Over 3,000 people sign 2 petitions against Wirral Council cuts generally and to West Kirby Marine Lake
Over 3,000 people sign 2 petitions against Wirral Council cuts generally and to West Kirby Marine Lake
There are two large petitions on the agenda of tonight’s Council meeting, which means each petition organiser has up to fifteen minutes to speak. The first petition of 4,042 signatures (combined across an e-petition and paper petition) is from Sue Kellett of UNISON and is titled “Save Our Services”, the front page of which can be viewed here. It’s basically an anti cuts petition.
On the subject of libraries, below is some information on Wirral libraries recently given to this blog:
Wirral Community Libraries Baby Bounce and RhymeWirral Community Libraries Storytime visitsGroups at Community Libraries Page 1 of 3Groups at Community Libraries Page 2 of 3Groups at Community Libraries Page 3 of 3Community Libraries Number of PCs for public use May 2013Community Libraries ICT Log Ins April 2014 to October 2014Wirral Community Libraries Summer Reading Challenge individual branch figures 2014 & 2013Wirral Community Libraries books issued and renewed August 2013 to August 2014Wirral Community Libraries Borrowers monthly August 2013 to August 2014Wirral Community Libraries Total number of visitors monthly August 2013 to August 2014Panel Community Libraries budget option Wirral Council page 7Panel Community Libraries budget option Wirral Council page 8Panel Community Libraries budget option Wirral Council page 9Panel Community Libraries budget option Wirral Council page 10Panel Community Libraries budget option Wirral Council page 11Panel Community Libraries budget option Wirral Council page 12Panel Community Libraries budget option Wirral Council page 13Panel Community Libraries budget option Wirral Council page 14Panel Community Libraries budget option Wirral Council page 15
If you click on any of these buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people. Thanks:
Councillors met to discuss 3 areas of Future Council consultation (Youth and Play, Gitrell Court and West Kirby Marine Lake)
Councillors met to discuss 3 areas of Future Council consultation (Youth and Play, Gitrell Court and West Kirby Marine Lake)
Families and Wellbeing Policy and Performance Committee Wirral Council 3rd November 2014 L to R Legal adviser who was missing, Cllr Moira McLaughlin (Chair), Clare Fish and Graham Hodkinson
Last night showed something that we’ve been promised for some time which is pre-decision scrutiny (of a sort). Now the Future Council consultation is over, the first of three overview and scrutiny committees met yesterday evening to discuss the proposed budget cuts in their area of responsibility.
Prior to this there had been a behind closed doors set of meetings among councillors, which explained why the public meeting itself was rather short.
The rather late reports (which included a Powerpoint presentation on the consultation results) concentrated on the following proposed budget cuts:
Youth and Play Service £450,000 cut closing 4 youth centres, reducing provision at the “hubs” from five evening a week to four, Play Schemes funding ceased, grant to Wirral Play Council stopped, Civil Award Scheme stopped and Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme stopped. If chosen this would end play schemes in Beechwood, Gautby Road (in Bidston) and Leasowe Adventure Playground in Wallasey. These three playschemes cost Wirral Council £190,000 a year but benefit about 600 children.
The Wirral Play Council (a charity on the Wirral) runs play schemes including an annual event at Birkenhead Park attended by 3,000 children, which was discussed at the Youth and Play Service Advisory Committee public meeting last week. People at that meeting were shown photos of the Mayor at this event in Birkenhead Park which I can’t show you because the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services Cllr Tony Smith and Wirral Council officers decided to try to negotiate a broadcast media blackout of that public meeting and had I tried to film it, Surjit Tour would’ve advised Cllr Tony Smith to adjourn that meeting.
The detail of the effects of each proposal had been previously discussed behind closed doors by councillors who then produced a scrutiny panel report.
The other possible budget cuts involved Girtrell Court (a short break respite service for adults with disabilities of £385,000), a cut to the all age disability service of £600,000 (affecting Willow Tree (overnight short breaks for children with high-level learning and physical disabilities), Children with Disabilities Team, Transition Team and the Family Support Team) and West Kirby Marine Lake (a cut of £25,000 and the possible outsourcing to a third party although an alternative option is being looked at).
Certainly these were not popular proposals (especially considering the fuss kicked up over the play schemes proposal) cuts and in not all areas did councillors agree with officers. At one point the Chair felt that the cuts were just being fitted around the amounts that had to be saved. As the budget options cover £4 million out of £2.5 million of options, some won’t happen, however you can watch the video of the meeting below to see and hear what councillors and officers said.
I will upload clearer audio of the meeting at a later date, although I felt it was important to point out the above at this point. When the overview and scrutiny committees finish (the last one is scheduled for tomorrow night), their proposals will feed into a Cabinet meeting which will make a recommendation on the budget to Council. All councillors will then meet, debate, discuss and vote on the budget, which according to the new legislation now has to be done by each councillor individually voting on each budget proposal (due to a change in legislation earlier this year). This way when it comes to election time in May, the Wirral public can look up how certain councillors standing in the election voted on the issues that matter to them if they so wish.
There are however going to be sections of society lobbying hard to make sure the Labour administration (who decide where the cuts are) spares them from the effects of the cuts. It remains to be seen how easy it will be both for councillors and political parties to deal with the public relations effects of what is proposed. As was mentioned at the meeting yesterday evening, there are large petitions opposing some of the cuts proposed. Some petitions are large enough that the petition organisers will get the right to speak at the Council meeting at which these decisions are made. The papers for this public meeting can be read on Wirral Council’s website
Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.
If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.
Families and Wellbeing Policy and Performance Committee Wirral Council 3rd November 2014 Part 1
Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.
4 week consultation on closure of Lyndale School starts: does Wirral Council really know how many pupils are there?
4 week consultation on closure of Lyndale School starts: does Wirral Council really know how many pupils are there?
Councillor Phil Gilchrist explains his amendment on the minority report on Lyndale School to councillors, officers and the public 20th October 2014 Council Chamber, Wallasey Town Hall (c) John Brace
Following the Council meeting on the 20th October 2014 when Labour councillors voted to go ahead to the next stage on closure of Lyndale School, Wirral Council started on the 22nd October 2014 its four-week consultation on closure which finishes on 19th November 2014. After this consultation is finished, the results of this consultation will be reported back to Wirral Council’s Cabinet.
You can also ask for copies of the proposals by calling 0151 606 2020 during office hours or writing to:
Julia Hassall
Director of Children’s Services
Hamilton Building
Conway Street
Birkenhead
CH41 4FD
The above files I’ve linked to are the new files in this current consultation.
You can respond to the consultation in one of two ways, either by email to specialreview@wirral.gov.uk or by mail to:
Julia Hassall
Director of Children’s Services
Hamilton Building
Conway Street
Birkenhead
CH41 4FD
I am unsure at this stage which Cabinet meeting the outcome of this four-week consultation on the closure of Lyndale School will go to. At the time of writing the following Cabinet meetings are scheduled for after the end of the consultation:
27th November 2014 | Special Meeting, Cabinet | Committee Room 1 – Wallasey Town Hall | starting at 6.15pm
9th December 2014 | Cabinet | Committee Room 1 – Wallasey Town Hall | starting at 6.15pm
Personally as the 27th November is a special meeting and occurs exactly one week and a day after the consultation ends, I would guess that this will be the public meeting at which the outcome of the second consultation and a further decision will be made. As agendas and reports have to be published at least a week before holding a Cabinet meeting, 27th November 2014 would be the earliest date it could be held.
However if this matter is called in after the Cabinet decision after the consultation and there are more delays in the process taking it past February 2015, it would make setting the 2015-16 Schools Budget problematic.
The reason is that if a final decision on closure is not made before February 2015, a contingency of funding Lyndale School from the proposed date of closure (January 1st 2016) to the end of that financial year (March 2016) would have to be added to the schools budget for 2015-16 of ~£140,000.
There are legal limits on when the 2015-16 Schools Budget has to be decided by and as there were delays earlier this year, I can see the next stages moving as fast as is humanly possible at Wirral Council (which when you do things as fast as you possibly can inevitably leads to mistakes).
However I would like to point out that the current consultation has at least one contradictory fact in Surjit Tour’s letter to me of the 30th September 2014 (although Mr. Tour obviously has to rely on what he’s told and take it at face value as I seriously doubt (although I could of course be wrong) that Mr. Tour visited Lyndale School and started asking children how old they are). I’ll explain what I mean (with references):
8.1 Lyndale School is a special school providing specialist educational provision for primary aged pupils, the majority of whom have Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (“PMLD”). There are 21 pupils currently on the roll, nine of whom will be transitioning to secondary school by the end of the 2015/16 academic year. The declining number of students admitted to Lyndale over recent years has drawn into question The Lyndale’s financial viability for the future.”
When I read Surjit Tour’s reply a few weeks ago, I thought it a bit odd that out of the eight year groups at Lyndale School, that almost half the school (nine out of twenty-one) would be in the final year and therefore leave to secondary school in September 2015 and not be affected by the proposals to close it. It seemed unusual at the time.
Mr. Tour repeatedly states throughout his letter that I have not provided evidence of my facts. However the evidence that proves him wrong on this was in fact published by Wirral Council on the 22nd October 2014 as part of the current consultation. Here is the table published as part of the Complete Proposal. The table is Pupil admissions and numbers.
F1
F2
Y1
Y2
Y3
Y4
Y5
Y6
Total
October 2014
Boys Girls
3
2 1
1
0 1
3
1 2
2
2 0
3
3 0
1
1 0
6
2 4
2
1 1
21
12 9
December 2015
Boys Girls
0
– –
3
2 1
1
0 1
3
1 2
2
2 0
3
3 0
1
1 0
6
2 4
19
11 8
Number in each year group in December 2015 assumes that all current pupils remain on roll, that no new children are admitted to F1 (Nursery) in September 2015, and that no further children join or leave other year groups from October 2014 onwards.
As you can see from the table above there are two children (one boy and one girl) in year 6 at Lyndale School who will start at a secondary school in September 2015, not nine as claimed by Surjit Tour in his letter.
This then has an effect on other numbers used in his letter.
According to Surjit Tour 21-9 = 12 (twelve pupils left in September 2015)
According to Julia Hassall 21-2 = 19 (nineteen pupils left in September 2015)
So who do I trust to give the correct figure for pupils at the Lyndale School? The Head of Legal and Member Services (Surjit Tour) or the Director of Children’s Services (Julia Hassall)? They can’t both be right, can they?
On the balance of probabilities because:
a) Julia Hassall actually works in the area of Wirral Council with responsibility for schools
b) that it seems highly unlikely that nine of the twenty-one pupils at Lyndale School (spanning eight year groups) would be in the last year group
I’m veering towards believing Ms Hassall (although I never really relish taking sides when two people in Wirral Council’s senior management team are giving out contradictory information).
There is also the point that someone could have misread the table above and used the total number of girls presently at the school (nine) instead of the number of pupils in year six (two) and given that information to Surjit Tour to use in his letter.
Isn’t it weird though that when Wirral Council makes a mistake like this, it always coincides with their world view of a “small school” (in this case seven pupils less than it actually is)?
If Wirral Council can’t get basic facts such as how many pupils of what age are at Lyndale School right, is it any wonder that there are problems of trust between those associated with Lyndale School and Wirral Council?
If you click on any of these buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people. Thanks:
The October 2013 form was supplied and is below. It is for 151 miles of travel @ 40p/mile which is a total of £60.40 which covers travel to some public meetings such as Council and Planning Committee, representing Wirral Council on outside bodies such as the West Kirby Charities Board, a visit with the Cabinet Member Cllr Chris Meaden to Rock Ferry library, a tour of West Kirby and Thurstaston ward with Wirral Council’s Chief Executive Graham Burgess and a reception and briefing for the Green Flag award in the Round Room at Wallasey Town Hall.
Cllr David Elderton (unlike other councillors) includes his departure time and return time and mileometer readings on the form itself.
Cllr David Elderton expenses claim October 2013 page 1 of 1
If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.
An update on what’s been happening at Wirral Council about Lyndale School (and other matters)
An update on what’s been happening at Wirral Council about Lyndale School (and other matters)
Councillor Tony Smith (Cabinet Member for Children and Family Services) at the Special Cabinet Meeting of 4th September 2014 to discuss Lyndale School L to R Cllr Stuart Whittingham, Cllr Tony Smith (Cabinet Member for Children and Family Services), Cllr Bernie Mooney and Lyndzay Roberts
It’s time for a brief round-up on latest developments on Lyndale School.
The draft minutes of the call in on Lyndale School held on the 2nd October 2014 were published a few days ago and come to twenty-nine pages long. The meeting itself was about five hours long with a short adjournment part way through which explains the length of the minutes. They make for interesting reading.
So because of the minority report submitted by the Conservative Group there will be a further vote of all councillors on Lyndale School tonight. Whether the report will trigger a debate or not I’m unsure.
If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.
