When and where is the special public meeting of Wirral Council councillors to discuss the Wirral CCG consultation on closing the Walk-In Centres?
When and where is the special public meeting of Wirral Council councillors to discuss the Wirral CCG consultation on closing the Walk-In Centres?
Arrowe Park Walk In Centre 8th November 2018
Councillors on Wirral Council last month agreed across parties (Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and Green) to oppose the proposal by Wirral Clinical Commissioning Group (Wirral CCG) to close the Walk-In Centres on the Wirral. The (Wirral CCG consultation on this runs to the 12th December 2018).
Labour councillors on Wirral Council’s Cabinet will decide next Monday whether to spend £200,000 to demolish Lyndale School
Labour councillors on Wirral Council’s Cabinet will decide next Monday whether to spend £200,000 to demolish Lyndale School
Cabinet 17th December 2014 vote on Lyndale School closure L to R Cllr Tony Smith (Cabinet Member for Education), Cllr George Davies, Cllr Ann McLachlan
As reported around a fortnight ago on this blog Wirral Council’s Cabinet meets next Monday morning to make another decision about Lyndale School.
Cabinet previously decided to close Lyndale School in Eastham at the end of August 2016. On Monday councillors on the Cabinet will be deciding whether to declare it surplus to requirements, to ask the government for permission to sell off the playing fields (with a further six-week consultation expected on this), demolish the school building and to sell off the site.
The rationale for demolition is that an empty building could attract vandalism.
Parents of disabled children at Lyndale School campaigned to try to persuade the Labour councillors on Wirral Council to change their mind and keep the Lyndale School open. Although councillors from opposition parties agreed with the parents that the school should remain open, Labour councillors consistently voted to close the Lyndale School school.
The site of the former Lyndale School is expected to be sold for housing.
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5 days after Lyndale School closes, Labour councillors on Wirral Council’s Cabinet will meet to decide on a further consultation on sale of Lyndale School and the playing fields
5 days after Lyndale School closes, Labour councillors on Wirral Council’s Cabinet will meet to decide on a further consultation on sale of Lyndale School and the playing fields
Cabinet 17th December 2014 vote to close Lyndale School L to R Cllr Tony Smith (Cabinet Member for Education), Cllr George Davies, Cllr Ann McLachlan
Wirral Council’s Cabinet, who decided to close Lyndale School effective from the end of August 2016 (this month), will be making a further decision about Lyndale School at the first Cabinet meeting after it closes.
The decision to close Lyndale School was opposed by the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green Party councillors on Wirral Council, but supported by Labour councillors.
At a public meeting of Wirral Council’s Cabinet to be held on the 5th September 2016, the Cabinet will be asked to declare Lyndale School a surplus asset and to seek permission from the government to sell both the Lyndale School site and the playing fields. If agreed there will then be a further consultation on disposal.
The review of commissioning of high needs places, promised to parents during the drawn out process of closing Lyndale School (which many parents stated would conclude after Lyndale School had been closed) will report back to Cabinet on the 3rd of October 2016 (around 5 weeks after Lyndale School will have closed).
Elleray Park School (another primary school on Wirral in the special sector) has recently had internal alterations and an extension in a contract estimated at £1,028,109.84. It was stated by Wirral Council’s senior management that some of the remaining pupils at Lyndale School when it closed would be transferred to Elleray Park (although this appears now not to be the case as parents have chosen other schools) and an invoice for some of the recent building work (£170,798.74) at Elleray Park School is below.
Wirral Council Elleray Park Primary School Lyjon Company Ltd £170,796.74 28th September 2015 resized
Also in 2015 the former Foxfield School in Moreton (which is another special primary school on the Wirral but for clarity this is after the school was moved from Moreton to a new site in Woodchurch) was demolished (see invoice below).
Wirral Council Foxfield School Powell Demolition Ltd £82,050.25th November 2015 resized
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What did Bernard Halley tell Wirral councillors about a 7,000+ petition against the closure of Girtrell Court?
What did Bernard Halley tell Wirral councillors about a 7,000+ petition against the closure of Girtrell Court?
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Council (Wirral Council) 11th July 2016 Agenda item 4B (Petitions) Petition of over 7,000 requesting Council halt closure of Girtrell Court
Council (Wirral Council) 11th July 2016 Agenda item 4B Petitions Bernard Halley (right) speaks to a petition against the closure of Girtrell Court
As you can hear in the video above, Bernard Halley had five minutes to address Wirral Council’s councillors on the subject of his petition requesting that the closure of Girtrell Court be halted.
“….” refers to parts which are unclear due to his distance from the microphone and background noise. DASS stands for the Department of Adult Social Services.
Benard Halley said, “Thank you Mr. Mayor. I would like to take this opportunity to address the issues in this petition.
The petition that we refer to is on on change.org and it is about the closure of Girtrell Court.
The current statistics which have been very carefully balloted are 4,778 Wirral postcode signatures, 2,211 UK wide signatures and a 101 worldwide signatures, so it’s getting quite a bit of notoriety.
I would say at this stage that I have absolutely no political affiliation whatsoever, so I’m not grinding any of the traditional axes in this room.
In fact, I don’t want to be here. I don’t want, I don’t relish being regarded as a troublemaker, I would much rather support DASS in all their endeavours but this is an issue of principle that has to be followed through.
You are closing a service which whilst not perfect, enjoys the full confidence of parents and carers against their clearly expressed wishes.
Confidence that is held in Girtrell Court is vital when you ask us to entrust our loved ones to a third party.
Your process so far as carers are concerned have been flawed from the start. You decide an end product closure and then work backwards to find a solution that fits.
We find no evidence whatsoever that users called for change. We have objectively polled Girtrell Court users using an open question poll document and their data contradicts the …. . I challenge the Council to make full disclosure of their case to the scrutiny committee for independent evaluation.
Mr Phil Davies has repeatedly used the phrase, “equal or better”. That begs the question who decides what is equal or better? Surely it should be the users of the service?
Well Mr Davies you are a long way from equal to or better at the moment.
You have a potential building and a potential service provider. You do not have a service specification and terms of the contract which is absolutely vital for carers. We want to know that this is not a flash in the pan. There is no comparable staffing ratio data. There is no confirmation that users will have equal to time allocation, there is no information on the range or extent of user activities necessary to equal Girtrell or is this new service going to be just a baby sitting service?
In short you do not have or are far from the complete package which will enable anyone to evaluate equal or better.
Recent correspondence and press releases including emails from your Chief Executive claim that the closure decision has been made in partnership with carers. This is categorically untrue.
None of the carers have agreed to the closure of Girtrell Court.
Carers, including myself have often argued on the comparative virtues of three properties and provider combinations but with the sole motivation of ensuring any alternatives that originated was the best out of the limited choice available.
This was not and is not an agreement or approval for Girtrell Court closure.
The property chosen has some virtues but and this is a big but, the …. is on three floors and even with a lift there are concerns over evacuation capability in the event of a fire.
I am told that one of the principal reasons for closing Maplehome was an identical concern over evacuation capability.
Please do not use this as a Tory versus Labour slanging match which has characterised every debate on Girtrell.
Both propositions have occurred under the remit of DASS, so why is what was unacceptable then suddenly acceptable now?
I come to timescales. We were told at the start that the end of March was unachievable. My position cited the end of September as a possible appropriate date.
Now work on the property is unlikely to be completed by the end of November at best and only then can the Care Quality Commission’s approval be sought. So even with a fair wind, it might be the end of December it seems optimistic.
This ill-managed project has caused worry, distress and concern not only to service users, but to their carers. Many of whom are much older than I, have greater burdens to carry and who do not need Wirral Borough Council subjecting them to 9 months or more of added stress.
We come back to the starting point, you should have and could have used this financial year to plan and a design for a replacement service, while allowing users the confidence that Girtrell will continue seamlessly until an equal to or better than service can be constructed.
Instead, you reverse engineered a flawed solution which does this Council and its officers no credit whatsoever.
The petition has attracted over 7,000 signatures.
If you should ignore this level of public support moreover to do so by muscling your own councillors using a three line whip to stifle those points of view with compassion and conscience is a travesty of democracy for which this Administration should be truly ashamed.
(loud applause and cheers from the public gallery)
The bare minimum for the hard pressed carers should be afforded is consultation on the full package solution as I identified earlier.
If I may read a portion of the petition because it is pertinent, “Our demand is simple, retain the excellent Girtrell Court and its professional caring staff until the Council has researched carer and cared for needs, analysed, researched, costed and fully consulted on the suitability of any replacement offering.”
Solution before dissolution! Thank you for your time.
(loud applause and cheers from the public gallery)”
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Labour councillors vote to hold Girtrell Court closure decision behind closed doors
Cllr Chris Blakeley explaining his notice of motion on Girtrell Court to Wirral Council councillors at a public meeting 14th March 2016
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The first part of the debate on Girtrell Court can be watched in the video above (starting at the 22 minutes 21 seconds point)
Councillors at yesterday evening’s meeting of Wirral Council debated a notice of motion on Girtrell Court proposed by Conservative Cllr Chris Blakeley. He asked councillors to agree that the decision on the future of Girtrell Court should be taken during a public meeting rather than behind closed doors.
The Labour councillors (in an amendment proposed by Cllr Phil Davies) disagreed with this and instead restated their previous position. Their view was that a decision on the future of Girtrell Court should be made behind closed doors by the Cabinet Member Cllr Chris Jones and the Director of Adult Social Services Graham Hodkinson.
The Lib Dem councillors (in an amendment proposed by Cllr Phil Gilchrist) agreed with the original motion, but called for all the background and supporting material to be published when Cllr Chris Jones makes her decision.
The Lib Dem amendment didn’t receive enough votes to be agreed as it was only supported by the four Lib Dem councillors. Labour’s amendment received 36 votes for, 24 votes against with one abstention.
It was also announced during the debate that bookings for Girtrell Court will be extended to the end of August 2016.
The following was agreed yesterday evening by councillors:
Girtrell Court
Council believes that it is important to offer service users and their families a choice of respite care provision. People want the ability to choose the type of care and support which is right for them. At present they are unable to do this. This is not about a building or provider, it’s about the person.
Council notes that the Leader of the Council has previously stated that he wants his Administration to be open, transparent and fair with the people of Wirral. Council welcomes this approach.
Council notes that a detailed debate on Girtrell Court took place at Budget Council on the 3rd March and a clear way forward was agreed. This involves statutory consultation with service users and their families followed by a clear new service offer and events for carers and cared for people to meet potential new providers. Services will be commissioned to meet all of the identified needs at that stage. Authority will be delegated to the Director, in conjunction with the Cabinet Member, to make decisions in order to avoid undue delays which would prolong uncertainty. We are not imposing deadlines on when this process will be complete and, in the meantime, Girtrell Court will remain open.
Council further believes that the families of those using Girtrell Court, the staff, trade unions and residents and users must be given every opportunity to influence the future of Girtrell Court through a clear and transparent decision-making process.
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