A blog about Wirral Council, Wirral Council's councillors & officers
A blog about Wirral Council's public meetings, Wirral Council's councillors, Bidston & St. James ward and other public bodies on Merseyside
Lib Dem Voice award Well, this blog has received a Lib Dem Voice “Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen” award for the last post about the Birkenhead Liberal Democrat Constituency Executive voting to suspend me from the Birkenhead Liberal Democrat Party. There’s a certain irony about receiving an award from a Lib Dem … Continue reading “Lib Dem Voice award”
Well, this blog has received a Lib Dem Voice “Top of the Blogs: The Golden Dozen” award for the last post about the Birkenhead Liberal Democrat Constituency Executive voting to suspend me from the Birkenhead Liberal Democrat Party.
There’s a certain irony about receiving an award from a Lib Dem members’ association for blogging about being suspended from the local Lib Dem party.
Well, I’ve been suspended from the Birkenhead Liberal Democrat Party following a complaint by Simon Holbrook and Cllr Bridson which centers on two reasons I should be suspended from the party:-
a) disability
b) opening my mouth on the Wirral Globe website in May which led to Cllr Bridson and Simon Holbrook having to "rewrite history" and Simon Holbrook and Cllr Bridson lying to the party in June.
The party didn’t consider it bad enough to chuck me out and reinstated my membership on 6th September 2011. Although they can’t go against Simon Holbrook and a Lib Dem councillor I was removed from all elected party positions within the Lib Dems, barred from holding any position in the Lib Dems for 5 years and barred from being a candidate for the party for five years.
The decision was appealed but nearly three months later nothing has happened since the appeal was received… which isn’t surprising to me, as the resignation of Chris Fox, the Liberal Democrat Chief Executive on September 6th was a way of scapegoating him.
Half of the complaint had to be thrown out due to “lack of evidence”.
The evidence was fabricated for the rest of the complaint, so the complaint was upheld based on fabricated evidence. Mind you the disciplinary panel had had a lot of alcohol to drink by the time they made the decision.
I can’t say much more than that (obviously) as contrary to the complaints procedure I haven’t been provided with a copy of the complaint.
Having written that, if he is concentrating on his career in the Environment Agency he’s showing a funny way of doing it!
We will see what happens when the dust settles. There’ll be a day in court (and a disciplinary meeting sometime in the next 14 weeks) and I’ll write about it here.
It is however quite sad when political parties can’t work together. It seems to be in relation to a comment I left on the Wirral Globe website here.
P.S. Due to the way the party is set up I still remain a member of the Liberal Democrat Party.
UPDATE: 30th October. On 6th September 2011, the disciplinary panel didn’t fully uphold either of the complaints made about me by Cllr Bridson & Simon Holbrook. The second thing I was accused of was impossible, the first was done by someone else.
However, I was accused of being three different people (yes three different people and last time I checked I didn’t have three heads). One was Martin Morton, the second was myself, the third was a person called Hugo.
As the councillor on the disciplinary panel put it in an email to me afterwards, Cllr Steve Foulkes was a Lib Dem party member [which he is incorrect about], and that this was why I should be punished by the Lib Dems.
The disciplinary panel decision has been however appealed and I await the outcome of that Appeals Panel.
It has however shown me the sheer levels of prejudice that exist in people’s hearts towards me on grounds of age, ethnic minority, gender and other “protected characteristics”. I will write more as things unfold and maybe I’ve outgrown the Lib Dems.
The agenda for the first Labour Cabinet at Wirral Council next Thursday is now online.
The Labour spin machine seems to be running in overdrive (at least in the Wirral Globe).
First we have Steve Foulkes stating the Budget shortfall for 2011-2012 will be £24 million, the quote is We have taken a savage hit – £51m gone from the budget this year and £24m next. when his administration’s own Director of Finance Ian Coleman states in a report it’ll be £20.8 million (see the Shortfall heading in the appendix).
In the same piece he has the gall to take credit for Fernleigh staying open, when this decision was made by the Tory/Lib Dem budget of 2011-2012 before we even had a Labour Cabinet!
It seems barely three days into this Labour administration it’s going to be one run by spin, press releases and although there will be a “honeymoon” period of a fortnight it won’t take long before the Conservative and Lib Dem parties wake up and start holding them to account.
The national print media have finally picked up on the dilemma facing the Liberal Democrat councillors on Wirral Council ahead of next Monday evenings’ adjourned Council meeting to decide.
So far all we know from part 1 on Monday evening is that the Mayor is Cllr Moira McLaughlin, the Deputy Mayor is Cllr Gerry Ellis and that Cllrs Harney, Green and Foulkes will be Wirral Council’s representatives on the Merseyside Police Authority Appointments Committee. However this was all thoroughly predictable.
Certainly the defection of Cllr Niblock from Lib Dem to Labour will upset the careful calculations by officers as to committee allocations and outside body allocations for the Labour Group and the Lib Dem Group, which will have to be revised by Monday evening.
Cllr Niblock was only the Liberal Democrat councillor from Wirral on Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority last year. I have been in touch with him in the past about solutions to the problems of deliberate grass fires on Bidston Hill. Since then the Community Patrol have been issued with packs to put out small grass fires. Cllr Niblock used to live in Bidston & St. James until the house he lived in was demolished (as many have been in the last few years). For many years until he moved he was the only Lib Dem councillor living in Bidston & St. James ward (representing Bromborough) and as we lived a few blocks away we used to sometime bump into each other at the bus stop outside the bus depot from time to time.
His mother was a critic of Cllr Foulkes (Labour’s leader) on both the local Area Forum for Bidston & St. James/Claughton ward (she served as the Older People’s Parliament representative) and if I recall correctly also the Local Strategic Partnership Assembly. When she retired I remember her saying to Cllr Foulkes that she thought he would be glad, due to her robust criticism of him during meetings and that she’d been “a thorn in his side”. She was well liked and many councillors attended her funeral.
I wish Cllr Niblock all the best in his new political group and I’m sure he will follow in her footsteps as he tends to be someone that like his mother speaks from experience and enthusiasm. This is in contrast to some councillors on Wirral Council who give long, hard to follow, dreary speeches which lead to the listeners and the speakers being more confused about the issue than when they’ve started.
In 2009/2010 he received an extra £14,660 for being on Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority (and probably a similar amount in 2010/2011 in addition to the £9,094.58 he gets as a local councillor). However with the reduction in Liberal Democrat councillors, the four places representing Wirral Council on Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority will go to two Tories and two Labour councillors, instead of two Tory, one Labour and one Lib Dem.
Clearly if Labour put Steve Niblock forward as one of their two representatives on Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority he will face the same accusation that former Cllr. Denis Knowles did; that he is switching parties merely to do with a position on an outside body (which comes with a generous allowance). However in this case it would be Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority instead of Merseytravel.
If this is the case and he becomes one of Labour’s two representatives for Wirral Council on Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority, had he stuck with the Lib Dems he would’ve seen a drop in his income as their allocation for Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority was reduced from one to zero. We will see what happens on Monday.
More about Labour’s position including a quote from Cllr. Niblock is in this article in the Independent where it discusses the situation on Wirral.
Cllr. Jeff Green’s view (Leader of the Conservative Group) can be read in a blog post entitled “Random thoughts from the Twilight Zone”.
What happens next is anybody’s guess at this stage. Clearly after 103,162 people voted this year it comes down to nine Lib Dem councillors to decide. However with one in seven voting Lib Dem this year, over 14,000 Wirral residents, it is clear that with no party gaining a majority that the Wirral public wants parties to work together to solve Wirral’s problems over the coming year. The Lib Dems just have till next Monday evening to decide if that is Labour or the Conservatives.
What is known is that whatever party (or parties) are in control and in charge of drawing up a Budget for 2012/2013, more cuts are coming. The Budget projection given by the Council’s Director of Finance Ian Coleman on the 13th January shows that £26.5 million worth of savings need to be found by March 2012 based on the assumption that Council Tax next year will be frozen again. Around half this amount (£14.1 million) is due to a reduction in grant funding to Wirral Council by the Coalition government. The rest is due to increased requirements, such as a predicted rise in people claiming benefit (eg Housing Benefit), pay inflation, the amount to Merseytravel going up and similar items.
If Council Tax was increased next year by 5%, it would only help the Budget by £3 million due to the loss of a Council Tax Freeze Grant equivalent to a 2.5% Council Tax rise.
With a Lib Dem/Tory government and Lib Dem/Tory council for this last year the influence that Bidston & St. James Labour councillors can bring to bear on the decision makers and holders of the purse strings is less than it was under a Labour government or Labour/Lib Dem council. However at the local level some amounts of money are being delegated to the Area Forum (which locally covers Bidston & St. James/Claughton), such as the Empty Shops funding and small amounts of other money too. As Labour councillors make the decisions at the Area Forum level and appoint their own party members to other positions on the Area Forum panel, they can decide on where some money is spent.
I will write briefly about this ongoing saga involving flytipping, previously mentioned on this blog.
In the days that Wrexham Signs Ltd owned this shop (they used to make money from the sign on the side) all it took was a letter and the rubbish here was cleared away.
Since then the shop has changed hands a few times. Most recently the owner was served with a notice to clear away the rubbish under the powers Wirral Council has to deal with vermin. The owner didn’t and the council’s contractor came to move the rubbish. Wirral Council then bill the owner.
However it’s just back to the way it was and frankly, while the efforts of Wirral Council are much appreciated, it’s not providing a longterm solution to the problem. In addition, the alleyway needs a good clean, this is also the responsibility of private landowners as it’s unadopted (the shops on Hoylake Road and the houses on Curlender Close that back onto it).
Most of the flytipping in Bidston & St. James ward falls into one of three categories:-
a) businesses cutting costs and corners by dumping commercial waste
b) residents either avoiding the ERIC charges (brought in by Labour!) or who don’t know they can take things for free to the tip at Bidston Moss (otherwise known as the materials recycling facility).
c) landlords clearing out a property after a tenant has left (often stuff dumped in an alleyway)
A) and C) should know better. The area would benefit if one or both of the following were changed:-
a) provide a reduced or nil scale of charges to families on means tested benefits or
b) landlords as part of their service provided bulky rubbish removal (eg unwanted furniture) to their tenants.
On the latter point, many charities and residents are happy to recycle what people don’t want. There are a number of charities that take furniture to sell in charity shops, who collect and others that give it to the needy.