Can you find the £883,000 in savings needed to keep Upton & West Kirby fire stations open?

Can you find the £883,000 in savings needed to keep Upton & West Kirby fire stations open?

Can you find the £883,000 in savings needed to keep Upton & West Kirby fire stations open?

                                                              

Dan Stephens (Chief Fire Officer) answers questions at a public consultation meeting in Saughall Massie to discuss proposals for a new fire station (20th April 2015)
Dan Stephens (Chief Fire Officer) answers questions at a public consultation meeting in Saughall Massie to discuss proposals for a new fire station (20th April 2015)

As the consultation closes in the next few days on the issue of closing West Kirby and Upton fire stations and building a new fire station at Saughall Massie (the consultation closes on the 18th May 2015) I thought it would be useful to publish the list of payments over £500 made by the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service over the past year.

Bear in mind that to keep both stations open, £883,000 in savings (or about £74,000 for each month) would have to be found from the revenue budget. Savings can’t come from the payments under the long-term PFI contract with Balfour Beatty Fire and Rescue NW Ltd for building new fire stations. I’m sure there are other long-term contracts that the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service have that some of the payments over £500 may be for.

Details of the ways in which you can respond to the consultation are in blog post about the consultation about fire stations on the Wirral.

Unlike Merseytravel, the Merseyside Fire and Rescue service publish both PDF files and comma separated values files of this information.

Below are links to the monthly lists of payments over £500 in both PDF and comma separated values file formats.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 April 2014 (PDF file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 April 2014 (CSV file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 May 2014 (PDF file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 May 2014 (CSV file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 June 2014 (PDF file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 June 2014 (CSV file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 July 2014 (PDF file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 July 2014 (CSV file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 August 2014 (PDF file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 August 2014 (CSV file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 September 2014 (PDF file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 September 2014 (CSV file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 October 2014 (PDF file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 October 2014 (CSV file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 November 2014 (PDF file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 November 2014 (CSV file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 December 2014 (PDF file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 December 2014 (CSV file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 January 2015 (PDF file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 January 2015 (CSV file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 February 2015 (PDF file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 February 2015 (CSV file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 March 2015 (PDF file)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service payments over £500 March 2015 (CSV file)

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Author: John Brace

New media journalist from Birkenhead, England who writes about Wirral Council. Published and promoted by John Brace, 134 Boundary Road, Bidston, CH43 7PH. Printed by UK Webhosting Ltd t/a Tsohost, 113-114 Buckingham Avenue, Slough, Berkshire, England, SL1 4PF.

29 thoughts on “Can you find the £883,000 in savings needed to keep Upton & West Kirby fire stations open?”

  1. G’day John Brace OBE

    You say

    Can you find the £883,000 in savings needed to keep Upton & West Kirby fire stations open?

    I ask is that part of the couple of million pound fraud of Wirral “Funny” Bizz?

    They won’t be hard to find in Portugal Ecca just ask for the village idiots.

    The village idiots that ran rings around “The Football Shit” “Humpty Dumpty” “The Shyster” “The Chamber Potty” and “The Garbage Lady” in no particular order of absolute stupidity.

    Ooroo

    James

    1. Mr Griffiths, you have certainly changed your Tune, it wasn’t the Village idiots that ran around the aka’s it was the other way around lost your bottle?

      1. Reps Me Old China Plate (See about “Phil the Dills Ugly Twin Brother with the comb over from Hell” in Morton Distortions”)

        I haven’t changed my tune you obviously never met Wirral Funny Bizz? incompetent, stupid, innumerate, illiterate, ugly, chaotic and that is just their qualities.

        I could go on forever about the ex-cons, pretend lawyers and dodgy teacher amongst them.

        Why are the 66 (65 one good man Simon Kelly) defending this lot?

        Even A4E new they were dodgy “Highbrow” has previous audit reports along with Grant Thornton Report.

        Where is that DCLG Report that was finished over a year ago?

        Ooroo

        James

    2. Griffiths, are you actually a whistleblower? If so, tell me how much it would take to pay you off and I’ll gladly stump up the cash, if only to see a cessation of the mindless drivel and ‘in-jokes’ that you spout off at every available opportunity.

      Oo-roo prick

      1. Mr Anonymous

        Read the Grant Thornton Report if you can read I am Whistleblower 1.

        Luv you.

        James XXXXXXXXX

      2. Hear hear Anonymous.

        Mr Griffiths, may I respectfully suggest that you stop spoiling this top quality blog with your drunken ramblings

        Ooroo Sport,

        Myron Bolitar

        1. Dear Myron

          No

          And in the cold sober light of day if Mr Anonymous wants to make me an offer I will be out of this dreadful place quicker than you can cowardly make up a new name.

          Ooroo

          James

  2. Good Morning Mr Brace and Mr Griffiths,
    May I respectfully suggest the following letter is written to Mr Robinson:

    Mr Robinson,
    Sir,
    I wish to respectfully point out that on a number of occasions now I have asked for the Police and Administration to be
    called in to Investigate what I have described as a “Serious Fraud”
    Myself, Colleague, former and present members of your staff have suffered and are still suffering because of the above mentioned Fraud and other matters.
    I have referred on a number of occasions to Also known as names (aka’s) for Fear of Retribution by these people. Myself and others would be prepared to stand up and be counted when it came to supplying evidence to the Police or Administration.
    I would further state that on more than one occasion, myself and others have either been interviewed by the people concerned and it is quite clear that a cover up is taking place. In the interest of Justice and Fair Play, that you now call in the Administration in one form or another.
    Finally, I would respectfully point out, that previous CEO’s have been made aware of this matter and other matters.

    1. Perhaps the framing of the letter and grammar be checked prior to it going to the relevant gentleman. Please insert after ” people concerned…. ” or not, as was their want “

      1. Reps me old China Plate (see Morton Distortions)

        You don’t seem to get that I went to “Highbrows” house to the police interview and they would not talk to me and would not let me witness “Highbrows” interview.

        Ooroo

        James

        Ps Heavens to Murgatroyd a witness they couldn’t have that I am amazed they let me in the room at all.

        I think mate it is up to Ecca to get his revolting specimens of senior officers to put their hands up as there is enough evidence to sink the three Queens “The Shyster””The Football Shit” and “Humpty Dumpty” in Stella’s Wirral Waters next week.

  3. Mr Griffiths continues because he is less cynical than am I.

    He sacrificed his job, and I mean that literally, in order to correct a basic fraud perpetrated by persons of no great calibre using the most blatant means and at the expense of vulnerable start-ups and of the greater Wirral public.

    The Police did refuse to interview him in 2012 when he had come over from Liverpool to Wirral to assist them. He was standing in the adjacent room of my house whilst the officers told me how they knew it was fraud but WBC and other councils never listened to their preventative suggestions, and how expensive it was to conduct a fraud trial.

    What has happened? Nothing except for further expense to the people of Wirral including a £50,000 bill from Grant Thornton and a wage bill for a dedicated counter-fraud officer, two Audit and Risk meetings attended by highly paid senior officers and….?

    No prosecutions No attempt to set an example. No civil suit for recovery even of any tiny sum. No disciplining of any staff in WBC including those who deliberately occluded and delayed the investigation, and those who condoned a grant recipient to cheat creditors.

    The purpose of this admirable blog is to allow light to be shed on the operations of a behometh that controls somewhere between £500 to £800m annually of our money. In the case of the wirralbiz scandal not even light has had any effect.

    Perhaps if the erdf audit finally publishes its findings, well overdue, then some EXEMPLARY result will ensue.

    As it stands the only persons punished adequately for this fiasco are Mr Griffiths himself, and that for telling the truth , and the Wirral public who had an unsuitable contractor foisted upon them by local government officers who, without exemplary chastisement are very likely to repeat the deed.

    Mr Griffiths may be using extravagant language because he is aware of other misconduct which given the truth that he has learned, that it is not enough to know something to be true in order to pass that truth through a law court whether in a libel suit, or in a criminal one.

    DCLG GIVE US PEACE AND AN EXEMPLARY CLAWBACK to WBC!!

      1. No more to you than to me!

        However boring it does remain the truth. We can if we want imagine an Utopia peopled by wonderful beings doing exciting things .What we have are mundane people doing humdrum things sometimes rather poorly, and often dishonestly.

        Yawn…

      2. Mr Davies

        I will continue to have my real name on my blogs and if Mr Brace continues to include them I suggest you don’t read me.

        I will continue to write about the deceitful cheats, liars and those not prepared to speak up at the Clowncill for the good people of Wirral, particularly the ones who have thanked me personally, that care about their hard earned taxes.

        Ooroo

        James

        Any relation to “Phil the Dill”?

        Oh no you said yawn…any relation to “The Pretend Friend”?

  4. Whilst I appreciate your Truth in the matter wirralbizz and no doubt sincerity on the part of Mr Griffiths. I am also aware of what it takes to put a case before a Court, prove it ” Beyond the Balance of Probabilities ” or
    ” Beyond a Reasonable Doubt ”
    The letter I suggested Mr Griffiths write is more than sufficient to suggest to the Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council both it’s Employee’s and Elected Councillors, under the Fraud and Corruption Policies to bring in the Administration or Police.
    In fact save the letter being sent to Mr Robinson or CEO, I am sure the people involved monitor this site and would be in a position to clear themselves, if they have not erased messages sent to them or Evidence, because whilst they were saving their master(s) ” Arse ” (Colourful Language). THEY WERE BURYING THEMSELVES!!!!!!!!!!!

  5. Wirralbizz, again I appreciate your Cander in these maters, it is not a new thing on this Blog. Why did someone change from ” It is the worst Scandal in Forty Years?” To the stance of Mr Hibro should say he was sorry?” (Not a Direct Quote) Mr Brace has the exact Wording, who got at him or to him? Yawn!!! Football Shirt or Both?

  6. Mr Griffiths and Wirralbiz,

    Respectfully, all I can see from a Wirral tax payer perspective via your numerous comments is a call for a significant drain on scarce public finances in a time of austerity.

    If your evidence had been substantial as you suggest, then the odds are that you would have been taken seriously by somebody – if not by Wirral Council then by one of the key Agencies that you say you have presented evidence to.

    I for one would prefer to see money spent on key services important to me and to my family rather than be diverted into another wild goose chase.

    Mr Griffiths, by all means continue to rant in inebriated outbursts but I for one will not read and frustrate myself anymore.

    Myron

    1. Myron there are 500 pages plus of published information from Grant Thornton attached to the 8th October 2014 Audit and Risk committee which patently report that there is a serious case to answer.

      GT recommend the council pursue wirralbiz directors beyond the protection of the limited company and do report that all files they looked at had elements of forged signatures ,altered dates and that wherever possible, wirralbiz was able to refuse co-operation on the basis that those agencies that you say would have taken up our case, had lost, mislaid or somehow failed to sign, contracts.

      It is those agencies that we have to worry about! The council itself admits that the counter fraud investigation by Dave Garry was not “fit for purpose” and indeed on 8th October (see John Brace’s excellent “whistleblowers assemble. blog posting) I adduced from documentary evidence how those very agency staff you refer to, dissembled and ran for cover.

      Look I am a busy man but like the Ancient Mariner, and until these sins have been purged and penanced, I must stop the wedding guest and tell this tale whether the guests leave “a sadder and a wiser man”.

    2. Hey MyRonnie ha ha ha

      Check this out

      Dear Mr Hobro

      I am writing to apologise for the significant delay in responding to your
      request for a copy of the investigation report in to the abuse of the
      Intensive Start Up Scheme. I am currently reviewing the information we
      hold and will endeavour to get a response to you as soon as I can. I
      appreciate you should have received a response by now and am sorry for any
      inconvenience caused.

      I have informed the Information Commissioner of our position in responding
      to this request.

      Yours sincerely

      Anna Canning
      Knowledge & Information Access Team
      Department for Communities and Local Government

      Link to this
      nigel hobro left an annotation (16 May 2015)

      and nearly a month later still no response. This report was written before February 2014, or the erdf auditor was telling me an untruth!

      My Ronnie

      Anna’ s words

      investigation report in to the abuse of the
      Intensive Start Up Scheme

      Ooroo
      James

  7. Myron

    I respect you not wanting to read me.

    A £2,000,000.00 approx fraud that would have gone unnoticed except for mainly “Highbrow” Hobro who still has the irrefutable evidence, the data base and if it is not dealt with how many times will it happen again?

    Then a cover up and added wastage of about £200,000.00 by Clowncillors and Officers with their conspiracy of silence.

    And please don’t get me started on the Wirral Gate scandal.

    You have in parts a rotten clowncil.

    Do I care if you don’t care?

    Ooroo

    James

    Ps Four years on the dole since blowing the whistle I don’t get that inebriated.

    1. Reps here again, if you want to rant I am sure Mr Brace will let you. I am sure Myron is as Sharp as a Needle and there is defo no fooling him/her Austerity is what we need to fight, not where the money has
      gone to create that A word and can we get it back or will it carry on to the next generations

  8. Well I for one enjoy James’s unique writing style which can only be appreciated if you’ve not been subjected to a full frontal lobotomy and tethered to a bed and gifted a complete charisma bye pass.
    I’d urge my friend James to react positively to these critical remarks and shovel out more of his ‘rants’ and make me smile and think, ‘how is it possible to hurt someone so badly because they chose to do the right thing.’
    Course, doing the right thing ain’t easy. Nobody said it was and clearly when you place yourself in harms way, in the path of public servants who don’t want to hear the truth, it’s pretty inevitable, particularly nowadays where there is zero accountability, your going to get hurt.
    My friend James got hurt and he’s perfectly entitled to pour as much scorn and ridicule on those who did it to him and long may it continue if anything I transmit is worth a jot of notice.
    I hope James my comments make you feel good about you. You take care lad.

    1. I love you Bobby 47 and if this country was full of ewes I would stay here happily for the rest of my natural and never eat lamb again..

      You know how much this has really really hurt me and I don’t even know you.

      You are what makes Britain what it is and sorry Bobby I don’t think the word is Great.

      Luv ya Bobby

      James

  9. Lads do yourselves a favour will you, get yourselves a job, fill your days you’ll feel better, ask the Government. Either that or give Jeremy Kyle a call…….

    1. Good Evening Mr/Mrs/Ms, etc, Davies quite apart from your ill manners and inappropriate tone (whilst entitled to your comments). Unfortunately for us, there are NO Jobs that offer professional people FULL TIME Employment, with Proper CONTRACTS of Employment (Zero Hours – Part Time – or Protection for Vulnerable Adults) Please do not get us started on Employment for Goodness Sake.
      As for Jeremy Kyle, it can occasionally be Good TV when there is a bit of a Scrap and it saves the DWP sometimes on the cost of BLOOD Test’s. Obviously you are a Shift Worker, unemployed or occasionally off during the Week.
      Unfortunately the issues mentioned on this Blog are Important and even effect yourself, if you took time out to consider and understand what is written. You sure that you have not got a close relative in Politics?

    2. G’day Sportless

      You have to be “Crabapple” or “Doughnut”.

      The lowest form of clowncillor.

      Ooroo

      James

  10. Good Early Afternoon to you all, I do hope we all got over our little spats and once again are concentrated on the issues that matter to the people of Wirral and the Nation. Well it would appear the Swearing in of New MP’s is taking place this week (elect). They maybe able to run around then placing names on seats, etc. Maybe one of them can give a Clear Concise Maiden Speech without interruption.
    I am now bored with the Topic of ” Fireman Sam and his Fire Station or Stations ” so I will do like “Crabapple” said and “Keep my Gob Shut”

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