Category: Bidston & St. James

Lib Dems deliver 150,000 new affordable homes – WPH’s Bramall Construction contract & Labour Party donations

Following on from the Bidston & St. James Focus article about housing I am pleased to read that the high-rise flats Vittoria Court owned by Wirral Partnership Homes are to receive investment. There are also plans being discussed for more social housing on the Beechwood estate. In addition the Coalition government and Council have agreed … Continue reading “Lib Dems deliver 150,000 new affordable homes – WPH’s Bramall Construction contract & Labour Party donations”

Following on from the Bidston & St. James Focus article about housing I am pleased to read that the high-rise flats Vittoria Court owned by Wirral Partnership Homes are to receive investment.

There are also plans being discussed for more social housing on the Beechwood estate. In addition the Coalition government and Council have agreed the Wirral Waters scheme.

Many Wirral Partnership Homes properties in this area have also received investment following a construction contract with Brammall Construction last year. With Labour sitting on Wirral Partnership Home’s board, perhaps there could be an explanation as to whether any declaration of interest was declared in regards to a contract awarded to Bramall Construction after a £2,000 donation was made from Brammall Construction to the Birkenhead Constituency Labour Party? A spokesperson for Bramall Construction rejects any connection and explains the donation as follows:-

“In 2000 we entered into a partnering arrangement called the Tranmere Partnership with Riverside Housing Association, Maritime Housing Association & Consultants which carried out some major works in Tranmere.

As part of our commitment to working with the local community, we sponsored an event [ED – in 2004, not 2000] at Prenton Park which was organised by the local Labour Party. Like many other local firms [ED – although the Birkenhead Labour Party records no donations or sponsorship from others], we took a table of 12 and sponsored the night by putting three bottles of wine on each table. We viewed the event as putting something back into the local community. Our donation to this event was registered by the Labour Party.

In 2004/5 we put in a bid to carry our major repair works for Wirral Partnership Homes but we were unsuccessful. The work was awarded to two other contractors. In 2007 we understood that there was a contractual issue with one of the incumbent partner contractors and in line with the framework agreement were given the opportunity to express an interest in undertaking decent homes works. After following all of the required procurement procedures we were awarded a section of works. To suggest there is a link between our sponsoring of a Labour party organised event and the awarding of a contract of WPH is a very serious allegation which we strongly reject.”

The link to the Electoral Commission website doesn’t link directly to the information, however an extract from the register is below.

Received by
  		Donor
  		Address
  		Date accepted
  		Donation
 
Conservative Party
Birkenhead 		Grange (Birkenhead) Property Co. Ltd
status: Company
company reg no: 00045284		 17a Balls Road
Birkenhead
CH43 5RF		 04/06/04 £ 500.00
Conservative Party
Birkenhead		 Tranmere Conservative Club Ltd
status: Company
company reg no: 00869082		 68 Argyle Street
Birkenhead
CH41 6AF		 10/06/04 £ 1,250.00
Labour Party [The]
Birkenhead Clp		 Bramall Construction
status: Company
company reg no: 1467161		 Unit 3D
Newton Court
Faraday Road
Wavertree Technology Park
Liverpool
L13 1EJ		 13/05/04 £ 2,000.00
Section total:£ 3,750.00
      

To be fair (as I always like to be) to Labour they are required by law to declare an interest when representing Wirral Council on outside bodies and withdraw from any discussions. The public must know that their representatives are acting in the public interest. With trust in politicians low, isn’t it about time WPH published any documents of meetings held about this?

Isn’t it time the public had a bit more openness and transparency when it comes to Wirral Partnership Homes, a company that receives £43 million in rent a year (some of this from the taxpayer from Housing Benefit claims)?

Cabinet meeting – Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MF&RS), Cole Street Primary School closure (and Cathcart Street Primary school) – Part 1

Well, I’ve just returned from another meeting of Wirral Council’s Cabinet.

It started with a surprise change to the agenda (after declarations of interest/minutes of the last meeting) with a presentation by Myles Platt, a Wirral Group Manager for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service on the Fire Service’s consultation on their Integrated Risk Management Plan (although Integrated is spelt wrong on their website)!

This consultation will feed into what MF&RS on the Wirral will be doing over the next year.

The agenda then resumed with the decision to close Cole Street Primary School at the end of this school year (31st August 2011). You may ask what relevance this has to the Bidston & St. James area. When Cole Street Primary School closes, some of the pupils will move to Cathcart Street Primary School.

A number of parents and the Chair of Governors were present for the decision and by the mood of the audience before and after the decision didn’t want to have Cole Street Primary School close, the Chair of Governors addressed the Cabinet and expressed her sadness that after 80 years the school was closing and that they didn’t understand why it wasn’t Cathcart Street school closing instead.

The headteacher of Cathcart Street Primary School also addressed the Cabinet; reassuring them that should Cole Street close they would do their best to help the new pupils and that lessons had been learnt after the recent closure of nearby St. Lawrences, mentioning Open Days and giving parents the opportunity to visit the school. She also mentioned that parts of Cathcart Street would be refurbished to deal with the increased pupil numbers.

The (Interim?) Director of Education explained why a new school (which would’ve led to both being closed) hadn’t been possible. He also mentioned concerns expressed by the MP Frank Field. He pointed out that the capital money received from the Department for Education for new buildings was being spent elsewhere in Wirral.

Cllr Hodson mentioned visiting Cole Street when he had been Mayor and that it had great pupils, was a fabulous school and that the staff put in a lot of effort.

Last week of blog posts – most popular

Last week of blog posts – most popular

Last week of blog posts – most popular

                               

Considering I only started this blog a week ago, the fact that pages on it have been viewed a staggering 182 times I find slightly amazing.

Ordered by popularity here are the top four posts of the last week (along with the number of comments)

Town Hall Drama: Labour’s lost the plot – more playground politics 16 comments
Planning Committee site visit to land adjacent to 290 Upton Road, Noctorum 2 comments
Cabinet Meeting 14th October 2010 0 comments
Wirral’s Future: Be a Part of It 0 comments

On the last one, what’s also pleasing is that three people have clicked through from this blog to the Wirral’s Future: Be a Part of It questionnaire. Next week will probably be quieter as it’s the half-term holiday. I’ll be writing up my recollection of last night’s Planning Committee meeting later today.

If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.

Wirral’s Future – Be a Part of It, Wirral Council’s consultation on the budget

Comment on the Wirral’s Future – Be a Part of It budget consultation and the Prenton/Oxton Area Forum meeting of the 19th October 2010

Wirral’s Future – Be a Part of It, Wirral Council’s consultation on the budget

                                                    

The new Lib Dem-Conservative coalition in charge of Wirral Council as part of their aim to bring about a culture of openness and accountability started a public consultation on next year’s budget.

I asked a question of the Lib Dem leader at last night’s Prenton and Oxton Area Forum as to whether the consultation would feed into the capital budget (the money used for investment eg new schools, new pedestrian traffic lights) as well as the revenue budget (which is mentioned on the front of the questionnaire).

He confirmed it would. This gives an opportunity for the public to feed their views into the budget process and despite Labour’s criticism of the process; a chance for all voices to be heard rather than just the ruling parties.

Whatever method of consultation was used, there’d be criticism. However I am pleased that (like the You Decide consultation last year) this is also being done using an online survey.

Last night Wirral Council officers also detailed how they’ve been trying to reach hard to visit groups; whether by knocking on doors or visiting supermarkets. As was pointed out yesterday, short of an insert in the free newspaper or writing to everyone, not every member of the public can be reached but over 1% of the public have returned a questionnaire. Considering the average turnout in this year’s election was 65% and in some places only 26% of the public decide vote for their elected representative; who are there to represent all their residents (not just the ones who voted for them), I think the consultation is doing its best to gather as many people’s views as possible.

Labour have called for public meetings; as there were over the library/community centre/leisure centre closures. However at the one I attended in Birkenhead people were turned away as the venue was full. That packed meeting started with a rather long presentation on the strategic asset review leading to the audience getting more and more livid as their felt their voices weren’t being heard. At least with a questionnaire everybody’s views can be taken on board.

Public meetings are best when they involve the audience and give members of the public a real chance to influence decisions. As mentioned above, when in some areas 74% of the electors haven’t voted at all in their local council elections; how are their views taken on board when some councillors feel that people who didn’t vote for them can be ignored?

There were similar issues raised about the You Decide consultation; however I genuinely think that involving the public in decision-making can only lead to better decisions being made. As mentioned last night, ultimately it is councillors who will together be making the budget decisions for 2011/2012 next March. However I have heard at least one Labour councillor say openly in a public meeting (and one of another party privately) that they didn’t even read the budget they vote on.

After the fiasco that was the library closures; I hope the new administration has learnt lessons on public consultation and fully takes on board the views of the public (who pointed out well before the budget was set in a public meeting at Wallasey Town Hall that Wirral Council hadn’t adhered to the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964).

On a sadder note, I heard yesterday evening that Mr. Garrett had died (about a month ago). He was the secretary of the Wirral Transport Users Association and on the Merseytravel Advisory Panel. He was a staunch champion of public transport and as Cllr. Pat Williams described enthusiastic. He will be missed.

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Planning Committee site visit to land adjacent to 290 Upton Road, Noctorum

A report on the Planning Committee’s site visit to land adjacent to 290 Upton Road on the 18th October 2010

Planning Committee site visit to land adjacent to 290 Upton Road, Noctorum

                                                                    

I went on the site visit today. What is a site visit you may ask? A site visit by the Planning Committee is when the Planning Committee and officers go to a visit a site that relates to a planning permission application that the Planning Committee will decide on in the future.
Continue reading “Planning Committee site visit to land adjacent to 290 Upton Road, Noctorum”