Tag: Cllr Tom Harney

Council (Wirral Council) 12/12/2011 Part 4 Agenda Item 3 (Petitions), Agenda Item 4 (Minutes), Agenda Item 5 (Leader’s Announcements)

Agenda Item 3 Petitions Cllr Lesley Rennie presented a petition of 92 residents of Wallasey who wanted improvements to road safety in reference to a primary school. Cllr Stuart Wittingham presented a petition of 58 from Ackers Road, Woodchurch. Edit: 20/12/2011 Apologies to Cllr Steve Williams as this blog post initially incorrectly stated that he … Continue reading “Council (Wirral Council) 12/12/2011 Part 4 Agenda Item 3 (Petitions), Agenda Item 4 (Minutes), Agenda Item 5 (Leader’s Announcements)”

Agenda Item 3 Petitions

Cllr Lesley Rennie presented a petition of 92 residents of Wallasey who wanted improvements to road safety in reference to a primary school.
Cllr Stuart Wittingham presented a petition of 58 from Ackers Road, Woodchurch.

Edit: 20/12/2011 Apologies to Cllr Steve Williams as this blog post initially incorrectly stated that he presented the petition of 58 from Ackers Road, Woodchurch when this should have been Cllr Stuart Wittingham. [7]

Cllr Harry Smith presented a petition of approximately 600 from Pensby & Thingwall about road safety at a primary school there. He said this was a rolling petition.

Cllr Harry Smith took his petition to the one of the committee clerks.

Agenda Item 4: Minutes

The minutes of the meeting held on the 11th October 2011 were agreed and the minutes of the meeting held on the 17th October 2011 were agreed.

Agenda Item 5: Leader’s Announcements

Cllr Steve Foulkes said on a high note he thanked Madam Mayor for hosting the Queen on her recent visit and wished that more councillors could have been invited. They had invited the voluntary sector and the Armed Forces to a one hour lunch and it had been a “great day”. He thanked Cllr Tom Harney and Cllr Jeff Green and said they had not had a royal visit for some time. Cllr Foulkes was proud of what we showed the Queen and made a plea to councillors to think.

As Leader of the Council, the corporate governance reforms were proceeding. There was a deadline of April 2012, which depended on the ability of the Corporate Plan which was linked to the 2012/13 Budget. He said it hadn’t happened before that the Corporate Plan had to be taken to a Scrutiny Committee. However a compromise had been reached. There would be a special meeting of the Scrutiny Committee and a special Council meeting by the 9th January 2012. This would allow things to be read and for issues to feed back into the 2012/13 Budget.

Madam Mayor thanked Cllr Steve Foulkes.

Corporate Governance Committee 16/11/2011 (Wirral Council) Part 2 Work Program, Progress and Associated Issues

The committee considered item 3 Work Program, Progress and Associated Issues.

However Cllr Jeff Green went back to agenda item 2 (Minutes). He said as part of the minutes, the list of committee meetings was not agreed.

Bill Norman said there had been some confusion in the briefing. There had been discussion with each political group’s officers. The briefing had been done before the agenda [for this meeting] was finalised, so the schedule in Appendix 8 was different to the list. The minutes [of the meeting held on the 26th October 2011] reflected the previous list and he noted the revision.

Cllr Jeff Green said that they had been told he couldn’t make it and that his non-availability had been made known.

Cllr Steve Foulkes said there was no set of dates they could all attend.

Bill Norman said about the confusion in the briefings, they had tried to find out everyone’s availability but timescales were stretched. He apologised for the confusion.

Cllr Steve Foulkes joked that he wouldn’t do Christmas Day, but he would “do Boxing Day”.

Cllr Tom Harney said that the primary aim of this committee was not discussions, there were major decisions of Cabinet and they had to make some progress and look at it as if they were a statutory committee.

Cllr Steve Foulkes said they needed to make decisions, not make recommendations to Cabinet.

Jim Wilkie mentioned that because of Wirral Council’s constitution some decisions had to made by a meeting of all councillors.

Cllr Tom Harney said that they needed to look at how to alter decision-making.

Corporate Governance Committee (Wirral Council) 26th October 2011 5.00pm (Committee Room 1) Part 10

Jim Wilkie said it was a working response to changing circumstances and that councillors made policy. He asked for further discussions on its precise role and interdependencies.

Cllr Foulkes said he saw it as a start despite the implied criticism. He asked for a detailed overview and said it would help corporate governance. He called it an “excellent start” which would be “more focused when developed” and hoped it was “not a massively excessive cost”. He asked for more detail and to look at how other local authorities did it.

Cllr Harney was happy with what Cllr Foulkes said. He brought up the issues of how to involve partners in policy (in relation to child poverty). Cllr Foulkes added a recommendation for a detailed report to come back. Cllr Ann McLachlan said child poverty work was currently channeled through the Children’s Trust Board but she recommended it go to the policy unit.

The recommendation was agreed which Cllr Foulkes said he was happy to endorse. Cllr Foulkes said it “went better than expected”, that he was “pleased with progress” and that people had been thoughtful. He asked for ideas for the next agenda and for progress reports on the issues councillors have outlined with milestones and dates.

Anna Klonowski said for alll dates, there needs to be a level of ambition and challenge in delivery. Clr Green called for some sort of program. Jim Wilkie said it would be done some time before the next meeting, but not just before at the briefing. Cllr Foulkes agreed and thanked Anna as well as everyone who’d come to the meeting.

Corporate Governance Committee (Wirral Council) 26th October 2011 5.00pm (Committee Room 1) Part 3

Cllr Tom Harney said there were two things. The first was the business of when, he wanted a finite date and said it “can’t wait forever” and “if we miss the date we should do something about it”. The second was that [the Cabinet]’s job was to manage and they were responsible for managing people, this can’t wait six months.

Cllr Foulkes said their credibility hinged on redefining corporate governance. Imparting core skills on people he didn’t see as a problem. However there might be smaller adjustments at the end. He wanted to make as much progress as he could without damaging the integrity of the system. Cllr Foulkes said he noted the report fed into the wider discussion. He took on board Tom’s point, but there was enough in the Anna Klonowski Associates report. First they would deal with the two hundred top managers making small minor improvements, he said they would “not just carry on what we’ve done before” which was waiting for policy.

Cllr Ann McArdle said the worst thing they could do would be to destroy the integrity of the process.

Chris Hyams talked about the objectives and expectations and steering the meeting through a difficult conversation.

Cllr Phil Davies said he worried about launching a training program. He went on to talk about the culture, roles, responsibilities and behaviours which were linked. He worried that Chris’ training should look at all component parts.

Anna Klonowski said the tools and techniques used shouldn’t undermine what was a precursor to launching anything.

PACSPE: The saga continues (Wirral Council)

PACSPE: The saga continues (Wirral Council)

                                            

At a well attended Area Forum for West Wirral tonight, Cllr Jeff Green revealed that himself and Cllr Tom Harney (Leader of the Lib Dem councillors) have called in the Labour Cabinet decision of the 22nd September not to award the PACPSE (Parks and Countryside Spaces) contract.

I’ll write up more about the West Wirral Area Forum tomorrow which covered many interesting topics.

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