Why did a ferris wheel in New Brighton and a Wirral Globe article about it disappear?

Why did a ferris wheel in New Brighton and a Wirral Globe article about it disappear?

Why did a ferris wheel in New Brighton and a Wirral Globe article about it disappear?

                     

Fort Perch Rock car park (New Brighton) 29th June 2015 (before the Wheel)
Fort Perch Rock car park (New Brighton) 29th June 2015 (before the Wheel)

With spin machines in overdrive on the second of two election cycles this year, how about a story about the New Brighton Wheel?

Regular readers of this blog will be aware that the issue of Wirral Council charging for car parking on Fort Perch Rock car park has been a political issue in the recent past which led to a U-turn by Wirral Council on the issue of charging.

Relatively recently part of the Fort Perch Rock car park (owned by Wirral Council) was cordoned off for a ferris wheel and associated facilities run by a limited company.

The Chief Executive of Wilkie Leisure Group Limited, who manages a business close to the Fort Perch Rock car park had concerns about how Wirral Council had run the tendering process for the ferris wheel.

He instructed Kirwans Solicitors (David Kirwan is a former councillor at Wirral Council) to help Wilkie Leisure Group Limited with Wirral Council.

Stories now differ between the different parties to this matter as to why the wheel came down when it did.

The following two quotes are from a press release about the matter.

In a recent letter from Wirral Council to Wilkie Leisure Group Limited, Wirral Council’s Assistant Chief Executive and Director for Business Services (referred to as Mr Amstrong) is quoted as writing,

“Mr Armstrong recognises your client’s long standing contribution to the attractions of New Brighton.
Liverpool Fair Ltd have been granted an extension of their contractual licence to 11 pm on 6/5/17.

They must begin the safe removal of their equipment on 7/5/17. Any further use of the site for the Big Wheel is dependent on the grant of planning permission and a decision by the Council as landowner that it would be an appropriate use of the site.

The Council’s Contract Procedure Rules would apply to any procurement that might then follow.”

David Wilkie wrote, “While I am pleased that Wirral Council has acknowledged its failure to follow the correct tendering processes, I am sorry for the people of New Brighton and the surrounding areas that, thanks to that failure, they will now lose an attraction that all should have been able to enjoy.

It is crucial for local businesses such as ours, which has passed through three generations, that councils conduct fair and just procedural processes through which all businesses can bid. This is a reminder that they have a responsibility to do just that.”

Rather mysteriously, a story in the Wirral Globe about it was published, then “unpublished” and is still available to read in Google’s cache. In the interests of transparency I will point out that we receive money from Google for advertising on this website.

The related court matter has been discontinued due to the removal of the Wheel, but the corporate governance concerns raised by it related to both planning permission and whether Wirral Council had followed their own rules in how the licence was awarded.

Certainly since the removal of the wheel there has been an accusation that the Wirral Council spin machine has entered spin mode. Both the Wheel and the Wirral Globe article about it have both disappeared!

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Election Result (Wirral Council, 2016): New Brighton: Labour hold (Tony Jones)

Election Result (Wirral Council, 2016): New Brighton: Labour hold (Tony Jones)

                          










New Brighton Ward
 
Name of candidate    Description (if any) Votes  %
JONES
Tony
 Labour Party 2,214  52%  Elected
PRITCHARD
Tony
 Local Conservatives 1,452  34%  Not elected
WALTERS
Paula
 UK Independence Party 257  6%  Not elected
STONALL
Cynthia
 Green Party 197  5%  Not elected
USHER
Jackie
 Liberal Democrats 93  2%  Not elected
NORTH
Gregory William
 Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition 51  1%  Not elected

There were 16 rejected ballot papers, the electorate was 10,946 and the turnout was 39%.

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Where are the Remembrance Sunday services on the Wirral on the 8th November 2015?

Where are the Remembrance Sunday services on the Wirral on the 8th November 2015?

Where are the Remembrance Sunday services on the Wirral on the 8th November 2015?

                                           

Remembrance Sunday 2012 at the War Memorial Birkenhead Hamilton Square
Remembrance Sunday 2012 at the War Memorial Birkenhead Hamilton Square

There will be many services to mark Remembrance Sunday on the Wirral on the morning and afternoon of the 8th November 2015.

The Mayor of Wirral, Cllr Les Rowlands will be attending the service held at The Cenotaph in Hamilton Square, Birkenhead in the morning and the service at the War Memorial in Thornton Hough in the afternoon.

These are details of when and where the Remembrance Day Services for 2015 will be:

Morning

10.55 The Cenotaph, Hamilton Square, Birkenhead

10 o’clock Christ Church, Kings Road, Bebington, followed by a service at the Higher Bebington British Legion at noon.

10 o’clock St Mary’s Church, Eastham

10.15 St. Barnabas Church, Bromborough

10.30 St. Oswald’s Church, Bidston

10.45 Grange Hill, West Kirby

10.45 St. Peter’s Church, Lower Village, Heswall, followed by wreath laying at The Cenotaph, Heswall

10.30 for The Cenotaph, corner of Maryland Lane and Pasture Road

10.15 for The Parade will leave the Royal British Legion, Wallasey for a 10.55 am Service at the War Memorial, Magazines Promenade, New Brighton

10.00 for Short Service at St. Stephen’s Church followed by 10.45 a.m. War Memorial at Junction of Osmaston Road and Prenton Lane, Prenton

10.45 War Memorial outside the Public Library, Ford Road, Upton

10.45 War Memorial, Port Sunlight Village followed by a service at Christ Church, Port Sunlight Village

If crossing the River Mersey to Liverpool on Remembrance Sunday, larger crowds than usual are expected for the Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph, St George’s Plateau because of the ceramic poppy art installation "The Weeping Window" at St Georges Hall. It’s expected there will be large numbers of people there and road closures will be in place by 9.30 in the morning.

Afternoon

2.20 for Service at the War Memorial, Thornton Hough 2.45

The Merseytravel journey planner is useful for the times of public transport when travelling to and from Remembrance Sunday services.

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16 Wirral Council invoices for alcohol, advertising, agency staff, an atmospheric steamer and more!

16 Wirral Council invoices for alcohol, advertising, agency staff, an atmospheric steamer and more!

16 Wirral Council invoices for alcohol, advertising, agency staff, an atmospheric steamer and more!

                                            

Continuing from yesterday’s invoices I’ve scanned in another batch the invoices I requested during the 2014/15 audit. These are for agency staff, catering, one from Trinity Mirror for advertising, coffee for vending machines, catering supplies for the Oaklands Centre (a residential outdoor education centre in Snowdonia run by Wirral Council) and four invoices for the bar at the Floral Pavilion.

I’m not creating thumbnails for each image and linking it to the hi-res version (even though I realise that’s better for page loading times). The invoices below are just the originals I’ve scanned in. If any of the text is too hard to read try clicking on the images to view it larger than the 500 pixel width this blog displays. The text on the Autobar and Birchall Foodservice invoices can be hard to read as they were supplied in A5 rather than A4 format.

I’ll briefly state here what they’re for and the amounts (the number in the top right refers to the numbering system on the spreadsheet of invoice numbers I sent to Wirral Council). So this is in the format invoice number, amount, reason. I’ve made bold the supplier name.

46, £571.95, Tom Kaye technical support (services of an event and production technician)
47, £1800, Toptix (UK) Ltd hosting services March to May 2014 for the Floral Pavilion Theatre
50, £856.80, Trinity Mirror Publishing Ltd Advertising in the Wirral News and Wirral edition of the Liverpool Echo
55, £2706.26, Venues All Nick Harper and Dougie MacLean (Floral Pavilion)
56 and 57, £2,070, Badenoch & Clark agency staff
58, £15,336, The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) agency staff
73, £593.19, Autobar Vending Services Ltd coffee beans, whitener and “choc-o-mat”
74, £512.88, Birchall Foodservice catering supplies for Oaklands Centre, Snowdonia (2 pages)
75, £568.94, Birchall Foodservice catering supplies for Oaklands Centre, Snowdonia (3 pages)
77, £1,791, Carringtons Catering Ltd anniversary celebrations
78, £909.04, Carringtons Catering Ltd pre-theatre dining
81, £2598, Combined Catering Services Ltd Lincat Opus Electric Atmospheric Steamer 9kW for St Pauls Primary School
85, £1529.27, Matthew Clark Wholesale Ltd supplies for the bar (alcohol) for Floral Pavilion
86, £544.25, Matthew Clark Wholesale Ltd supplies for the bar (alcohol) for Floral Pavilion
87, £1,274.02, Matthew Clark Wholesale Ltd supplies for the bar (alcohol) for Floral Pavilion
88, £1,643.80, Matthew Clark Wholesale Ltd supplies for the bar (alcohol) for Floral Pavilion

Wirral Council invoice 46 Tom Kaye £571.95
Wirral Council invoice 46 Tom Kaye £571.95

Continue reading “16 Wirral Council invoices for alcohol, advertising, agency staff, an atmospheric steamer and more!”

16 Wirral Council invoices for shows at the Floral Pavilion, advertising, BikeSafe vouchers and ‘Clean Up Films’

16 Wirral Council invoices for shows at the Floral Pavilion, advertising, BikeSafe vouchers and ‘Clean Up Films’

16 Wirral Council invoices for shows at the Floral Pavilion, advertising, BikeSafe vouchers and ‘Clean Up Films’

                                            

Continuing from yesterday’s invoices I’ve got around to scanning in another batch the invoices I requested during the 2014/15 audit. Some are to do with acts at the Floral Pavilion, a few to do with ‘Clean Up Films’ for the schools in Wirral, advertising, public notices in the Wirral Globe, other advertising in the Wirral Globe, advertising in Liverpool FC Magazine, more advertising and BikeSafe vouchers.

The advertising in Liverpool FC Magazine is one of the smaller invoices at £600. Sadly a lot of the invoices for advertising don’t give much detail as to what the advertising was for.

It’s a bit of a fiddle making thumbnails of each image and linking it to the hi-res version (even though I realise that’s better for page loading times). So this time I’m not doing it. The invoices below are just the originals I’ve scanned in. If any of the text is too hard to read try clicking on the images to view it larger than the 500 pixel width this blog is set to.

I’ll briefly state here what they’re for and the amounts (the number in the top right refers to the numbering system on the spreadsheet of invoice numbers I sent to Wirral Council). So this is in the format invoice number, amount, reason. I’ve made bold the supplier name.

25, £13242.69, Ladybird Productions Ltd performing What the Ladybird Heard at the Floral Pavilion
26, £564, Let’s Go! Publishing Ltd for full-page advert in Good2Go! magazine
27, £2,469.39, Liverpool Mozart Orchestra for LMO concert at the Floral Pavilion
28, £1,300, Matthew Thomas for ‘Clean Up Films’ for the Wallasey area schools
29, £1,300, Matthew Thomas for ‘Clean Up Films’ for the West Wirral area schools
30, £1,300, Matthew Thomas for ‘Clean Up Films’ for the Birkenhead area schools
31, £1,300, Matthew Thomas for ‘Clean Up Films’ for the Wirral South area schools
32, £1,080, J McGrath Media Ltd t/a McGrath Regional Media for advertising in edition 40 and 41 of the Chester & Wirral 50+ magazine
36, £4,126.08, Newbury Productions (UK) Ltd for “The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged)” at the Floral Pavilion
37, £668.16, Newsquest (North West) Ltd for public notices in the Wirral Globe
38, £1,212, Newsquest (North West) Ltd for advertising on the Wirral Globe website and print editions
39, £6,044.95, Prestige Productions Ltd for Essence of Ireland at the Floral Pavilion
40, £600, Programme Master advertising in Liverpool FC magazine
41, £882, Richprint full page advert
43, £1,292.50, Society of London Theatre for theatre tokens sales
45, £900, The Motor Cycle Industry Association for BikeSafe vouchers

Wirral Council invoice 25 Ladybird Productions Ltd £13,242.69
Wirral Council invoice 25 Ladybird Productions Ltd £13,242.69

Continue reading “16 Wirral Council invoices for shows at the Floral Pavilion, advertising, BikeSafe vouchers and ‘Clean Up Films’”