The Work That Speaks For Itself
- Rory
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
A reflection on progress, place, and how not everything is broken
There’s been no shortage of things to criticise about Wirral Council. And I've done it. Loudly. Transparently. Sometimes repeatedly.
We’ve dug through FOI requests. We’ve tracked down consultation slides with more gaps than answers. We’ve listened to residents — not the pre-approved kind — and surfaced voices that councils usually dodge.
So here’s something you might not expect to read here: some things are working.
Not just on paper. In real life.
Birkenhead, at last
If there’s any town in this country that deserved investment, it’s Birkenhead. Not just money — attention. Belief. Care.
For decades, it’s been the town that happens after the funding’s run out. Poverty layered on top of neglect. Culture stripped out. Spaces shuttered.
So when regeneration landed — and not just in concept, but in cranes, parks, and music venues — it mattered.
Dock Branch Park is taking shape. Future Yard is thriving. Eureka! didn’t just open — it opened with ambition. Over £100 million in funding has been pulled in. This isn’t window dressing. It’s infrastructure. It’s momentum.
But here’s the harder truth: it’s not enough. Not yet.
Because the people in Birkenhead still walk past empty shopfronts. Still face barriers to healthcare. Still feel — in too many cases — like regeneration is something happening around them, not with them.
Engagement has improved. But the real test is coming. Will this change be felt beyond the town centre boundary lines? Will it last? Will it belong to the people who’ve lived through the worst years?
This is a start. A serious one. But it’s not a fix.
Action, not declaration
If climate action was judged by press releases, every council in the UK would be net zero by now. But Wirral’s done more than talk.
It switched to 100% renewable electricity. Upgraded 25,000 streetlights to energy-efficient LEDs. Planted tens of thousands of trees — not as a photo op, but as policy.
DEFRA called their pollinator plan exemplary. The Carbon Literacy Project gave them accreditation. This isn’t the solution to the climate crisis. But it’s delivery with consequences.
Measurable. Visible. Learnable. More of that, please.
A wall that didn’t hold — and a council that did
The West Kirby flood wall was meant to be a statement — £20 million to hold the tide. When the tide came, it overtopped. Homes were hit. Questions followed. But here’s what didn’t happen: denial.
The council owned it. Reviewed it. Took the storm seriously. And that, frankly, is rare. Not because it makes the wall work better. But because accountability matters.
Sometimes leadership looks like concrete. Sometimes it looks like saying: we’ll fix it.
The pandemic and the people
When COVID hit, Wirral didn’t wait.
Before most boroughs had drawn up a plan, hundreds of council workers were already out delivering food, checking in on the vulnerable, answering phones, finding shelter for those with none.
They redeployed. They responded. 17,000 food hampers. 892 volunteers. This wasn’t a headline. It was a lifeline.
And in the years since, that urgency has left its mark:
Vaccine outreach campaigns built on behavioural data.
Support services redesigned for dignity.
A children’s care system that’s finally stabilising after years of crisis.
It’s not flashy. But it’s what the job’s supposed to be.
In the small things too
Progress isn’t always a masterplan. Sometimes it’s in the bin you no longer smell. Solar-powered compacting bins in shopping areas. EV chargers in parts of the borough often forgotten. School streets that feel just a little bit calmer, a little bit safer.
And in places like Noctorum and Beechwood, where people have every right to feel overlooked, the council actually showed up — with clean-up crews, safety teams, skip hire and street presence.
Enough to win a Keep Britain Tidy national award. More importantly, enough to win a bit of trust back.
What this is — and isn’t
This isn’t a makeover. It’s not rebranding the council as flawless or re-spinning past criticism. It’s just this: When something’s working — say it. Reinforce it.
Because that’s how it grows. Because that’s how a council starts to become what it always should have been: present, competent, and part of the community it serves.
Not perfect. Not fixed. But finally, in places, functioning.
Let’s build on that.
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