Category: Conservatives

Planning Committee (Wirral Council) 3rd January 2011 Part 1, Minutes (15/11/11 and 6/12/11), Declarations of Interest, Site Visits, item 5 (APP/11/00582, Hesketh Hall, Boundary Road, Port Sunlight, CH62 5ER Conversion of Hesketh Hall into 13 self-contained C3 flats with rear conservatory)

Present: Conservative councillors Chair: Cllr David Elderton Vice-Chair: Cllr Wendy Clements Cllr Eddie Boult Cllr Peter Johnson Labour councillors Cllr Brian Kenny (spokesperson) Cllr John Salter Cllr Denise Realey Cllr Bernie Mooney Cllr Joe Walsh Lib Dem councillors Cllr Dave Mitchell (spokesperson) Cllr Stuart Kelly Absent Conservative councillor Cllr Paul Hayes Members of public: 9 … Continue reading “Planning Committee (Wirral Council) 3rd January 2011 Part 1, Minutes (15/11/11 and 6/12/11), Declarations of Interest, Site Visits, item 5 (APP/11/00582, Hesketh Hall, Boundary Road, Port Sunlight, CH62 5ER Conversion of Hesketh Hall into 13 self-contained C3 flats with rear conservatory)”

Present:
Conservative councillors
Chair: Cllr David Elderton
Vice-Chair: Cllr Wendy Clements
Cllr Eddie Boult
Cllr Peter Johnson

Labour councillors
Cllr Brian Kenny (spokesperson)
Cllr John Salter
Cllr Denise Realey
Cllr Bernie Mooney
Cllr Joe Walsh

Lib Dem councillors
Cllr Dave Mitchell (spokesperson)
Cllr Stuart Kelly

Absent
Conservative councillor
Cllr Paul Hayes

Members of public: 9

The Chair introduced himself and said on the two wings were elected members of the Council who would be making decisions. To his left were planning officers and support staff who were officers of the Council. He welcomed people and wished them a happy and beneficial New Year.

He asked if the amended minutes of the meeting held on the 15th November 2011 and the minutes of the meeting held on the 6th December 2011 were agreed. He thanked Cllr Brian Kenny.

He asked if there were any declarations of interest. No declarations of interest were declared by the eleven councillors present.

He asked if there were any requests for site visits. No requests for site visits were made.

The Chair said he would be taking the agenda out of order to reflect which items members of the public were here for. He said the first item he would take would be item 5 (Hesketh Hall, Boundary Road, Port Sunlight, CH62 5ER). He asked for a presentation and pointed out this item was pages 23 to 26 on the agenda pack.

Matthew gave a presentation stating it was an application for thirteen apartments and a new conservatory. He outlined the implications of a requirement for affordable housing and the fact the building was a Grade II listed building. He said (if approved) the planning application would lead to changes to the building and the internal layout, however certain features would be retained. Externally there would be new windows to the roof, also a ramp and railings. Wirral Council was sympathetic to the alterations proposed. It was on the boundary of the Liverpool City Region Inner Area which would normally mean there would be a requirement for affordable housing. Bringing a Grade II listed building into viable use was a material consideration in its favour. It was near New Ferry Town Centre and there were a number of conditions on the application.

The Chair asked if any ward councillors wished to speak? No ward councillors wished to speak.

The Chair asked for any comments? There were no comments, he asked councillors if they were happy. Cllr John Salter proposed accepting the planning application, Cllr Joe Walsh seconded it. Matthew said there had been one extra condition added which was for cycle parking.

For : Cllrs Elderton, Clements, Boult, Johnson, Kenny, Salter, Realey, Mooney, Walsh, Mitchell, Kelly (11)
Against : None (0)
Abstentions: None (0)

Application APP/11/00582 was approved (11:0:0).

Two members of the public left with one saying thank you to the Planning Committee as he left.

Pensions Committee (Wirral Council) 21st November 2011 Part 1, Declarations of interest, minutes (Pension Committee 19/9/2011, Investment Monitoring Working Party (12/10/2011)), Local Government Pension Scheme Update, Public Service Pensions (HM Treasury)

Present:
Cllr Geoffrey Watt (Chair)
Cllr Ann McLachlan (spokesperson)
Cllr Tom Harney (spokesperson)
Cllr Peter Johnston
Cllr Paul Doughty
Cllr George Davies
Cllr Adrian Jones
Various other councillors and co-optees

The Chair Cllr Geoffrey Watt welcomed people to the meeting of the Pensions Committee.

He asked if members of the committee had any personal or prejudicial interests in agenda items to declare.

Cllr George Davies declared a personal interest by virtue of his wife’s employment in a school.
Cllr Paul Doughty declared a personal interest by virtue of his wife’s employment in a school.
Cllr Geoffrey Watt declared an interest because of his father-in-law.
It is possible others declared interests too but as they didn’t use their microphones, I couldn’t hear them.

The Chair, Cllr Geoffrey Watt then asked if they agreed the minutes of the Pension Committee meeting held on the 19th September 2011. He asked if could sign them as a true record. The committee agreed that he could. He said that they were signed.

1:50

The Chair, Cllr Geoffrey Watt then moved to item 3, which was the Investment Monitoring Working Party minutes of the 12th October 2011. He referred committee members to the exempt appendix too. He asked committee members to note those. The committee noted them.

2:15
The Chair, Cllr Geoffrey Watt moved the committee to item 4 which was the Local Government Pension Scheme Update and two reports. He said he would take this with item 11 (Any Other Urgent Business – Public Service Pensions – HM Treasury on the supplementary agenda.

2:21

Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 17th November 2011, Declarations of Interest, Minutes (15/9 and 27/9), Early Voluntary Retirement/Voluntary Severance and Organisational Change Part 1

Present:

Cllr Phil Gilchrist (Lib Dem) (Chair)

Cllr Ron Abbey (Labour)
Cllr Darren Dodd (Labour)
Cllr Chris Jones (Labour)

Cllr James Keeley (Conservative)
Cllr John Hale (Conservative)
Cllr Steve Williams (Conservative)
Cllr Wendy Clements (Conservative) deputy for Cllr Tony Cox (Conservative)

LATE:
Cllr Paul Doughty (Labour) (missed declarations of interest (item 1) (all) & minutes (item 2) (all))
Cllr Alan Brighouse (Lib Dem) (missed declarations of interest (item 1) (all), minutes (item 2) (all), financial monitoring statement (item 3) (missed Cllr Phil Gilchrist’s comments & part of Chris Hyams’ introduction) (Vice-Chair)

The Chair Cllr Phil Gilchrist started the meeting by referring to guidance issued by email on filming of meetings (which was permitted). He asked for declarations of interest, none were declared. Cllr Phil Gilchrist pointed out that for the councillors who were late they would have to declare any interests once they had arrived.

He asked if the minutes of the meeting held on the 15th September were agreed? The committee agreed the minutes of the meeting held on the 15th September.

He asked if the minutes of the meeting held on the 27th September were agreed? The minutes of the meeting held on the 27th September were agreed.

Cllr Phil Gilchrist signed the minutes of the meetings held on the 15th & 27th September to show they were agreed.

Cllr Phil Gilchrist welcomed Cllr Wendy Clements to the meeting. He said he wanted to change the agenda order.

Cllr Paul Doughty arrived.

Cllr Phil Gilchrist said he wanted to consider Agenda item 16 (Early Voluntary Retirement/Voluntary Severance and Organisational Change) first. He asked Chris Hyams, Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development to introduce the report.

Corporate Governance Committee (Wirral Council) 16th November 2011 Part 1, Declarations of Interest, Minutes

Corporate Governance Committee

Chair (Cllr Steve Foulkes)
Cllr Phil Davies
Cllr Adrian Jones
Cllr Anne McArdle
Cllr Ann McLachlan

In attendance (right to speak, not to vote or make decisions)
Cllr Jeff Green
Cllr Tom Harney

Officers
Ian Coleman, Director of Finance/Deputy Chief Executive
Jim Wilkie, Chief Executive
Bill Norman, Director of Law, HR & Asset Management
Others including committee clerk etc

The agenda and reports can be found here.

The meeting started with an apology from Cllr Foulkes who said he was “sorry to be late”. There were no declarations of interest. The committee then discussed the minutes of the Corporate Governance Committee held on the 26th October 2011.

Bill Norman mentioned that Cllr Tom Harney had communicated with him about the minutes which were in draft form. The draft minutes gave the impression that both Cllr Tom Harney and Cllr Jeff Green had been recorded in the minutes as members of the committee. However this would be changed to “in attendance”.

Cllr Steve Foulkes said he wanted “to set our stall out”, “not force to votes” and hoped the invite [to Cllr Tom Harney and Cllr Jeff Green] would be accepted in the spirit it was given. He then went on to talk about the “rules of engagement” and how they would “shape decisions”.

Cllr Adrian Jones said it would be “nice to get consensus”.

Cllr Steve Foulkes said he accepted the suggested changes [to the minutes]. The minutes with changes were agreed and the committee considered item 3 Work Program, Progress and Associated Issues.

Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee 20th October 2011 PACSPE Call-in

Tonight’s meeting was as the Cabinet decision of the 22nd September 2011 on the PACSPE contract had been called-in by Cllr Jeff Green, Cllr Tom Harney, Cllr Dave Mitchell, Cllr Lesley Rennie and Cllr David Elderton.
At the end of a 3 1/2 hour meeting the voting went as follows.

Labour Amendment to Conservative motion

This amendment upheld the original decision.

Votes For         : 5 (Labour councillors)
Votes Against : 5 (Conservatives councillor plus one Liberal Democrat councillor)

Abstention       : 0
Casting vote of Conservative Chair: AGAINST

Votes For        : 5 (Labour councillors)

Votes Against: 6 (Conservatives councillor plus one Liberal Democrat councillor) + Chair’s casting vote
Abstention     :  0

AMENDMENT FAILS

Conservative Motion

Votes for          : 5 (Conservative councillors plus one Liberal Democrat councillor)

Votes against: 5 (Labour councillors)

Abstentions   : 0

Casting vote of Chair: For

Votes for:          6 (Conservative councillors plus one Liberal Democrat councillor) + Chair’s casting vote

Votes against: 5 (Labour councillors)

Abstentions:  0

MOTION PASSES (Proposed Cllr John Hale, seconded Cllr Don McCubbin)

Text of Motion:

This committee notes that:

    • The Cabinet appeared to ignore, and did not even mention, the findings of the Office of Government Commerce Gateway Reviews that the Parks & Countryside Services Procurement Exercise (PACSPE) had been subjected to.
    • No attempt was made to publically question officers from the Finance Department, the Legal Department and the Procurement Unit who were members of the PACSPE Project Board as to whether the “risk” identified by District Audit, and made such play of in the Cabinet resolution could or had been satisfactorily mitigated.
    • No discussion was had by Cabinet Members of the risks of not awarding the contract.
    • No mention or discussion took place regarding stakeholder management or the views of key stakeholders about the benefits of clear quality improvements that were built into the procurement exercise. In fact, other than the view of the Council’s Trade Unions, the results of the consultation and the views of the park users and user groups were not even mentioned in a single Cabinet meeting.
    • No reference was made to the new post of Community Engagement Manager to work with Friends, stakeholders, user groups, and local Area Forums or the new key performance indicators developed through PACSPE to reflect the change to a more customer and community focused service.
    • Insufficient account seemed to have been taken of the reduction from costs of £8.1 million per year to £7.4 million per year already achieved by the PACSPE process with the potential to reduce costs by a further circa £500,000. Indeed, it is hard to understand how the Leader of of the Council characterised a £1.2 million per annum potential saving arising from PACSPE to be sufficiently marginal to be ignored.
    • No effort appeared to be made by Cabinet Members to discuss or evaluate the additional costs to Council Tax Payers of purchasing what has been accepted as worn out equipment requiring immediate replacement (circa £2.5 million) or the TUPE costs of bringing current contractor staff into the Council workforce and pension scheme, per annum or over the 10 year period.
    • No mention was made of the training and development programme for staff and volunteers or the three to six new apprentices to be created as part of PACSPE.
    • No explanation was given at Cabinet regarding the opposition to a 10 year contract that would reduce annual costs by circa £1.2 million and improve the quality of our parks and countryside, other than the expressed need contained in the resolution to reduce spending by £85 million over three years.
    • Therefore we believe that the decision to refuse to award the PACSPE contract would see the ever decreasing quality of a service starved of investment by this administration which is already characterised by going for the quick fix instead of making the difficult but necessary strategic decisions in the interests of Wirral residents.

The Committee recommends to the Cabinet

*Editor’s note will have to check rest of resolution due to noise preventing taking it down*

My guess is that the rest of it is “reconsider the decision”.

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In the interests of openness, John Brace lives opposite Bidston Hill which is covered by the PACSPE contract.