Are Wirral councillors about to make another Town Hall bungle on education?

Are Wirral councillors about to make another Town Hall bungle on education?

Are Wirral councillors about to make another Town Hall bungle on education?

                                

Cabinet 17th December 2014 vote on Lyndale School closure L to R Cllr Tony Smith (Cabinet Member for Education), Cllr George Davies, Cllr Ann McLachlan
Cabinet 17th December 2014 vote on Lyndale School closure L to R Cllr Tony Smith (Cabinet Member for Education), Cllr George Davies, Cllr Ann McLachlan

Pictured above is Cllr Tony Smith (Cabinet Member for Children and Family Services) who has political accountability to the public for education at Wirral Council.

For those with long memories, who read my article The reasons why Wirral Council’s Lyndale School call in is being delayed or the Wirral Globe article headlined Town Hall bungle means Lyndale meeting called off you will recall when I pointed out to a certain Monitoring Officer called Surjit Tour who works for Wirral Council that the call in over the Lyndale School closure wasn’t lawful. He agreed with me and the public meeting had to be postponed.

Regulations that the last Labour government brought in The Education (Parent Governor Representatives) Regulations 1999 require the education committee of a local council, to have a minimum of two and a maximum of five parent governor representatives with voting rights.

Many councils appoint three, so that if one should cease to be a parent governor at that school, die, or indeed not turn up to meetings for six months without sending apologies and therefore be removed it doesn’t drop below two.

Wirral Council next week meets at Wallasey Town Hall on Tuesday 16th May 2017, see here to appoint its committees for the 2017-18 municipal year, although the agenda and reports are here.

As previously stated on this blog, the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee (which covers education) is proposed to be split into two new committees, the Adult Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Children and Families Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

The People Overview and Scrutiny Committee, currently has only has one parent governor representative on it.

Below is video of Cllr Steve Foulkes explaining why Wirral Council can’t carry on with only one parent governor representative (although at the time the Committee he was referring to had none).

So why are Wirral Council seemingly ignoring this legal requirement in 2017?

Will Councillor Steve Foulkes remember next week what he stated in 2014? Or do the Wirral public just have more political fudge to look forward to next week from a council whose leadership, management and governance of education was rated inadequate by OFSTED last year?

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Coordinating Committee (Wirral Council) 5th February 2014 Part 1 of 2

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Coordinating Committee (Wirral Council) 5th February 2014 Part 2 of 2

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3 video clips of councillors and Community Patrol outside the Wirral count for the Claughton byelection and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Mayoral election

3 video clips of councillors and Community Patrol outside the Wirral count for the Claughton byelection and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Mayoral election

3 video clips of councillors and Community Patrol outside the Wirral count for the Claughton byelection and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Mayoral election

                            

Councillor Stuart Kelly (Counting Agent - Claughton) 5th May 2017 outside Wirral Tennis and Sports Centre
Councillor Stuart Kelly (Counting Agent – Claughton) 5th May 2017 outside Wirral Tennis and Sports Centre

Below are three edited videos of what you could term what I was allowed to report outside the count from a public footpath at the Wirral Tennis and Sports Centre following the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Mayoral election and Claughton byelection.

I had originally planned to film the result and speeches from inside the count, but the Chief Executives of Wirral Council and Liverpool City Council decided my presence and that of Leonora would not be welcomed.

There were a variety of interviews I recorded, people weren’t just going to the local election count but also for the other use of Wirral Tennis and Sports Centre as a leisure centre.

However these are the earlier clips which I’ll list in chronological order.

First, Wirral’s Community Patrol (whose used to do dog fouling and litter enforcement which have been outsourced by Wirral Council to Kingdom under a contract Wirral Council have kept mainly secret.

Below is video of my brief one and a half minute interaction with the Community Patrol, where I compare their uniforms to the more Terry Pratchett name inspired Liverpool City Watch. However thankfully we can both laugh about the whole situation!

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Wirral Council’s Community Patrol – Wirral Tennis and Sports Centre 5th May 2017

Next is Wirral Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Communications Cllr Matthew Patrick (a Labour councillor for Upton ward) who doesn’t seem as keen to talk as Wirral Council’s Community Patrol.

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Cllr Matthew Patrick (Upton and Cabinet Member – Community Engagement and Communications)

Cllr Stuart Kelly (a Liberal Democrat councillor for Oxton ward) and Counting Agent for their candidate in Claughton ward didn’t leave as quickly as Cllr Matthew Patrick. We talked for a few minutes about both the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Mayoral election and the Claughton byelection.

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Cllr Stuart Kelly (Oxton and Counting Agent – Claughton byelection) 5th May 2017

Hopefully over the next few days I’ll publish the conversations with other councillors such as Cllr Phil Davies, Cllr George Davies and a few others!

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Election Result (Wirral Council, 2017): Claughton: Labour hold (Gillian Wood)

Election Result (Wirral Council, 2017): Claughton: Labour hold (Gillian Wood)

Election Result (Wirral Council, 2017): Claughton: Labour hold (Gillian Wood)

                                 

Polling station 4th May 2017 resized
Polling station 4th May 2017 resized

Please note we would have been happier reporting from the count centre about half a mile away but Wirral Council were not happy with the press being there.

Election Result (Wirral Council, 2017): Claughton: Gillian Wood (Labour Party)

Claughton Ward (2017)
 
Name of candidate     Description (if any)  Votes   %
Wood
Gillian
 Labour Party  1,761   52%   Elected
Evans
David Robert Cynlais
 Liberal Democrats  740   22%   Not elected
Sinclair
Barbara Vera  
 Conservative  567   17%   Not elected
Heydon
Liz
 Green Party  136   4%   Not elected
Jones
Beryl Rosina
 UK Independence Party   130   4%   Not elected
Wheddon
Leon Allen
 Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition   27   1%   Not elected

There were 11 rejected ballot papers, the electorate was 11,336 and the turnout was 30%.

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Wirral Council advertise on this blog but do not class us as a media organisation!

Wirral Council advertise on this blog but do not class us as a media organisation!

Wirral Council advertise on this blog but do not class us as a media organisation!

In an update to yesterday’s blog post titled Wirral Council ban Leonora and John Brace from attendance at Claughton byelection count! there was a curious statement from Kevin McCallum (Head of Communication) reflecting an Eric Robinson decision that we are not a “bona fide” media organisation (therefore not allowed to attend the count on Friday).

Yet below you will see a screenshot of Wirral Council advertising on this blog taken today with is a screenshot from my iPad.

Obviously this raises an interesting question that Wirral Council see us as a media organisation they can advertise with, but are not able to see us as a media organisation for the purposes of elections.

There is a screenshot below of my iPad to show what I mean. The advert is at the top.

Wirral Council advert blog
Wirral Council advert blog

Of course if Wirral Council wants to stop advertising for whatever reason, they only have to ask me and I will make sure their adverts don’t display in future!

But I just thought I’d file this in Wirral Council wanting to have their cake and eat it.

I could write another email to Kevin but I fear this is getting embarrassing (for Wirral Council that is)!

Below is a tweet about it from Cllr Pat Cleary.

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Voting begins in LCRCA Mayoral election and Claughton byelection (polls close at 10 pm)

Voting begins in LCRCA Mayoral election and Claughton byelection (polls close at 10 pm)

Voting begins in LCRCA Mayoral election and Claughton byelection (polls close at 10 pm)

Holy Cross primary school Bidston polling station Bidston St James 4th May 2017 resized
Holy Cross primary school Bidston polling station Bidston St James 4th May 2017 resized

Today is polling day (polling stations are open between 7am and 10pm) in Bidston, Birkenhead.

Here in Bidston people receive two votes in the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Mayoral election.

Above is a photo of my local polling station. When I took it I was filming into the sunshine (which is not considered good practice), but it wasn’t until I viewed it I realised what the photo meant. The thumbnail is above or you can click on it for a better resolution photo.

The no stopping sign outside is an excellent summary of Wirral Council’s bossy attitude. The spikes on the gates represent Wirral Council’s bunker mentality.

The sign (up for one day only) represents a small nod towards democracy and the public having a say. Yes the public that Wirral Council are there to serve.

Secrecy is of course something Wirral Council enjoys as that way nobody can dare criticise how they decided something!

Perhaps I am reading too much into one photo I took.

Inside the polling station was a queue of people waiting to vote. However it wasn’t very busy and the Presiding Officer seemed keen to see us leave.

So polling day, the beginning, a new dawn, a new day. The end of something and the start of a new beginning.

Results of both elections are expected tomorrow.

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