Month: September 2013

Wirral Heritage Open Days 2013 (St. Oswald’s Church, Bidston, Bidston Windmill, Bidston Community Archaeology & Flaybrick Memorial Gardens)

Wirral Heritage Open Days 2013 (St. Oswald’s Church, Bidston, Bidston Windmill, Bidston Community Archaeology & Flaybrick Memorial Gardens)

As it’s September once more, a number of Heritage Open Days are coming up (some in Bidston and St. James). The first of four in Bidston and St. James is on Thursday 12th September when St. Oswald’s Church in Bidston Village will be open from 10 am to 3 pm. There’s no need to book, the church has disabled access and there will be refreshments. Tours around the church will happen throughout the day and for further information you can contact Mr Tony Endean, the churchwarden on 0151 652 7328.

Bidston Windmill “bats permitting” will be open for visitors from 10 am to noon on Saturday 14th September. There is no need to book in advance, but children under eleven need to be accompanied by an adult. A minimum height restriction of 1.06 metres applies for those who want to go to the upper floors. For further details contact John Jakeman or Nic Harding on 0151 653 9332.

Also on Saturday 14th September Bidston Community Archaeology are holding an open day running from 10.30 am to 4 pm. They are currently excavating a medieval farmhouse fifty metres from the Tam O’Shanter Urban Farm and will be showing the public their finds. Again no booking in advance is needed.

The last event in Bidston and St James running on two days (Saturday 7th September and Saturday 14th September both at 11 am) is a “Local Heroes Military Guided Tour” of Flaybrick Memorial Gardens starting at Tam O’Shanter Urban Farm. The walk will take about one and a half hours and does need booking in advance, which you can do by contacting Chris Morris on 0151 608 5050.

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Incredible £7404 spent by Wirral Council on legal advice for Birkenhead Town Centre regeneration

Incredible £7404 spent by Wirral Council on legal advice for Birkenhead Town Centre regeneration

Incredible £7404 spent by Wirral Council on legal advice for Birkenhead Town Centre regeneration

                                                               

Earlier this year Wirral Council paid £6,000 to Weightmans for “professional charges in relation to the potential regeneration of Birkenhead Town Centre to include all time up to and including 17 December 2012” and £1,404 for procurement advice from Peter Oldham QC. You can see the invoices by clicking on these links and there’s a Wirral Globe article from July about Neptune being asked to come up with a master plan for the area.

Wirral Council have a Corporate Procurement Unit so why didn’t they ask them for advice instead? They even have sixteen in-house solicitors they could have asked. I wonder if they thought that asking a Weightman’s partner and a QC meant that if someone made a FOI request for the advice, Wirral Council can (rightly or wrongly) claim a section 42 exemption (legal professional privilege). However as this advice isn’t in relation to any legal proceedings, section 42 doesn’t apply. Therefore I’ve made a FOI request for the advice provided on the whatdotheyknow website.

Update: 26th September 2013: Wirral Council have switched it from a Freedom of Information Act request to one dealt with under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and refused it under regulation 12 (5)(e) “commercial confidentiality” and 12 (5)(b) “legal advice privilege/legal professional privilege”.

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