Month: April 2011

New Housing Development Clarence Park on the Beechwood

When out delivering with the Liberal Democrat Focus Team on Beechwood today I noticed a derelict piece of land that used to attract flytipping has now got a big sign on it advertising 2 and 3 bedroom properties in a development called Clarence Park. This is as well as a plan for houses by Liverpool … Continue reading “New Housing Development Clarence Park on the Beechwood”

Clarence Park - site for new Housing in Beechwood

When out delivering with the Liberal Democrat Focus Team on Beechwood today I noticed a derelict piece of land that used to attract flytipping has now got a big sign on it advertising 2 and 3 bedroom properties in a development called Clarence Park.

This is as well as a plan for houses by Liverpool Housing Trust on the former site of Feltree House (which was demolished over the Summer). Residents on the Beechwood (despite less car ownership than some parts of Wirral) have regularly told us about the parking problems encountered by them on this estate.

Clarence Park is being made possible thanks to funding from the Coalition Government. Without funding the properties would be about £140,000. However the government provides a loan of 15% of the value. The housebuilder also provides a loan of 15%. These two loans of 30% are interest free for five years. There are no restrictions on selling the property during this time.

Lib Dem councillors Simon Holbrook and Alan Brighouse have tabled a motion to Wirral Council at its meeting of the 18th entitled “Mortgage Support for First Time Buyers”. This outlines the “Lend a Hand” scheme (which lends buyers a deposit), the “First Buy” scheme (again helping low-income families to find a deposit) and asked for a report from Ian Coleman and Kevin Adderley on how this can be achieved on the Wirral.

Last November I wrote the following about the Liberal Democrat government housing policy. I am glad to see it being put into effect!

November Focus:-

Lib Dems deliver 150,000 new affordable homes

New Lib Dem plans will see the biggest increase in affordable homes for more than thirty years.

The Lib Dems in Government will deliver 150,000 affordable homes over the next gour years. That’s more than Labour delivered in their first eight years in power!

The plans will reverse the massive decline in affordable housing under Labour, who sold off more properties than they built.

Local campaigner John Brace explained, “After 13 years in power, Labour left Britain with 45,000 fewer affordable homes than they started with.

Thanks to the Liberal Democrats affordable social housing will at long last be available to thousands more families across Britain.”

Photo caption:
The Lib Dems are providing new affordable homes where Labour failed.

Postal Voting – Deadline 14th April – Only 5 days to go

Today Wirral Council sent my excellent agent, who then passed on the information to me the invite to the opening of the postal votes (starting on the 20th April) at Wallasey Town Hall.

It is not too late to register for a postal vote, if you want one. The form can be downloaded from Wirral Council’s website. For people who are planning to go on holiday, will be at work or have children to look after having a postal vote brings welcome flexibility to the process.

I am pleased that (unlike last year) Wirral Council is sticking to the legal requirement to invite candidates/agents to the opening of the postal votes. The postal ballots are one of the weak points of our system and as a judge described Labour’s previous election fraud “would disgrace a banana republic”. Having said that there are many other weak points in our democracy, considering the large amount of people registered to vote who are not allowed to (eg dead or other reasons).

Lib Dem voters are more likely to vote by post. Last year many in Bidston & St. James did not receive their postal votes. When they complained they didn’t receive replacement postal ballots and were turned away from polling stations.

This even included myself! If this year anyone tries to stop your exercising your democratic or legal right to vote, please get in touch with us and we will submit a formal complaint.

One change made from last year, which affects polling stations outside Bidston & St. James (I live in the largest polling station area) is that polling stations serving more than 2,500 voters have been split. I see this as an excellent change that will prevent the disgraceful long waits for hours that people had to endure when voting in the local and General Election last year.

If anybody has any questions or suggestions for improvement in the democratic system, please leave a comment. There have been reports of people previously going to a polling station and being turned away as someone has impersonating them has already voted.

We must have a democracy where everybody’s vote counts not just in theory but in practice. After the election I had a conversation with the Returning Officer Steve Maddox (who has since retired) as to why it appeared my own vote hadn’t been counted as it didn’t appear in the list of people who had voted. I was not entirely convinced by his explanation and hope this year Wirral Council will at least be able to be able to provide a result which isn’t questionable. I live in hope that one day we’ll actually get an accurate result in Bidston & St. James and that everyone’s vote is not only counted, but recorded as being counted.

This year the Returning Officer is Bill Norman.

Wirral Council Cabinet to decide contractor for Cathcart Street Primary School/Children’s Centre

The Lib Dem/Conservative Cabinet will next Thursday decide upon a contractor for the refurbishment of Cathcart Street Primary School, creation of a new Children’s Centre here (as reported by the Liverpool Echo) and provision for holidays/after school clubs.

The Cabinet report suggests they choose Paragon Construction for the project.

Waiving of call-in is also requested on this decision, so that the project can be started right away (depriving the Labour Party to have a further meeting within two weeks stating why they’d be against over a million pounds worth of investment in this school). The plan is that the contractor will start over the Easter break which would be impossible without waiving call-in.

The project raises a number of questions which I will be asking of Cabinet:-

a) Will the contract specify that local employment has to be used (or a % of local employment)? Is this what “Provision will be made within the contract for Targeted Recruitment and Training (TRT) so that Wirral Council can continue the policy of developing a Construction Employment Integrator (CEI).” means at 9.7? 12.2 states “The successful constructor will be encouraged to employ local labour and source materials from local suppliers as far as possible.”, but does this mean they will?
b) What’s the scale of the bonus the contractor would get for completing on time?
c) Considering the tendency of construction projects to take longer and cost more, what controls are in place to ensure it comes in on time and budget?
d) A number of construction companies contracted on the Wirral have gone bust part way through a project. For example the project to reconstruct the West Kirby Marine Lake or the new medical centre on Laird Street. What alternative arrangements are in place regarding this eventuality and has the financial background of the preferred contractor been looked into?
e) What can other Wirral schools learn from the green elements of the design in helping combat climate change, reducing their carbon footprint and saving Wirral Council money?

Who are the people in the Liberal Cabinet?

A reader asks “Who are the people in the Liberal Cabinet?”

If you mean Wirral Council then the Liberal Democrat members are:-

Cllr Simon Holbrook (Prenton) (Cabinet Member for Corporate Services)
Cllr Gill Gardiner (Greasby, Frankby and Irby) (who resigned recently) and was replaced by Cllr Stuart Kelly (Oxton) (Cabinet Member for the Environment)
Cllr Bob Moon (Bromborough) (Cabinet Member for Social Care and Inclusion)

Nationally the Lib Dem members of the Cabinet are:-

Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Deputy Prime Minister, Lord President of the Council and MP for Sheffield Hallam
Danny Alexander MP (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey), Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Dr Vince Cable MP (Twickenham), Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
Rt Hon Chris Huhne MP (Eastleigh), Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
Michael Moore MP (Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale), Secretary of State for Scotland

Hope that answers the question!

Care Home Closure – The Facts

I was asked today by a resident about why Wirral Council had proposed to close Maplehome, Pensall House, Poulton House, Meadowcroft and Fernleigh.

Unfortunately the public were barred because of a few noisy members of the public from part of the last full Council meeting at which this was discussed so there is a little confusion as to what happened/went on (especially as all the Labour councillors left early).

The Good News

Fernleigh Resource Centre in Leasowe which catered for people with ambienrxshop.com mental health issues (apart from dementia or learning disabilities) will not be closed as planned. This decision was to be subject to a judicial review, however a previous meeting involving carers had found that the services currently provided by Fernleigh Resource Centre couldn’t currently be provided elsewhere. There was also a campaign and large (>1500 signature) petition about this.

Maplehome, Pensall House, Poulton House and Meadowcroft

Why are these being closed? Currently Wirral Council pays nursing homes, residential homes and others to provide places for people. There is always a contingency made so that there are spare places. However with people being supported better in their homes there are an increasing number of places. These vacant beds are being subsidised by the people of Wirral as many care home residents have their nursing (or care home) fees paid by the taxpayer.

In a similar argument as to why it is inefficient to run a school if you only have half its maximum pupils, a financial case was made to close Wirral Council’s provision and switch it to the private sector. This was then agreed when the 2011-2012 budget was set. There were problems with communicating this change to the users (and families of the users) of the services. Cllr Green has apologised at a public meeting for how the decision made back in December wasn’t communicated effectively to people.

Wirral Council Social Services has done its best to provide alternative support and that everybody fully understands what’s going on. If people would like to bring up their concerns on this issue there are a number of councillors with responsibility for this area who can explain things in better detail than I can. By clicking on their name (if your browser is configured correctly) you should be able to send them an email:-

Cllr Bob Moon (Lib Dem) – Cabinet Member for Social Care and Inclusion
Cllr Moira McLaughlin (Labour) – Chair, Health and WellBeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Cllr Ann Bridson (Lib Dem) – Spokesperson, Health and WellBeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Cllr Geoffrey Watt (Conservative) – Spokesperson, Health and WellBeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee