Author: John Brace

New media journalist from Birkenhead, England who writes about Wirral Council. Published and promoted by John Brace, 134 Boundary Road, Bidston, CH43 7PH. Printed by UK Webhosting Ltd t/a Tsohost, 113-114 Buckingham Avenue, Slough, Berkshire, England, SL1 4PF.

Planning Committee (Wirral Council) (27th June 2013) Minutes | Declarations of Interests | Site Visits

A blog post about the Planning Committee meeting of the 27th June 2013 | Declarations of Interest | Minutes | Requests for site visits

In an attempt to report on what happened at the Planning Committee, despite being prevented filming here is a transcript of what was said.

Chair (Cllr Bernie Mooney): Welcome to the err Planning Committee errm, just thank you.

Errm, just for all your information, errm on my first right where we have the usual, errm our usual adviser in the Authority who gives very good legal advice indeed errm, errm, especially at the minute and on the left we have  all these planning officers who will offer us help and guidance this evening. The rest of the people you see around the table are the councillors who will actually be taking the decisions, the Members.

Errm, this evening for each agenda item, errm we will have a presentation of the application by an officer so we all know what’s going on. Errm if there’s a qualifying petition, that means a petition of twenty-five separate names and separate households on it, one representative can address the Committee for five minutes and five minutes only errm on behalf of the petitioners. No sorts of representations will be heard by the Committee, I’m sorry about that errm it’s out of my hands.

So only one of the petitioners can talk errm for five minutes. Errm if the applicant is present, errm they will then be given the right to reply, but please note, if there are no representations, then no one present can talk.

Actually errm the, the, the, the, the errm, the errm, any ward councillor can be introduced at any time that they like and provided that the councillor is errm the errm, errm, sorry ladies and gentleman, just a minute errm. Errm my role here, is just to maintain discipline and to make sure that the people in this small room know the rules and regulations and that if we have a split vote, usually errm I as the Chairman vote. Normally all being well, it won’t.

Errm so the first thing on the agenda is the minutes. So, errm first can we approve the minutes of the previous meeting,

Cllr David Elderton (Conservative spokesperson): So is everyone happy with them? Thank you very much.

Cllr Bernie Mooney (Chair): Is that ok? Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Errm is there any declarations of interest? Anita?

Cllr Anita Leech: Yes, Chair, I have errm, a personal interest to declare in item number 14. It says home address, errm a board member of Leasowe Homes, errm with the Your Housing Group on the, on the written report, but it’s normally as an ordinary member of the Board.

Cllr Bernie Mooney (Chair): OK, thank you. Are there any other declarations? OK. Thank you very much. So, the requests for site visits, which is item, item number three, site visits?

Cllr Eddie Boult: Thank you Chair, errm, item number twelve, Hoylake Lawn Tennis Club.

Cllr Bernie Mooney (Chair): Thank you. Any other site visits?

Cllr Steve Foulkes: Chair, errm, given its implications err and being within the green belt, err I would like a site visit for items four and nine, items fifteen, err and it is an SDA err application but I can request a site visit.

Cllr Bernie Mooney (Chair): Is there any other site visits? I’ll move then to the first agenda item number nine, for a site visit? We’ve requested agenda item number nine for a site visit. Yeah?

Continues at Planning Committee (Wirral Council) (27th June 2013) Site Visits | OUT/13/0040 41 Noctorum Avenue, Noctorum, CH43 9RZ.

I was barred from filming Wirral Council’s Planning Committee tonight, usual excuses health and safety, data protection both are bogus reasons

I was barred from filming Wirral Council's Planning Committee tonight, usual excuses health and safety, data protection both are bogus reasons.

I was barred from filming Wirral Council’s Planning Committee tonight, usual excuses health and safety, data protection both are bogus reasons

I was barred from filming Wirral Council’s Planning Committee tonight, usual excuses health and safety, data protection both are bogus reasons

Coordinating Committee (Wirral Council) 24th June 2013 | Special Meeting to discuss Conservative call in of LGA (Local Government Association) Conference decision | Labour councillors on new Coordinating Committee reject Conservative councillor’s view that spending £2,475 plus travel costs to send five councillors and two officers to the LGA Conference is not “value for money”

An account of the special meeting of Wirral Council’s Coordinating Committee of the 24th June 2013 to discuss the call in of the decision by Conservative councillors to send five councillors and two officers to the LGA Conference as an approved duty

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The first part of Monday’s meeting is above, if you want to watch the entire meeting, here is a link to a Youtube playlist covering it.

Coordinating Committee 24th June 2013

Labour councillors on new Coordinating Committee reject Conservative councillor’s view that spending £2,475 plus travel costs to send five councillors and two officers to the LGA Conference is not “value for money”

Coordinating Committee (previously called Scrutiny Programme Board)
Cllr Stuart Wittingham (Chair)
Cllr Steve Foulkes (Vice-Chair)
Cllr Andrew Hodson (spokesperson)
Cllr Alan Brighouse (spokesperson)
Cllr Ron Abbey
Cllr Leah Fraser
Cllr Paul Doughty
Cllr Jean Stapleton
Cllr Moira McLaughlin
Cllr John Salter deputy for Cllr Patricia Glasman
Cllr Denise Roberts
Cllr Adam Sykes
Cllr Steve Williams
Cllr Bernie Mooney
Cllr David Elderton

The Chair started by stating that it was a special meeting of the committee to consider the call in by eleven Conservative councillors of the decision by the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, Cllr Adrian Jones to make attendance by five councillors and two officers at the LGA conference an approved duty (meaning Wirral Council pays for their costs).

He asked for any apologies for absence. Cllr John Salter sent Cllr Pat Glasman’s apologies and said he was deputising for her. There were no declarations of interest or party whip made.

Cllr Moira McLaughlin started by asking that as the Conservative spokesperson on the committee Cllr Andrew Hodson was a signatory to the call in whether this amounted to predetermination?

Ed – news flash for Cllr McLaughlin, there’s no such thing as predetermination any more, it got abolished on the 15th January 2012 by the implementation of s.25 of the Localism Act 2011.

Surjit Tour answered that being a signatory to the call in doesn’t amount to predetermination. Cllr Hodson, Conservative spokesperson said that despite the fact that some on this side of the table (referring to himself and Cllr Leah Fraser) were signatories to the call-in, that they hadn’t made up their minds and that they would make an unbiased decision.

He went on to say that he felt the way that officers had dealt with the call-in was “in an unprofessional manner” and accused officers of making rules up as they went along. Cllr Hodson said that they’d been asked by Surjit Tour to disregard an email from Cllr Phil Gilchrist (who had an interest in the matter). He said, “We know he was told what to say by Shirley Hudspeth.” and that at a later time Surjit Tour told them to carry on. Cllr Hodson said he wanted to stick to the fact that they were only dealing with transport and attendance.

Surjit Tour said that Cllr Gilchrist had said he wanted to make written submissions to the members of the committee, but that there had been “no authorisation for that information to be circulated”. He’d therefore asked members of the committee who’d received Cllr Gilchrist’s email to disregard it. Instead Surjit Tour only wanted Cllr Gilchrist’s written submissions to be circulated to the committee if the Chair agreed to it. He said that that was why he’d sent out the email telling councillors to disregard Cllr Gilchrist’s email.

Cllr Hodson pointed out that Cllr Gilchrist wasn’t present, Surjit Tour responded to his points. Cllr Adrian Jones, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services interjected from the audience and asked the Chair to ask people to speak louder as it was difficult to hear what people were saying.

The Chair, Cllr Stuart Wittingham asked people to speak up and moved onto agenda item 3, Surjit Tour said that it was a reminder of the committee’s terms of reference, the terms of reference were noted by the committee, the Chair moved the meeting onto agenda item 4 (Procedure for considering a decision that has been Called-in). Surjit Tour said that members of the committee would’ve received in their packs the proposed call in procedure regarding the call-in. He said that paragraph two set out the process and went through the various stages. The Chair asked for agreement, the committee agreed to the procedure and the meeting progressed to item 5 (the call-in).

Cabinet (Wirral Council) 13th June 2013 Moreton Day Centre: Carers propose Social Enterprise Model

Cabinet (Wirral Council) 13th June 2013: Closure of Moreton Day Centre

Cabinet: Moreton Day Centre: Carers propose Social Enterprise Model

Present:
Cllr Phil Davies
Cllr Pat Hackett
Cllr Brian Kenny
Cllr Adrian Jones
Cllr Tony Smith
Cllr Chris Meaden
Cllr Chris Jones
Cllr Ann McLachlan
Cllr George Davies

Once Cabinet had approved the minutes of the last meeting and declarations of interest were out-of-the-way, the Chair turned went to the item that most of the people were there for, the report recommending the closure of Moreton Day Centre.

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Cllr Phil Davies said that the central government cuts led to “difficult decisions to take on the budget”, he referred to the three-month consultation on the specific option to close Moreton Day Centre and thanked everybody who had taken part in it. He hoped people had had the opportunity to read the report on Wirral Council’s website.

Mr John Daulby addressed the meeting on behalf of the carers and thanked the Council for giving them the opportunity to offer their proposals for changing day services whilst at the same time making the required savings. He said that the savings in their social enterprise model exceeded those proposed by the Department of Adult Social Services. They disagreed that the £400,000 for central functions should continue as in their view it would remove accountability to the day centre management.

With reference to Moreton Day Centre he said that the “fear and distress experienced by the customers, their families and carers is well documented” and that “uncertainty for Moreton customers still exists”. Mr. Daulby said that the carers wanted involvement in any change and that they wanted to direct any changes, as opposed to having changes imposed upon them.

Mr. Daulby said that their proposal “minimised the angst generated” and would involve changing the day centres to resource centres. They wanted the new service to be a “role model for day service provision across the country” and “transform them not close them”. They would seek alternative income streams but would need “the help and support of Wirral Borough Council” and “hoped it was not too late to abandon the DASS [Department of Adult Social Services] proposals”.

He said, “We know it’s not too late though to fix the location of Moreton and its size as a matter of urgency, find a more effective way of interacting with day service customers, carers and parents, commit the transformation team to work with us to establish a social enterprise and commit DASS to work with us in terms of transforming day service provision.”