Category: Wirral Council

Satellite tracking of gritters

I’ve just received an email from the Cabinet Member and the officers have written to her informing her that gritting had been done using the following log. 18:34:08 Ilchester Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH41 7BP – 0.01 119 8 298 18:35:08 Hoylake Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH41 7BZ – 0.29 275 22 287 18:36:08 Boundary Road, Birkenhead, … Continue reading “Satellite tracking of gritters”

I’ve just received an email from the Cabinet Member and the officers have written to her informing her that gritting had been done using the following log.

18:34:08 Ilchester Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH41 7BP – 0.01 119 8 298
18:35:08 Hoylake Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH41 7BZ – 0.29 275 22 287
18:36:08 Boundary Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 7PQ – 0.23 220 19 143
18:37:08 Boundary Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 7PF – 0.40 152 22 158
18:38:08 Upper Flaybrick Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 7PF – 0.10 056 17 261
18:39:08 Boundary Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 7PG – 0.25 315 20 328
18:40:08 Worcester Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 7QB – 0.26 342 21 033

Yes, the log is great; I’m pleased we have satellite tracking to keep an eye on the gritters this year! However it’s for the wrong route. As mentioned in my previous post, which has a link to the gritting routes, Boundary Road (split into two) is on two gritting routes.

The log is clearly showing gritting route 3 (Green), which wasn’t the one I complained about which was route 5 (Purple). All this would make better sense if I had a map to link to!

Has anybody else had problems like this when reporting roads not gritted (or anything requiring a location) or does this confusion explain how frustrated people were getting with Streetscene last year about it?

P.S. My address is well-known and was in the original email. I realise email responses can be tricky to deal with and people make mistakes however the subject line from the officer involved Phil Miner clearly stated “Fwd: lack of gritting on Boundary Road between Worcester Road and Bidston Village Road”. Perhaps I’m being harsh on people just trying to do a difficult job managing this contract; but it’s frustrating!

Standards and why we need them at Wirral Council

I have had an interesting read of the full document pack relating to the Standards Hearing Panel of the 2nd/22nd November.

I was at the meeting referred to in July and had an unimpeded view and to what went on and heard what was said, although I’m not going to say what happened. Since then (unfortunately) there have been many full council meetings where similar things have happened.

Why it takes 16 months for a complaint (or complaints) in this case about a councillor to go from the complaint being made to a meeting to consider a decision as to what happens next is to beyond me. Surely (especially if a councillor is considering standing down in the next year) this is just giving them a licence to misbehave without consequences?

Needless to say, during this sixteen months (and most complaints seem to take that long), officers’ time, councillors’ time and in some cases when the report isn’t written "in-house" many thousands of pounds is spent.

It seems there are two possible reasons why it is dragged out so long (even after five councillors make a complaint).

Either

a) there is deliberate political “meddling” in the complaints process, whether directly or through officers or

b) processing complaints about councillors is not seen as a priority (or both a) and b))

The new procedure for complaints about councillors (which is to be decided by councillors and independent members of the Standards Committee this week), will hopefully make the system more understandable.

Since the MP expenses scandal, one wonders why local councils such as Wirral haven’t been forced to be more open about the expenses they pay to local councillors? Whereas I realise some may not like the extra scrutiny this would bring when staying at hotels and going on trips abroad at the taxpayer’s expense; as it stands the whole system is open to abuse.

Mind you; as some can’t even get basic arithmetic right on their election expenses forms; one wonders how they manage to fill out their expenses forms.

Two open questions to the readers (please answer in the comments – it’s not multiple choice so you can pick more than one):-

Do elected politicians behave badly because:-

a) it gets them more attention,
b) their colleagues are so they see it as acceptable,
c) they can get away with it and/or
d) they know if they do get caught nothing can be done to stop them doing it again?

Does the media act as a watchdog on our elected representatives?

a) Yes
b) No
c) Sometimes

Cabinet – Part 5 – Corporate Resources

Westminster House is being sold to Wirral Partnership Homes for £1.9 million (as has been reported in the press) Part way through this item Cllr. Hodson declared a prejudicial and personal interest and left the room as the company he’s a director of cleaning company (based in Bidston & St. James) that cleans Wirral Partnership Home properties.

Clearly it wouldn’t be the done thing for a councillor to sell a building to make more money for himself! Although I’m pleased councillors are declaring interests as they should (unlike sometimes when they don’t).

Cllr Holbrook introduced a motion that amended the recommendations to include an overage clause as there seem to be the concern that Wirral Partnership Homes may make money in the future from the car park that is part of Westminster House. The sale of Westminster House will mean that Wirral Council will make more use of the North/South Annexes to Wallasey Town Hall.

Cllr Hodson then returned.

It was then agreed that a primary school in Eastham be sold to the Anglican Diocese of Chester.

Item 18 (a referral from the Audit and Risk Management Committee) sparked a discussion about the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. Cllr Holbrook added an extra recommendation pointing out that Wirral Council’s usage had been low and stating five areas it had been used in.

The main changes were (that are currently proposed by government) the requirement for a magistrate to authorise as well as changes to the level of crime it could be used for. Cllr. Green did ask for a clarification over hate crime; which the Borough Solicitor seemed to be at a loss to answer.

Due to the provisions in the criminal law – “hate crimes” – crimes where there is an element of victimisation based on a protected characteristic eg disability, gender, age etc can carry heavier sentences than usual. Although the Borough Solicitor Bill Norman didn’t know last night whether this would bring them into the category of crimes covered by RIPA under the new guidelines.

Cllr Elderton asked about the use of RIPA regarding cockle picking on Wirral’s beaches; bringing to Cabinet’s attention rubbish problems on Wirral’s beaches. It was pointed out that as the beaches are a public place, surveillance would not be covert and therefore not covered by the RIPA provisions.

There was no any other AOB so the meeting ended.

Cabinet meeting – Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MF&RS), Cole Street Primary School closure (and Cathcart Street Primary school) – Part 1

Well, I’ve just returned from another meeting of Wirral Council’s Cabinet.

It started with a surprise change to the agenda (after declarations of interest/minutes of the last meeting) with a presentation by Myles Platt, a Wirral Group Manager for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service on the Fire Service’s consultation on their Integrated Risk Management Plan (although Integrated is spelt wrong on their website)!

This consultation will feed into what MF&RS on the Wirral will be doing over the next year.

The agenda then resumed with the decision to close Cole Street Primary School at the end of this school year (31st August 2011). You may ask what relevance this has to the Bidston & St. James area. When Cole Street Primary School closes, some of the pupils will move to Cathcart Street Primary School.

A number of parents and the Chair of Governors were present for the decision and by the mood of the audience before and after the decision didn’t want to have Cole Street Primary School close, the Chair of Governors addressed the Cabinet and expressed her sadness that after 80 years the school was closing and that they didn’t understand why it wasn’t Cathcart Street school closing instead.

The headteacher of Cathcart Street Primary School also addressed the Cabinet; reassuring them that should Cole Street close they would do their best to help the new pupils and that lessons had been learnt after the recent closure of nearby St. Lawrences, mentioning Open Days and giving parents the opportunity to visit the school. She also mentioned that parts of Cathcart Street would be refurbished to deal with the increased pupil numbers.

The (Interim?) Director of Education explained why a new school (which would’ve led to both being closed) hadn’t been possible. He also mentioned concerns expressed by the MP Frank Field. He pointed out that the capital money received from the Department for Education for new buildings was being spent elsewhere in Wirral.

Cllr Hodson mentioned visiting Cole Street when he had been Mayor and that it had great pupils, was a fabulous school and that the staff put in a lot of effort.

Election Spending (local elections) 2010

Well I went down to the Town Hall today to see what was spent during the election campaigns candidates/agents (or at least what was declared) on their election campaigns. The maximum amount that can be spent is £600+5p/elector (apart from joint candidates where the spending limits are lower at either £450+3.75p/elector or £400+3.33p/elector). As the number of electors varies from place to place, this varies the total amount.

These are the amounts spent between 29th March 2010 and 6th May 2010.

I only looked at candidates in four wards, those were (totals as follows):-

Bidston & St. James Labour £875.54
Rock Ferry Labour £742.54 Lib Dem £288.83
Oxton Labour £510.64 Lib Dem £221.98
Prenton Labour £775.54 Lib Dem £660.83

In three out of four of those places the candidate that spent the most money won. What was interesting though was what it was spent on and the source of the funds.

In some cases (as there was an election for the town’s MP on the same day) candidates put out joint leaflets with the parliamentary candidate. However the legislation wouldn’t class these as “joint candidates” as they are in elections to different bodies even though the election was held on the same day and voted for by the same people.