The Justice for New Ferry Campaign welcomes the partial acknowledgement of the ongoing impact on victims by Wirral Council. However, it is clear that for those who lost homes and businesses, or for whom daily life remains a struggle with reduced footfall and the constant reminder of a devastated town centre, this is just a bandage on a gaping wound.
As council leader Pat Hackett noted, while avoiding the apology we requested for the council's failures in dealing with that major incident, the effects are not just financial but psychological, and ongoing. The figures he quotes for clearing the explosion site were simply basic clearance of rubble. We are left with dangerous, derelict buildings & empty spaces. Those who were billed for the demolition of their own homes & businesses, with threats of prosecution in the aftermath of a devastating explosion, have not been promised reimbursement.
We demand that reimbursement, that the explosion site is made safe and the town centre supported to return to the thriving community hub it was before. We can't wait for possible High Street grants or long-term development. We need action now. We have waited far too long.