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 … Continue reading “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 – Part 4 – Finance & Best Value

There was good news in report 11; of savings of £862,000 from the Insurance Fund.

A Labour councillor said something along the lines of £1 million down, £44 million to go.

Report 12 was amended, an extra clause 13.2/13.3 were added which requested a review is reported promptly as well as calling for internal audit to be more “closely aligned” with the Risk Management Strategy.

The ICT Strategy (report 13) was approved with Cllr. Green referring to it as a “good piece of work” that would “deliver savings”. He also mentioned the recent Employment and Appointments committee meeting.

Report 14 prompted some jokes about school meals as it referred to the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables. The Interim Director of Education informed the committee of the Healthy Schools status of Wirral’s schools. Although some schools had their own arrangements for school meals, the contract (being awarded to the Potato Man) was being awarded as the previous contractor had withdrawn.

Item 15 was a good news story announced by the Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group/Cabinet Member for Streetscene and Transport – Cllr Lesley Rennie.

As per previous years, there will be free parking on the three Thursdays leading up to Christmas after 3pm in Birkenhead/Liscard/Heswall and West Kirby.

In addition there will be a free Saturday morning of parking in Birkenhead on the 18th December, as well as all day on the 26th December and 1st January.

Hopefully this will support local businesses and shopping areas. Wirral Council will also be advertising and publicising this.

Cabinet – Environment/ Regeneration & Planning Strategy – Part 3

Next was a report recommending that Wirral Council make more use of renewable energy in its buildings. A motion adding an extra recommendation was circulated (which called for a further report/action plan) including requesting working with social housing providers to generate cheaper electricity for tenants (and the Council).

This follows on from the Notice of Motion on the same topic on the 18th October 2010.

Item 8 explained the Regional Growth Fund, the LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership) was also mentioned. An upcoming meeting with Lord Heseltine was mentioned by Cllr Green.

A number of questions were asked on item 9 about Peel Properties request for a joint venture at Woodside, Birkenhead. This involved land owned by Peel, Merseytravel, Wirral council and another private sector business.

Cabinet – part 2 – more education -EY Capital Grant/Birkenhead High School/Woodchurch High

Item 4 (the Early Years Capital Grant) which covered items such as furniture, IT and outdoor learning was approved.

So was the Capital Works, Contract Award and Final Business Case for the Birkenhead High School Academy which also goes for a decision on Planning Permission at a meeting next Wednesday.

Call-in was waived on this as they were keen to get the bid in to Partnership for Schools ASAP (although it will have to first wait for a decision on the planning permission first).

A project for about quarter of a million pounds was also approved to be put out to tender at Woodchurch High School.

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.