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 – 08/03/2011 – Part 3 – Sheldrakes Restaurant, Banks Road, Heswall

Someone representing the applicant called Neil from Chester then addressed the committee. He said it was relevant to highlight the objections relate to the existing building and the applicant had the benefit of two live consents. Regarding the material amendments to the plans, the sole reason was to comply with their statutory duty under the … Continue reading “Planning Committee – 08/03/2011 – Part 3 – Sheldrakes Restaurant, Banks Road, Heswall”

Someone representing the applicant called Neil from Chester then addressed the committee. He said it was relevant to highlight the objections relate to the existing building and the applicant had the benefit of two live consents.

Regarding the material amendments to the plans, the sole reason was to comply with their statutory duty under the Equality Act and Health & Safety legislation following a risk assessment. The plans would allow for a second preparation kitchen which would help with cross-contamination. He considered the new design to be superior as the existing consent was ad hoc. He commented on the first floor aspect regarding massing and the ridge line. He said there had been a noise reduction scheme and that the construction was sufficient to control noise. He felt it was inappropriate for Wirral Council to impose a further noise reduction scheme. He mentioned an email he had written to members of the Planning Committee prior to the meeting.

Commenting on the second application, he referred to the lawful development certificate has been issued regarding ten years to 2007. From 2007 it operated by the hours granted by the certificate. He said it was to reflect the historic opening hours for thirty years. He disputed an adverse impact on local residents. With the additional information submitted today by email, he felt the applicant had addressed all the points of concern raised and he called for approval.

Planning Committee – 08/03/2011 – Part 2 – Sheldrakes Restaurant, Banks Road, Heswall

The committee then went on to receive a verbal report from an officer about items 5&6 (which were taken together). A previous refused application had gone to the Planning Inspector who had overturned the decision. The application was for improving the circulation of people within the restaurant, increasing its capacity and to simplify the design. The second application was for varying the hours, which would affect the extension too. This would lead to an hour later opening until midnight and on New Years Eve until 2am. Reference was made to the lawful development certificate.

A petitioner addressed the committee who was against the application. They introduced themselves as Steve Fitzsimmons, the Chair of the local Residents Association who lived behind the restaurant. He referred them to the written report specifically the section on Appearance and Ameneties. He disputed the fact stated there that the footprint of the building wouldn’t be extended. He mentioned the Greenbelt and that thirty two out of the forty local households had signed the petition.

He mentioned the road (Banks Road) and how traffic was causing problems for dog walkers and birdwatchers and also mentioned a blind spot and near accidents. He then went onto mention parking and the local public car park and the effect on residents on nights of private parties. He also mentioned illegal parking and disturbance. He said nearly two hundred people leaving tend to disturb residents.

He carried on talking about noise disturbance. He went into the history of applications and how the new design wouldn’t fit in with the existing properties. Overlooking and privacy issues were also mentioned including blocking of light. He then went onto talk about the Equality Act/Disability Discrimination aspects of the application and said it shouldn’t be used as a special circumstance. He said the existing toilet could be improved and was inappropriate in the Green Belt/Coastal Area. He referred to the Planning Inspector’s decision.

Planning Committee – 08/03/2011 – Part 1 – “We can’t hear you”

Planning committee started late. Most members of the public were still milling around the lobby by five past six after planning officers had shooed them away from Committee Room 1 & 2.

Cllr Mitchell started off by welcoming those present to the meeting. However with the seats being many further rows back only those on the front row could hear and a number of members of public were grumbling. The meeting was then delayed while an officer was sent away to find someone to turn the speakers on. Someone came in and out to do this about three times as generally the Chair’s microphone is allowed to overrule other speakers, but the person had limited the microphones to one speaker at a time rather than the usual.

The meeting then restarted at about ten past six. As this is a regular occurence you wonder why the microphones can’t be tested a few minutes before the meeting starts!

Cllr Elderton declared a prejudicial interest in items 5 and 6 by virtue of his position on the Cabinet as Cabinet Member for Culture, Tourism and Leisure. He also declared an interest in item 12.

Cllr Keeley and Cllr Kenny both requested a site visit for item 9 (Thai Rooms, Liscard). Cllr Boult requested a site visit for item 12 (Kukis, West Kirby). The Chair informed those present that item 11 (Pinewood, Heswall) would be deferred for further information. A number of members of the public who had come for items 9, 11 and 12 left at this point.

Census 2011 – Continued – Further Questions

Some of these I answered yesterday, but there are some more people have now.

Q. Why isn’t the question about religion compulsory?
A. It always has been voluntary (as far back as I can recall for at least the last 100 years). I’m not sure why it is now, but there used to be discrimination on religious grounds in the workplace regarding promotion for government jobs. Information on people’s religion has been used previously for ethnic cleansing. We only have to look to the history of Northern Ireland to see why it could cause problems if you made this a mandatory question as some people don’t trust government with this information.

Q. Why is there no question 17 in the census?
A. Q.17 is Can you understand, speak, read or write Welsh? so it doesn’t appear on the English Census.

Q. Is there a legal obligation to fill in the census?
A. Yes.

Q. What if I’m on holiday for the census?
A. You still need to fill it in, and if on holiday in the UK registered as a visitor where you are on the 27th March.

Q. Can I be fined for not filling out the census?
A. Yes.

Q. Can I refuse to answer some questions on the census?
A. Yes, the religion question. As to the rest I’m unusure.

Q. Does the government census get sold to marketing companies?
A. Census data is given away for free in its raw data form after 100 years and is used to compile statistics before that. Basically the answer is no.

Q. Is information on a census form checked?
A. There would be checks done on the statistics before they are published, however every detail on every census form returned won’t be double-checked.

Q. In what order are census forms sent out?
A. I don’t know.

Birkenhead County Court – Chaotic Scenes as Politics clashes with the law – Council Tax protester hits the news

I was going to write in answer to various Census questions people have posed but that can wait. There has been a large protest (and case adjourned) at the Birkenhead County Court leading to a number of arrests.

From reading between the lines in the article, those arrested were for breach of the peace, assaulting officers and obstructing police.

Let’s start off with a few words about Merseyside Police, however I will start this with the caveat that I wasn’t there but I have seen similar scenes before. Charges of assaulting officers is one of those charges used in order to get somebody in a van and a custody suite.

A previous case that I witnessed led to bruising of the person being arrested, four charges of assaulting a police officer (that were later dropped/dismissed in court). When the police face a mob of angry people at what they’re doing they can get their batons out and be quite emotional.

I’ve known a case where a person has been arrested for something trivial warranting say a £40 on the spot fine. However the police (who can in my experience be pretty brutal/heavy handed in sending a dozen cops to arrest one person dragging them out of a building without their feet touching the ground) must realise that their presence can inflame a situation especially where there is a crowd of people.

I’ve seen arrests where batons have been used and police have got very angry. Once police get emotional, their training can be forgotten in the heat of the moment. Often the charge of assaulting a police officer gets dropped or doesn’t stand up in court. Violence begets violence.

So getting back to the story and away from pure opinion on Merseyside Police, Wirral Council take someone to court for non-payment of Council Tax. Said person organises (or gets someone else to organise) a protest of six hundred people which turns into a riot. Court security can’t cope and call police. Police arrive and make arrests.

I’ll end on one thing. It’s a shame a Liberal Democrat government wasn’t elected, which would’ve abolished the Council Tax. Then all this time and expense, police time, Wirral Council legal department time, county court time etc etc wouldn’t have been required.

However, personally I think it is merely the start of what is to come.

There’s more about the protest here. I must admit that the article that refers to the protestors as BNP (who do hijack a lot of protests), hippies, dreadlocks, urban commandoes and those protesting “Judges are lizards” are certainly the strangest bunch of protesters I’ve heard about in a good while!

P.S. Judges in my experience always (try) in civil cases to treat litigants-in-person as fairly as possible to prevent grounds for appeal and in order to ensure justice. However as in all walks of live judges vary and some bad apples can bring the whole profession into disrepute.