September, 2014 | A blog about Wirral Council, Wirral Council's councillors & officers

Expense claim forms for Councillor Tony Smith 2013 to 2014 reveal mysterious Lyndale School meeting in February 2013

Councillor Tony Smith (Cabinet Member for Children and Family Services) at the Special Cabinet Meeting of 4th September 2014 to discuss Lyndale School L to R Cllr Stuart Whittingham, Cllr Tony Smith, Cllr Bernie Mooney and Lyndzay Roberts — Councillor Tony Smith (Cabinet Member for Children and Family Services) at the Special Cabinet Meeting of 4th September 2014 to discuss Lyndale School L to R Cllr Stuart Whittingham, Cllr Tony Smith (Cabinet Member for Children and Family Services), Cllr Bernie Mooney and Lyndzay Roberts

Councillor Tony Smith is a Labour Party councillor for Upton ward. He is the Cabinet Member for Children and Family Services. His expense claims relate mileage claims for travel to Cabinet meetings, the Youth Parliament meeting in November 2013, Council meetings, meetings of the Health and Wellbeing Board, meetings of the Schools Forum, meetings of the Children’s Trust Board, attendance at a social workers conference at the Floral Pavilion, the meeting of 5th February 2014 to consider the Lyndale School call ins, meetings of the Youth and Play Service Advisory Committee, a safeguarding meeting at Acre Lane, meetings with staff, training sessions and a meeting with parents and “Mr D” (or possibly “Ms D” or “Mc, D”) at Lyndale School on the 1st February 2013.

Some of his claims were not allowed, all seven disallowed claims relate to Cabinet meetings.

The meeting with parents and the mysterious “Mr D” (or possibly “Ms D” or “Mc, D”) on page 7 at Lyndale School on the 1st February 2013 comes as a surprise to me and this was three weeks before Wirral Council valued the land and buildings at Lyndale School at £2,696,103.00 and many months before the plan for closing the school became known to the public just before Christmas 2013.

Could the mysterious “Mr D” (or possibly “Ms D” or “Mc, D”) referred on page 7 be David Armstrong (Wirral Council’s Assistant Chief Executive/Head of Universal and Infrastructure Services)? Mr David Armstrong has responsibilities for school assets such as the land and buildings is on or does it refer to someone else? Who were the parents and the mysterious “Mr D” (or possibly “Ms D” or “Mc, D”) that Cllr Tony Smith met with at Lyndale School? What was talked about at this meeting and what was it about?

UPDATED 15:51 Lyndale School visitors’ book shows that Cllr Tony Smith, Julia Hassall and Dawn Hughes all signed the visitors’ book around the same time on that day. It is possible that Cllr Tony Smith is referring to parents + Mc (referring to Alison McGovern MP) and D (referring to Dawn Hughes).

Back in February 2014 David Armstrong denied he had visited the school and that anyone else in his team had gone to look at Lyndale School.

David Armstrong stated at a public meeting on the 27th February 2014 “I can honestly say Councillor Fraser that I don’t know the answer because I’ve deliberately because I don’t want it to confuse the debate and become a distraction, we have done no action whatsoever looking at the Lyndale site.

I said to Pat this evening after the parents spoke at the last meeting, I would very much like to have visited the school and have a look around, so I did talk to Pat but also to remind myself about the school as I was a mainstream teacher.

I deliberately haven’t done that because if I go to the school particularly with my current monitoring responsibilities everyone will think I’ve come to look at the building or look at the site or look at the land. I know the area that the site occupies but genuinely myself and no one else in my team that work with me would have come to look at the site. So I couldn’t actually quote that figure tonight.”

and

“I tried to explain, that I am known as the asset person in the Council and currently I have all the baggage and tags that go with that. There has been no work done on looking to dispose of the site.”

Below are the nine pages of expenses forms submitted by Councillor Tony Smith.

Updated 20/10/2014 Wirral Council provided a further six pages of expenses forms for Councillor Tony Smith which can be viewed here.

Cllr Tony Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 1

Cllr Tony Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 2

Cllr Tony Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 3

Cllr Tony Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 4

Cllr Tony Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 5

Cllr Tony Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 6

Cllr Tony Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 7

Cllr Tony Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 8

Cllr Tony Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 9

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Objection to Traffic Regulation Order (KO) for Birkenhead Market Service Road

Public notice of proposed traffic regulation order (9th July 2014) Wirral Globe Birkenhead Market Service Road

Below is our objection to the proposed traffic regulation order for Birkenhead Market Service Road. If you wish to also object the closing date is Friday 26th September 2014. A copy of the plan of which parts of the Birkenhead Market Service Road will be affected by the proposed Traffic Regulation Order can be downloaded from here. These plans are provided under the “fair use” provisions for news reporting in s.30 of the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988 c.48 and have already been provided to the public but are copyrighted by Ordnance Survey.

Surjit Tour,
Wallasey Town Hall
Brighton Street,
Seacombe
CH44 8ED

134 Boundary Road,
Bidston,
Wirral
CH43 7PH

Dear Surjit Tour,

Your reference: KO (proposed traffic regulation order for Birkenhead Market Service Road)

Below are our objections (from both John and Leonora Brace) to the proposed traffic regulation order for Birkenhead Market Service Road which is being consulted on (the consultation closes on 26th September 2014).

The public notice for the proposed traffic regulation order was first published in the Wirral Globe on the 9th July 2014 with a closing date for objections of the 1st August 2014. However as a copy of the proposed order, Council’s statement of reasons and map had not been made available to the One Stop Shop, Town Hall, Seacombe when we visited on the afternoon of the 9th July 2014, it was agreed that in order for the Council to comply with the Regulation 7(3) of SI 1996/2489 that a further public notice would appear in the local press (with the necessary documents being sent to Council offices for inspection by the public during the consultation period).

This notice was published in the Wirral Globe on the 3rd September 2014. A meeting was held on site to discuss the proposed traffic regulation order on the afternoon of 17th September 2014 at which Leonora Brace, John Brace and two Wirral Council officers were present. This meeting gave an opportunity for both sides to discuss the outstanding objections we had to the readvertised traffic regulation order and to observe levels of parking in the area of the Birkenhead Market Service Road at that time.

The reasons behind the proposed traffic regulation order were explained to us by officers. The effect of the traffic regulation order (if agreed) would be to prevent parking by Blue Badge holders, as all of Birkenhead Market Service Road that was not a loading bay would have a “No waiting and no loading at any time” restriction (known as double yellow lines with kerb blips which prevents parking by Blue Badge users).

If agreed, it would displace those drivers with a Blue Badge that can park there for up to three hours to elsewhere in the area of Birkenhead Market. Although Blue Badge users can park in Council car parks without any restriction on length of stay, at the time of the site visit the nearest Blue Badge spaces in the Council car park next to Birkenhead Bus Station were all in use.

The Pyramids multi-storey car park was referred to by officers both by email and during the site visit as a potential solution to the displaced parking that would result, however it was confirmed to me by a member of the Pyramids staff that although parking there is free on a Sunday, that during Monday to Saturday a charge is made for parking. We were both told that the Pyramids Shopping Centre is one of the two bodies that are funding this traffic regulation order (the other being the organisation that runs the Birkenhead Market Hall).

During the site visit, one of the stall holders at Birkenhead Market expressed concern over the potential effect on his customers. It was clear there was confusion about the proposed traffic regulation order and there had been no consultation with each stall holder at Birkenhead Market to explain the proposed changes.

Individual stall holders have a sublease which allow them to park for up to an hour in the Birkenhead Market Service Road. Their rights are detailed in the sublease between Birkenhead Market Limited and Birkenhead Market Services Limited (which is defined in the lease as an overriding lease) and the obligations towards stallholders are specified in section 1.1 (Right to use half width of access road) and 1.2 (Rights over Market Loading Bays). There is also a lease between Wirral Council and Birkenhead Market Limited dated 31st July 2003.

Some stall holders are also in receipt of a Blue Badge, therefore can now park in some stretches of the Birkenhead Market Service Road for up to three hours. However if the proposed traffic regulation order is agreed, these disabled stall holders will be restricted to only the hour they are now granted under the sublease.

During the period of consultation on this traffic regulation order, a car parking review was undertaken by councillors which reported back to councillors on the Regeneration and Environment Policy and Performance Committee on Monday 22nd September 2014. One of the recommendations to a future Cabinet meeting agreed at that meeting was “Cabinet approves the following ‘Objectives’ and ‘Principles’ which should provide a guiding framework for any future Car Parking strategy.” which included the following objective relevant to this objection:

“To provide sufficient numbers of disabled parking spaces in good proximity to shops and services.”

Whereas we realise that this recommendation is yet to be agreed by a meeting of Wirral Council’s Cabinet, the traffic regulation order as proposed would prevent parking for Blue Badge holders in the Birkenhead Market Service Road (whether customers, market stall holders or others) and displace these drivers elsewhere. As observed on the site visit, the nearest disabled parking spaces in the car park by Birkenhead Bus Station were all in use, which would force drivers with mobility problems further away from where they shop or work. The lack of spaces nearby could displace these drivers to the Pyramids car park where on a Monday to Saturday they would be charged for parking.

It is understood that a minority of careless drivers who do park in an obstructive way in the Birkenhead Market Service Road and that this can cause problems for commercial traffic wishing to load and unload. However there are existing powers to traffic wardens and the police to deal with such matters and the existing Blue Badge holders parking responsibly shouldn’t be penalised for the actions of other drivers and forced to park elsewhere!

The public notice about this traffic regulation order published in the press on Wednesday 9th July 2014 details five proposed sections on Birkenhead Market Service Road of over thirty metres of “No Waiting” and four restrictions on stretches on the Birkenhead Market Service Road of over 30 metres in “parking bays” with an exemption in the parking bays for goods vehicles.

Regulation 9 of SI 1996/2489 states that if the proposed traffic regulation order prohibits loading and unloading by vehicles of any class for a total distance of more than thirty metres out of fifty metres on one side of any length of road and an objection is made, then a public inquiry has to be held before making such an order.

If Wirral Council agrees with us that a public inquiry should be held on this matter, then the regulations require a further public notice published in the local press at least three weeks before the inquiry is held.

Our last points are that Wirral Council has duties under various pieces of legislation (Equality Act 2010 c.15, Disability Discrimination Act 2005 c.13 and Disability Discrimination Act 1995 c.50) not to discriminate against the protected minority of disabled people in the way it carries out its procedures and policies. The traffic regulation order, if agreed, would prevent disabled shoppers in receipt of a Blue Badge parking in the Birkenhead Market Service Road. It would also restrict disabled market stallholders in receipt of a Blue Badge parking in the Birkenhead Market Service Road from the current three hours they have to the one hour that they are granted under the sublease. It appears that this latter group of people has not been directly consulted in this matter.

For these reasons, whereas we both understand the commercial reasons why the Pyramids and Birkenhead Market Hall want Wirral Council to grant a traffic regulation order to help deal with obstructive parking on the Birkenhead Market Service Road, we formally object to the proposed traffic regulation order and look forward to hearing from you in the near future about how you wish to proceed in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

John and Leonora Brace
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Previous articles on this matter:

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Expense claim forms for Councillor Harry Smith 2013 to 2014

Councillor Harry Smith is a Labour Party councillor for Bidston & St. James ward. During the period these expense claims cover, he was Cabinet Member for what is now called Highways and Transportation but was previously called Streetscene and Transport.

His expense claim forms cover his work as a Cabinet Member (referred to by the initials CM on the forms), work on Wirral Council’s Pensions Committee (which manage the Merseyside Pension Fund worth billions of pounds), conferences & training, housing association meetings (where he was a Wirral Council representative), an employment appeal (the trade unions are still in dispute over this being decided by officers now and not councillors and this looks like it may have been one of the last decided by councillors), the Beechwood Joint Management Committee (on which he was a Wirral Council representative), full Council meetings, a Cabinet “Away Day” in July 2013 with the Chief Executive Graham Burgess, a meeting of the North Birkenhead Development Trust (which runs the St James Centre in Laird Street), a leadership program meeting in Acre Lane, a site visit in his role as Cabinet Member and a meeting at the Floral Pavilion about the flooding in New Brighton.

The sixteen pages of claim forms covering this period are below.

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 1

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 2

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 3

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 4

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 5

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 6

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 7

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 8

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 9

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 10

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 11

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 12

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 13

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 14

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 15

Cllr Harry Smith expenses claim 2013 2014 page 16

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Wirral Council pay £172,910 + VAT + expenses to consultants to help find £2.5 million of savings (Future Council)

Future Council Wirral logo

Information revealed by Wirral Council in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by Councillor Paul Hayes has stated that fifty-three of its staff are working on the “Future Council” project, which is the current consultation (closing on the 31st October 2014) to find £2.5 million of savings. The “Future Council” consultation launch was reported on by this blog earlier this month.

All fifty-three staff were asked to sign “confidentiality statements” and “conflict of interest” forms to do with their “Future Council” work. Councillors on Wirral Council’s three scrutiny committees have recently agreed to behind closed doors meetings to discuss the budget options during the consultation period.

However Wirral Council also revealed that the “Future Council” project is also supported by a team of four consultants from EY (previously called Ernst and Young) at a cost of £172,910 + VAT + expenses. This comes on top of a recent scandal about another set of consultants that Wirral Council hired called V4 being paid more than was authorised by politicians (as revealed by the Liverpool Echo in the last few days).

Certainly Wirral Council paying outside consultants £172,910 + VAT + expenses will not go down well with either the trade unions or staff facing the prospect of being made redundant.

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Expense claim forms for Councillor John Salter 2013 to 2014

Councillor John Salter is a Labour Party councillor for Seacombe ward. His five expense claims are all for travel to the Manchester Port Health Authority (which are mainly for trips to Runcorn). During this period he was Wirral Council’s only representative on the Manchester Port Health Authority which according to its website is “the local authority for the Manchester Ship Canal and River Weaver including the ports of Eastham, Ellesmere, Manisty, Stanlow, Ince, Weston, Runcorn, Partington, Irlam, and Salford.” Its website goes on to state “The Authority, originally Manchester Port Sanitary Authority, was established in 1896 following the designation of the Manchester Ship Canal as a customs port.”

I presume the Manchester Port Health Authority runs along similar lines to the Mersey Port Health Authority (which Wirral Council has six councillors on) which I wrote about earlier this year after having attended its meeting in July.

Councillor John Salter’s expense claims (below) are for travel in his car to and from meetings of the Manchester Port Health Authority as Wirral Council’s representative.