Wirral Council | A blog about Wirral Council, Wirral Council's councillors & officers

Wirral Council – Wirral Council 23rd May 2011 – Part 15 – speech (Cllr Steve Foulkes) on being made Leader of Wirral Council

He then went on to discuss in-house bids for council services and how that they’ve got to run things more efficiently. This had been somehow bypassed by people drafted in. He asked Cllr Kelly what was wrong with Overview and Scrutiny Committees being ambassadors and going to the public? This way they would get a balance of views. Cllr Foulkes said he stands by elected councillors and would bring big policies to full meetings of the Council in order to do the best for Wirral. If people wanted to personalise this then do so. However his team had a different style and was going to be better. He said that [personalising politics] doesn’t achieve much. He also said Notices of Motion don’t matter a great deal. However the hot air looks and sound good. There was now a chance for other people to engage in policy and use Scrutiny Committees to develop policy.

Consultation could also be use to define changes to the Corporate Plan. However Labour had inherited the Budget and Corporate Plan. He referred to the people of Wirral that councillors are serving, who are affected by decisions but are not online. The Department of Adult Social Services was mentioned in relation to the changes to Personal Budgets. He mentioned Highcroft costing £95/day and that this was an obstacle. He referred to his visit to Mapleholme where he had been told not to tell the people there as they might get upset.

Wirral Council – Wirral Council 23rd May 2011 – Part 14 – speech (Cllr Steve Foulkes) on being made Leader of Wirral Council

Cllr Foulkes said that the Notice of Motion of Cllr Gilchrist was very good and mentioned a serious review of SIGOMA (the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities within the LGA). He then went onto mention the changes to how business rates are distributed and said “when we work together we can achieve a great deal”. Cllr Steve Foulkes said that the Wirral Waters backing had sent a message to the outside world and that “I’m a human being”. He praised officers and referred to the library service.

He said that he would “change his style but not give in over principles” as this is “where he and the Labour Group comes from”. The £10.7 million of savings in the Strategic Change Programme was criticised by Cllr Foulkes. He said he would be brutally honest and referred to it as a budget crisis. Labour said it would continue a style of consultation and talk to the people. However the elephant in the room was a fair settlement from central government. Councillors needed to explain to the people [of Wirral] that this was the biggest source [of money to Wirral Council]. If they didn’t they would be missing a trick. The region was a strong power block.

Wirral Council and Tranmere Rovers

I read the interesting article about Wirral Council’s sponsorship of Tranmere Rovers Football Club to be decided next Thursday evening.

I did leave a comment pointing out that three of the current Cabinet, Cllr Steve Foulkes, Cllr George Davies and Cllr Harry Smith had all received free tickets to Tranmere Rovers matches as evidenced by the extracts from Wirral Council’s gifts register.

It is of course possible it is more than three as I think councillors are given a certain amount of time between accepting a gift and having to declare it.

Certainly it will be interesting to see next Thursday whether they declare this as a personal interest, a prejudicial interest (and leave the room during its discussion) or decide not to. Certainly whether or not to take part in a decision to sponsor a football team that gives you free tickets is the kind of ethical dilemma Labour councillors will have to grapple between now and next Thursday evening.

Gifts register:
Cllr Foulkes (Cabinet, Finance): 24/4/2011 Tranmere vs Exeter, tickets, lunch and drinks
7/8/2010 Tranmere Rovers football tickets

Cllr Harry Smith (Cabinet, Streetscene and Transport): 25/4/2011 Tranmere vs Exeter, tickets, lunch and drinks

Cllr George Davies (Cabinet, Housing):
25/4/2011 Tranmere Rovers v Exeter sponsored game, tickets lunch and drinks
19/4/2011 Ticket for Tranmere v Notts County
4/9/2010 Tranmere Rovers v Peterborough, programme and hot buffet
07/08/2010 Tranmere Rovers football match

Cabinet agenda – Thursday 2nd June 2011

The agenda for the first Labour Cabinet at Wirral Council next Thursday is now online.

The Labour spin machine seems to be running in overdrive (at least in the Wirral Globe).

First we have Steve Foulkes stating the Budget shortfall for 2011-2012 will be £24 million, the quote is We have taken a savage hit – £51m gone from the budget this year and £24m next. when his administration’s own Director of Finance Ian Coleman states in a report it’ll be £20.8 million (see the Shortfall heading in the appendix).

In the same piece he has the gall to take credit for Fernleigh staying open, when this decision was made by the Tory/Lib Dem budget of 2011-2012 before we even had a Labour Cabinet!

It seems barely three days into this Labour administration it’s going to be one run by spin, press releases and although there will be a “honeymoon” period of a fortnight it won’t take long before the Conservative and Lib Dem parties wake up and start holding them to account.

Wirral Council – Wirral Council 23rd May 2011 – Part 11 – speech (Cllr Lesley Rennie) on leader motion/amendment

She asked for a pledge to protect the libraries, leisure centres and other council facilities. She asked would they protect vulnerable old people? She said the CQC [under the last Labour administration] had inspected how they run services for vulnerable old people. The CQC had rated Wirral Council’s Social Services department as 152nd out of 152 councils. However changes had been made. How can people rely and trust [Labour] if they can’t protect vulnerable old people? “Time will tell.” she said.

The Mayor asked Cllr Phil Davies (proposer of the motion) if he wished to have his right of reply. Cllr Phil Davies waived it. She asked the Conservatives if there was an apology regarding the councillor not there. Cllr Blakeley said an apology had been received, but that he had got the message late and asked for it to be added to the list of apologies.

Cllr Blakeley then requested a card vote. [A card vote is where they list the name of each councillor and how they voted].

The Conservative amendment was voted on first. The split was along party lines.

The thirty Labour councillors voted against. The twenty six Conservative councillors voted for. The nine Liberal Democrat councillors abstained.

FOR 26
AGAINST 30
ABSTAIN 9

The Conservative amendment was therefore lost by four votes.

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