Monthly Archives: November 2010

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Gritting (continued) as the weather gets colder


Having received a phone call from someone (I presume based at Wirral Council) I now better understand why there are the problems with gritting (and complaints from residents).

Although I was told that routes on the list are being gritted, the grit isn’t being as effective as it could be due to the low temperatures. I was reassured that although the gritting team is working hard there are factors outside of its control. For example if the temperature drops too low for it to work.

I did ask why they weren’t using grit that works at the lower temperatures; the answer given was the other type of grit costs more. An added complication is that weather forecasts aren’t always 100% correct.

The person wanted to make sure I wasn’t “misleading the public”; so hopefully the above explains matters better. I will also be rereading the review from last year and looking into this in more detail.

Interestingly the cold weather seems to have led to more visitors to this blog. I might point out that Colas gave out the wrong information regarding Streetscene as it’s open from 8am (not 9am, which is what Colas stated).

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True grit edition (continued)


As gritting is still a problem we’ve both been in touch with Streetscene.

It’s interesting how my wife and I get a different response from Streetscene; but then I suppose there’s a red flag in respect to my name.

We’re doing our best. However I will point out that:-

It was a Labour led Council last year that (if memory serves me right) awarded the contract to Colas. As I did last year I brought up concerns about this contract however the Labour led council denied my Freedom of Information Act requests on grounds of commercial sensitivity. It then turned down a review of this request.

When £40 million is at stake I suppose the public aren’t entitled to know if the gritting is being done properly.

So if you wonder why it’s not done in-house anymore and the roads are icy – blame Labour and its policies of privatisation and subcontracting Wirral Council’s responsibilities.

Until the end of this financial year, Wirral Council is operating under a budget with Labour priorities in it.

Subcontracting services leads to massive problems with communication, monitoring contracts and complaints from the unions about changes to terms and conditions. In this case there are many from residents too.

In many cases, subcontracting is used as a “smokescreen”; to deny the public (and media) information over how their money is spent. It also sets up a convenient scapegoat if things go wrong.

Labour still isn't working

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Musical interlude – guess the blank edition


Strangely both I and my wife thought of a certain councillor when we heard this. I’ll leave it to readers to guess which leader and party we immediately both thought of!

I grew so rich that I was sent
By a pocket borough into local government
I always voted at my party’s call
And I never thought of thinking for myself at all

He never thought of thinking for himself at all

I thought so little,
they rewarded me
By making me the leader of the             Party

He thought so little,
they rewarded he
By making him the leader of the           Party

Now, landsmen all, whoever you may be
If you want to rise to the top of the tree
If your soul isn’t fettered to an office stool
Be careful to be guided by this golden rule

Be careful to be guided by this golden rule

Stick close to your desks,

Yes,

And never go to sea
And you all may be leaders of the            Party

Stick close to your desks and never go to sea
And you all may be leaders of the            Party

With thanks to Gilbert and Sullivan for the original lyrics. If you’d like to watch the original it’s on youtube here.

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Satellite tracking of gritters


I’ve just received an email from the Cabinet Member and the officers have written to her informing her that gritting had been done using the following log.

18:34:08 Ilchester Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH41 7BP – 0.01 119 8 298
18:35:08 Hoylake Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH41 7BZ – 0.29 275 22 287
18:36:08 Boundary Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 7PQ – 0.23 220 19 143
18:37:08 Boundary Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 7PF – 0.40 152 22 158
18:38:08 Upper Flaybrick Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 7PF – 0.10 056 17 261
18:39:08 Boundary Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 7PG – 0.25 315 20 328
18:40:08 Worcester Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 7QB – 0.26 342 21 033

Yes, the log is great; I’m pleased we have satellite tracking to keep an eye on the gritters this year! However it’s for the wrong route. As mentioned in my previous post, which has a link to the gritting routes, Boundary Road (split into two) is on two gritting routes.

The log is clearly showing gritting route 3 (Green), which wasn’t the one I complained about which was route 5 (Purple). All this would make better sense if I had a map to link to!

Has anybody else had problems like this when reporting roads not gritted (or anything requiring a location) or does this confusion explain how frustrated people were getting with Streetscene last year about it?

P.S. My address is well-known and was in the original email. I realise email responses can be tricky to deal with and people make mistakes however the subject line from the officer involved Phil Miner clearly stated “Fwd: lack of gritting on Boundary Road between Worcester Road and Bidston Village Road” . Perhaps I’m being harsh on people just trying to do a difficult job managing this contract; but it’s frustrating!

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Standards and why we need them at Wirral Council


I have had an interesting read of the full document pack relating to the Standards Hearing Panel of the 2nd/22nd November.

I was at the meeting referred to in July and had an unimpeded view and to what went on and heard what was said, although I’m not going to say what happened. Since then (unfortunately) there have been many full council meetings where similar things have happened.

Why it takes 16 months for a complaint (or complaints) in this case about a councillor to go from the complaint being made to a meeting to consider a decision as to what happens next is to beyond me. Surely (especially if a councillor is considering standing down in the next year) this is just giving them a licence to misbehave without consequences?

Needless to say, during this sixteen months (and most complaints seem to take that long), officers’ time, councillors’ time and in some cases when the report isn’t written “in-house” many thousands of pounds is spent.

It seems there are two possible reasons why it is dragged out so long (even after five councillors make a complaint).

Either

a) there is deliberate political “meddling” in the complaints process, whether directly or through officers or

b) processing complaints about councillors is not seen as a priority (or both a) and b))

The new procedure for complaints about councillors (which is to be decided by councillors and independent members of the Standards Committee this week), will hopefully make the system more understandable.

Since the MP expenses scandal, one wonders why local councils such as Wirral haven’t been forced to be more open about the expenses they pay to local councillors? Whereas I realise some may not like the extra scrutiny this would bring when staying at hotels and going on trips abroad at the taxpayer’s expense; as it stands the whole system is open to abuse.

Mind you; as some can’t even get basic arithmetic right on their election expenses forms; one wonders how they manage to fill out their expenses forms.

Two open questions to the readers (please answer in the comments – it’s not multiple choice so you can pick more than one):-

Do elected politicians behave badly because:-

a) it gets them more attention
b) their colleagues are so they see it as acceptable
c) they can get away with it
d) they know if they do get caught nothing can be done to stop them doing it again?

Does the media act as a watchdog on our elected representatives?

a) Yes
b) No
c) Sometimes

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True grit – problems with gritting on Wirral’s roads sorted by Con-Lib Dem council


Recently my wife and I have been receiving a large number of complaints from local residents about no gritting being done on the icy stretch on Boundary Road between Worcester Road and Bidston Village Road. Strangely the stretch of Boundary Road between Worcester Road and Upton Road has always been done (which is on a different route).

As regular readers will know I was raising concerns about gritting back in October with Cabinet members.

I am pleased to report that since raising it with the Lib Dem spokesperson, Conservative Cabinet member for Streetscene and Transport (and the Director of Technical Services David Green), today this road (which has always been on the gritted route has been gritted).

In an email received from Cllr Lesley Rennie, Streetscene and Transport (which I hope she doesn’t mind me quoting) she wrote “please be assured that the additional measures that we have taken this year will ensure that Wirral’s roads are made safe for use during any cold snap. We also have assurances that the amount of salt that we store will be enough to fight any cold period. I am always convinced that we must have road safety at the top of our priority list.”

The additional measures I presume she refers to include extra salt (which we will need this year as the cold snap has started early), GPS tracking of gritters and other improvements. David Green was requested to produce a map of the gritting routes, if anyone knows where it is on Wirral Council’s website could they leave a link to it in the comments?

At this point I’d better point out I do live in Boundary Road. The list of gritting routes is here. This stretch of Boundary Road is on route 5 (purple).

Route 3 (Green) covers the other stretch of Boundary Road.

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Cabinet – Part 5 – Corporate Resources


Westminster House is being sold to Wirral Partnership Homes for £1.9 million (as has been reported in the press) Part way through this item Cllr. Hodson declared a prejudicial and personal interest and left the room as the company he’s a director of cleaning company (based in Bidston & St. James) that cleans Wirral Partnership Home properties.

Clearly it wouldn’t be the done thing for a councillor to sell a building to make more money for himself! Although I’m pleased councillors are declaring interests as they should (unlike sometimes when they don’t).

Cllr Holbrook introduced a motion that amended the recommendations to include an overage clause as there seem to be the concern that Wirral Partnership Homes may make money in the future from the car park that is part of Westminster House. The sale of Westminster House will mean that Wirral Council will make more use of the North/South Annexes to Wallasey Town Hall.

Cllr Hodson then returned.

It was then agreed that a primary school in Eastham be sold to the Anglican Diocese of Chester.

Item 18 (a referral from the Audit and Risk Management Committee) sparked a discussion about the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. Cllr Holbrook added an extra recommendation pointing out that Wirral Council’s usage had been low and stating five areas it had been used in.

The main changes were (that are currently proposed by government) the requirement for a magistrate to authorise as well as changes to the level of crime it could be used for. Cllr. Green did ask for a clarification over hate crime; which the Borough Solicitor seemed to be at a loss to answer.

Due to the provisions in the criminal law – “hate crimes” – crimes where there is an element of victimisation based on a protected characteristic eg disability, gender, age etc can carry heavier sentences than usual. Although the Borough Solicitor Bill Norman didn’t know last night whether this would bring them into the category of crimes covered by RIPA under the new guidelines.

Cllr Elderton asked about the use of RIPA regarding cockle picking on Wirral’s beaches; bringing to Cabinet’s attention rubbish problems on Wirral’s beaches. It was pointed out that as the beaches are a public place, surveillance would not be covert and therefore not covered by the RIPA provisions.

There was no any other AOB so the meeting ended.

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Cabinet – Part 4 – Finance & Best Value


There was good news in report 11; of savings of £862,000 from the Insurance Fund.

A Labour councillor said something along the lines of £1 million down, £44 million to go.

Report 12 was amended, an extra clause 13.2/13.3 were added which requested a review is reported promptly as well as calling for internal audit to be more “closely aligned” with the Risk Management Strategy.

The ICT Strategy (report 13) was approved with Cllr. Green referring to it as a “good piece of work” that would “deliver savings”. He also mentioned the recent Employment and Appointments committee meeting.

Report 14 prompted some jokes about school meals as it referred to the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables. The Interim Director of Education informed the committee of the Healthy Schools status of Wirral’s schools. Although some schools had their own arrangements for school meals, the contract (being awarded to the Potato Man) was being awarded as the previous contractor had withdrawn.

Item 15 was a good news story announced by the Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group/Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Transport – Cllr Lesley Rennie.

As per previous years, there will be free parking on the three Thursdays leading up to Christmas after 3pm in Birkenhead/Liscard/Heswall and West Kirby.

In addition there will be a free Saturday morning of parking in Birkenhead on the 18th December, as well as all day on the 26th December and 1st January.

Hopefully this will support local businesses and shopping areas. Wirral Council will also be advertising and publicising this.

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Cabinet – Environment/ Regeneration & Planning Strategy – Part 3


Next was a report recommending that Wirral Council make more use of renewable energy in its buildings. A motion adding an extra recommendation was circulated (which called for a further report/action plan) including requesting working with social housing providers to generate cheaper electricity for tenants (and the Council).

This follows on from the Notice of Motion on the same topic on the 18th October 2010.

Item 8 explained the Regional Growth Fund, the LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership) was also mentioned. An upcoming meeting with Lord Heseltine was mentioned by Cllr Green.

A number of questions were asked on item 9 about Peel Properties request for a joint venture at Woodside, Birkenhead. This involved land owned by Peel, Merseytravel, Wirral council and another private sector business.

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Cabinet – part 2 – more education -EY Capital Grant/Birkenhead High School/Woodchurch High


Item 4 (the Early Years Capital Grant) which covered items such as furniture, IT and outdoor learning was approved.

So was the Capital Works, Contract Award and Final Business Case for the Birkenhead High School Academy which also goes for a decision on Planning Permission at a meeting next Wednesday.

Call-in was waived on this as they were keen to get the bid in to Partnership for Schools ASAP (although it will have to first wait for a decision on the planning permission first).

A project for about quarter of a million pounds was also approved to be put out to tender at Woodchurch High School.