Chris makes home visits

HAVE you got a problem a councillor could solve?


One leading Metro councillor has come up with a novel idea of making sure he reaches all the people in his ward who need him.

Aspull and New Springs Coun Chris Ready has started door-to-door surgeries, believed to be the first in the North West.

Residents who requested a visit were also surprised to find new Wigan MP Lisa Nandy joining forces with Coun Ready with her own offers of help for their queries and problems.

He put out leaflets in Whelley’s Top Lock Estate with a special communication and residents who want a personal call from the councillor were asked to post the side of bill placed ‘Call’ in a front window so that he could give them a knock during a special visit on foot.

Currently, the system is running alongside Coun Ready’s conventional surgeries which are held at Aspull Library on the third Tuesday of the month.

But he hasn’t ruled out abandoning the old-fashioned methods altogether and replacing them with the new system in the future.

Coun Ready said: “I have set up a different way of going about running a surgery and it has certainly been well received.

“Councillors have always done surgeries the same way, book a room and advertise you are available between certain hours and then sit there waiting for people to turn up.

“Sometimes it can be very busy but on other occasions you can find yourself sat there twiddling you thumbs and thinking that you could be better employed in serving the community.

“So now, rather than waiting for residents to come to us with their issues, we are going to them.

“Every Saturday we are now planning to visit an area of our ward having previously leafletted between 500 and 1000 homes there the previous Wednesday or Thursday.

“Then, if residents have a problem and want us to call, all, they have to do is stick the leaflet in their window and we will be there.

“The MP is very keen on the idea and said that, barring engagements, she would hope to join us on most Saturdays.

“They can already contact us by phone or Facebook and a host of other ways, but now if they want to have a personal chat with us in person, all they need to do is out the leaflet in the window.

“People at the weekend seemed very glad to see us out and about and more than happy to talk.

”Of course you always get the people who say that they only see us at elections time but this has never been the case with our team.”