Category Archives: Bidston Hill

by

What next for demolished Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory site (Joseph Proudman Building) on Bidston Hill?


What next for demolished Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory site (Joseph Proudman Building) on Bidston Hill?

Demolished Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Bidston Hill

First, a quick history of what’s been happening about this site. Last year in June, Wirral Council’s Cabinet received a report recommending demolition. People had asked the Cabinet about the effect of the Unitary Development Plan change in 2004 on a decision to demolish it, so as nobody seemed to know whether this was still in effect, a decision on it was deferred to the meeting on the 9th July 2012.

The Cabinet meeting on the 9th July 2012 was in postponed to the 10th July 2012 and was told that the bit of the Unitary Development Plan relating to Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory had been deleted in 2007. However between June and July an application had been made to English Heritage for listed status. A decision was then deferred again to Cabinet’s meeting of the 6th September (in the hope that English Heritage would’ve decided on listed status by then).

It wasn’t on the Cabinet agenda of the 6th September or the next meeting of the 27th September. By October a decision had been reached by English Heritage not to accept the application for listed building status and on the 8th October 2012 the Cabinet Member for Corporate Resources, Cllr Adrian Jones gave consent to demolition (effective from the 16th October) for the Joseph Proudman Building. Since then it has been demolished by Hunter Demolition.

Wirral Council owns the site of the former Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, but NERC (the Natural Environment Research Council) has a 99-year lease from 1973. Wirral Council receive £1,800 a year rent from NERC. However NERC have tried to sell their lease. Local residents are concerned that now the building has been demolished that there could a residential development on this site, especially as the Lighthouse Cottage and Bidston Observatory are now being used for this purpose.

In the evidence base (see page 112) for Wirral Council’s Strategic Housing Land Availablity Assessment 2012 it is listed as a site (it lists it as Bidston Observatory but the coordinates are for the Joseph Proudman Building) with a capacity for thirty-eight dwellings. This document gives it an achievability score of 3 (which means development of the site could be achieved in the next five years). It states in that document “Car park and other building require demolition/conversion” (which has already happened).

Any decision on new housing on the site of the Joseph Proudman Building would be first need planning permission and being a major development would be decided by Wirral Council’s Planning Committee. A future request for planning permission would attract opposition from local residents wanting to keep Bidston Hill as it is, its impact on the existing listed buildings (the Lighthouse and the Observatory) would also need to be considered. Until that happens the future of the site is up to NERC and Wirral Council.

Related articles
About these ads
by

Cabinet (Wirral Council) 10th July 2012 Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory saved from demolition


Well due to an application made to English Heritage for listed status for the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Wirral Council’s Cabinet decided not to demolish it. This decision had already been deferred from an earlier meeting.

Cabinet also approved an amended Corporate Plan and a consultation on corporate and business planning.

by

Cabinet (Wirral Council) 21st June 2012 Part 1 Oval Leisure Centre lease to Wirral Met, future of Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Bidston Hill


The agenda and reports can be found here.

Present
Cllr Phil Davies (Chair)
Cllr Ann McLachlan
Cllr Adrian Jones
Cllr Anne McArdle
Cllr Chris Meaden
Cllr Tony Smith
Cllr Pat Hackett
Cllr George Davies
Cllr Harry Smith

The Chair, Cllr Phil Davies welcomed those present to the first Cabinet of the municipal year. He hoped in the future they would have a more focused agenda and not a shopping list. Cllr Phil Davies said that they would be looking at corporate governance and the new corporate plan at a special Cabinet on Monday 9th July. The good news of £40 million of investment in Port Sunlight by Unilever was also something he wanted to highlight. Hillbark Hotel had been awarded a five-star rating and was the only hotel awarded five stars on Merseyside. He asked for any declarations of interest.

Cllr Ann McLachlan declared a prejudicial interest in item 19 (Lease of Land at the Oval Leisure Centre) by virtue of being a governor at Wirral Metropolitan College.
Cllr Pat Hackett declared a prejudicial interest in item 22 (Portas Pilots Round 2) as he had helped the Town Teams with their bids.
Cllr George Davies declared a prejudicial interest in item 12 (Tranmere Rovers Sponsorship Agreement 2012/2013) as he was on a Tranmere Rovers board.

The minutes of the meeting held on the 12th April 2012 were agreed.

The Chair said he would bring item 19 (Lease of Land at the Oval Leisure Centre) forward as there were a number of people here for it. Cllr McLachlan having previously declared a prejudicial interest in the matter left the room.

Ian Brand, Head of Asset Management gave a verbal report summarising the report on the agenda. He said there had been an objection to the disposal of the land, but that a decision had been made to lease the land to Wirral Metropolitan College for new facilities. Section two outlined the planning permission granted on the 24th May, which had been advertised publically. The objection to the sale of the land was outlined in 2.10, there was a request that call-in be waived, so that work could start as soon as possible.

Cllr Adrian Jones said he was mindful that Cllr Stuart Kelly had made representations, but it was necessary to make a decision. He had made a delegated decision to proceed and the local councillors had been involved. The college had arranged a briefing and the decision had been published. Cllr Jones thought it was a win-win and was surprised there were suggestions for further consultation as the opportunity for consultation had been there, he believed he’d taken the right decision.

Cllr Phil Davies said he had concerns that it had taken three months to respond to the complaint and that corporate governance needed to get better so that they dealt with complaints promptly. There was a criticism that officers were not impartial and he believed the complaint should’ve been dealt with more quickly.

Cllr Adrian Jones moved the recommendation at 12.1 .
Cllr Phil Davies asked the Acting Chief Executive if it was ok to waive call-in.
Ian Coleman said he was satisfied that they did.

Cllr Ann McLachlan returned.

Cllr Phil Davies said he had been made aware there were a number of members of the public here about the item involving Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory on Bidston Hill.

Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Bidston Hill

Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory, Bidston Hill (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ian Brand said that it was a request from their tenant NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) to demolish the modern building constructed in 1973 on which they held the ground lease. The tenant would still remain responsible for the rent and maintaining the boundaries. NERC had tried to dispose of their interest, but failed, it was costing NERC money to maintain and the intention was to demolish the building.

Cllr Harry Smith said he had had a conversation with a concerned constituent who had made reference to the Unitary Development Plan from 2003/2004, but there was nothing about the UDP in the item, did Ian have information about that decision?

Ian Brand said that section 11 dealt with planning and that demolition did not require planning consent.

Cllr Harry Smith said he had been quite specific about the Unitary Development Plan and asked for deferment until there was further investigation.

Cllr Adrian Jones said that in principle he supported delaying the decision, he had had a phone call from Graham Clark who was best known for his association with the egg run who had similar reservations.

Bill Norman said the decision could be delegated to the portfolio holder.

Cllr Harry Smith said he was not happy and had further questions, he asked for it to come back to Cabinet.

Cllr Phil Davies said there were alternatives uses suggested at 2.5 and 2.6 and that they could use the special Cabinet meeting on the 9th July to have a report back on the alternative uses and UDP.

He have notice that he wanted to take an urgent item of AOB on the Liverpool City Region City Deal.

On item 3 Cllr Phil Davies had the following proposals.

On minute 360, it was consistent with the Improvement Plan, but could be brought to the special Cabinet on the 9th July and the Improvement Board. Minute 361 reflected on how they operated in practice, but there was the danger of adding another layer of decision making and bureaucracy, he said they had the scrutiny committees and Improvement Board, but he’d like to suggest a Leader’s Board which would be a forum to meet together to discuss issues of strategic importance. It would be an advisory not executive body. This was agreed by the Cabinet. On minute 362, he needed to confirm there was the £250,000 required and asked for a further Cabinet report. Minute 365 was the suggestion of the new administration, there would be a peer challenge in July and they would appoint an interim Chief Executive, he suggested they park the idea with the exception of the performance development and appraisals process. Minute 367 referred to an independent external ombudsman to deal with employee concerns, Cllr Phil Davies was not convinced this would add value to the organisation, he said there were already a raft of procedures on whistle blowing and grievance that they had to make sure worked effectively, so he wanted no action on minute 367. He agreed with 368 which he had read again and was a good document, he confirmed that since minute 372 a new procedure on compromise contracts had been agreed by the Employment and Appointments Committee.

by

Bidston and Claughton Area Forum 12th June 2012 Part 2


Colette raised the issue of the NHS doing armchair exercise with a pensioner’s luncheon club, she said the NHS had only guaranteed to pay for the coach for a further nine weeks, after which they’d have to pay. She said the existing coach was very good and that Arrowe Park Hospital were referring people to them.

In response to a question Colette clarified that the coach was a person and not a transport issue. It was pointed out that a decision over the Area Forum funds wouldn’t be made until October.

Michelle Gray pointed out that the St James Centre also had funding for community projects.

Donnie asked if the £83,000 included Your Wirral funds?

Michelle Gray said no as that was dealt with by regeneration and Wirral Partnership Homes.

John Cocker suggested they could put the existing IT suites in the community centres to better use, but that they needed someone to run it.

Michelle Gray encouraged them to apply for the participatory budget funding.

Colette asked the police to investigate cars braking harshly in the early hours of the morning in Grange Road West. She said there had been drug activity and a recent stabbing there.

I asked the police about what had been done about antisocial behaviour around the Tollemache Road play area. Inspector McGregor said they had had more patrols in the area.

Inspector McGregor said they had monthly meetings with their partners and concentrated on hotspots. He referred people to the handout and said there had been a reduction in crime. Three lads had been arrested which had led to a drop in crime. Joy riding of vehicles on Bidston Hill and Bidston Moss was still a problem, but they now had a quad bike to patrol and were working to engage the young people in positive activities. This was aimed not just at those that had got into trouble, but also as a reward for good behaviour.

Colette said she used to go to neighbourhood action group meetings, but these had stopped. Inspector McGregor said they’d been replaced by Have Your Say meetings, as well as an emailed newsletter that went out to 3,000 on the mailing list.

Paul Murphy of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service explained that the main fire station in Birkenhead would soon be demolished and rebuilt over the next year under a PFI scheme. He provided statistics on different categories of fires and home fire safety checks done. He asked those present to identify vulnerable residents and to tell the fire service about them via the free phone number so a Home Fire Safety Check could be carried out. There had been a reduction in deliberate secondary fires. They were aiming for a target to reduce smoking which was the cause of some fires in this area.

Leonora asked about tyres dumped on Bidston Hill and about these had been set on fire before they were removed. What could be done to stop dumping of tyres here?

Paul Murphy said it was partly seasonal, as children were more likely to light fires in the holidays. They had received training as to where the hydrants were and trained the Community Patrol. He felt that the removal of flytipping was an issue for Wirral Council.

A member of the public asked where the fire service would be operating from while the building was rebuilt?

Paul Murphy said there would be temporary accommodation while it was constructed.

A member of the public asked what would happen if the building work overran?

Paul Murphy said that there were penalty clauses in the contract and that other PFI contracts had been finished on time.

Community Safety gave an update encouraging new Neighbourhood Watch schemes, there was also a new Birkenhead Park Watch. He also said they now had a more robust reporting mechanism for disability hate crime which involved the safeguarding team at the Department for Adult Social Services and the Sigma team at Merseyside Police.

There was a camera monitoring Tapestry Gardens and one monitoring the new Asda, although levels of antisocial behaviour there had not been above the normal level they expect. The limited resources they had such as the Contactabus had gone to a hotspot in another part of the Wirral.

Cllr Harry Smith asked if Neighbourhood Watch scheme stickers were available. Ian Lowrie said they were and they were trying to link the Neighbourhood Watch scheme areas to No Cold Calling Zones.

Donnie advised against residential properties displaying the stickers as they could become targets for crime, but suggested lamp posts instead.

Ian Lowrie said that in the No Cold Calling Zones there would be signs at either end of the street to advise traders.

Laura Quigley gave an update on the changes affecting the GP Commissioning Groups. From April 2013, they instead of the PCT would commission services. There were sixty-one GP practices in three groups on the Wirral, there were patient groups at each GP that patients could contact or they could raise matters with their GP. It didn’t involve privatisation and healthcare would still be free at the point of delivery.

A member of the public asked if it would lead to a postcode lottery?

The answer given was that the big things such as Arrowe Park hospital services would be commissioned together.

The Chair asked what would happen next.

Laura Quigley answered that before they commissioned any services they had to be authorised which was a rigorous process. They would find out in January 2013 if they were, if not a NHS Commissioning Board would commission services.

A member of the public said the three groups had similar names, would they be commissioning the same sort of services and what was the logic in having three?

Laura Quigley answered that they had been formed in isolation, however they would commission some services together.

Colette asked how this would affect hospital services.

Laura Quigley replied that there wouldn’t be a change as the yearly contract would be made on behalf of all three groups for emergency and elective care.

The issue of the vascular services review was brought up by Colette. The Chair said there had been public consultation and public meetings.

A member of the public brought up speeding in the morning in Wexford Way and asked for traffic calming. Another member of the public asked for Buttermere Avenue to be resurfaced as there were many potholes. Someone else asked if the double yellow lines outside shops were reviewed as many shops were closing. Cllr Harry Smith suggested people contact Streetscene about it.

by

History walk (Bidston Hill) Saturday 5th November & fireworks displays


There will be a history ramble tomorrow on Bidston Hill between 10am and 12.30 tomorrow starting at Tam O’Shanter Urban Farm led by the ranger. Due to bat hibernation the windmill won’t be open on this walk.

It starts at Tam O’Shanter Urban Farm, Boundary Road, Bidston CH43 7PD and it’s not for dog walkers. For further details contact 0151 653 9332 or email tamoshan@wirral.gov.uk .

There are also a variety of public firework displays starting at 6.30pm (except for the one at Ridgeway that starts at 5pm). The locations are listed below.

Lingham Park, Moreton
Upton Park, Moreton
Woodchurch Leisure Centre
Birkenhead Park
Central Park, Wallasey
Mersey Park, Tranmere
Mayer Park, Bebington
Leasowe Adventure Playground (including a community organised bonfire)
Ridgeway High School, Noctorum (5pm)
Beechwood, “Greenacres Court Site” (off Bidston Green Drive)

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service are advising people to take part in the public displays and will be removing any bonfires on public land. The local fire service recommend anyone with a wheelie bin to keep it away from doors and windows and if possible away from the public to lessen the risk of wheelie bin fires. For a free home fire safety check including free smoke detectors, to report an illegal bonfire (or build up of material) which will be quickly removed or for arson prevention advice contact Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service free on 0800 731 5958.

Merseyside Police will be running Operation Banger, which include high visibility policing, seizing illegal fireworks and other activities such as reducing underage sales of alcohol to young people.

by

Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee 20th October 2011 PACSPE Call-in


Tonight’s meeting was as the Cabinet decision of the 22nd September 2011 on the PACSPE contract had been called-in by Cllr Jeff Green, Cllr Tom Harney, Cllr Dave Mitchell, Cllr Lesley Rennie and Cllr David Elderton.
At the end of a 3 1/2 hour meeting the voting went as follows.

Labour Amendment to Conservative motion

This amendment upheld the original decision.

Votes For         : 5 (Labour councillors)
Votes Against : 5 (Conservatives councillor plus one Liberal Democrat councillor)

Abstention       : 0
Casting vote of Conservative Chair: AGAINST

Votes For        : 5 (Labour councillors)

Votes Against: 6 (Conservatives councillor plus one Liberal Democrat councillor) + Chair’s casting vote
Abstention     :  0

AMENDMENT FAILS

Conservative Motion

Votes for          : 5 (Conservative councillors plus one Liberal Democrat councillor)

Votes against: 5 (Labour councillors)

Abstentions   : 0

Casting vote of Chair: For

Votes for:          6 (Conservative councillors plus one Liberal Democrat councillor) + Chair’s casting vote

Votes against: 5 (Labour councillors)

Abstentions:  0

MOTION PASSES (Proposed Cllr John Hale, seconded Cllr Don McCubbin)

Text of Motion:

This committee notes that:

    • The Cabinet appeared to ignore, and did not even mention, the findings of the Office of Government Commerce Gateway Reviews that the Parks & Countryside Services Procurement Exercise (PACSPE) had been subjected to.
    • No attempt was made to publically question officers from the Finance Department, the Legal Department and the Procurement Unit who were members of the PACSPE Project Board as to whether the “risk” identified by District Audit, and made such play of in the Cabinet resolution could or had been satisfactorily mitigated.
    • No discussion was had by Cabinet Members of the risks of not awarding the contract.
    • No mention or discussion took place regarding stakeholder management or the views of key stakeholders about the benefits of clear quality improvements that were built into the procurement exercise. In fact, other than the view of the Council’s Trade Unions, the results of the consultation and the views of the park users and user groups were not even mentioned in a single Cabinet meeting.
    • No reference was made to the new post of Community Engagement Manager to work with Friends, stakeholders, user groups, and local Area Forums or the new key performance indicators developed through PACSPE to reflect the change to a more customer and community focused service.
    • Insufficient account seemed to have been taken of the reduction from costs of £8.1 million per year to £7.4 million per year already achieved by the PACSPE process with the potential to reduce costs by a further circa £500,000. Indeed, it is hard to understand how the Leader of of the Council characterised a £1.2 million per annum potential saving arising from PACSPE to be sufficiently marginal to be ignored.
    • No effort appeared to be made by Cabinet Members to discuss or evaluate the additional costs to Council Tax Payers of purchasing what has been accepted as worn out equipment requiring immediate replacement (circa £2.5 million) or the TUPE costs of bringing current contractor staff into the Council workforce and pension scheme, per annum or over the 10 year period.
    • No mention was made of the training and development programme for staff and volunteers or the three to six new apprentices to be created as part of PACSPE.
    • No explanation was given at Cabinet regarding the opposition to a 10 year contract that would reduce annual costs by circa £1.2 million and improve the quality of our parks and countryside, other than the expressed need contained in the resolution to reduce spending by £85 million over three years.
    • Therefore we believe that the decision to refuse to award the PACSPE contract would see the ever decreasing quality of a service starved of investment by this administration which is already characterised by going for the quick fix instead of making the difficult but necessary strategic decisions in the interests of Wirral residents.

The Committee recommends to the Cabinet

*Editor’s note will have to check rest of resolution due to noise preventing taking it down*

My guess is that the rest of it is “reconsider the decision”.

=============================================================================================

In the interests of openness, John Brace lives opposite Bidston Hill which is covered by the PACSPE contract.

by

Planning Committee 9/8/2011 | Minutes 19/7 | Site Visits (5 – APP/11/00561 – 98 BIDSTON ROAD, OXTON) and (9 – APP/11/00613 – 2 DINGWALL DRIVE, GREASBY) Part 1


The Chair of the Planning Committee Cllr Elderton welcomed people to the Planning Committee meeting and invited people to take their seats. He explained to the members of the public present that the councillors on the left and right wings would be making the decisions. He also introduced the officers which would be making presentations, the committee clerk and the legal officer.

The minutes of the meeting held on 19th July 2011 circulated separately on paper only (not on the council’s website with the agenda for this meeting) were agreed. Cllr Mitchell and Cllr Elderton both said they agreed with the minutes.

There were no declarations of interest made.

Cllr Kenny requested a site visit for item 5 (APP/11/00561 – 98 BIDSTON ROAD, OXTON – Refurbishment and extension to existing building into 21 no. apartments with associated hard and soft landscaping) and Cllr Keeley (deputising for Cllr Clements) made a request for a site visit for item 9 (APP/11/00613 – 2 DINGWALL DRIVE, GREASBY – First floor rear extension). Both requests for site visits were accepted.

The agenda was reordered to take agenda item 13 first along with its appendix first.

by

Planning applications (Bidston & St. James ward) 3 Lighthouse Cottages, Boundary Road APP/11/00388, PPS Service, 157-159 Laird Street, APP/11/00511, 7 Gautby Road, APP/11/00590, (Claughton ward) Flaybrick Hill Reservoir, Boundary Road, APP/11/00468


Unusually there have been three planning applications decided by Wirral Council officers recently in Bidston & St. James ward (all approved) between 7th July and 27th July and one approved near the Bidston & St. James ward boundary with Claughton ward.

These are detailed below (source is item 14 on next Tuesday’s Planning Committee agenda.

Links are provided for further information

Application No.: APP/11/00388 Application Type: Full Planning Permission

Decision Level: Delegated Decision
Ward: Bidston and St James

Decision Date: 27/07/2011 Decision: Approve
Case Officer: Mr M Rushton
Applicant: Dr Stephen Pickles Agent: Powis Hughes Chartered Surveyors

Location: 3 Lighthouse Cottages, BOUNDARY ROAD, BIDSTON, CH43 7RA

Proposal: A change of use application in respect of cottages of the lighthouse cottages at bidston conservatory, the current planning use is ‘office’ although the nature of existing occupation is residential. The property is residential in character the change of use application is to reverse a previous change of use granted in 1981

Application No.: APP/11/00468 Application Type: Full Planning Permission
Decision Level: Delegated

Ward: Claughton
Decision Date: 11/07/2011 Decision: Approve
Case Officer: Mr K Spilsbury
Applicant:

Agent: Brock Carmichael Architects
Location: Flaybrick Hill Reservoir, Boundary Road,Bidston, Wirral CH43 7PE
Proposal: Application to develop land for 4no. detached residential dwellings on the site of an existing water tower and pumphouse

Application No.: APP/11/00511 Application Type: Full Planning Permission
Decision Level: Delegated
Ward: Bidston and St James
Decision Date: 22/07/2011 Decision: Approve
Case Officer: Miss K Elliot
Applicant: Mrs W C Liu Agent: Niall Patterson Associates
Location: PPS Services, 157-159 LAIRD STREET, BIRKENHEAD, CH41 0AA
Proposal: Change of use A5 (hot food takeaway), alterations to shop front and rear extract flues.

Application No.: APP/11/00590 Application Type: Full Planning Permission
Decision Level: Delegated
Ward: Bidston and St James
Decision Date: 13/07/2011 Decision: Approve
Case Officer: Miss K Elliot
Applicant: Mr & Mrs Farr Agent: Niall Patterson Associates
Location: 7 GAUTBY ROAD, BIDSTON, CH41 7DS
Proposal: Proposed alterations and two storey side extension to house.

by

Reason to Vote Liberal Democrat on May 5th – Day Six – Dog Fouling


One of the problems routinely flagged up by local residents that affects people’s quality of life is the issue of dog fouling. The Lib Dem/Tory Cabinet have made the dog fouling enforcement team permanent allocated £120,000 towards it.

These enforcement officers don’t just deal with dogs, but also flytipping, graffiti, criminal damage and other problems that affect our communities. Under the previous Labour administration only one person on the whole of Wirral was fined for dog fouling.

The patrols will concentrate on problem areas flagged up by members of the public. Those found not clearing up after their dogs will be issued with a £50 fine. If the fine is not paid, the owner will be taken to court. Last month an irresponsible dog owner after not paying a fine was taken to court, fined £525, ordered to pay Wirral Council’s legal costs of £206.70 and a £15 victim surcharge.

Former councillor Gill Gardiner (Cabinet Member with responsibility for dog fouling and litter enforcement) said: “It is the duty of every dog owner to clean up after their pet. Bags of dog dirt should be disposed of correctly in a litter bin or, suitably wrapped, in domestic refuse bins. Dumping the bag in a hedge or elsewhere is littering and carries a penalty of £75. There are no excuses, it is unacceptable and it is unfair that the whole community should suffer the consequences.”

Cllr Stuart Kelly, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Oxton has since been appointed Cabinet Member in Gill Gardiner’s place. If people have any information about offenders, want to highlight a problem area, or need to report vandalism of litter bins, they are urged to contact the Streetscene call centre on 0151 606 2004 or get in touch with their local Liberal Democrat Action Team on 0151 512 2500.

by

Cabinet meeting (Wirral Council) 22/02/2011 Part 1 – the Conservative/Lib Dem budget cometh and Labour is not happy


Well yesterday the Conservative & Lib Dem Cabinet “unveiled” their Wirral Council budget for 2011/2012. Labour’s (opposition) budget will arrive by noon on Friday the 25th February.

Next Monday (1st March) the full Council will vote on the budget, although with 41 (yes I know it’s 42 including the Lib Dem Mayor but generally he doesn’t vote as he’s supposed to be politically neutral as part of his office) “progressive partnership” councillors to Labour’s 25 24 (edit – I sometimes forget Cllr. Knowles had switched from Labour to Tory and the independent Cllr Kirwan isn’t still with Wirral Council) councillors, I’m sure even Labour can do the maths and realise Labour’s budget will be defeated next Monday (with no need for Budget Part 2 on the evening of the 9th March) by around seventeen votes.

Can you see which bits of the Budget are from the Lib Dem side and which from the Conservative side? Yes you can see “the seams” between the two halves as we continue to be two independent political parties with minds and policy making processes of our own. If you look really hard you can see the bits influenced by yours truly and others (for example the 4-year rolling programme for 20mph residential zones discussed last year by the party when Cllr Quinn was Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Transport) now carried forward by Cllr Rennie.

One Lib Dem policy coming into play is the pupil premium which means about £5 million extra for Wirral Schools to spend on children on free school meals, looked after children and service children. You should’ve heard the “wails of anguish” at the Wirral Schools Forum from headmasters/headmistresses from the more prosperous parts of the Borough when they realised £5 million would be spent on improving the educational chances of the most needy! Clearly Wirral is a place of large social divides and the extra money will be a welcome boost to the schools in Bidston & St. James.

So what may you ask is “in the budget”? Well, first to deal with the elements of the council tax that are made up by Merseyside Police’s budget and Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service’s budget. Both Merseyside Police and Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service froze their contributions from Council Tax compared to last year (2010/2011).

Due to increased costs and inflation (as well as a high proportion of its costs being on staff), Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service will be cutting some jobs. Their Chief Exec/treasurer explains the situation in a self-styled “podcast” (I don’t think he quite knows what a podcast is but I have to give them a few marks for trying), which unfortunately with my browser Firefox either opens a blank black window or six video windows of him at once creating an echo effect so I’ve uploaded it to Youtube (which has slightly better audio quality than five echoes).

For the purposes of any copyright lawyers out there, as the work has been made previously available to the public (and still is on Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service’s website at this location), this is classed as “fair dealing” under s.30 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is being done for the purpose of news reporting (and making sure you can hear what the speaker says).

Quite why councillors on MF&RS left it to an officer to record a video (which is below) to explain the cuts is a mystery I’m sure my humble readers can enlighten me on in the comments section (or maybe I’ll just ask Cllr. Ellis, Cllr. Niblock, Cllr. Rennie or Cllr. Roberts next time I see them).

It sounds like sound quality was the first thing to be cut at Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service! :P Perhaps next year they could invest £20 in a noise-cancelling microphone? The reference in the video to the Budget being set today is in reference to last Thursday.