My Liverpool 18

10/10/2026

Smithdown Road at Duddingston Avenue, 1906 and 2026

With St Barnabas church, right of centre, in the older one

09/10/2026

There has been a lot of local anger at proposals to make it harder to use Otterspool Tip and other local recycling centres.

The plans would restrict your number of visits per year, make you book in advance and bring ID, and ban bags of "mixed waste."

With the formal consultation now closed, the councillors in charge of Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority will shortly be asked to decide whether to approve these plans.

We believe this would increase fly-tipping across Liverpool (which already costs taxpayers £1Million a year to clean up) and make life harder for anyone who wants to get rid of their waste responsibly.

A petition has been launched to add pressure for these plans to be put in the bin. You can have your say at https://www.liverlibdems.org.uk/tip

09/10/2026

"must do better", would be the teacher's note on Liverpool Council's end of term report when it comes to recycling.

A recent report compiled following a Freedom of Information request by ‘every can counts’, shows just how bad Liverpool is at trying to send waste to be recycled but which is refused because it is …

08/10/2026

Last night councillors Liz and Andrew Makinson attended a public meeting to support parents and teachers alarmed at plans to transfer St Anthony of Padua Primary School in Mossley Hill into an academy chain.

The overall plans include 46 Catholic schools across Liverpool, with schools Our Lady’s Bishop Eton, Christ the King, and Our Lady of Good Help also set for the first wave.

A major concern has been the lack of meaningful consultation, with school governors have been threatened that they will be removed if they do not vote for the plans.

Public meeting hears vociferous opposition and widespread concerns at move from Archdiocese of Liverpool

06/10/2026

🎃 | The Reader is bringing a packed programme of Halloween and Bonfire Night events to Calderstones Park this autumn.

03/10/2026

Mossley Hill teenager Jake MacGregor-Howe & his family are campaign to raise funds following Jake’s diagnosis of Friedreich’s Ataxia.

Treatment for Jake’s condition isn’t available on the NHS yet. It will cost £300,000 in Germany. His family have already raised half of that total.

Residents who want to help can sign the petition calling for the treatment to be made available on the NHS at petition.parliament.uk/petitions/760461

You can also donate at justgiving.com/campaign/lifesavingtreatmentforjake
or text JAKE to 70460 to donate £5.

02/10/2026

More mystery at the Mystery

I have been told by United Utilities the work at Wavertree Playground (the Mystery) was paused at the beginning of September, and that shortly all the hoardings, equipment and offices will be removed and the grass and the whole area reinstated. However, this is to ensure the plans for the complex operation of installing this new system into the existing drainage network can be resumed properly and correctly in the autumn of next year. This will also mean that the associated work to put in a new huge valve in Dovedale Road under the surface will be delayed from June 2027 to June 2028.

I am delighted that this work will go ahead to safeguard road users on Queens Drive and the hundreds of householders who regularly suffer damp in their foundations, but it does seem to me to be a shambles that a decision was taken a month ago on the highly contentious project and that decision was not communicated to local councillors and residents. It was only a chance call into the site by one of my residents that alerted me to the situation and forced United Utilities into a clear statement.

My fellow Liberal Democrat councillors Carl Cashman and Lawrence Sidorczuk and I will ensure that local residents and park users will now be kept fully informed of any alterations to this timetable and will ensure they know what the implications are for the timing of traffic on the road system

We will work with United Utilities to ensure that the residents and park users are now fully briefed on the works to be done and the final handover of the park after completion in 2028.

In the meantime, United Utilities are offering some compensation to park users, and we will talk to a newly formed group of volunteers in the park and residents about how that money should be used.
Cllr Richard Kemp

01/10/2026

Rose Lane will be closed from 7am-2pm on Saturday 3rd October and Sunday 4th October for highway maintenance work.

Merseytravel has produced a web page explaining how this will impact bus routes https://www.merseytravel.gov.uk/travel-updates/rose-lane-(mossley-hill)/

80/80A and 201 routes will bypass Queens Drive, Rose Lane and Brodie Avenue. They will instead run along Mather Avenue on these days.

The 61 will run down Queens Drive, omitting Allerton Road and Rose Lane.

And the 68/68A service will use Queens Drive to omit Rose Lane, Dovedale Road, Mather Avenue and part of Allerton Road.

Residents and businesses have been requested to remove all vehicles from the road in the section of Rose Lane between Mather Avenue and the railway bridge before 7am on Saturday.

30/09/2026

After a slight delay, we are delighted to announce that the new play area in Calderstones Park has opened this morning.

Great news: Our new play area in Calderstones Park is almost ready to open.

Work is complete, but the equipment still needs to be signed off by safety inspectors on Monday. Assuming there are no problems, the swings will be attached and the play area opened to the public the same day.

Local Lib Dem councillors Liz and Andrew Makinson fought for this new playground to be built, after parents requested more equipment aimed at children who were outgrowing the main playground.

Liz and Andrew identified unspent money paid to the council by developers for green space improvements, and pressed for it to be used to expand the existing playground.

Parents and dog owners will be pleased to know that the footpath by the play area has also been rebuilt, removing the muddy puddles that accumulated there.

The council will soon start removing the life-expired wooden play equipment and tidying up the area.