Economy and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee 7/6/2012 Declarations of Interest, Minutes, Appointment of Vice-Chair, Presentation on Combisave valve

The Chair pointed out there were no microphones as these were needed by the Employment and Appointments Committee. He asked people to speak up. He welcomed the three new members of the Committee, Robert, Mike and Janette. Item 1 Declarations of Interest No Declarations of interest were made. Item 2 Minutes The minutes of the … Continue reading “Economy and Regeneration Overview and Scrutiny Committee 7/6/2012 Declarations of Interest, Minutes, Appointment of Vice-Chair, Presentation on Combisave valve”

The Chair pointed out there were no microphones as these were needed by the Employment and Appointments Committee. He asked people to speak up. He welcomed the three new members of the Committee, Robert, Mike and Janette.

Item 1 Declarations of Interest
No Declarations of interest were made.

Item 2 Minutes
The minutes of the meeting held on 8th March were agreed.

Item 3 Appointment of Vice-Chair
Nominations were sought for Vice-Chair.
Labour spokesperson Cllr Jean Stapleton was proposed by Cllr Mark Johnston and the proposal was seconded.
There were no other nominations.
Cllr Jean Stapleton was appointed as Vice-Chair unanimously.

Item 4 Presentation and Discussion – Member of the Business Community

The Chair tried to give context to the presentation and Q&A session of David and Lisa.

A Powerpoint presentation was given by Lisa about their Combisave product which was a thermostatic valve for a combi boiler. When attached to the pipe work it would save gas (resulting in carbon savings) and water. It also speeded up the time that hot water arrived.

Lisa showed the Committee a Youtube video created by University of Salford students. She estimated that fitting the valve would result in savings of £50 to £100/year. There was also a video for installers on Youtube.

She detailed the work they had done with United Utilities, British Gas as well as the media coverage they had received on BBC Radio 2. She went into detail about their problems in finding a manufacturer and the awards they had won (or been shortlisted for).

She showed links to the following Youtube videos.

Combisave Before and After and Fitting the Combisave.

Councillors then asked questions.

One asked the price. The answer given was £79 + VAT (£94.80) and it was pointed out that Wirral Partnership Homes was trialling forty.

Cllr Denise Realey asked a question about pre heat. It was answered that it was the same or better than pre heat.

Another councillor asked why they didn’t manufacture it themselves?
The answer given was that it had taken three years of research and design and the product had only been launched last year. The current products were being given out for trials.

Employment and Appointments Committee (Wirral Council) 7/6/2012 Item 12: Early Retirement Request (Jim Wilkie, Chief Executive)

Committee:
Cllr Paul Doughty (Chair)
Cllr George Davies
Cllr Adrian Jones
Cllr Phil Davies
Cllr Ann McLachlan
Cllr Jeff Green (Conservative Spokesperson)
Cllr Lesley Rennie
Cllr Peter Kearney
Cllr Phil Gilchrist deputy for Cllr Mark Johnston (Lib Dem Spokesperson)

In attendance:
Cllr Tom Harney
Chris Hyams
Bill Norman
Various officers
+public + press

Ian Coleman left the room whilst this item was discussed having declared an interest in it.

The committee voted 6:3 to approve the early retirement request of Jim Wilkie, Chief Executive. He has (unless the item is called in or judicially reviewed) retired as of the 7th June 2012.

The voting was as follows (on whether to grant Early Retirement) was 6:3 and passed. An earlier Conservative amendment was lost 3:6:-

For Early Retirement (6)

Cllr Paul Doughty (Lab)

Cllr Phil Davies (Lab)

Cllr Adrian Jones (Lab)

Cllr George Davies (Lab)

Cllr Ann McLachlan (Lab)

Cllr Phil Gilchrist (Lib Dem) deputising for Cllr Mark Johnston (Lib Dem)

Against Early Retirement (3)

Cllr Jeff Green (Con)

Cllr Lesley Rennie (Con)

Cllr Peter Kearney (Con)

=============================================================================
Conservative amendment (LOST 3 (Conservative (3)): 6 (Labour (5)) + (Lib Dem (1)))

Moved by Cllr Jeff Green (Spokesperson)
Seconded by Cllr Lesley Rennie

This Committee notes:

(1) the contribution and service that Mr. Wilkie has given to the people of Wirral over the last 23 years.

(2) the decision on Mr. Wilkie, advised by the Director of Finance and the Director of Law, to allow two members of staff to leave under compromise agreements, less than 1 working day prior to the publication of the AKA report without bringing any potential disciplinary issues to the attention of this Committee.

(3) the queries raised by myself as Leader of the Conservative Group and subsequently as Leader of the Council in response to the report of Mr. Wilkie: Agenda Item 15: Interim Management Arrangements at the meeting held on 29th September 2011 remain unanswered.

(4) that if his retirement was to go ahead these matters may remain secret and unanswered.

Therefore this Committee believes that until these matters are adequately reported to this Committee and Members have had the opportunity to express a view it is clearly inappropriate to approve the extra cost and request for Early Voluntary Retirement from Mr. Wilkie.
==========================================================================================================
Labour recommendation (CARRIED 6 (Labour (5)) + (Lib Dem (1)) :3 (Conservative (3)))
PROPOSED: Cllr Phil Davies
SECONDED: Cllr Ann McLachlan

That the Employment and Appointments Committee approve the following;

The Early Voluntary retirement of Mr Wilkie on the 7 June 2012 and the release of his pension on the grounds of efficiency of the service.

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Related story by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Echo: Wirral Tories oppose council chief executive’s early retirement

Licensing, General Purposes and Health & Safety Committee 23/5/2012

The Chair started by thanking the last committee, who had a meeting not finish until 10.45pm one night. He asked councillors to identify themselves and pointed out that Cllr George Davies was a deputy.

No interests were declared and the minutes of the meeting on the 19th March 2012 were agreed.

Cllr Steve Niblock was proposed as Vice-Chair. This was the only nomination and agreed.

Ken Abraham introduced the report and said that the monthly licensing panel dealt mainly with hackney taxi licences involving conduct, criminal records and that this year the ratio would be 4:2:1.

The Chair pointed out that it was important to realise it was a day meeting, therefore unsuitable for those with a full-time job or family commitments. He asked people to submit their names to the committee clerk before the end of the week. He asked about training for the panel?

Margaret said she had some booklets.

Cllr George Davies asked if they were still going to Tranmere Rovers to check on safety? He said the reason he raised it was because of last year’s disruption involving the roof. However there had been no visit for the last three years.

Ken Abraham said that in the past a decision had been reached that technical services would attend and the report went to a virtual committee, but he didn’t think this had happened for a number of years.

Cllr George Davies pointed out that in Liverpool, their committee made visits to their football grounds. Ken Abraham said he would speak to Paul Grey.

Cllr Davies said that when [Tranmere Rovers] was built the capacity was 16,000, but now it was restricted it can’t be more than 10,000 as people can’t go in the main stand. He asked if there was a disaster where do they stand?

Cllr Fraser asked what would happen after an inspection?

Ken Abraham said checks were made by the fire service, police, building control and others.

The Chair requested a report for the next meeting, but that they report back before the football season starts. He suggested a special meeting and visit and said he wanted a briefing.

Margaret said her expertise was limited to licensing training, however the remit of the committee was much wider.

Cllr George Davies asked for an annual report [on Tranmere Rovers].

The Chair said if there was an urgent issue they could arrange a special meeting, but if they needed training they could use Jo March.

Margaret O’Donnell introduced the next report on taxi driver training and its appendix.

Cllr Fraser asked if the required qualifications were a legal requirement or just Wirral policy?

Margaret O’Donnell answered yes after the decision in March, all drivers had obtained the qualifications apart from two, who were not driving. However there were issues about funding of courses.

Cllr Fraser asked how much the courses were and whether those on them had to pay.

The answer given was between £1000 and £1800, the driver was asked to contribute £150, however some categories such as the unemployed were guaranteed funding.

Cllr Fraser asked how taxi drivers were consulted? The Chair said that the union reps usually turned up to meetings, but information was sent to all taxi drivers.

Margaret O’Donnell said that as it was a national consultation, they had emailed a link to the consultation website.

The Chair said they had wanted to outlaw bogus drivers and that the trade had realised there were too many drivers and not enough work. The Vice-Chair said there had been a conscious decision to ensure public safety and that thanks to officers they had come a long way.

The Chair asked for deputies to take part in training too and that the panel would meet the second Friday of every month.

Licensing Act 2003 Committee (Wirral Council) 23/5/2012 Part 2

This continues from Part 1.

Cllr George Davies mentioned that at a community safety meeting, the Area Commander had pointed out that with the football and Olympics over the Summer that alcohol would be more of an issue this year. The councillor said that he’d said that if a minimum tariff of 40p/unit was brought in that this would help.

Margaret said this had already been through the Committee, but the government were likely to announce a change on minimum pricing.

Cllr Mitchell asked that if the legislation changed, were they trapped? Could they continue with the existing policy even if the law had changed?

Margaret O’Donnell said that some parts might need amendments, but the guidance was quite general, so any changes would be brought forward as part of the review. She also pointed out that they had to consult for three months before any amendments were made.

Cllr Hodson asked about no drinking zones. Margaret O’Donnell said that they were looking at enforcement over the Jubilee double bank holiday, which meant existing licences to 11pm were extended to 1am with the same for entertainment on the Friday and Saturday.

Margaret O’Donnell continued with her presentation, detailing who the new responsible authorities would be. In future this would cover the licensing authority, PCT (or local health board), fire service, planning and the existing responsible authorities.

The interested parties test would also be changed from having to live near to the licensed premises to living or being involved with a business in the licensing authority area. She said it was a significant change to the relevant representations, but a licensing officers would look at representations to decide whether they were relevant or vexatious and frivolous. She referred to a case involving Thwaites, where the decision of the licensing subcommittee had been overturned by the Magistrates Court but upheld by the High Court.

The Chair pointed out that licensing meetings were generally held on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. They did have the staff to do Monday to Friday if they needed the flexibility.

Margaret O’Donnell pointed that it was essential that the reasons for their decisions were recorded as they could be legally challenged. They couldn’t just refuse a licence without reasons. There was also reform to the amount of notice required for temporary event notices.

There was also changes to the penalty for persistently selling alcohol to children (which was defined as two within three months) from £10000 to £20000, voluntary closure had been extended from two days to two weeks and licences would be suspended for late payments.

She continued by pointing out at the discretion of the licensing authority they could levy a late night levy to cover the additional cost beyond midnight of crime and disorder. If introduced it would apply to every premise in the Borough with 70% of the revenue going to the police.

Alcohol Disorder Zones were being repealed. The Chair asked about music. The answer given was that there were no changes, but later this year legislation would allow live music without a licence. Cllr Hornby recommended training courses to new councillors.

Cllr McCubbin asked if changes to the cumulative impact policy were likely?

Margaret O’Donnell answered his question and councillors were invited to put their names forward for the next panel.

Following the Court Order of 18th April 2012 and a Lib Dem smear: My response

Following the Birkenhead County Court order of 18th April 2012 naming Cllr Alan Brighouse on behalf of the Birkenhead Liberal Democrats granted by Deputy District Judge Ireland following the court hearing of the 4th April 2012, the Lib Dems have finally coughed up the original complaint (not shared with me until now 12 months later, despite their constitution stating 10 weeks) made about me by Simon Holbrook in May 2011 (after he lost his seat). I’ve sought advice and am making parts of it public (as there’s a public interest to at least parts of it being made public), along with my version of events (which seems far closer to reality than his complaint, my comments are in italics). Here’s section 1:-

“1. Smearing of Sitting Councillors

In an email to Cllr Gilchrist dated 19 May 2011 at 09:59, John Brace did link the Standards investigation into Cllr Williams’ and Cllr Bridson’s part in the “special charging policy” with that of the recent investigation into the way in which Martin Morton was treated, despite the fact these are two separate matters.

Cllr Williams and Cllr Bridson are not and were not under investigation into the alleged bullying of Martin Morton. This investigation, which was instigated by former Cllr Holbrook has now concluded and reported. It never was and never had been a matter for the Standards Board for England.”

As is detailed here it was considered twice by the Standards Board for England, as initially the complaint about Cllr Bridson hadn’t been sent to them. The complaint (or complaints as a second was submitted) were made by Martin Morton and had already been reported in the Wirral Globe under the headline Town hall blunder: Wrong paperwork sent to local government watchdog inquiry prior to Simon’s complaint about me.

One of these two councillors had been on the charging policy working group in 2005 that led to the overcharging policy, the other had been Cabinet Member for Social Care and Inclusion (which covers Social Services) during part of the period that the overcharging occurred.

The report referred to, the Martin Smith report, was reported to Cabinet on 14th April 2011, however it was not made public until the following year due to the Labour administration’s attempts to delay both its publication and the AKA report.

The relevant section of my email of 19th May to Cllr Gilchrist (and Cllrs Williams, Brighouse, Kelly, Bridson, Harney, Gilchrist, Mitchell and two other party members), is quoted below.

“Morale in the party is extremely low, the Chair and the Vice-Chair of the local party are currently (according to the Wirral Globe) under investigation on standards grounds following a decision by Wirral Council’s Independent Assessment Panel to refer the matter to Standards for England regarding their roles in the Social Services “special charging policy” and how Martin Morton was treated. This independent report (by now read by councillors but currently exempt) will be published within 2-5 months and will lead to a public discussion of their roles in this saga. Both are likely to be candidates in 2012 and the full reasons how and why they did things will have to be made clear to the public and party in the spirit of openness and accountability if we are to move on.”

Lastly Simon Holbrook refers to himself in the third person, which generally wouldn’t be the case if as claimed he was the author of the complaint. However it’s clear by the way it was written that somebody wanted me to stop asking questions by the way flat out denials were made regarding the standards complaints.

The decision notice of Standards Board for England with regards to Cllr Williams and Cllr Bridson back me up as to what the complaint was about. As it was re referred back to Standards for England following the paperwork mixup, there are earlier decision notices regarding Cllr Williams, Roberts and McLaughlin too.