Merseytravel councillors agree to push for ½ hourly service on Bidston Wrexham “Borderlands” line

Merseytravel councillors agree to push for ½ hourly service on Bidston Wrexham “Borderlands” line

Merseytravel councillors agree to push for ½ hourly service on Bidston Wrexham “Borderlands” line

                                     

Bidston Train Station (Borderlands Line) 13th August 2016 (John Brace)
Bidston Train Station (Borderlands Line) 13th August 2016 (John Brace) Photo taken by Leonora Brace

A public meeting of councillors on the Merseytravel Committee (part of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority) last month considered a report on enhancing services on the Borderlands Line between Bidston and Wrexham, as well as an Executive Summary of the Borderlands Line Service Enhancements Economic Appraisal Report.

Three councillors from the Wirral (Cllr Steve Foulkes, Cllr Jerry Williams and Cllr Les Rowlands) each spoke on the item, which you can watch starting at the 24 minutes 20 second point in the video below.

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Merseytravel Committee (Liverpool City Region Combined Authority) 28th July 2016 Part 2 of 2 (Enhancing Services on the ‘Borderlands’ Rail Line starts at 24:20)

The Merseytravel Committee agreed to work with the Welsh Assembly Government to push for a twice hourly service, to set up a joint steering group with the Welsh Assembly Government and to develop a realistic project plan to:

a) improve the line,
b) introduce a bus-rail interchange in the Hawarden Bridge area,
c) enhance intermediate stations (such as Heswall and Upton) to make them more convenient, attractive and accessible and
d) to look into a potential new station at Woodchurch.

Future reports on progress are expected to be made to the councillors on the Merseytravel Committee.

Attending the public meeting was the Chairman of the Wrexham Bidston Rail Users Association John Allcock. When asked for a quote for WBRUA’s views on the decision by the Merseytravel Committee he wrote, “The WBRUA welcomes the Merseytravel Committee’s decision to support the enhancement of the Borderlands Line. This railway has been a Cinderella line for many years but has the potential to be a significant part of the transport network in our area and benefit the communities and businesses it connects.”

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Councillors on Wirral Council’s Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee will review Cabinet decision to consult on changes to bin collections at a public meeting on Tuesday 26th July 2016 starting at 4.00 pm

Councillors on Wirral Council’s Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee will review Cabinet decision to consult on changes to bin collections at a public meeting on Tuesday 26th July 2016 starting at 4.00 pm

Councillors on Wirral Council’s Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee will review Cabinet decision to consult on changes to bin collections at a public meeting on Tuesday 26th July 2016 starting at 4.00 pm

Councillor Stuart Kelly explains to the Coordinating Committee why he disagrees with the Cabinet decision about Forest Schools and Healthy Homes 18th September 2014 Committee Room 1, Wallasey Town Hall
Councillor Stuart Kelly explains to the Coordinating Committee why he disagrees with the Cabinet decision about Forest Schools and Healthy Homes 18th September 2014 Committee Room 1, Wallasey Town Hall

As reported previously on this blog the Wirral Council Cabinet decision to consult on two options involving changes to the green bin collection and a new food waste collection was called in.

A public meeting of the Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee has been arranged to consider the call in. It will meet in Committee Room 2 at Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Seacombe, CH44 8ED starting at 4.00 pm on Tuesday 26th July 2016.

The papers for the meeting, which include the original Cabinet decision and the reasons for the call in were published on Wirral Council’s website today.

The following 25 councillors have called it in (a minimum of six is required to trigger a call in):

Cllr Stuart Kelly (Lib Dem)
Cllr Phil Gilchrist (Lib Dem)
Cllr Chris Carubia (Lib Dem)
Cllr Dave Mitchell (Lib Dem)
Cllr Alan Brighouse (Lib Dem)
Cllr Lesley Rennie (Conservative)
Cllr Tom Anderson (Conservative)
Cllr Bruce Berry (Conservative)
Cllr Chris Blakeley (Conservative)
Cllr Eddie Boult (Conservative)
Cllr David Burgess-Joyce (Conservative)
Cllr Wendy Clements (Conservative)
Cllr David Elderton (Conservative)
Cllr Gerry Ellis (Conservative)
Cllr Jeff Green (Conservative)
Cllr John Hale (Conservative)
Cllr Paul Hayes (Conservative)
Cllr Andrew Hodson (Conservative)
Cllr Kathy Hodson (Conservative)
Cllr Tracey Pilgrim (Conservative)
Cllr Cherry Povall (Conservative)
Cllr Les Rowlands (Conservative)
Cllr Adam Sykes (Conservative)
Cllr Geoffrey Watt (Conservative)
Cllr Steve Williams (Conservative)

Video footage of the Cabinet meeting on the 27th June 2016 that took the decision can be watched below.

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Wirral Council’s Cabinet meeting 27th June 2016 (item 9 Domestic Refuse Collection Outline Business Case starts at 25 minutes 21 seconds)

Those behind the call in are asking for a longer consultation (a consultation over three months) and a consultation on more than just the options agreed by Cabinet.

The green bin options were to consult on either:

a) switching to every three weeks for the green bin collection but keep the same size green bin

or

b) to keep fortnightly green bin collections but issue residents with a smaller green bin.

The Cabinet decision also proposed a consultation on a new food waste collection.

The Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee is made up of the following councillors (although if councillors can’t make it to a meeting they can send deputies from the same political group in their place):

Cllr Phillip Brightmore (Chair), Labour
Cllr Steve Foulkes (Vice-Chair), Labour
Cllr Tony Jones, Labour
Cllr Julie McManus, Labour
Cllr Christina Muspratt, Labour
Cllr Louise Reecejones, Labour
Cllr Thomas Usher, Labour
Cllr Joe Walsh, Labour
Cllr Irene Williams, Labour
Cllr Adam Sykes (Conservative spokesperson), Conservative
Cllr Tom Anderson, Conservative
Cllr Bruce Berry, Conservative
Cllr Tracey Pilgrim, Conservative
Cllr Les Rowlands, Conservative
Cllr Chris Carubia, (Liberal Democrat spokesperson), Liberal Democrat

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What were top 7 most viewed articles and top 7 most viewed videos for May 2016?

What were top 7 most viewed articles and top 7 most viewed videos for May 2016?

                                       

Power
Power

Well just over a month has passed since polling day the election for a Merseyside PCC and local councillors on the Wirral and on the 23rd June 2016 there will be a referendum about membership of the EU.

As I’ll be at Wirral Council’s Cabinet meeting on Monday morning, instead I thought I’d look back at the most read stories of last month (May 2016) and some of the most watched videos. Both are in order of most viewed (so the top number 1 slot was the one that attracted the most interest).

Top 7 articles on this blog (May 2016)

1. Who wouldn’t want you to read this story about the election of 4 Wirral councillors?

Since I wrote this story question marks have also been raised about the election of two further Wirral councillors not referred to by name in the article, which leads to unanswered questions about over a quarter of the 23 councillors elected. If all six elections had been (or are in the next 2 years) declared null and void*, no political party would have a majority on Wirral Council.

*Highly unlikely considering how this country works or doesn’t work and I’d like to point out that councillors/candidates are innocent until proven guilty and that trial by media doesn’t count.

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Cllr Pat Hackett elected as Wirral’s new Mayor for 2016/17

Cllr Pat Hackett elected as Wirral’s new Mayor for 2016/17

                          

Mayor Cllr Pat Hackett at the Annual Council meeting of Wirral Council 16th May 2016
Mayor Cllr Pat Hackett at the Annual Council meeting of Wirral Council 16th May 2016

After the recent elections, the new year at Wirral Council began with the election of Cllr Pat Hackett as Mayor in front of hundreds of invited guests in the Civic Hall.

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Annual Council (Part 1) 16th May 2016 Part 1 of 2

Outgoing Mayor of Wirral Cllr Les Rowlands giving a speech about his Mayoral year at the Annual meeting of Wirral Council 16th May 2016
Outgoing Mayor of Wirral Cllr Les Rowlands giving a speech about his Mayoral year at the Annual meeting of Wirral Council 16th May 2016

Outgoing Mayor Cllr Les Rowlands gave a brief summary of his Mayoral year. During the year he had raised money for his three charities which were the North West Air Ambulance, Friends of Clatterbridge and the Alzheimer’s Society. His scariest moment during his year was scaling the 170 foot spire of St James Church in New Brighton to affix a new cross.

Cllr Phil Davies nominated fellow Labour councillor Cllr Pat Hackett to be Mayor and gave a brief speech about Cllr Pat Hackett’s life before he became a councillor for New Brighton in 1994. There were no other nominations so Cllr Pat Hackett was elected Mayor.

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Annual Council (Part 1) 16th May 2016 Part 2 of 2

Mayor Cllr Pat Hackett (perhaps not unsurprisingly) managed to talk at length about New Brighton and his life including a time he spent managing football teams. He talked enthusiastically about the regeneration of New Brighton and his time as Cabinet Member. His charities this year would be Wallasey Sea Cadets and the Wirral Narrowboat Trust. There would also be a general fund to make small donations to local charities that weren’t as well-known. Mayor Cllr Pat Hackett hoped everyone would enjoy the entertainment and told everyone that the food would be coming soon.

Cllr Ann McLachlan was elected unopposed as Deputy Mayor. The meeting was then adjourned to Tuesday evening when the rest of the business will be dealt with in the more usual venue of the Council Chamber. Following refurbishment, the Civic Hall at Wallasey Town Hall is available for hire.

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Why did Labour gag councillors from debating Girtrell Court?

Why did Labour gag councillors from debating Girtrell Court?

                                                 

Earlier this month on the 4th of April, there was an Extraordinary Meeting of all Wirral Council councillors to discuss Girtrell Court.

This meeting had been requested by six Conservative councillors for the reasons below in the requisition notice.

This document contains both the requisition notice (page 3) and notice of motion (page 5).

The requisition notice stated,

“WEDNESDAY 17th MARCH, 2016

Dear Mr Mayor

REQUEST TO REQUISITION AN EXTRAORDINARY COUNCIL MEETING

Please find below signatures from 6 Members of the Council requisitioning an extraordinary meeting of the Council to discuss the statement, produced in the online version of the Wirral Globe today, in which the Cabinet Member for Families and Wellbeing has announced the closure of Girtrell Court at the end of August.

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