Cllr Lesley Rennie presented a petition of 92 residents of Wallasey who wanted improvements to road safety in reference to a primary school.
Cllr Stuart Wittingham presented a petition of 58 from Ackers Road, Woodchurch.
Edit: 20/12/2011 Apologies to Cllr Steve Williams as this blog post initially incorrectly stated that he presented the petition of 58 from Ackers Road, Woodchurch when this should have been Cllr Stuart Wittingham. [7]
Cllr Harry Smith presented a petition of approximately 600 from Pensby & Thingwall about road safety at a primary school there. He said this was a rolling petition.
Cllr Harry Smith took his petition to the one of the committee clerks.
Cllr Steve Foulkes said on a high note he thanked Madam Mayor for hosting the Queen on her recent visit and wished that more councillors could have been invited. They had invited the voluntary sector and the Armed Forces to a one hour lunch and it had been a “great day”. He thanked Cllr Tom Harney and Cllr Jeff Green and said they had not had a royal visit for some time. Cllr Foulkes was proud of what we showed the Queen and made a plea to councillors to think.
As Leader of the Council, the corporate governance reforms were proceeding. There was a deadline of April 2012, which depended on the ability of the Corporate Plan which was linked to the 2012/13 Budget. He said it hadn’t happened before that the Corporate Plan had to be taken to a Scrutiny Committee. However a compromise had been reached. There would be a special meeting of the Scrutiny Committee and a special Council meeting by the 9th January 2012. This would allow things to be read and for issues to feed back into the 2012/13 Budget.
Cllr Bill Davies asked a question of Bill Norman for advice on whether councillors had to declare trade union membership as an interest and if so what type.
Bill Norman said in his opinion, it was a personal interest, (and therefore needed to be declared) unless it affected a councillor’s decision-making of deciding the public interest in such a significant way, that it became a prejudicial interest. If it became the latter the councillor would have to declare it as a prejudicial interest.
Various interests were then declared by councillors including:-
Cllr Steve Foulkes said something about safety and press inference. He declared an interest in Notice of Motion 14 (FAIRNESS, NOT FAVOURS) because of his membership of USDAW.
Cllr Phil Davies declared an interest in Notice of Motion 14 (FAIRNESS, NOT FAVOURS) because of his membership of UNISON.
??? declared declared an interest in ??? because of his/her membership of UNISON.
Cllr George Davies declared an interest in ??? with respect to ???.
Cllr Ann McLachlan declared an interest in Notice of Motion 14 (FAIRNESS, NOT FAVOURS) with respect to her membership of UNITE.
Cllr Brian Kenny declared an interest in Notice of Motion 14 (FAIRNESS, NOT FAVOURS) because of membership of UNISON.
Cllr ????, declared an interest in Notice of Motion 14 (FAIRNESS, NOT FAVOURS) because of membership of UNITE and UNISON.
Cllr Adrian Jones declared an interest in Notice of Motion 14 (FAIRNESS, NOT FAVOURS) because of membership of two trade unions.
Cllr Jeff Green declared an interest in Notice of Motion 14 (FAIRNESS, NOT FAVOURS) because of membership of PROSPECT.
Cllr ?? declared an interest in Notice of Motion 14 (FAIRNESS, NOT FAVOURS) because of membership of EQUITY.
Cllr Ian Lewis declared an interest.
Cllr Paul Doughty declared an interest in Notice of Motion 14 (FAIRNESS, NOT FAVOURS) with respect to his trade union membership.
Cllr Pat Glasman declared an interest.
Cllr ??? declared an interest in Notice of Motion 14 (FAIRNESS, NOT FAVOURS) because of his/her membership of UNISON.
Cllr Bernie Mooney declared an interest in Notice of Motion 14 (FAIRNESS, NOT FAVOURS) because of her membership of UNITE.
Cllr John Salter, declared an interest/s because of ???
Cllr Lesley Rennie, declared a personal interest in Notice of Motion 16 (CUTS TO LOCAL TRANSPORT PLAN) due to her membership of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority.
Cllr Ian Lewis, declared an interest/s because of….
Cllr Sheila Clarke declared an interest/s because of…
Cllr ?? declared an interest in Notice of Motion 14 (FAIRNESS, NOT FAVOURS) because of their membership of UNISON.
There may have been other declarations of interest, but unfortunately the pen I was using was running out and from where I was sitting in the Council Chamber behind the Labour councillors also very difficult to hear those councillors who were far away.
Cllr Moira McLaughlin Mayor
Cllr Gerry Ellis Deputy Mayor
Cllr Bob Wilkins
Cllr Phil Gilchrist
Cllr John Salter
Cllr Tom Harney
Cllr Mrs Kate Wood
Cllr Sheila Clarke MBE
Cllr Jim Crabtree
Cllr George Davies
Cllr Phil Davies
Cllr Bill Davies
Cllr Mrs Pat Williams
Cllr David M Elderton
Cllr Steve Foulkes
Cllr Tom Anderson
Cllr Jerry Williams
Cllr Jeff Green
Cllr John Hale
Cllr Ann Bridson
Cllr Paul Hayes
Cllr Andrew Hodson
Cllr Ron Abbey
Cllr Peter Johnson
Cllr Geoffrey Watt
Cllr Adrian Jones
Cllr Sue Taylor
Cllr James Keeley
Cllr Stuart Kelly
Cllr Brian Kenny
Cllr Ian Lewis
Cllr Jean Stapleton
Cllr Walter Smith
Cllr Ann McLachlan
Cllr Chris Meaden
Cllr Dave Mitchell
Cllr Simon R Mountney
Cllr Steve Niblock
Cllr Cherry Povall, JP
Cllr Tony Smith
Cllr Lesley Rennie
Cllr Denise Roberts
Cllr Les Rowlands
Cllr Chris Blakeley
Cllr Harry Smith
Cllr Steve Williams
Cllr Irene Williams
Cllr Denise Realey
Cllr Don McCubbin
Cllr Anne McArdle
Cllr Peter Kearney
Cllr Stuart Wittingham
Cllr Mark Johnston
Cllr Alan Brighouse
Cllr Eddie Boult
Cllr Patricia Glasman
Cllr Darren Dodd
Cllr Wendy Clements
Cllr Joe Walsh
Cllr Pat Hackett
Cllr Tony Cox
Cllr Adam Sykes
Cllr Chris Jones
Cllr Paul Doughty
Cllr Bernie Mooney
Cllr Mike Hornby
AGENDA ITEM 1: MAYOR’S COMMUNICATIONS
Apologies (for not being there) were given by Cllr Chris Blakeley (for Cllr John Hale not being able to attend) and a Labour councillor on behalf of Cllr Steve Niblock. The Mayor relayed the sad news that a former Labour councillor called Peter James McCarthy, who had represented Park Ward in Bebington County Borough Council from 1972-1974 and Bebington ward from 1974 to 1980, had died.
She also informed those present of nominations in the ScottishPower/Trinity Mirror Your Champions award. She said there had been nominations in all five categories (two of whom had won). These nominees were Ryan Hanlon (regional Sports Champion category), Lance Corporal Alan Redford (regional Champion Person of the Year category), Abigail Snowden (Young Person category), Calday Grange Grammar School’s LeJog team (Team category) and Ken McDermott (Volunteer category). The Mayor also referred to the Military Cross that Lane Corporal Alan Redford had received. The nominees were all invited to a reception in the Mayor’s Parlour. The Mayor’s Chaplain, Reverend Bernard McConnell led the Council in prayers.
Applications can be emailed to neilmitchell@wirral.gov.uk, sent by post to
Neil Mitchell,
Department of Regeneration,
Housing & Planning,
North Annexe,
Brighton Street,
Wallasey,
Wirral,
CH44 8ED
or they can be handed in at the One Stop Shop, Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Wallasey, Wirral, CH44 8ED. Applications need to be returned by 12 noon on Tuesday 3rd January 2012 and need to further one or more of the aims of the Fund which are:
a) Lead to the re-use of empty shops as a result of the grant;
b) Increase the vitality of a local shopping centre;
c) Encourage more people to visit a local shopping centre;
d) Lead to the provision of local employment opportunities.
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Transcript:
>> John Brace There has been much public interest in the (as yet unpublished) AKA (Anna Klonowksi Associates Ltd) report into issues that need to be remedied at Wirral Council.
My personal view is that Wirral Council needs to publish the report, reassure the public what it’s doing differently now and restore its tarnished reputation as a result of the events that led to the report being commissioned.
Please could you answer:
a) what date the report will be published on and whether changes are to be made between the draft version and final version (if so the reasons why) and
b) an update on changes and decisions made since the report, as a result of the report becoming available in draft form, including progress (which includes consultation) already made and how the changes will benefit Wirral Council, its staff, its councillors and the public?
>> Cllr Steve Foulkes [sighs] What a surprise seeing you here John! [laughter]
Well, can I just thank you for your question? And, and this is a genuine genuine answer, errm which will be backed up by a errm official statement which has been circulated to all elected Members and it is a public document so I’m more than happy for you to have a copy of that. If you haven’t got it yet you’ll receive it very, very shortly.
As long as I’ve been Leader, I’ve been pressing both Anna Klonowski and the officers [inaudible] of the long awaited report. It’s not in this Council’s interests [inaudible] drag out any longer.
But it is in the Council’s interests is that procedure is done properly and within err natural justice and err you know protection for the Council’s future err prospects and liabilities. Currently err Miss Klonowski and her independent solicitors are conducting a Right to Reply process. The purpose of this and its current state of progress is fully explained in the Director of Law’s advice note which has been circulated to all councillors. Like I just said a copy is on its way to you immediately.
I cannot you know give a specific date for publication of the final report but I give you my assurance that I will do all I can to make this soon and as and as reasonably possible. It’s not in this Council’s best interests to drag on. We want the department to move forward. We want the Council to move forward.
What we have done though in terms of of what reports are available. We’ve insisted that the corporate governance issues are up and running, and they are believed to be at the stem of some of the issues in the other report. I can’t say any further than that.
So I can’t you know. It would be wrong to me to tell you lies, or or or to pretend I’m, but at this point of time I cannot given that the Director’s advice note. I believe we’ll say it’s inappropriate to publish that report.
If we are true to our word that you know whistleblowers should be protected and are important within our Council’s processes, then therefore anyone involved in the whistleblower process should have the same rights as the whistleblower. My view is that individuals have the Right to Reply, have the right for natural justice.
I don’t believe that we should hurry justice just for the sake of of of of err public you know clamour. If the report is correct, and final replies then we in public cannot in full conscience cannot act upon it. It’s not at that state yet and that’s not through any fault or mine.
>>The Worshipful the Mayor of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and Rock Ferry Councillor Moira McLaughlin OK, Mr. Brace, content with that?
>>John Brace Just one small supplementary.
>>The Worshipful the Mayor of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and Rock Ferry Councillor Moira McLaughlin Supplementary [inaudible] understand that.
>>John Brace Yes, err can you give an approximate timescale, in the Spring of next year or you know something like that?
>> The Worshipful the Mayor of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and Rock Ferry Councillor Moira McLaughlin I think he has answered that Mr. Brace to be fair.
>> Cllr Steve Foulkes I would would hope, I would hope it’s as soon as possible.
I’ve not been given an exact date.
But I have been informed, and as we’ve all been informed, that progress has been made on the Right to Reply. Err, there are some late Right to Reply issues come in come into the system as [inaudible]ed in Bill’s report. Everything around this issue is within the report of the Director of Law and I think that once you will read that you will understand [inaudible] difficult position he got in this type of report.
As I say it’s not in the Council’s interests, or my interests or anybody’s interest for that report to be delayed any longer than it need be. Because quite frankly people need to move on, the Authority needs to move on and rights need to err err wrongs need to be put right, and I’m interested in that happening. But, I can’t give you an exact date. I’m not going to give out [inaudible].
>> John Brace Ok, thank you.
>> The Worshipful the Mayor of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and Rock Ferry Councillor Moira McLaughlin Thanks.
>> Cllr Jeff Green Supplementary to that conversation.