can think of. Our organisation supports children with special education needs and those who speak English as a second language, making consistent access to printing services from Monday to Friday essential. We're very grateful to Woodbank for their generous donation. It has a massive impact on the children's lives."

The charity, based in Toxteth, works to provide children in the area with quality early education and out of School services. They support over 50 children and their families every week.

"I'm thrilled to be able to continue supporting the work Annaleigh and her team do at Greenhouse Projects, We've supported the charity with their printers for almost a decade and we will continue to do so." explained Janet.

Woodbank Office Solutions are 1 of the UK leading providers of Print and Document management solutions in the UK, with headquarters located in:- Greater Manchester, along with Regional Offices within:- Liverpool and Leeds.

Was Pier Press Release in Breach of Rules?

 

SOUTHPORT Pier is 1 of Britain's longest standing pleasure piers and stretches more than 3,600ft out over the resort's iconic golden sands. Since last year the structure has been closed to the public and Sefton Council has been increasingly questioned by local businesses as to what is going on about it.

Since is closure on safety grounds Sefton Council has been proactively engaging with various external stakeholders and potential funders in respect of the Pier and its future. This includes the National Piers Society, who visited Southport again this week and reiterated that the challenges Southport Pier faces are shared by Council owned Piers across the country.
Southport Pier Surveys.

It came as no surprise that issues related to the temporary closure of the historic landmark would pop up in the media, but the Conservatives in Sefton are calling on Sefton Council to explain why they chose to publish a potentially, politically sensitive press release during the local election campaign.

The rules relating to publicity by Councils during election periods, often known as:- 'purdah,' state that no publicity on matters which are politically controversial should be published.

Yet on:- 29 April 2024, just days before voters went to the polls across Sefton, a press release was put out by Sefton Council lauding the fact that a contractor had been appointed to refurbish the Pier, even though there is no money to pay the contractor yet.

Conservative Leader on Sefton Council, Mike Prendergast said:- "The rules are designed to make sure the ruling party can't simply use the Council for campaign purposes and influence the electorate. Southport Pier is a politically sensitive topic, during the local election campaign it was probably the most talked about single issue for Southport residents and businesses. I cannot for the life of me think why anyone at Sefton Council though it would be a good idea to put out a press release, on what was effectively a very minor part of the ongoing issues relating to Southport Pier. The rules on Council publicity are clear, if it's politically sensitive, don't publish a press release about it during a campaign period. What's even more bizarre is that the same press release could have been published at 10.01pm on 2nd May and there would have been no issue to be discussed and no questions to answer about timing or appropriateness. Why did a press release on Southport Pier have to be urgently published on 29th April as opposed to waiting a few days? Or to put it another way, why was it important to put out a:- 'good' news story about the Pier before the local elections as opposed to after the local elections? This has echoes of what happened in 2022 when the then Leader of the Council, Cllr Ian Maher, sent out a politically charged letter with Council Tax Bills to Sefton households. We think that Sefton Council tax payers deserve an explanation as to why Sefton Council decided to publish a press release on such a politically sensitive issue during a local election campaign. Is this a good use of public money and resources at that particular time? It may be that this issue needs to be examined by an independent body such as the Local Government Ombudsman to ensure the rules have been followed."

We have asked Sefton Council for a comment. Let us know your thoughts on this news item by emailing our Newsroom at:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com, or send us a message on:-  Mastodon, Facebook or Twitter.