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
PACSPE: The saga continues (Wirral Council) At a well attended Area Forum for West Wirral tonight, Cllr Jeff Green revealed that himself and Cllr Tom Harney (Leader of the Lib Dem councillors) have called in the Labour Cabinet decision of the 22nd September not to award the PACPSE (Parks and Countryside Spaces) contract. I’ll … Continue reading “PACSPE: The saga continues (Wirral Council)”
At a well attended Area Forum for West Wirral tonight, Cllr Jeff Green revealed that himself and Cllr Tom Harney (Leader of the Lib Dem councillors) have called in the Labour Cabinet decision of the 22nd September not to award the PACPSE (Parks and Countryside Spaces) contract.
I’ll write up more about the West Wirral Area Forum tomorrow which covered many interesting topics.
I read with interest Cllr Tom Harney’s press release about a response to the Anna Klonowski report. He is right that Wirral Council needs to change and Cllr Tom Harney calls for more joint party working.
However it was his group of councillors that in May ended the joint Conservative-Lib Dem “progressive partnership” by their “positive abstentions”. This put an end to a certain level of joint working between the Lib Dems and Tories that Cllr Harney is now calling for!
In his press release of 19th May 2011 he set out why the remaining nine Lib Dem councillors through their “positive abstentions” were supporting a Labour minority administration. Labour have 45% of the councillors, but 100% of the seats on the ten councillor Cabinet (which makes most of the major decisions).
No party has a majority on Wirral Council (Labour 30, Conservative 27, Lib Dem 9). The Lib Dems hold the balance of power between the two largest groups (Labour and Conservative).
However what Anna Klonowski’s reports doesn’t mention is that the corporate governance issue problems experienced by Wirral Council are mirrored by corporate governance problems (of varying sorts) in all the political parties on Wirral that nominate candidates who become councillors on lead Wirral Council. Until the Labour, Conservative and Lib Dem parties get their own houses in order, there’s unlikely to be the impetus and political leadership for much change at Wirral Council. It suits all political parties to keep certain things about how they’re operating out of the public domain and press, yet it can entrench unfairness and injustice within their own parties.
Moving to the issues of which governance model Wirral Council should use, this was last decided on the 21st December 2009. However Cllr Tom Harney voted for the “Leader and Cabinet” model of governance along with all the Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors present. The Conservative councillors voted against.
If the current Labour Cabinet has too much power now it’s because Cllr Harney voted for such a model of governance on the 21st December 2009! However then it suited the Lib Dem and Labour councillors. Each party (then) had five seats in the Cabinet.
However there are still the powers for any group of councillors to “call-in” Cabinet decisions. They can even call in decisions by individual Cabinet members. Clearly things need to change, but there are different opinions about the way forward.
Continued from Standards Committee 29/9/2011 Part 13
Cllr Chris Blakeley said it “needs more than five minutes to understand the ramifications” and asked when the next meeting was.
The answer given by Mrs. Shirley Hudspeth was the 30th November [2011].
Cllr Les Rowlands said there were no time issues.
Cllr Chris Blakeley said this needed to be conveyed to Mr. Morton.
Cllr Dave Mitchell said it was not fair on councillors.
Surjit Tour said the process was explained in the middle of August. However the letter had been delivered on the eve of the committee. The process had been communicated to individuals in the middle of August. There had been delay, Standards for England had decided in the middle of August (17th August).
Cllr Chris Blakeley said he was happy to consider it if he had the time to read it and digest it and give him justice.
The Chair Brian Cummings asked if everyone wanted a copy?
Surjit Tour said they should consider whether to make it exempt or not.
RESOLVED: That Mr Morton’s correspondence be considered at the next meeting of the Committee scheduled for 30 November 2011 and he be informed of this decision.
The meeting finished.
Cllr John Hale asked a question about the consequences used for reduced budgets. He also asked about efficiency savings.
The Chair, Cllr Gilchrist said there was a ninety-three page guide. Cllr Ron Abbey said it was “only a tool” and a “means to an end”. Cllr John Hale said that there would’ve been a different response if efficiency savings had been used. Cllr Gilchrist referred to the Wirral Globe and a query that had been raised about the narrative. He mentioned figures of £35 million, savings of £25 million and £14 million. He asked for the query and the evidence.
Cllr Ron Abbey said it was made up of inflation, service driven costs and was a factual reality. Cllr Gilchrist referred to the London Borough of Redbridge’s results but asked how much the budget simulator costs. The answer given was £1,000 to £,3000. There would be an analysis done by postcode. Cllr Gilchrist referred to one of the 986 responses in Redbridge which was to cut the number of councillors and allowances.
Cllr Ron Abbey said that the evidence to the Independent Remuneration Panel stated that Wirral Council councillors were one of the lowest paid in North West England. He said that not all communities can gain access to computers, so the responses would be biased towards the rich. Cllr Steve Williams asked if there was any verification of postcodes. The answer was that they were not aware of any verification, but this was a YouGov issue.
The Chair, Cllr Phil Gilchrist welcomed those present to the Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee. He asked councillors if they had any declarations of interest.
Cllr Ron Abbey and Cllr Jon Salter declared the same interest in regard to item 7. This was because they are Wirral Council’s representatives on Merseytravel (Merseyside Integrated Transport Authority) which has previously bid for the Pacific Road Theatre and Arts Centre.
The Chair said he was going to vary the order of the agenda, and take item 8 You Choose Budget consultation first. He also pointed out that there were ninety-one pages of explanatory notes.
Peter Molyneux (Chief Accountant – Financial Services) was there to introduce the report.
At this point (6.05pm) the Vice-Chair Cllr Alan Brighouse arrived. Cllr Steve Foulkes (Cabinet Member for Finance & Best Value) also arrived and sat near the door.
Peter Molyneux demonstrated the budget simulator on the display screen. He said they could only raise Council Tax by 3%, if it was above this it would be capped. Consequences of reducing budgets by 10%, 20% and 50% had been entered into the system. The results were available by place and the public could see some information. There had been 1,334 responses so far.
Cllr Gilchrist asked about the timetable and when data was going to emerge. He said it was open until 30th November 2011. Ian Coleman said that there would be a report in December. Cllr Gilchrist asked if there could be an interim report. Ian Coleman said that there would be no report until it was closed down, interim information was available and all information was available.