Below are pages 45 to 429 of the bundle for the hearing last year.
Since that time, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services’ planning application has been refused by Wirral Council and a revised planning application submitted earlier this year has yet to be determined.
Photos on the valuation reports written by Hardie Brack have been removed and so has the First-tier Tribunal crest on First-tier Tribunal orders.
There are some typographical errors in the pages below.
Documents originally in colour have been converted to black and white for the bundle.
Despite this matter being ended by consent order in September 2016, eight months later there are sub judice matters involving costs.
I therefore will not be commenting on those matters until they are resolved.
The revised planning application is expected to be on the agenda of Wirral Council’s Planning Committee for a public meeting on the 22nd June 2017 and if the Planning Committee decides on a site visit it will be finally determined at its public meeting scheduled for the 20th July 2017.
Why was Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’s Kieran Timmins (former Deputy Chief Executive/Treasurer and in charge of the Saughall Massie fire station plans in 2014 & 2015) paid £144,500 for “compensation for loss of office” when he was made redundant in 2015?
Why was Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’s Kieran Timmins (former Deputy Chief Executive/Treasurer and in charge of the Saughall Massie fire station plans in 2014 & 2015) paid £144,500 for “compensation for loss of office” when he was made redundant in 2015?
Kieran Timmins (former Deputy Chief Executive, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service) taken in 2014
The author of this piece is an Appellant in a First-tier-Tribunal (Information Rights) case in which Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority is the Second Respondent.
Below are three invoices (for £3,000 each consisting of £2,500 + VAT so £9,000 in total) from a Todd and Ledson LLP to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service for the Saughall Massie fire station project.
Invoice £3000 Todd and Ledson LLP Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority 30th December 2015 Saughall Massie Pre Contract Professional feesInvoice £3000 Todd and Ledson LLP Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority 30th September 2015 Saughall Massie Pre Contract Professional feesInvoice £3000 Todd and Ledson LLP Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority 31st August 2015 Saughall Massie Pre Contract Professional fees
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (on behalf of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority) have submitted two planning applications associated with this project.
The most recent dated 20th July 2016 is for a screening opinion which if I’m correct Wirral Council as Local Planning Authority have to make a decision on within 3 weeks of the application, this is SCR/16/00994.
The related planning application to the above submitted on the 15th July 2015 is APP/16/00985 which is described as, “A single storey two bay community fire station incorporating operational and welfare accommodation, offices and meeting space, external drill and training facilities and associated car-parking. | Land adjacent to SAUGHALL MASSIE ROAD, SAUGHALL MASSIE ”.
The land is currently owned by Wirral Council, who are constructing a Youth Zone on land next to Birkenhead Fire Station.
Below are two invoices to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service from their solicitors Weightmans LLP connected to that.
Invoice £660.00 Weightmans LLP Transfer of land at Birkenhead Fire Station to Wirral Council 28th September 2015 Clive BleasedaleInvoice £697.20 Weightmans LLP Transfer of land at Birkenhead Fire Station to Wirral Council 26th October 2015 Clive Bleasedale
Although at one stage a “land swap” was suggested by former Deputy Chief Executive of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service Kieran Timmins (that is a swap of the land held by Wirral Council for the land adjacent to Birkenhead Fire Station), Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service state that no such land swap with Wirral Council was agreed follow Mr Timmins’ proposal. In an event Mr Timmins left the employment of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service in 2015 having been made redundant and he received £144,500 in redundancy payment in compensation (see note 30 to the accounts (Officers’ Remuneration) on page 66 of the 2015-16 accounts for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority).
The officer at Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service in charge of land matters following Mr. Timmins’ departure from the organisation in August 2015 is Deputy Chief Fire Officer Phil Garrigan.
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Should Cllr Denise Roberts pay back £3.80 claimed in postage to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority?
Should Cllr Denise Roberts pay back £3.80 claimed in postage to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority?
Councillor Denise Roberts (Chair, Standards and Constitutional Oversight Committee at Wirral Council) 6th July 2016
Below is a £3.80 claim made by Cllr Denise Roberts when she was on the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority for postage.
Apparently some papers for a Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority meeting were sent to her with the incorrect postage on so she put in an expense claim (on the travel and subsistence form) for £3.80.
The receipt from Royal Mail is included.
Let’s hope Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service know to put the right postage on mail in the future!
Councillor Denise Roberts £3.80 postage 29th June 2015 Page 1 of 2 resizedCouncillor Denise Roberts £3.80 postage 29th June 2015 Page 2 of 2 resized
She got somebody else working in Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services called Nicholas Pitcher to sign the form on her behalf.
Her basic allowance of an extra £8,070 for being on the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority is supposed to cover such incidental expenses such as this £3.80 postage but Cllr Denise Roberts chose to claim it back.
At the time of this claim Cllr Denise Roberts was Chair of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority’s Audit Sub-Committee (which is also the Committee at Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority that dealt with complaints about councillors).
Should Cllr Roberts pay the £3.80 back? Please leave a comment giving your view.
Cllr Denise Roberts stopped being on the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority in May 2016 when Wirral Council chose a different councillor to represent the Labour Group from Wirral.
Cllr Denise Roberts is now Chair of Wirral Council’s Standards and Constitutional Oversight Committee which has oversight of complaints made about councillors.
Disclosure of 46 pages of PFI contractor’s banking details by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service described as “oversight”
The author of this piece is an Appellant in a First-Tier Tribunal (Information Rights) case involving Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority.
Today, the eighteen councillors on the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority met. One of the decisions they agreed was a constitution which includes the following (Members means councillors), “Members should avoid public criticism of individual Officers, as it is unfair and oppressive.”
Last year during the 2014/15 audit, I requested the North West Fire and Rescue PFI contract. This is the PFI contract with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority for the Belle Vale, Birkenhead, Bootle/Netherton, Formby, Kirkdale, Newton-le-Willows and Southport fire stations on Merseyside as well as fire stations in Lancashire and Cumbria.
When it was published on this blog in October 2015, a former press officer working for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service Lyndsay Young phoned me asking me to remove the contract from my blog. I explained why I wasn’t going to do so and alerted her to the 46 pages of bank account mandates and specimen signatures that I had not published.
Last week Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority’s Audit Sub-Committee met and discussed the Corporate Risk Register which included the risk of data loss and the possibility of regulatory action by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). I requested a press officer be present for this meeting so I could ask for a quote from Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service about its disclosure of this information. This request was denied.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer Phil Garrigan (bottom left) tells Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority’s Audit Sub-Committee 9th June 2016 about the risk of data being compromised
After Deputy Chief Fire Officer Phil Garrigan’s glowing comments at that meeting about the efforts Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service had taken to prevent data loss at the Audit Sub-Committee meeting, I emailed the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services’ auditors Grant Thornton alerting them to this and also asked the contractor Balfour Beatty for a quote.
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’s position changed from their original “no comment” to an email requesting that the information be destroyed or returned (offering to pay any costs of doing so).
Louise McCulloch, Head of Media & PR for Balfour Beatty kindly gave us the following quote, “Last year, information relating to [the] North West Fire and Rescue (NWFR) [contract] in which Balfour Beatty has an interest, was inadvertently shared with an individual as part of a response to their request to the Fire and Rescue Authority under s 15(1)(a) of the Audit Commission Act 1998.
The Authority made NWFR fully aware of the oversight immediately. NWFR has taken the necessary steps to ensure no adverse impact.
NWFR has asked the Authority to request the individual destroy or return the information which has no public interest, which Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service has done.”
The 46 pages of disclosed information contain details of sort codes, account numbers, specimen signatures and names of those authorised to use various Barclays Corporate bank accounts connected to the PFI fire stations project run by Balfour Beatty.
Clearly this information should not have been disclosed to me, but it is worrying that Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service seemed to only realise this had happened after I told them first in October 2015 and again in June 2016!
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What happened while Cllr Denise Roberts was Chair of MFRA’s Audit Sub-Committee?
Cllr Denise Roberts (Chair, MFRA (Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority) Audit Sub-Committee at a previous meeting of the MFRA)
The author of this is the appellant in a First-Tier Tribunal (Information Rights) case involving Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority.
There have been serious corporate governance allegations raised about how MFRS (Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service) has been managed and led during the period when Wirral Council Councillor Denise Roberts has chaired the MFRA (Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority) Audit Sub-Committee.
MFRS’s press office was approached to provide a press officer for today’s public meeting of its Audit Sub-Committee. However that request for a press officer was refused. A reply received from a senior manager who intervened in our request stated that a press officer is not able to attend this and indeed future public meetings due to “other responsibilities”.
Ultimately it is up to you dear reader to try and understand the reasons why such a decision would be taken.
Clearly Wirral Cllr Denise Roberts (Chair of MFRA’s Audit Sub-Committee) is not entirely to blame as reports to the Audit Sub-Committee she chairs (including to today’s meeting) have been either inaccurate or misleading (or indeed both at the same time) and indeed her time on the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority comes to an end in a week.
Instead, Cllr Brian Kenny and Cllr Chris Meaden will replace Cllr Denise Roberts and former Labour Cllr Steve Niblock as two of Labour’s representatives from Wirral Council on the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority. Both Conservative Cllr Lesley Rennie and Labour’s Cllr Jean Stapleton remain.
It remains to be seen whether a future Chair of the Audit Sub-Committee continues with Cllr Denise Roberts’ approach and what happens next.
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