Category: Birkenhead

EXCLUSIVE: Wirral Council spent £16,412.04 on legal advice for Birkenhead Town Centre regeneration

EXCLUSIVE: Wirral Council spent £16,412.04 on legal advice for Birkenhead Town Centre regeneration

EXCLUSIVE: Wirral Council spent £16,412.04 on legal advice for Birkenhead Town Centre regeneration

                                                 

Indicative illustration of Neptune Development Limited's masterplan for Birkenhead Town Centre
Indicative illustration of Neptune Development Limited’s masterplan for Birkenhead Town Centre

Invoices published below for the first time today show that Wirral Council spent £16,412.04 with Weightmans on legal advice on proposals for redevelopment of Birkenhead Town Centre. Advice was given by Weightmans to Wirral Council on the preferred development agreement (later referred to as a lock out agreement) with developers Neptune Developments Limited.

Wirral Council’s Cabinet agreed last month to consult staff at Europa Pools, which might be relocated as part of the regeneration proposals.

Wirral Council invoice Weightmans £3,328.32 29th July 2013
Wirral Council invoice Weightmans £3,328.32 29th July 2013
Wirral Council invoice Weightmans £4,482 2nd April 2013
Wirral Council invoice Weightmans £4,482 2nd April 2013
Wirral Council invoice Weightmans £735.48 30th August 2013
Wirral Council invoice Weightmans £735.48 30th August 2013
Wirral Council invoice Weightmans £960 8th October 2013
Wirral Council invoice Weightmans £960 8th October 2013
Wirral Council invoice Weightmans £1929.60 28th June 2013
Wirral Council invoice Weightmans £1929.60 28th June 2013
Wirral Council invoice Weightmans £4976.64 27th March 2013
Wirral Council invoice Weightmans £4976.64 27th March 2013

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Labour councillors on Wirral Council’s Cabinet agree to consultation on master plan for Birkenhead

Labour councillors on Wirral Council’s Cabinet agree to consultation on master plan for Birkenhead

Labour councillors on Wirral Council’s Cabinet agree to consultation on master plan for Birkenhead

                                                       

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You can watch what happened at the Cabinet meeting on the 12th March 2015 above.

Wirral Council Cabinet meeting at Birkenhead Town Hall Thursday 12th March 2015 Left to right Surjit Tour, Cllr Phil Davies and Joe Blott
Wirral Council Cabinet meeting at Birkenhead Town Hall Thursday 12th March 2015 Left to right Surjit Tour, Cllr Phil Davies and Joe Blott

Wirral Council’s Cabinet met at a different venue to usual (Birkenhead Town Hall). At the start, Councillor Phil Davies wanted to show people the trophy that Wirral Council had received for being “Most Improved Council”. You can see a photo of when they received the award on the Local Government Chronicle website, but below is a photo of Cllr Phil Davies showing people the award at the Cabinet meeting.

Councillor Phil Davies shows off the Local Government Chronicle award Wirral Council received for being most improved council 12th March 2015
Councillor Phil Davies shows off the Local Government Chronicle award Wirral Council received for being most improved council 12th March 2015

Moving to what was on the agenda, Cabinet recommended the draft pay policy statement to the next Council meeting, the revenue financial monitoring report for month ten was hardly commented on, however various councillors commented on various capital projects.

Kevin Adderley talks to the Property Development Framework report at Cabinet on the 12th March 2015
Kevin Adderley talks to the Property Development Framework report at Cabinet on the 12th March 2015

Kevin Adderley talked to the Property Development Framework report after which the Cabinet agreed the recommendations in the report.

Kevin Adderley talking to the Enterprise Zone report at Cabinet on the 12th March 2015
Kevin Adderley talking to the Enterprise Zone report at Cabinet on the 12th March 2015

Mr Adderley then talked to the Enterprise Zone report and again Cabinet agreed the recommendations.

Cabinet agreed a slight increase in the amounts paid to residential and nursing homes and the arrangements for the delivery and commissioning of social care.

Cllr Tony Smith tells Cabinet what the outcome of the consultation on Pensby High School was 12th March 2015
Cllr Tony Smith tells Cabinet what the outcome of the consultation on Pensby High School was 12th March 2015

Councillor Tony Smith told Cabinet what the results were of the consultation to merge Pensby High School for Boys with Pensby High School for Girls. Cabinet agreed to move to the next stage of publishing notices.

The draft admission arrangements for primary schools and secondary schools were also agreed.

Cllr Pat Hackett talks at a Cabinet meeting about the master plan for Birkenhead Town Centre
Cllr Pat Hackett talks at a Cabinet meeting about the master plan for Birkenhead Town Centre

Councillor Pat Hackett spoke to the report recommending a consultation on the masterplan for Birkenhead Town Centre. He referred to an “improved market” and the stage one lockout agreement that the Council had entered into with Neptune Developments Limited. The detail of the proposals were covered in an earlier blog post. Cabinet agreed that Neptune Development Limited were to consult with the public (as well as staff who work at Europa Pools) on the masterplan.

Kevin Adderley pointed out that the Mars Pension Fund had recently advertised the Grange and Pyramids shopping centre in Birkenhead as being for sale. The recommendation to have a consultation was agreed by Cabinet.

A slight increase from April in fees charged to scrap metal dealers was agreed. Cllr George Davies spoke on the report reporting the consultation on licensing of private landlords in four areas on the Wirral. Cabinet agreed to refer the proposals to the Council meeting on the 16th March 2015.

The nominations from Cabinet for Civic Mayor and Deputy Mayor for 2015/16 were as follows:

Civic Mayor: Cllr Les Rowlands
Deputy Mayor: Cllr Pat Hackett

Cabinet then excluded the press and public from the rest of the meeting.

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Should Eric Pickles intervene and stop Town Talk being delivered to Birkenhead households during the election?

Should Eric Pickles intervene and stop Town Talk being delivered to Birkenhead households during the election?

Should Eric Pickles intervene and stop Town Talk being delivered to Birkenhead households during the election?

                                        

Councillor Paul Doughty explains why he's had sleepless nights over Town Talk and won't agree to a further £5000
Councillor Paul Doughty explains why he’s had sleepless nights over Town Talk and won’t agree to a further £5000

Last year, Wirral Council’s former Chief Executive Graham Burgess would’ve received this letter from DCLG about publicity issued by Wirral Council.

To summarise the letter it reminds Wirral Council to comply with the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Government Publicity and if they don’t reminds them that the Secretary of State has a legal power to direct local councils to comply.

Since this new power came into force about a year ago, you can read here various letters written by the Secretary of State to councils that weren’t complying with the code.

Continue reading “Should Eric Pickles intervene and stop Town Talk being delivered to Birkenhead households during the election?”

Will councillors tell the public what Neptune's plans for Birkenhead Market are?

Will councillors tell the public what Neptune’s plans for Birkenhead Market are?

Will councillors tell the public what Neptune’s plans for Birkenhead Market are?

                                                 

Indicative illustration of Neptune Development Limited's masterplan for Birkenhead Town Centre
Indicative illustration of Neptune Development Limited’s masterplan for Birkenhead Town Centre

Thursday’s meeting of Wirral Council’s Cabinet had a last-minute item added to its agenda titled “Birkenhead Town Centre – Masterplan Principles”. Neptune Developments Limited (the company behind the New Brighton Marine Point development) have a plan and want Cabinet to approve a consultation on it.

These are the elements of the masterplan:

  • Demolish Europa Pools
  • Build new leisure centre on the car park next to Conway Park train station
  • On the site of what was Europa Pools build a drive through restaurant, public bar/restaurant and seven units (probably cafés and restaurants) plus car parking
  • Reduce the car parking adjacent to Birkenhead Bus Station and put a café there
  • Remodel Birkenhead Bus Station to “remove service vehicles and avoid pedestrian/bus conflicts”
  • Remodel Birkenhead Market Hall
  • Possibly a hotel on the vacant plot on the corner of Conway Street and Europa Boulevard

There’s even a ten page leaflet with glossy photos about the proposals on Wirral Council’s website.

What probably won’t be reported by the rest of the press, as Wirral Council have chosen to keep much of these details out of the public domain is that according to this report (see 2.5) from 2013 Neptune Developments Limited have an interest in one of the pieces of land in Conway Street that would be needed for the scheme.

The report going to Cabinet on Thursday evening also states “No other options have therefore been considered as NDL has already secured an interest in the balance of the land that is needed to deliver the re-provided market.” If Cabinet agree to consult on these plans, Wirral Council will have to seek legal advice that including Europa Pools in the proposals won’t contravene procurement or state aid rules.

At the moment, there is uncertainty as to what the proposals mean for Birkenhead Market and hopefully some light can be shed on this element of the proposals at the Cabinet meeting this Thursday evening.

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Who decides what your Council Tax bill will be (on Wirral) for 2015/16?

Who decides what your Council Tax bill will be (on Wirral) for 2015/16?

Who decides what your Council Tax bill will be (on Wirral) for 2015/16?

 

As I write this blog, the Merseyside Police and Crime Panel is meeting in the Council Chamber in Huyton to decide on the police precept for council tax payers on Merseyside for 2015/16. The Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside Jane Kennedy has asked for a 1.95% increase (compared to the 2014/15 figure) for the police precept on Council Tax. This extra 1.95% raises just over £1 million more than last year. Continue reading “Who decides what your Council Tax bill will be (on Wirral) for 2015/16?”