Why will councillors on Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority only be shown a confidential report to be discussed on Thursday afternoon on the day of the meeting itself?

Why will councillors on Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority only be shown a confidential report to be discussed on Thursday afternoon on the day of the meeting itself?

Why will councillors on Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority only be shown a confidential report to be discussed on Thursday afternoon on the day of the meeting itself?

                                  

Cllr Dave Hanratty (Chair, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority) 22nd February 2018
Cllr Dave Hanratty (Chair, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority) 22nd February 2018

The author of this piece had the secrecy of two previously secret reports about fire station closures to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority overturned as a result of a consent order in First-tier Tribunal case EA/2016/0054.

A public meeting of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority’s Community Safety and Protection Committee that was originally planned for Thursday afternoon starting at 1.00 pm has been cancelled and replaced with a public meeting of the entire Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority (all eighteen councillors and the Police and Crime Commissioner will be invited).
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Despite objections on highways and ecology grounds did Liverpool City Council’s Planning Committee approve a planning application for 48 dwellings in Wavertree?

Despite objections on highways and ecology grounds did Liverpool City Council’s Planning Committee approve a planning application for 48 dwellings in Wavertree?

Despite objections on highways and ecology grounds did Liverpool City Council’s Planning Committee approve a planning application for 48 dwellings in Wavertree?

                                         

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Planning Committee (Liverpool City Council) 3rd April 2018 Part 1 of 2

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Planning Committee (Liverpool City Council) 3rd April 2018 Part 2 of 2

Cllr Lawrence Brown objecting to a planning application on highways and ecological grounds 3rd May 2018 Planning Committee Liverpool City Council
Cllr Lawrence Brown objecting to a planning application on highways and ecological grounds 3rd May 2018 Planning Committee Liverpool City Council

Yesterday morning, I went to my first Planning Committee meeting of Liverpool City Council at Liverpool Town Hall (which you can watch in the video clips above).

Unfortunately I forgot to pick up the bag with the tripod in it when we got to the train station, so filmed only the first forty-five minutes without a tripod (which covered two planning applications).

At the start there was a minute of silence due to the recent death of Cllr John McIntosh.
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Nomination period for the election of 23 councillors to Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council ends this Friday at 4 pm!

Nomination period for the election of 23 councillors to Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council ends this Friday at 4 pm!

Nomination period for the election of 23 councillors to Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council ends this Friday at 4 pm!

Ballot Box
Ballot Box by NAS of the Noun Project provided under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States (CC BY 3.0 US) licence Original has been resized and converted to a .jpg file

I’ll declare an interest in the piece below as I will have a vote in the election of a councillor in Bidston and St James ward as will my wife Leonora.
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High Court Judge quashes greenbelt planning application for 3 marquees issued in “error” by Wirral Council in 2011

High Court Judge quashes greenbelt planning application for 3 marquees issued in “error” by Wirral Council in 2011

High Court Judge quashes greenbelt planning application for 3 marquees issued in “error” by Wirral Council in 2011

                                  

Cllr Phil Gilchrist (front) speaking at the Extraordinary meeting of Wirral Council on 4th April 2016 who chaired the Planning Committee referred to below in 2010
Cllr Phil Gilchrist (front) speaking at the Extraordinary meeting of Wirral Council on 4th April 2016 who chaired the Planning Committee referred to below in 2010
 

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Planning Committee (Wirral Council) 22nd March 2018 Part 4 of 4 Agenda Item 14 Judicial Review Update

Last Thursday councillors at a public meeting of Wirral Council’s Planning Committee were told that the long-awaited decision in the judicial review case would be handed down soon (which can be watched in the video clip above). An oral hearing of both the permission application and the substantive judicial review were both heard on the 31st of January 2018.
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Why has Minister Sajid Javid requested a “team of experts” to intervene at Wirral Council after Wirral Council’s repeated delays in producing a Local Plan?

Why has Minister Sajid Javid requested a “team of experts” to intervene at Wirral Council after Wirral Council’s repeated delays in producing a Local Plan?

Why has Minister Sajid Javid requested a “team of experts” to intervene at Wirral Council after Wirral Council’s repeated delays in producing a Local Plan?

                                                

Photo 4 - Cllr Phil Davies answering questions Birkenhead Constituency Committee 1st March 2018
Cllr Phil Davies answering questions at the Birkenhead Constituency Committee 1st March 2018

Edited 27.3.2018 14:32 An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated one of the other three councils facing intervention was Castlerock, this has now been corrected to Castle Point.

The latest in an exchange of letters between the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP (Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government) and Cllr Phil Davies (Leader of Wirral Council) has been published.

Wirral Council’s failure to produce a Local Plan (which are their policies by which planning applications are decided) has led to intervention. Out of the fifteen local government bodies that the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP wrote to initially (which included locally Liverpool City Council and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority) only three (Wirral Council, Castle Point Borough Council and Thanet District Council) have caused enough concern to warrant intervention.
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