July, 2017 | A blog about Wirral Council, Wirral Council's councillors & officers

Will councillors agree to Clare Fish retiring early at a cost of £105,000 tonight?

Clare Fish 3rd November 2014 Families Wellbeing Policy and Performance Committee Wirral Council

ED – edited at 15:39 on 10.7.17 to add sentence about amendments moved by opposition councillors.

Tonight Wirral Council’s councillors meet for two public meetings. Both are in the Council Chamber at Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Seacombe, CH44 8ED.

The first regular public meeting of all 66 councillors starts at 6.00 pm and I’ll hopefully be asking questions during agenda item 5 of the Vice-Chair of the Standards and Constitutional Oversight Committee Cllr Paul Stuart (as the Chair Cllr Moira McLaughlin is unable to make the meeting tonight).

The second meeting is an extraordinary meeting called by 21 Conservative councillors. The requisition notice for that meeting and the motion on greenbelt policy can both be found on Wirral Council’s website.

Buried in the supplementary agenda for the first meeting on pages 15-16 are two previously exempt reports to the Employment and Appointments Committee meeting on the 27th June 2017 (see pages 15-16).

Both the Liberal Democrat councillors and the Conservative councillors have moved amendments to this to be voted on tonight.

The reports show that the recommendation to spend £105,000 on early retirement for Clare Fish (Executive Director for Strategy) and to create a new management post of Director of Strategy and Partnerships at a salary range of £103k-£115k (£146k including on costs).

As both the new post has a salary of over £100,000 and the early retirement cost for Clare Fish is over £100,000, both decisions can’t be delegated to the Employment and Appointments Committee, but instead the Employment and Appointments Committee makes a recommendation for a decision by a meeting of all Wirral Council’s councillors tonight.

The votes on the recommendation agreed in private at the Employment and Appointments Committee to do this was as follows.

For 4 (Cllr Phil Davies (proposer), Cllr Bernie Mooney (seconder), Cllr George Davies* and Cllr Chris Jones*)
Against 3 (Cllr Chris Blakeley, Cllr Lesley Rennie*, Cllr Phil Gilchrist*)
Abstain 1 (Cllr Adrian Jones*)

All votes with an asterisk are educated guesses, as the meeting chose to exclude the press and public from the decision (as you can watch below) and the names of the people voting are not recorded in the draft minutes (apart from the proposer and seconder who are assumed to vote for their recommendations!).

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Employment and Appointments Committee (Wirral Council) 27th June 2017 Part 1 of 2

The details on the change to make it a legal requirement that all councillors voted on generous severance packages over £100,000 was referred to in further detail in a blog post from 2015 about a proposed £110,000 severance package for Liverpool City Council’s outgoing Director of Public Health.

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Why will Merseyrail services be disrupted on the 8th, 10th and 23rd July 2017 due to strike action?

Bidston Train Station (Borderlands Line) 13th August 2016 (John Brace)

Merseyrail employees who are part of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) are striking on Saturday 8th July 2017, Monday 10th July 2017 and Sunday 23rd July 2017.

Although Merseyrail are hoping to run to a reduced timetable on strike days (which means Merseyrail trains will not stop at many stations on the Wirral and be less frequent at the others) the entire train network was known to be stopped completely on a strike day earlier this year in March for safety reasons.

Trains on the Bidston to Wrexham Central line which is run by Arriva Trains Wales won’t be affected by this strike. Although people planning to connect at Bidston to a Merseyrail train during one of the three strike days will be.

There is also a strike by Northern Rail staff planned for the 8th July 2017, 9th July 2017 and 10th July 2017 which will result in a reduced service (on Merseyside this is generally services that go to and from Liverpool Lime Street). Further details on their reduced timetable are on Northern Rail’s website.

The Merseyrail and Northern Rail strikes are caused by a dispute between employers and the union over new trains in 2020 which will be staffed only by a driver and not a driver and guard as at present.

The lost revenue to Merseyrail during each strike day is estimated by the RMT union at £139,000 a day (plus the cost of contingency arrangements).

Under the franchise agreement between Merseytravel and Merseyrail, the public sector will pay Merseyrail for the lost profits due to industrial action.

So for the three strike days this is estimated at £417,000 (plus contingency arrangements) paid for out of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority budget (who control Merseytravel).

Last year in a private meeting councillors on the LCRCA Merseytravel Committee and Council Leaders on the LCRCA agreed to the contract for new trains.

On Monday 10th July (one of the strike days) Liverpool City Council’s Constitutional Issues Committee meets to decide on a recommendation to pay the Chair of the Merseytravel Committee Cllr Liam Robinson £29,983 a year for his role on the Merseytravel Committee (in addition to amounts he receives as a Liverpool City Council councillor).

Cllr Liam Robinson is also the portfolio holder for Transport on the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority which meets next week on Friday 14th July 2017.

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Wirral’s Labour and Lib Dem councillors vote against Conservative motion that recommended restricting future development on Council owned land in the greenbelt

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Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 5th July 2017 starting at agenda item (Notice of Motion – Green Belt) 1:18

Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee 5th July 2017 Left Colin Hughes solicitor Right Cllr Paul Stuart Chair

ED: Edited to add quote from Wirral Society at end. 8.7.17 16:58

Yesterday evening, Wirral Council’s Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee discussed Cllr Chris Blakeley’s motion about Wirral Council owned land in the greenbelt.

The Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee is made up of 9 Labour councillors, 5 Conservative councillors and 1 Lib Dem councillor. However 1 Labour councillor couldn’t make it which meant on the evening in question there were 8 Labour councillors, 5 Conservative councillors and 1 Lib Dem councillor.

Cllr Chris Blakeley wanted an “unconditional guarantee” that it wouldn’t be “developed under any circumstances”.

The Labour councillors disagreed with Cllr Chris Blakeley and Cllr Foulkes gave the example of Arrowe Park Hospital as a development that Cllr Foulkes approved of that was on Council-owned land in the greenbelt. The Conservative councillors agreed with Cllr Chris Blakeley.

However when it came to the vote, the Labour councillors (plus a Lib Dem councillor) voted down Cllr Chris Blakeley’s notice of motion, replacing it instead with a Labour proposed notice of motion.

The text of the replacement motion proposed by the Labour Chair Cllr Paul Stuart was as follows:

“We note the notice of motion.

The Council recognises the value of the greenbelt, which should only be developed in special circumstances.

We await the Emerging Core Strategy: Local Plan and the consultation around this with specific reference to the national guidelines.”

The Labour notice of motion was agreed by a 9 (for): 5 (against) vote. This recommendation has to be agreed by a future meeting of all Wirral Council’s councillors before it becomes policy.

The Wirral Society “applauds the commitment by Wirral Councillors to uphold the integrity of the Wirral Green Belt and especially of land within its ownership.

As the legislation makes provision for exceptions to be made for development in the Green Belt under Very Special Circumstances, we accept that it would be difficult to for the Council to say it would never allow any development on its Green Belt land. However, the Society was disappointed that the Motion passed made no mention of the need to pursue a policy of giving priority in all cases to developing ‘Brown-Field’ (ie previously developed) land as a priority.”

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Opposition councillors request meeting to review Wirral Council’s Cabinet decision to increase car parking charges by 20 pence and introduce new car parking charges in country parks

Cabinet (Wirral Council) 19th June 2017 L Cllr Stuart Whittingham R Cllr George Davies Traffic Regulation Order — Cabinet (Wirral Council) 19th June 2017 | Left Cllr Stuart Whittingham | Right Cllr George Davies | Agenda Item Car Parking Charges Traffic Regulation Order – Consideration of Further Representations

One of the decisions made by councillors on Wirral Council’s Cabinet, I’ve been meaning to write about since the Cabinet met last month was a decision to increase car parking charges (which has since been put on hold).

On the 19th June 2017, Wirral Council’s Cabinet agreed (see video below starting at 33:31 and photo above) to increase charges for parking at Council car parks on the Wirral by twenty pence and to introduce charges for parking where there had been no charges before (50p for an hour, £1 for 2 hours and £2 for all day) at Arrowe Country Park, Royden Country Park, Eastham Country Park and Thurstaston Country Park.

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Cabinet (Wirral Council) 19th June 2017 (agenda item
Car Parking Charges Traffic Regulation Order – Consideration of Further Representations starts at 33:31)

However for the country parks only, in a modification to the original proposals households could pay for a £50 annual permit instead of paying charges when they parked in the country parks.

There’s a long 21-page draft traffic regulation order that goes into all the details.

The Cabinet minutes were published and opposition councillors had five days in which the decision could be called in for review.

Six (or more) opposition councillors on Wirral Council “called in” the decision, so it now it won’t be implemented immediately but put on hold until the Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee meets.

There will be a special public meeting of the cross-party Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee starting at 4.00 pm on the 18th July 2017 in Committee Room 1 at Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Seacombe, CH44 8ED.

The Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee is composed of 9 Labour councillors, 5 Conservative councillors and 1 Liberal Democrat councillor on it.

There’s a long history to the parking charges issues and an earlier stage in the same decision was called in and was reviewed in March 2017. You can watch video of that meeting below.

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Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 13th March 2017

Usually after representations are made during the consultation period, a cross-party advisory panel called the Highways and Traffic Representation Panel meets in public and makes a recommendation to the Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee then makes a recommendation onwards to the Cabinet (or Cabinet Member) for a decision.

As the Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee met for the first time yesterday evening since the Claughton by-election (when it decided the councillors to appoint to the Highways and Traffic Representation Panel), when the Cabinet had made the decision on the 19th June 2017, there were no councillors at that point appointed to the Highways and Traffic Representation Panel to consider the objections made during the consultation.

Increases to parking charges are on hold till at least the 18th July 2017. The Business and Overview and Scrutiny Committee can choose at that meeting to either:

a) uphold the Cabinet decision made on the 19th June 2017 (in which case the decision is implemented),

b) refer the matter back to Cabinet for reconsideration,

c) refer the matter to Council.

At the call-in meeting of the Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the 13th March 2017, councillors voted at the end of that meeting. 8 councillors voted in favour (Labour) and 6 councillors (Conservative and Liberal Democrat) voted against. So the decision taken by Cllr Phil Davies (Leader of the Council) at an earlier stage was upheld on a 8:6 vote.

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What did Gillian Wood’s election campaign to become a councillor in Claughton ward spend £1,354.53 on?

ED – updated 4.7.2017 to include extra detail on VAT treatment and comment

Below this blog post is the paperwork submitted as part of the election expense return for the Labour candidate for the Claughton byelection for a councillor to Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council.

These are open to public inspection and I inspected these at Wallasey Town Hall last week (although there was a delay due to “staffing issues”).

The agent for the Labour candidate Gillian Wood was Martin Morris. Although Cllr George Davies and the Wirral Labour Group have had an involvement in the campaign too.

On the 5th May 2017, the result was announced. Gillian Wood was returned as a councillor for a period of one year with a vote of 1,761 votes (52%), a majority of 1,021. The second placed candidate for the Liberal Democrats received 740 votes (22%) and the voting system used was first past the post.

The nomination papers for this candidate show that her nomination papers were submitted on the 3rd April 2017 at 4.30 pm and the initials (KR) of the Wirral Council employee that accepted them was Kate Robinson.

Strangely, this date on the nomination papers doesn’t match the date given on page 1 of the election expenses return (see below) (5th April 2017) as the date she became a candidate and is after the date given that the agent was appointed (4th April 2017).

I asked another election agent in this Claughton byelection (Allan Brame who was agent for David Evans the Liberal Democrat candidiate) about matters involving the documentation below. He helpfully pointed out that leaflets are zero-rated for the purposes of VAT.

He also stated that the latest date a person could become a candidate was the 4th April 2017 (close of nominations) and the earliest date 27th March 2017 (if the candidacy had already been announced). On the subject of donations he stated “I am surprised that the details of donations have not been provided.”

However, the election expenditure return shows expenditure of £1,354.53 (the spending limit was £1,427.42).

Invoices accompanying the return are for hire of a car PA System on polling day from SS Radio (£30) and for leaflets from LT Print Ltd (2,500 Vote Labour cards) for £169.20 (£141 + £28.20 (VAT)). Although as these are VAT zero-rated I’m puzzled as to why VAT is included on the invoice!

There are references to invoices 76414, 76415, 76796 and 76795 also from LT Print Ltd, also for leaflets. These invoices were paid by BACS payment and amount to £491, £364, £253 and £491.

It is claimed by the agent that of the first of these (invoice 76414) for £491 that £415.47 doesn’t apply to the election period as 5,500 of these leaflets were delivered prior to the 26th March 2017.

This would imply that this invoice (which was not supplied) was for 6,500 leaflets, of which 1,000 were delivered during the election period.

Where the money came from referring to the £1,354.53 spent during the campaign is unknown as donations were entered as £NIL.

As the candidate who was elected, Gillian Wood also has to state in a declaration which individuals or organisations funded her elections campaign which is published on Wirral Council’s website.

At the time of writing, there is no link to her register of interests from the page about her on Wirral Council’s website.