Opposition councillors request meeting to review Wirral Council’s Cabinet decision to increase car parking charges by 20 pence and introduce new car parking charges in country parks

Opposition councillors request meeting to review Wirral Council’s Cabinet decision to increase car parking charges by 20 pence and introduce new car parking charges in country parks

Cabinet (Wirral Council) 19th June 2017 Cllr Stuart Whittingham (left) Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport

Opposition councillors request meeting to review Wirral Council’s Cabinet decision to increase car parking charges by 20 pence and introduce new car parking charges in country parks

Cabinet (Wirral Council) 19th June 2017 L Cllr Stuart Whittingham R Cllr George Davies Traffic Regulation Order
Cabinet (Wirral Council) 19th June 2017 | Left Cllr Stuart Whittingham | Right Cllr George Davies | Agenda Item Car Parking Charges Traffic Regulation Order – Consideration of Further Representations

One of the decisions made by councillors on Wirral Council’s Cabinet, I’ve been meaning to write about since the Cabinet met last month was a decision to increase car parking charges (which has since been put on hold).

On the 19th June 2017, Wirral Council’s Cabinet agreed (see video below starting at 33:31 and photo above) to increase charges for parking at Council car parks on the Wirral by twenty pence and to introduce charges for parking where there had been no charges before (50p for an hour, £1 for 2 hours and £2 for all day) at Arrowe Country Park, Royden Country Park, Eastham Country Park and Thurstaston Country Park.

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Cabinet (Wirral Council) 19th June 2017 (agenda item
Car Parking Charges Traffic Regulation Order – Consideration of Further Representations starts at 33:31)

However for the country parks only, in a modification to the original proposals households could pay for a £50 annual permit instead of paying charges when they parked in the country parks.

There’s a long 21-page draft traffic regulation order that goes into all the details.

The Cabinet minutes were published and opposition councillors had five days in which the decision could be called in for review.

Six (or more) opposition councillors on Wirral Council “called in” the decision, so it now it won’t be implemented immediately but put on hold until the Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee meets.

There will be a special public meeting of the cross-party Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee starting at 4.00 pm on the 18th July 2017 in Committee Room 1 at Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Seacombe, CH44 8ED.

The Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee is composed of 9 Labour councillors, 5 Conservative councillors and 1 Liberal Democrat councillor on it.

There’s a long history to the parking charges issues and an earlier stage in the same decision was called in and was reviewed in March 2017. You can watch video of that meeting below.

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Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 13th March 2017

Usually after representations are made during the consultation period, a cross-party advisory panel called the Highways and Traffic Representation Panel meets in public and makes a recommendation to the Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee then makes a recommendation onwards to the Cabinet (or Cabinet Member) for a decision.

As the Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee met for the first time yesterday evening since the Claughton by-election (when it decided the councillors to appoint to the Highways and Traffic Representation Panel), when the Cabinet had made the decision on the 19th June 2017, there were no councillors at that point appointed to the Highways and Traffic Representation Panel to consider the objections made during the consultation.

Increases to parking charges are on hold till at least the 18th July 2017. The Business and Overview and Scrutiny Committee can choose at that meeting to either:

a) uphold the Cabinet decision made on the 19th June 2017 (in which case the decision is implemented),

b) refer the matter back to Cabinet for reconsideration,

or

c) refer the matter to Council.

At the call-in meeting of the Business Overview and Scrutiny Committee on the 13th March 2017, councillors voted at the end of that meeting. 8 councillors voted in favour (Labour) and 6 councillors (Conservative and Liberal Democrat) voted against. So the decision taken by Cllr Phil Davies (Leader of the Council) at an earlier stage was upheld on a 8:6 vote.

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Author: John Brace

New media journalist from Birkenhead, England who writes about Wirral Council. Published and promoted by John Brace, 134 Boundary Road, Bidston, CH43 7PH. Printed by UK Webhosting Ltd t/a Tsohost, 113-114 Buckingham Avenue, Slough, Berkshire, England, SL1 4PF.

23 thoughts on “Opposition councillors request meeting to review Wirral Council’s Cabinet decision to increase car parking charges by 20 pence and introduce new car parking charges in country parks”

  1. G’day John

    How come he always looks like a heart attack victim in your photos?

    How come he always looks like a dirty mop in your photos?

    Well done “Tarrantino”

    Ooroo

    James

    Any chance of one of your photos of “The Chamber Pots” page 3 girl “The Chamber Potty”?

    With or without her husband.

    Do you know who HE IS?

    1. The answer to your first two questions may be the lighting used in that room.

      In answer to your third, there is somewhere but it’s with previous camera equipment so it wouldn’t be very good. It’d take a while to dig out.

      Without husband from what I remember.

      In answer to last question, vaguely knew at one stage but have forgotten with time.

  2. Hi john no wonder they call councillor whitingham “witless” whereas all council workers, councillors park for free in Brighton street opposite the town hall whereas shop workers & nurses at Wirral hospitals have to pay, town hall staff park or free, this should be declared to the taxman as a benefit in kind and should be taxed. I will not shop where I have to pay I will use supermarkets out of town and get the bus to the country parks and when shops close for lack of customers rate and rent revenue will disappear but can these clowns see this I doubt it.

    1. I might point out the Arrowe Park Hospital is on Wirral Council owned land and originally the agreement for the car park was that it would be free.

      However APH lobbied Wirral Council hard to change that agreement and charge for parking.

    2. Even if the car park in Brighton Street is full, there are still spaces for councillors (and party leaders) reserved on the North side of Wallasey Town Hall.

      Not all of them have cars though, some get taxis instead!

  3. Council owned land, so as a rate payer its also my land, so I’m paying to park on my own land, yeap only in Britain!
    These car parking chargers should be scrapped not increased!

    1. Wirral Council’s politicians claim that to scrap charges they’d either need to:-

      a) increase taxes such as putting council tax up (triggering a referendum), or to
      b) cut spending elsewhere in a budget of hundreds of millions of pounds.

      But yes, from what I recall the Council car parks are on public land. If it was private land and Wirral Council was running the car park, imagine what the prices would be then!!!

  4. G’day John

    No need to panic my boy.

    In the rubbish paper from over Kev and Stella’s Stinking Stagnant wirral Waters

    A spokesperson for Wirral Council said: “Having received notification of the closure of Kingsway Academy, the council is in the process of investigating the implications of such closure, in specific relation to the PFI agreement to which it is party and the future use of the school building itself.”

    Who might the spokesman, not person, be?

    Females have minimal say at wirral, if any.

    There really isn’t any need to panic as per Wirral “Funny” Bizz, BIG, ISUS and Working Neighbourhoods the contracts probably weren’t signed at wirral.

    Ooroo

    James

    1. I have a copy of the PFI agreement in the office, it’s very, very long though.

      Had to send a reminder to David Armstrong that the copy I’d been given during the audit was incomplete at the time.

      Wirral Council don’t allocate enough staff to properly manage the PFI contract, so the contractor gets away with a lot!!!

      1. G’day John

        You sayin

        The contract isn’t signed?

        Old “Legweak” the never get the job man needs to jog on like the other no hoper Tour.

        Ooroo

        James

        1. It’s hundreds of pages long, so it’d take hours to to check all the signatures (are you referring to the Wirral Council signatures or the contractor’s signatures on the original and/or revised contract?). It’s also hard to tell at times whether the signatures are missing or Wirral Council has deliberately redacted them. 😛

          1. G’day John

            I think you will find dodgy contracts like those with Wirral “Funny” Bizz will not be signed by anyone as they know when they are dodgy.

            Ooroo

            James

            **** ****

            1. After the unsigned Wirral Bizz contract Wirral Council’s response was to give management the option of disciplinary action against employee (or employees) that paid for work on a contract that hadn’t been signed yet.

              It’s a rather glaring corporate governance failure though that is sadly symptomatic of the whole project. Let’s hope the advice given as part of the project wasn’t along the lines of “As a business, don’t both signing contracts before starting work on a contract!!!!”

          1. G’day John

            That’s good 20% less evil he can commit.

            What a vile little specimen.

            Ooroo

            James

      2. Missed a chance John.

        You said

        Wirral Council don’t allocate enough staff to properly manage the PFI contract, so the contractor gets away with a lot!!!

        Wirral “Funny” Bizz got away with £2,000,000.00 and wirral spent £200,000.00 plus defending a couple of **** ***’s reputations.

        Ooroo

        James

        1. The schools PFI contract is a higher value contract than the Wirral Biz one, the last time I checked about £12 million a year over decades?

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