Category: Merseyside Police

Licensing Act 2003 Subcommittee Wirral Council 22/2/2012 Part 1 Appointment of Chair, Lifestyle 82-84 Town Meadow Lane, Moreton, CH46 7TB

Panel: Cllr Bob Wilkins (Chair) Cllr Eddie Boult Cllr Steve Niblock The papers for this meeting can be found here. Agenda Item 1: Appointment of Chair Cllr Bob Wilkins said he was the Chair of the panel and that on either side of him was a councillor, who were also on the panel of three. … Continue reading “Licensing Act 2003 Subcommittee Wirral Council 22/2/2012 Part 1 Appointment of Chair, Lifestyle 82-84 Town Meadow Lane, Moreton, CH46 7TB”

Panel:

Cllr Bob Wilkins (Chair)
Cllr Eddie Boult
Cllr Steve Niblock

The papers for this meeting can be found here.

Agenda Item 1: Appointment of Chair

Cllr Bob Wilkins said he was the Chair of the panel and that on either side of him was a councillor, who were also on the panel of three.

He asked councillors, committee officers, the police and those present to introduce themselves (slowly).

The following people gave their names:-

Anne Beauchamp (Committee Clerk)
Ken Abraham (Legal adviser)
Margaret O’Donnell (Licensing)
Richard Leyland (Licensing Team Leader)
Unknown
Sergeant ??? (Merseyside Police)
Constable Paula ???? (Merseyside Police)
Unknown (solicitor?)
Unknown male
Unknown male

Agenda item 3: Lifestyle, 82-84 Town Meadow Lane, Moreton, CH46 7TB

The Chair, Cllr Bob Wilkins asked if the appropriate notices and information had been sent out? Margaret O’Donnell said there had been additional paperwork on Monday and yesterday as well. Those documents would be referenced today. She said there were no additional further details for consideration.

Cllr Bob Wilkins asked if there would be any additional witnesses. He asked the applicant if they had provided all the document they wishes the panel to see?

The police answered no (to both questions).

Cllr Bob Wilkins explained the procedure he would be following. He said he would give the applicant time to present his case, questions coud be asked. Once that was over those from the licenced premises would have a chance to put their case, and an opportunity given to ask questions of them.

He said they would also be considering advice issued under Section 182 of the Licensing Act 2003 and the four licensing objectives which were:-

prevention of crime and disorder,
public safety,
the prevention of public nuisance and
the protection of children from harm.

Merseyside Police Authority 20/2/12 12/13 Budget Meeting Pt 2 – Police Authority agree to raise Council Tax police precept by 3% and refuse Council Tax Freeze Grant

The members of the Merseyside Police Authority met to decide on the 2012/2013 Budget after their meeting last Thursday had been adjourned.

There were two options to decide between. The first option was whether to accept a one-off Council Tax Freeze grant for 2012/2013 which equated to what they would have gained from a 3 percent rise in the police precept on the Council Tax bills for Merseyside residents. The second option was to reject the Council Tax Freeze grant and increase the Council Tax precept by 3 percent for Merseyside residents.

Neither option made any difference to the 2012/2013 budget, but did to budgets from 2013/2014 onwards.

The Chair welcomed people to the reconvened meeting. He said they wouldn’t go through the whole report again. He asked for a proposal.

It was proposed to reject the Council Tax Freeze grant for 2012/2013 and increase the Merseyside Council Tax police precept by 3 percent compared to its 2011/2012 level.

It was moved as an amendment to accept the Council Tax freeze grant for 2012/2013 and not increase the Merseyside Council Tax police precept for 2012/2013 compared to its 2011/2012 level.

A councillor spoke for the amendment and against the motion. Cllr Kate Wood spoke for the amendment and against the motion. The Chair commented that the Merseyside Police Authority sets the precept independently of the Merseyside local authorities who collected the Council Tax on their behalf.

Janet referred to a story on the BBC website. She had asked for a copy of the press release and felt the BBC had mixed it up as they had used a figure of £2 million instead of £1.865 million. She also didn’t understand the BBC article suggested there would be a loss of forty officers, which made out there would be a deficit when the revenue Budget for 2012/2013 was neutral between the two options.

She had an issue with the survey using survey monkey that the Police Authority had done. She said it was biased as option 1 was for putting up the Council Tax precept and that people could vote in it as many times as they liked, she herself had voted three times. She said although the proposed increase was small,would some residents would have to cut their heating bill to afford the increased Council Tax.

The Chair asked the Chief Executive to clarify.

The Chief Executive referred people to table 14 on page 45. He pointed out the issue was with the 2013/2014 Budget, not 2012/2013. He explained that the issue was never 2012/2013. The issue was what happened after 2012/2013 to the one year Council Tax Freeze grant.

He continued by pointing out in 2013/2014 if the Council Tax Freeze grant was accepted, then it led to a £2 million gap, as the grant would be dropped out of the Budget for 2013/2014. This meant the Council Tax base for 2013/2014 would be reduced [compared to increasing the precept for 2012/2013] and the effect of the Council Tax Freeze Grant was close to £2 million.

Referring to the survey, Paul Johnson explained that it had been sent out to libraries and they had made it so that more that each person could vote more than once. He said they had been criticised on Thursday for reorganising a meeting so quickly, which gave little opportunity to the public of Merseyside. They had achieved some helpful information, but if Authority members thought it was not up to scratch they were at “liberty to ignore” it.

The Chair said he was not going to give a summay out unless he was asked for it. In the short period of time he only intended to introduce it if there was another stalemate. It had been raised, but it did have limitations.

An Authority Member referred to a “lot of misunderstanding”. They then referred to Liverpool City Council deciding on the Council Tax levels and the effect on them of receiving or refusing the Council Tax Freeze Grant. The Member thought the effect over five years for the Police Budget could come to Ł9 million.

The Member referred to the “poorly paid on benefits” who had faced “Housing Benefit cuts” when “nobody gave a monkeys”. He then went onto refer to Working Tax Credit cuts and Winter Fuel Allowance reductions from Ł250 to Ł150.

He was arguing that the 3% rise would not lead to greater numbers of officers on the frontline as in previous years. However it would allow injured and ill officers to be tacken off their backroom jobs and made redundant, which would lead to a longterm saving.

This could lead to [approximately] forty new officers. If they were not going to recruit now then in a couple of years there would be a big gap and experienced officers who needed to pass their skills and advice on would have left Merseyside Police.

Exclusive: Merseyside Police Authority fails to set Budget for 2012/2013

At an exciting afternoon meeting of the Merseyside Police Authority councillors and independent members failed to agree a Budget. Although a majority were in favour of a 3% increase in the police element of Council Tax for Merseyside residents amounting to £2.92 extra a year for Band A and £4.39 extra a year for Band D, a majority of councillors were not.

As such the Budget could not be agreed and the Merseyside Police Authority members will be asking the public before they decide which of two options they go for. The two options are:-

Option 1) Accept a Council Tax Freeze grant from the government. Council Tax precepts for Merseyside residents would stay at last year’s level.

Option 2) Refuse a Council Tax Freeze grant and increase the police element of the Council Tax for Merseyside residents by 3%. This would be an increase of £2.92 (a year) for Band A or £4.39 (a year) for Band D.

As the Council Tax Freeze grant is one-off, if opted for by the Police Authority it will lead to greater savings having to be found next year by whoever is elected as Police Commissioner.

As the Merseyside Police Authority failed to agree a Budget the meeting was adjourned.  You can vote below in our poll and the papers and reports for the meeting used to be able to be found on Merseyside Police Authority’s website, but since it was abolished in November 2012 and replaced with the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner they’re no longer available.

Oh and for further information you can read this BBC News article on it.

Arriva 410 Bus: From “Ferry Across the Mersey” to “Folsom Prison Blues”

English: Mersey Ferry Royal Iris of the Mersey...
Image via Wikipedia

So, having a rare day out with the wife we returned from Liverpool on the Mersey Ferry (she likes the ferry whereas my taste in music isn’t Gerry and the Pacemakers “Ferry Across the Mersey” as loud as possible). We get an Arriva 410 bus from Woodside planning to change on Conway Street on the way back.

The bus goes through the bus station, lets some passengers off, past the new Asda and carries on down South Claughton Road. There must have been at least about twenty passengers on it.

A noise as loud as a firework going off a few feet away happens, and one of the windows on the left side of the bus goes from transparent to opaque with lines running from the point of impact. How it actually managed to hold itself together is anyone’s guess. In a surreal twist the one passenger sitting next to it carries on listening to his music through a Walkman oblivious to his lucky escape.

The bus driver stops the bus at the next stop near Cole Street, informs everyone that they’ll have to get off and get on another 410 that’ll be sent. He invites anyone who smokes to get off and have a cigarette (and looks visibly shaken up himself). As we get off the bus and walk past you can see the glass window is completely buckled and warped. It was clearly something that hit the window with a massive force.

There were many ideas from the bus about what happened, one said a kid through a stone (unlikely when you consider the damage), another said someone fired something at the bus. Certainly the guy sitting next to the window, when he realised what was going on was out of the bus like a shot and not seen by anyone on the replacement bus.

I was looking out of the wrong window at the time and didn’t see anything, but heard a very loud bang similar to a firework or a gun shot. The police didn’t turn up before the replacement bus arrived and decided to investigate things at the bus depot instead. You’d think they’d take a possible firearms discharge more seriously… but it’s certainly strange when Arriva can arrive on the scene quicker than Merseyside Police.

We got off on Conway Street by the entrance to Birkenhead Park, the bus driver came round, stopped the bus and pushed out the glass with a rolled up newspaper. Certainly the thing had rattled him, but I expect he got the rest of the day off. It was one of the massive windows you get to look out of…

Cllr Harry Smith Goes Back To School – S P E E D I N G

Harry Smith goes back to school

I’m always interested what my local councillor, Cllr Harry Smith is up to. According to a Wirral Council press release he’s been photographed at Greasby Junior School in an event run by Merseyside Police and Wirral Council.

Cllr Harry Smith was there to learn about speeding outside Greasby Junior School. A group of adults speeding past the school were invited in to be grilled by schoolchildren. Each adult was talked to by the children for an average of twenty minutes each (nine in total). This was part of Road Safety Week. Three other adults received three penalty points and a £60 fine. Cllr Harry Smith was there in his capacity as a councillor, he was not one of the adults who’d been speeding.

John Brace said, “I have campaigned on many road safety campaigns over the years and am always pleased when the issue of speeding is highlighted. Children are more vulnerable to speeding traffic than adults and it is irresponsible of drivers to speed past schools. The road outside a local primary school, Gautby Road outside Gautby Road Primary School is in a 20 miles per an hour zone. So are many other local schools.

However, it requires greater enforcement by Merseyside Police of the existing laws if a few careless motorists will be deterred from their risky behaviour. As the Labour-led Merseyside Police Authority has cut the police budget this year by many millions of pounds, it will become increasingly hard for local police to respond to resident’s concerns in this matter.”