Council (Extraordinary) (Wirral Council) 30th April 2013 | Revisions to the Constitution | Cllr Darren Dodd “this is what the people of Wirral have been asking for for a very long time”

Council (Extraordinary) (Wirral Council) 30th April 2013 | Revisions to the Constitution | Cllr Darren Dodd “this is what the people of Wirral have been asking for for a very long time”

Continued from Council (Extraordinary) (Wirral Council) 30th April 2013 | Revisions to the Constitution | Cllr John Hale “these proposals should be consigned to the dustbin where they belong”.

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Council (Extraordinary) (Wirral Council) 30th April 2013 | Revisions to the Constitution | Cllr Darren Dodd “this is what the people of Wirral have been asking for for a very long time”

Cllr Darren Dodd was next to speak and told people he had been along to many meetings was surprised that some councillors hadn’t gone to one. He said he had been elected almost three years ago and ever since then councillors had been talking about change, he referred to several difficult reports received all calling for change. Cllr Dodd said they had voted unanimously for change on several occasions and that “this is what change looks like” [referring to the constitutional changes]. He said, “Let us not forget this is what normal Councils do, this is what normal looks like”.

Cllr Dodd said that the Tories had raised concerns about power being taken away from councillors, but he felt the new arrangements gave “more opportunity to raise issues of concern, not less”. He said, “It’s always been my view that of all the meetings I attend, full Council meetings are often pointless.” Cllr Dodd said it’s not because full Council doesn’t make important decisions, but that they nod through business as quickly as possible to get to the Notices of Motion.

He said the Notices of Motion are always on important things, but often carry little weight, at the end of the meeting “usually a lot of hot air has been expelled”, but very little action agreed. Cllr Dodd pointed out that out of fifteen to twenty motions, often only one or two are properly discussed and that the new arrangements would be “clearly a better system” and “this is what the people of Wirral have been asking for for a very long time”.

Audit Commission Report on Wirral Council (public interest report)

Public Interest Report written by the Audit Commission about Wirral Council’s procurement process for the provision of highway and engineering services in 2008/09.

There have been a number of readers interested in the public interest report published by the Audit Commission. Links to it and related material are below.

The 24-page report (as a pdf file) entitled “Wirral Council: Report in the public interest” . ED – 29th December 2013 This link previously linked to the Audit Commission’s website. However the Audit Commission is in the process of being abolished so the previous link now points to a copy of the public interest report hosted on this blog.

The Wirral Council press release about it dated 8th June 2012 ED – 29th December 2013 The press release relating to the public interest report is no longer available on Wirral Council’s website and merely returns an “Access denied” page.

A page on the Audit Commission website specifying the report is about Wirral Council’s procurement process for the provision of highway and engineering services in 2008/09 *This previously linked to a page on the Audit Commission’s website. However the page is no longer there as the Audit Commission is in the process of being abolished.

There have also been a number of press articles about it, Twitters etc… I’m pretty sure it’ll be discussed at the Audit and Risk Management Committee meeting on Thursday too, based on the tweet of a Labour councillor.

Audit and Risk Management Committee (Wirral Council) 1st February 2012 Part 1

Present:

Committee

Cllr Crabtree (Chair)
Cllr Dodd
Cllr Mountney
Cllr Brighouse
Cllr John Salter deputising for Cllr Ron Abbey
Cllr Irene Williams
Cllr Jeff Green

Officers

Mark Delap (Committee Clerk)
Deputy Director of Finance
Chief Internal Auditor
Bill Norman (Legal Adviser/Head of Law, HR and Asset Management Department)
Tom Sault

Audit Commission
Mike Thomas (District Auditor)

Liz Temple-Murray

The Chair asked for declarations of interest. There weren’t any declared, so the Committee considered the minutes of the meeting held on the 29th November 2011.  The Chief Internal Auditor said they had been asked in the minutes to circulate a copy of the Internal Audit Manual.

Cllr Darren Dodd referred to amendments to the minutes. The Chair said if he was OK with the explanation Cllr Dodd had received from Mark Delap? He asked if it was OK if he signed the minutes?

The Chair moved onto item 3 Annual Governance Report 2010/2011 Action Plan Update.

The Deputy Director of Finance referred the Committee to the Action Plan and recommendations.

The Chair asked for comments.

There were no comments, so the Chair moved onto item 4 Statement of Accounts 2011/2012 Review of Arrangements.

Tom Sault introduced item 4. He referred to the Statement of Accounts and Action Plan and updated the Committee on areas of further progress. He said he was happy to take any questions?

Cllr Green was keen that there was not a repeat of last year and following criticism by external audit didn’t want the situation to happen again. He asked Tom to clarify and comment on the proposal for closing the Statement of Accounts.

Licensing, Health and Safety and General Purposes Committee (Wirral Council) 23/1/2012 Part 3

sign reading Polling Station
sign reading Polling Station

Licensing, Health and Safety and General Purposes Committee (Wirral Council) 23/1/2012 Part 3

Continues from Licensing, Health and Safety and General Purposes Committee (Wirral Council) 23/1/2012 Part 2.

Kate said they had visited the Masonic Hall this afternoon and it was a suitable venue. It cost £350 for hire. Surjit Tour talked about Between2Worlds. He said there were statutory purposes for polling stations and the front entrance at the Masonic Hall was unsuitable for disabled access. However there was no certainty for hire costs with Between2Worlds as it would have to be negotiated.

Cllr Ian Lewis commented. He understood the point made by Cllr Darren Dodd, his concern was that they were looking at maps whereas in practice it was the effect on votes. Wherever it moved, people wouldn’t vote as they’d go to the wrong polling station as it had previously been the YMCA. He said elderly people who had used the YMCA might not find out as not everyone was sent a polling card. He said his personal preference was to accept the Masonic Hall as opposed to the YMCA car park.

Cllr Patricia Glasman said he agreed with Cllr Ian Lewis on the whole, she also wanted the Masonic Lodge, however there was no provision for tellers.

Kate said that other polling stations that were entered directly had no provision and tellers could remain outside.

Cllr Bill Davies asked about the disabled access.

Kate said yes in answer to his question. There was a side exit at the Masonic Lodge used as a fire exit, unfortunately a ramp over the front steps was not practical.

Cllr Chris Jones asked about the past history of problems about using a Masonic Lodge as a polling station.

Cllr Bill Davies said he didn’t have the details in front of his, but to his recollection each time Masonic Lodges had been proposed as polling stations it had been turned down.

Cllr Ian Lewis said it would be nice if polling stations were suitable for tellers and wouldn’t inconvenience political activists. He still saw the Masonic Lodge as the least inconvenient.

Cllr Steve Niblock proposed, seconded by Cllr Chris Jones that the polling station for WE.

Cllr Sue Taylor proposed and Cllr Kate Wood seconded that the Masonic Lodge be used as the polling station for polling district WE.

There was a vote first on the amendment.

For: Cllrs Taylor, Wood, Lewis, Anderson and Glasman (5)
Against: Cllrs Davies, Williams, Niblock and Jones (4)

Abstention: None (0)

The amendment was carried by one vote (5:4:0).

The Chair said if possible because of the time scale, could they make a decision quickly on alternative polling stations?

Cllr Steve Niblock said there was a fall back of Between2Worlds, but he was happy if it was agreed by the party spokespersons.

Cllr Bill Davies said he wanted to advise the committee that with the timing of the local elections, if possible could it wait till March? Cllr Bill Davies proposed and Cllr Sue Taylor seconded that if alternative polling stations needed to be found that it would be agreed by the spokespersons.

This was agreed by the Committee.

Audit & Risk Management Committee (Wirral Council) 29th November 2011 Part 1, Declarations of Interest, Minutes (28/9/2011), Budget Projections 2012-2015

Present:

Labour
Cllr Jim Crabtree (Chair)
Cllr Darren Dodd (Vice-Chair)
Cllr Irene Williams
Cllr Ron Abbey

Conservative
Cllr Simon Mountney (Spokesperson)
Cllr James Keeley
Cllr Sue Taylor (deputy for Cllr Jeff Green)

Liberal Democrat
Cllr Alan Brighouse (Spokesperson)

Officers present
Tom Sault
Surjit Tour (Legal adviser)
Mark Delap (Committee Clerk)
David Taylor-Smith

Also
Mike Thomas (District Auditor)
Liz Temple-Murray (Audit Commission)

Surjit Tour after talking with the Chair Cllr Jim Crabtree left the room. Mike Thomas said that agenda item 9 (Audit Commission) HESPE Follow Up Report would not be dealt with tonight.

Cllr Jim Crabtree said he would like to make a start and welcomed people to the meeting. He asked for any declarations of interest. None was declared. The minutes of the meeting held on the 28th September 2011 were agreed.

David Taylor-Smith introduced the Budget Projections 2012-2015 report. He said it was a regular report to Cabinet and referred to page nineteen, which dealt with the shortfall in each of the next three financial years. There were processes to address the issues rather than debate over how the shortfall would be found. He asked for any questions.

Cllr Jim Crabtree invited Cllr Darren Dodd to speak.

Cllr Darren Dodd asked him to “tell us more about the processes in place”?

David Taylor-Smith said the Director of Finance reported to the Cabinet meetings. He said the Cabinet and the Executive behind the scenes had regular debates over planning and how the [Labour] administration responded to the reports was up to them.