Wirral Council consult on £1.1 million scheme to change Birkenhead’s Hamilton Square
Wirral Council consult on £1.1 million scheme to change Birkenhead’s Hamilton Square
Remembrance Day 2012 outside Birkenhead Town Hall. If the traffic scheme goes ahead then this area outside Birkenhead Town Hall won’t be solely for pedestrians but will be open to two-way road traffic
The removal of the taxi rank outside Hamilton Square train station in Hamilton Street. The reason would be so there could be a puffin crossing outside Hamilton Square train station. This taxi rank would be relocated to two sections of Bridge Street (one for four taxis, one for five taxis).
A bus stop in Bridge Street would be relocated to Hamilton Street.
The existing bus stop outside Hamilton Square train station would be moved further down Hamilton Street.
The area in front of Birkenhead Town Hall which is now closed to road traffic, solely for pedestrians and protected by bollards would become part of the road and open to traffic.
The mini roundabout at the Hamilton Square/Hamilton Street junction (to the North-East of Birkenhead Town Hall) would be removed and replaced with a Give Way junction instead.
The mini roundabout at the Hamilton Square/Hamilton Street junction (to the South-West of Birkenhead Town Hall) would be removed and replaced with a Give Way junction.
The closure at this junction which prevents traffic going to Hamilton Square from the South-West along Hamilton Street would be removed.
Hinson Street (now one-way) would be made two-way between Hamilton Street and Henry Street.
Hamilton Street (now one-way between Hamilton Square and Conway Street) would be made two-way between Hamilton Square and Conway Street.
Conway Street will be closed at its junction with William Street.
Alterations to the traffic signals at the Bridge Street/Hamilton Street junction.
The deadline to respond to this consultation is Friday 13th November 2015.
Then enter your contact details and email address (twice).
Click Next again.
The Scheme name/details to enter on the next page are “Hamilton Square re-design“.
The Scheme number is “DC-STEP-1516-2”
If you wish to comment or ask a question on the scheme select Comment/ask a question about the scheme from the drop down menu.
If you wish to object to the scheme select Object to the scheme and enter your reasons in the box below.
If you wish to do both select All of the above and enter your comments and objections separately.
Then click Next, followed by Submit.
There was a drop in session on Tuesday November 10th 2015 at Birkenhead Town Hall, Hamilton St, Birkenhead CH41 5EU, between 3pm and 7pm so people could view the plans.
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Sadly not all the court orders were sent to me. I emailed the Birkenhead County Court on the 13th July (using the email address on their letter) pointing out that a court order dated 9th October 2013 had not been included, only to receive an automated reply stating “The recipient’s e-mail address was not found in the recipient’s e-mail system.”
I tracked down the correct e-mail address, resent the email, but pointed out the incorrect e-mail on the letter. Birkenhead County Court have written to me in a letter received today apologising for the incorrect email address and have pointed out that both the email address and fax number for Birkenhead County Court have recently changed.
The letter also included a copy of the court order dated 9th October 2013 which is below. Interestingly this court order shows that District Judge Peake struck out the schedule of allegations filed by letter dated 26th September 2013 as it didn’t comply with the court’s directive of the 12th September 2013 that it should be reduced to no more than 12 individual allegations. Unusually this was a court order made without a hearing and without service on the other party.
Birkenhead County Court order Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New 9th October 2013
The invoice below shows that the allegations in a letter dated 26th September 2013 struck out by the Judge were sent on the instructions of a solicitor working at Wirral Council to Paul Burns of Exchange Chambers.
Wirral Council invoice Paul Burns Exchange Chambers 22nd November 2013 Page 1 of 2 £4210 115
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Why did residents endure 11 years of antisocial behaviour from the neighbour from “hell” before Wirral Council took legal action to try to have a tenant evicted?
Why did residents endure 11 years of antisocial behaviour from the neighbour from “hell” before Wirral Council took legal action to try to have a tenant evicted?
3 pages of those invoices were for the professional fees of Mr Paul Burns of Exchange Chambers instructed by a solicitor working at Wirral Council called Ali Bayatti.
The case involved a landlord as the Claimant (Leasowe Community Homes) and a person called Danielle New as the defendant. Those details were blacked out on the pages of invoices supplied by Wirral Council, even though s.15 of the Audit Commission Act 1998 c.18 doesn’t allow Wirral Council to black out such details.
The Claimant (Leasowe Community Homes Ltd) had rented 81 Grant Road, Leasowe, Wirral, CH62 2RU to the tenant Danielle New for £88.44/week (which was paid by housing benefit) from the 29th April 2002.
Wirral Council were acting as the solicitors for Leasowe Community Homes Ltd. Wirral Council’s Ali Bayatti then instructed Mr Paul Burns of Exchange Chambers to deal with some of the matters in the case.
The case basically had two elements. One part was to ask the court’s for a possession order to evict Danielle New, the other part was in relation to anti-social behaviour.
There are a dozen court orders in this matter (and references to some more that I don’t have). However this case starts on the 12th August 2013 when a “Claim form for possession of property” (N5) was filed with the Birkenhead County Court (see below).
Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Claim form for possession of property Page 1 of 2Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Claim form for possession of property Page 2 of 2
With the N5 Claim form was also attached the 4 page “Particulars of claim for possession (rented residential premises)” (form N119 see below).
Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Particulars of Claim for possession (rented residential premises) Page 1 of 4Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Particulars of Claim for possession (rented residential premises) Page 2 of 4Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Particulars of Claim for possession (rented residential premises) Page 3 of 4Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Particulars of Claim for possession (rented residential premises) Page 4 of 4
Also attached was ten pages titled “Additional Particulars of Claim” (see below). These pages detail the reasons behind the case and make for interesting reading (although for the sensitive readers I will point out they contain bad language and accusations of racism)!
Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 1 of 10Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 2 of 10Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 3 of 10Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 4 of 10Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 5 of 10Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 6 of 10Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 7 of 10Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 8 of 10Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 9 of 10Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New Additional Particulars of Claim Page 10 of 10
Danielle New contested the allegations and there are many court orders from both Birkenhead County Court and Liverpool County Court in this matter (see below). The matter didn’t go to trial. Reference is made on one of the court orders to “a detailed assessment of the defendant’s publicly funded costs”, so presumably the defendant’s legal costs were paid for through legal aid. Court orders below are in reverse chronological order.
Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New court order 20th January 2014 His Honour Judge Wood QC (Liverpool County Court)Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New court order 16th January 2014 District Judge Baker (Birkenhead County Court)Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New court order 13th January 2014 Distict Judge Peake (Birkenhead County Court)Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New court order 3rd January 2014 District Judge Peake (Birkenhead County Court)Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New court order 23rd December 2013 District Judge Peake (Birkenhead County Court)Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New court order 12th December 2013 His Honour Judge Wood QC (Liverpool County Court)Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New court order 11th December 2013 District Judge Peake (Birkenhead County Court)Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New court order 5th December 2013 His Honour Judge Wood QC (Liverpool County Court)Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New court order 14th November 2013 Deputy District Judge Green (Birkenhead County Court)Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New court order 7th November 2013 Deputy District Judge Murphy (Birkenhead County Court)Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New court order 1st November 2013 District Judge Peake (Birkenhead County Court)Leasowe Community Homes v Danielle New court order 17th October 2013 Deputy District Judge Isles (Birkenhead County Court)
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EXCLUSIVE: 155 invoices paid by Wirral Council in 2013/14 for legal services, external audit, physiotherapy and psychological assessments
EXCLUSIVE: 155 invoices paid by Wirral Council in 2013/14 for legal services, external audit, physiotherapy and psychological assessments
Below are 155 of the invoices I requested during the 2013/14 audit. They range from invoices to the Council’s external auditor Grant Thornton UK LLP, criminal work, a couple of judicial reviews, appealing an ICO decision notice to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights) as well as a lot of times Wirral Council have taken parents to court about their children. Some of these invoices I’ve previously written about on this blog, such as about the invoice about appealing the ICO decision notice. Turns out now I look at it more carefully there was a further invoice for £1,008 from February 2014 in that matter too.
Some of the others I’ve already on the blog as I received them in August 2014. However I didn’t publish them in August because I’ve had to go through a process of blacking out all the names (and partial names) of children and parents.
Added in green to many invoices are the representative (where known) from the list of payments in 2013/14 greater than £500. I’ve also added back in (on some) text which has been obscured by information blacked out on double-sided pages and bled through.
There is an index to all 155 invoices that can be downloaded here. I’ve tried to use the following file format when naming each file “Wirral Council invoice” followed by representative/organisation, amount, date, page number where there are multiple pages for the same invoice followed by invoice number.
Invoices 73 & 74 aren’t published here as they were cancelled and replaced by invoices 75 & 76. There is another batch of invoices I have yet to scan in, which is a mix of invoices for legal services and other general invoices. Below you should find all 155 invoices.
Wirral Council invoice Capita Health and Wellbeing Limited £520 Page 1 of 3 18th March 2013 1Wirral Council invoice Capita Health and Wellbeing Limited £520 Page 2 of 3 18th March 2013 1Wirral Council invoice Capita Health and Wellbeing Limited £520 Page 3 of 3 18th March 2013 1Wirral Council invoice The Lucy Faithfull Foundation £699.31 28th March 2013 2Wirral Council invoice Andrew Haggis St Johns Buildings £10,344 page 1 of 2 15th March 2013 3
Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings £1,320 18th March 2013 6
Wirral Council invoice Forepsych Limited psychological assessment report £688.35 3rd February 2013 11Wirral Council invoice Michael J Kennedy St Johns Buildings £576 2nd April 2013 12Wirral Council invoice Remy Zentar St Johns Buildings £1,800 27th March 2013 13Wirral Council invoice Sharpe Pritchard £25,698 31st March 2013 Page 1 of 2 14Wirral Council invoice Sharpe Pritchard £25,698 31st March 2013 Page 2 of 2 14Wirral Council invoice Gail A Owen St Johns Buildings £2,928 9th April 2013 15Wirral Council invoice Nicola Miles 7 Harrington St Chambers £2,130 9th April 2013 16Wirral Council invoice Kate Burnell St Johns Buildings 9th April 2013 £792 17Wirral Council invoice Andrew Haggis St Johns Buildings 11th April 2013 £864 18Wirral Council invoice Andrew Haggis St Johns Buildings 16th April 2013 £720 19Wirral Council invoice Michael J Kennedy St Johns Buildings 16th April 2013 £1,032 20Wirral Council invoice Dr Jennifer Ashcroft JJ Ashcroft Clinical Psychology Services Ltd 7th April 2013 £900.75 21Wirral Council invoice Gail A Owen St Johns Buildings 26th April 2013 £591.36 22Wirral Council invoice Joanne Jade Abraham St Johns Buildings 20th April 2013 £600 23Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Bellamy St Johns Buildings 25th April 2013 £511.68 24Wirral Council invoice Sara A Mann St Johns Buildings 26th April 2013 £528 25Wirral Council invoice Tim D N Kenward 7 Harrington St Chambers 19th April 2013 Page 1 of 2 £900 26Wirral Council invoice Tim D N Kenward 7 Harrington St Chambers 19th April 2013 Page 2 of 2 £900 26Wirral Council invoice Remy Zentar St Johns Buildings 23rd April 2013 £936 27Wirral Council invoice Susan Edwards St Johns Buildings 2nd May 2013 £672 28Wirral Council invoice DMM Psychology Ltd 8th March 2013 £1660.80 29Wirral Council invoice Sara A Mann St Johns Buildings 8th May 2013 £823.68 30Wirral Council invoice Rebecca Smith St Johns Buildings 8th May 2013 £720 31Wirral Council invoice Andrew Haggis St Johns Buildings 9th May 2013 £1200 32Wirral Council invoice Rebecca Smith St Johns Buildings 9th May 2013 £720 33Wirral Council invoice Benjamin Lawrence St Johns Buildings 13th May 2013 £787.50 34Wirral Council invoice Advanced Childcare Assessments Limited 30th April 2013 £2,641.20 35Wirral Council invoice Joanne Jade Abraham St Johns Buildings 15th May 2013 Page 1 of 2 £528 36Wirral Council invoice Joanne Jade Abraham St Johns Buildings 15th May 2013 Page 2 of 2 £528 36Wirral Council invoice Louis Browne Exchange Chambers 15th May 2013 £3445.74 37Wirral Council invoice Claire Grundy St Johns Buildings 14th May 2013 £1800 38Wirral Council invoice Sharpe Pritchard 17th May 2013 £640 39Wirral Council invoice Andrew Haggis St Johns Building 17th May 2013 £1200 40Wirral Council invoice Sara A Mann St Johns Building 17th May 2013 £528 41Wirral Council invoice Andrew Haggis St Johns Building 21st May 2013 £576 42Wirral Council invoice Cerys Williams St Johns Building 22nd May 2013 £2454.72 43Wirral Council invoice Andrew Haggis St Johns Building 24th May 2013 £768 44Wirral Council invoice Michael J Kennedy St Johns Building 28th May 2013 £811.29 Page 1 of 2 45Wirral Council invoice Michael J Kennedy St Johns Building 28th May 2013 £811.29 Page 2 of 2 45Wirral Council invoice Simon Maddison St Johns Building 23rd May 2013 £1260 46Wirral Council invoice Sara A Mann St Johns Buildings 31st May 2013 £607.48 47Wirral Council invoice Document Technology Limited 10th May 2013 £569.58 48Wirral Council invoice Jennifer Lesley Scully St Johns Buildings 4th June 2013 £849.60 49Wirral Council invoice Susan Edwards St Johns Buildings 10th June 2013 £993.60 50Wirral Council invoice Ginette Fitzharris St Johns Buildings 11th June 2013 £799.68 51Wirral Council invoice Joanne Jade Abraham St Johns Buildings 13th June 2013 £2,208.96 52Wirral Council invoice Grant Thornton UK LLP 14th June 2013 £63,504 53Wirral Council invoice Catherine Rimmer St Johns Buildings 17th June 2013 £504 54Wirral Council invoice Stephen J Bedford St Johns Buildings 17th June 2013 £1,584 55Wirral Council invoice Stephen J Bedford St Johns Buildings 19th June 2013 £1,584 56Wirral Council invoice Michael J Kennedy St Johns Buildings 25th June 2013 £552 57Wirral Council invoice The Association of Electoral Administration 14th May 2013 £3,556.25 58Wirral Council invoice Andrew Haggis St Johns Buildings 1st July 2013 £960 59Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 1st July 2013 £4,910.40 Page 1 of 2 60Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 1st July 2013 £4,910.40 Page 2 of 2 60Wirral Council invoice Sara A Mann St Johns Buildings 1st July 2013 £523.20 61Wirral Council invoice Tim D N Kenward 7 Harrington St Chambers 19th June 2013 Page 1 of 2 £3,660 62Wirral Council invoice Tim D N Kenward 7 Harrington St Chambers 19th June 2013 Page 2 of 2 £3,660 62Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 3rd July 2013 £849.60 63Wirral Council invoice Michael J Kennedy St Johns Buildings 28th May 2013 £3,264 Page 1 of 2 64Wirral Council invoice Michael J Kennedy St Johns Buildings 28th May 2013 £3,264 Page 2 of 2 64Wirral Council invoice Andrew Haggis St Johns Buildings 12th July 2013 65 £1,440 65Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 12th July 2013 £552 66Wirral Council invoice Gaynor Lloyd St Johns Buildings 12th July 2013 £1822.08 67Wirral Council invoice Sharpe Pritchard 18th July 2013 £10,080 68Wirral Council invoice Joanne Jade Abraham St Johns Buildings 25th July 2013 £696 69Wirral Council invoice Michael J Kennedy St Johns Buildings 25th July 2013 page 1 of 2 £7344 70Wirral Council invoice Michael J Kennedy St Johns Buildings 25th July 2013 page 2 of 2 £7344 70Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Manning Arden Chambers 26th July 2013 £1,800 71Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Manning Arden Chambers 26th July 2013 £1,800 72Wirral Council invoice Helen Roberts Forensic Clinical Psychologist 1st August 2013 £821.10 75Wirral Council invoice Helen Roberts Forensic Clinical Psychologist 1st August 2013 £590.50 76Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 7th August 2013 £1392 77Wirral Council invoice Sara A Mann St Johns Buildings 5th August 2013 £639.36 78Wirral Council invoice Gaynor Lloyd St Johns Buildings 12th August 2013 £1822.08 79Wirral Council invoice Helen Wilson St Johns Buildings 12th August 2013 £2016 80Wirral Council invoice Ginette Fitzharris St Johns Buildings 19th August 2013 £528 81Wirral Council invoice Ginette Fitzharris St Johns Buildings 15th August 2013 £511.68 82Wirral Council invoice Andrew Haggis St Johns Buildings 22nd August 2013 £864 83Wirral Council invoice Helen Wilson St Johns Buildings 21st August 2013 £703.68 84Wirral Council invoice Andrew Haggis St Johns Buildings 4th September 2013 £576 85Wirral Council invoice Grant Thornton UK LLP 12th September 2013 £63504 86Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 11th September 2013 £687.36 87Wirral Council invoice Michael J Kennedy St Johns Buildings 11th September 2013 £1992 88Wirral Council invoice Jennifer Lesley Scully St Johns Buildings 16th September 2013 Page 1 of 2 £1296 89Wirral Council invoice Jennifer Lesley Scully St Johns Buildings 16th September 2013 Page 2 of 2 £1296 89Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 16th September 2013 £1230.72 90Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 17th September 2013 £655.68 91Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 25th September 2013 £561.60 92Wirral Council invoice Paul Burns Exchange Chambers 23rd September 2013 £930 93Wirral Council invoice Jennifer Lesley Scully St Johns Buildings 30th September 2013 £720 94Wirral Council invoice Andrew Haggis St Johns Buildings 2nd October 2013 £912 95Wirral Council invoice Benjamin William Jones St Johns Buildings 1st October 2013 £900 96Wirral Council invoice Ginette Fitzharris St Johns Buildings 7th October 2013 £511.68 97Wirral Council invoice Kate Burnell St Johns Buildings 10th October 2013 £1248 98Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 14th October 2013 £720 99Wirral Council invoice Cater Walsh Media Services Ltd 25th October 2013 £528 100Wirral Council invoice Sara A Mann St Johns Buildings 21st October 2013 £831.36 101Wirral Council invoice Ginette Fitzharris St Johns Buildings 21st October 2013 £576 102Wirral Council invoice Ginette Fitzharris St Johns Buildings 21st October 2013 £753.60 103Wirral Council invoice Helen Wilson St Johns Buildings 30th October 2013 £3235.20 104Wirral Council invoice Kate Burnell St Johns Buildings 30th October 2013 £1113.60 105Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 31st October 2013 £1128 106Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 30th October 2013 £528 107Wirral Council invoice Mark Senior St Johns Buildings 1st November 2013 £864 108Wirral Council invoice Jennifer Lesley Scully St Johns Buildings 11th November 2013 £993.60 109Wirral Council invoice Susan Edwards St Johns Buildings 8th November 2013 £591.36 110Wirral Council invoice David V Glasgow 30th October 2013 £740.37 111Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 13th November 2013 £576 112Wirral Council invoice Helen Wilson St Johns Buildings 18th November 2013 £753.60 113Wirral Council invoice Christine Johnson Atlantic Chambers 22nd November 2013 £2940 114Wirral Council invoice Paul Burns Exchange Chambers 22nd November 2013 Page 1 of 2 £4210 115Wirral Council invoice Paul Burns Exchange Chambers 22nd November 2013 Page 2 of 2 £4210 115Wirral Council invoice Susan Edwards St Johns Buildings 25th November 2013 £696 116Wirral Council invoice Robin Hopkins kbw 12th November 2013 £1872 117Wirral Council invoice Wilkin Chapman LLP 16th October 2013 £1598.40 118Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 21st November 2013 £576 119Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 26th November 2013 £1272 120Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 11th December 2013 Page 1 of 2 £3473.28 121Wirral Council invoice Jonathan Taylor St Johns Buildings 11th December 2013 Page 2 of 2 £3473.28 121Wirral Council invoice Mark Senior St Johns Buildings 3rd December 2013 £2399.04 122Wirral Council invoice Mark Senior St Johns Buildings 4th December 2013 £672 123Wirral Council invoice Susan Edwards St Johns Buildings 27th November 2013 £504 124Wirral Council invoice Grant Thornton UK LLP 12th December 2013 £51120 125Wirral Council invoice Ruth Stockley Kings Chambers 19th November 2013 £607.50 126Wirral Council invoice Cerys Williams St Johns Buildings 7th January 2014 £528 127Wirral Council invoice Jennifer Lesley Scully St Johns Buildings 8th January 2014 Page 1 of 3 £5096.64 128Wirral Council invoice Jennifer Lesley Scully St Johns Buildings 8th January 2014 Page 2 of 3 £5096.64 128Wirral Council invoice Jennifer Lesley Scully St Johns Buildings 8th January 2014 Page 3 of 3 £5096.64 128Wirral Council invoice Nigel Lawrence 7 Harrington Street Chambers 11th December 2013 £27185.90 129Wirral Council invoice Tim D N Kenward 7 Harrington Street Chambers 7th January 2014 £2220 130Wirral Council invoice Grant Thornton UK LLP 11th December 2013 £63504 131Wirral Council invoice Damien Sanders St Johns Buildings 15th January 2014 £600 132Wirral Council invoice Leona Harrison St Johns Buildings 15th January 2014 £1536 133Wirral Council invoice Michael J Kennedy St Johns Buildings 15th January 2014 £672 134Wirral Council invoice Catherine Rimmer St Johns Buildings 20th January 2014 £720 135Wirral Council invoice Helen Wilson St Johns Buildings 21st January 2014 £912 136Wirral Council invoice Joanne Jade Abraham St Johns Buildings 17th January 2014 £951.36 137Wirral Council invoice James Gatenby St Johns Buildings 20th January 2014 £607.68 138Wirral Council invoice Helen Wilson St Johns Buildings 23rd January 2014 £816 139Wirral Council invoice Joanne Jade Abraham St Johns Buildings 23rd January 2014 £696 140Wirral Council invoice Anthony Gill Kings Chambers 28th January 2014 £1860 141Wirral Council invoice Sweet & Maxwell Ltd 2nd January 2014 £1041.60 142Wirral Council invoice Andrew Haggis St Johns Buildings 14th February 2014 £720 143Wirral Council invoice Kate Burnell St Johns Buildings 18th February 2014 £511.68 144Wirral Council invoice Peta M L Harrison St Johns Buildings 18th February 2014 £888 145Wirral Council invoice Weightmans LLP 25th February 2014 £1360.80 146Wirral Council invoice Damien Sanders St Johns Buildings 26th February 2014 £528 147Wirral Council invoice Paul Burns Exchange Chambers 19th February 2014 Page 1 of 3 £1120 148Wirral Council invoice Paul Burns Exchange Chambers 19th February 2014 Page 2 of 3 £1120 148Wirral Council invoice Paul Burns Exchange Chambers 19th February 2014 Page 3 of 3 £1120 148Wirral Council invoice Robin Hopkins KBW 10th February 2014 £1008 149Wirral Council invoice Joanne Jade Abraham St Johns Buildings 5th March 2014 £543.36 150Wirral Council invoice Weightmans LLP 30th January 2014 £4982.40 151Wirral Council invoice Lexis Nexis Butterworths 3rd March 2014 £1659 152Wirral Council invoice Mark Senior St Johns Buildings 10th March 2014 £528 153Wirral Council invoice Mark Senior St Johns Buildings 10th March 2014 £600 154Wirral Council invoice Sharpe Pritchard 31st January 2014 £6468 155Wirral Council invoice Cerys Williams St Johns Buildings 13th March 2014 £816 156Wirral Council invoice Mark Senior St Johns Buildings 18th March 2014 Page 1 of 2 £1296 157Wirral Council invoice Mark Senior St Johns Buildings 18th March 2014 Page 2 of 2 £1296 157
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Merseytravel’s Head of Internal Audit brands some whistleblowing as “Mickey Mouse” & “complete nonsense”
Merseytravel’s Head of Internal Audit brands some whistleblowing as “Mickey Mouse” & “complete nonsense”
ED 26/11/14 15:16 – Following a complaint from Merseytravel received on the 26th November 2014, the word “some” has been added to the headline for the purposes of clarity.
Declaration of Interest: The author of this piece was years ago involved as the Claimant in litigation against Merseyside Passenger Transport Authority (defendant) and Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (defendant) that started and concluded in 2007 in the Birkenhead County Court. This was after first raising his concerns internally with its former Chief Executive Neil Scales and former Chair of Merseytravel Cllr Dowd. At this stage the matter could have been easily settled for £15 but Merseytravel chose at that stage not to.
Merseytravel’s legal costs in the matter were estimated at £thousands (which Merseytravel paid themselves and would have had to pay whether they won or lost). The increased legal costs of Merseytravel were partly because of what happened as detailed below.
During the case Merseytravel’s barrister (in my opinion a barrister is indeed slight overkill for a £15 claim in the small claims track in the county court, but I know now it’s common practice in the public sector to do this) had to (rather embarrassingly) ask for the permission from both the Claimant (myself) and the Birkenhead County Court to withdraw the first signed witness statement of their expert witness (a Merseytravel employee) after I pointed out a factual inaccuracy in their witness statement (that the witness (a Merseytravel employee) had indeed signed a statement of truth for).
Merseytravel also sought (initially but later changed their mind on that) in 2008 to withhold documents referred to from the Claimant that were referred to in their defence. If I remember correctly a Merseytravel employee stated to me at the time that such documents (which were details of their charging policy for lost Solo and Trio passes) were not for the public.
The final judgement in the case (by agreement by both Merseytravel and myself) was later modified by the Birkenhead County Court due to a factual error made by the Judge who had not taken into account an earlier application in the case and chosen to ignore me pointing this out to him at the time of the hearing.
Although the judge at the final hearing agreed with me that Merseytravel had discriminated against me three times because of a protected characteristic, the court accepted Merseytrave’s reliance on a statutory defence that discrimination on these three times was justified due to a “a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim” because of decisions by politicians.
The four councillors from Wirral Council at the time on Merseytravel (the Merseyside Passenger Transport Authority) were:
Cllr Ron Abbey (Labour)
former Cllr Denis Knowles (Labour at the time but switched to the Conservatives)
It is perhaps to be noted that as is relevant to how politicians and those in the public sector relate towards protected minorities (and this point here is obviously to do with attitudes towards a different protected minority) that Denis Knowles in 2012 later faced a Wirral Council Standards Hearing Panel hearing based on a complaint of Denis Knowles after a comment he left on Facebook about members of the LGBT community who were members of the Labour Party. He was suspended at the time from the Conservative Party.
former Cllr Jacqueline McKelvie (Conservative)
Cllr Dave Mitchell (Lib Dem)
A councillor asks a question about Merseytravel’s whistleblowing policy at a public meeting of its Audit and Governance SubCommittee 24th November 2014
Cllr Steve Foulkes (Vice-Chair of Merseytravel’s Audit and Governance Sub-Committee) now part of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority sent his apologies to a public meeting to discuss Merseytravel’s whistleblowing policy and was not present.
Officers of Merseytravel were asking councillors for their comments on a draft whistleblowing policy which included such priceless paragraphs as:
“10.2 If you do take the matter outside Merseytravel, you should ensure that you do not disclose confidential information acquired during your employment unless it falls within the qualifying criteria for protected disclosures. Premature or inaccurate media exposure or adverse publicity may cause needless reputational damage, impede a proper investigation or cause unnecessary distress to individuals.”
I will translate those two sentences in the draft policy into what my interpretation of the intention behind it is and probably in much clearer English:
“10.2 If you rat on us to the press, not only will we [Merseytravel] start spinning to the press and refer to any damaging press report as “inaccurate”, we’ll go after you (despite what the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 c.23 states as we’re more bothered with our reputation and making sure that we control the flow of information about our organisation to both to the public and politicians.”
The references made during the public meeting itself to a hypothetical whistleblower as “Mickey Mouse” (whether made in jest or not) speaks volumes about cultural attitudes that still persist at Merseytravel.
However bearing in mind my unusually long declaration of interest made at the start of this piece, I had better not let how dysfunctional Merseytravel was in 2007 influence my reporting of it in 2014 as the Merseytravel politicians of 2014 are keen to put its somewhat chequered past behind it.
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Merseytravel’s (now part of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s) Audit and Governance Subcommittee public meeting of the 24th November 2014
The whistleblowing item (item 7) starts at 31m 48s into the meeting and can be watched above. The report and draft policy can be read on Merseytravel’s website.
Councillor Fulham at the meeting asked, “Thanks Chair. Errm, I appreciate that on page 48 of the agenda and at 7.4 in the policy, errm it says that this part of the that I’m looking at, I’ve found somewhere I’m looking at says this policy applies even if after investigation, disclosure is found to be incorrect or unfounded and there are statutory protections which the policy acknowledges for people who errm make a protected disclosure, that’s found out too. Well at the end of the process is found out not to be errm founded but it might be a reasonably held disclosure.
But what worries me is on page 46, where it says policy statement, under errm in chapter 4 “we will investigate all genuine and reasonable concerns”, but the way I would approach things, you can’t make an assessment whether it’s genuine or reasonable until you’ve investigated it? So it kind of precludes the investigation. So errm, why is that there?”
Stephanie Donaldson, Merseytravel’s Head of Internal Audit answered “OK, you’re absolutely right in so far as how can you tell that anything’s genuine or legitimate until you investigate it, so realistically everything will be investigated to a point.
However if something was found to be errm you know complete nonsense for want of a better word then that investigation would cease. We wouldn’t pursue investigating something which is you know completely unfounded or false then, but you’re right that there is the legislation requires that as long as it’s in the public interest it should still be investigated and that’s what the changes to the policy would fly at.
I suppose the purpose of that one in the policy statement and I will take some advice through you Chair from legal, is that errm, that if we received a complete nonsense of an allegation and it’s clearly complete nonsense from Mickey Mouse for example that we would not investigate that, there are boundaries aren’t there?
Errm, but you’re absolutely right to say that in a majority of I think all cases, it would be you have to undertake an investigation in order to assess its legitimacy.”
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