Tag: dave green

Cabinet (Wirral Council) 24/11/2011 Part 4 Housing Money, Gas disruption (Leasowe and Moreton)

Cllr Steve Foulkes said they would move to the letter about the grant. Cllr George Davies said he was very pleased, that their application for transitional funding of £3 million had been accepted. They had brough in the Chief Executive of the Homes and Community Agency, the four Wirral MPs who had sent a cross-party … Continue reading “Cabinet (Wirral Council) 24/11/2011 Part 4 Housing Money, Gas disruption (Leasowe and Moreton)”

Cllr Steve Foulkes said they would move to the letter about the grant. Cllr George Davies said he was very pleased, that their application for transitional funding of £3 million had been accepted. They had brough in the Chief Executive of the Homes and Community Agency, the four Wirral MPs who had sent a cross-party letter to the Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP. Cllr George Davies was pleased they had received £2.7 million which would allow them to complete all work and to safely purchase the existing properties. Keepmoat and Lovell were the council’s contractors. He said it was good news and he was delighted.

Cllr Steve Foulkes thanked Cllr Tom Harney and Cllr Jeff Green for signing the letter. He said George had used his influence to get his voice heard.

Cllr Steve Foulkes then asked Dave Green for an update on the situation in Leasowe and Moreton.

Dave Green said there had been disruption to the gas supply of 5,500 properties, due to a burst water main on the 11th November in Danger Road (Ed – surely he meant Danger Lane?), Hoylake (Ed – surely he meant Moreton?). The water had got into the gas supply, causing severe disruption. National Grid had sent out eighty to a hundred gas engineers and a plan had sprung into action. As it was on such a scale a Bronze incident room had been set up as well as a Silver incident room in Manchester. Work had involved Wirral Council and the Primary Care Trust, with councillors receiving regular communication.

West Wirral Area Forum 6/10/2011, PACSPE (Parks and Countryside Services Procurement Exercise) contract Part 6

Dave Green continued that since 2008 different administrations had agreed to the need for Wirral Council to save money. There were pension costs to do with the contractor joining Merseyside Pension Fund, however there had been briefings and a report on this which detailed the risks and options.

The lack of a bid for in-house provision had been agreed by Bill Norman, Director of Law, Human Resources and Asset Management and Ian Coleman, Director of Finance. The Cabinet resolution called for a report to a further meeting in November detailing a three to five-year business plan. The Cabinet decision had not been executed, although the minutes had been published as the other political parties had called it in. The position was that on the 22nd September a decision had been made, but Cllr Green had submitted a call-in last night (5th October) so it couldn’t be enacted.

Mr. Green said there were time critical issues to do with mobilising the cheapest and best contractor or restructuring the service. However it was “in the hands of the politicians”. He thought it was a good tender at a cheap price. He had sought advice from the District Auditor about the inflation risks. Mr. Green thought it would be November before it was resolved and until then it was in limbo. He said “he never thought politics would impact on grass cutting”.

Cllr Jeff Green said he was interested in people’s questions.

Martin Harrison said he had been on the Parks Steering Group and was the Secretary of the Wirral Parks Forum (which is the forum of the Friends Groups).

West Wirral Area Forum 6/10/2011, PACSPE (Parks and Countryside Services Procurement Exercise) contract Part 5

Dave Green, Director of Technical Services continued by saying that they had received specialist help in going to tender and there had been a massive consultation with undertakers, bowlers, Friends groups and others. He said the undertakers had been the most fun. They had tried to address things and wanted a three-way partnership between the contractor, the Friends groups/users and Wirral Council (who would provide the cash and infrastructure). There were Key Performance Indicators and partnership targets that the Friends groups and users would develop and the contractor would deliver. There was a £100,000 bonus of the contractor met all the Key Performance Indicators.

Mr. Green said it would introduce imagination and innovation. The Early Voluntary Redundancies had reduced the size of the contract down to £7.4 million. However he said there was flexibility and accountability. Due to the size of the contract, European procurement rules applied. An invitation to tender had gone to seven contractors and was scored on a 70% price & 30% quality basis and it had been agreed how quality would be measured.

Six of the seven contractors had beaten the £7.4 million by a “fair figure”. The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations would affect about a hundred and fifty people working for Wirral Council. Tenders had gone out in mid-July using CHEST (the North West’s Local Authority Procurement Portal), which had led to the report to Cabinet on the 22nd September. The previous [Conservative/Lib Dem] administration had changed in May. The new [Labour] administration wanted to fully evaluate an in-house bid and how it could be delivered in-house.

On the 22nd September the Cabinet took the decision not to award the contract. The main reasons were to do with demonstrating value for money to the District Auditor, the governance report, Wirral Council’s ability to manage and dismiss contractors and concerns about inflation.

West Wirral Area Forum 6/10/2011, United Utilities roadworks (Hoylake), Merseyrail, PACSPE Part 4

A member of the public asked when the road works were starting. Peter Cummings of United Utilities responded by saying on the 17th October.

Deputy Mayor Cllr Gerry Ellis said the United Utilities road works had been delayed due to the disruption to rail services between West Kirby and Birkenhead North this week. He moved on to Dave Green, who he described as a “very busy man”. Deputy Mayor Cllr Ellis said he knew there were some questions [for Dave Green].

David Green said that the [West Wirral] Area Forum was “my favourite Area Forum” as it is the “best attended and lively”. Starting with PACSPE, he said it was long and complicated as politics had been injected into the parks. The important thing which he was happy to talk about at the end, was on the 22nd September a public report had gone to Cabinet. This report was on the council’s website and had started with a 2008 review of the £11 million of services provided in this area. There had been engagement, but [Wirral Council] didn’t know what was being delivered for the money. In 2008 the work for the review covered cemeteries, golf courses, infrastructure and buildings. There had been enthusiasm injected over the past year. In total the £11 million of services had been reduced by £4 million. In July 2010 the contract had been exposed to the markets with no in-house bid. The cost effectiveness had been reviewed and in July 2011 the scope had been agreed which covered £8.1 million out of the original £11 million. The crematorium and golf courses had been excluded.

Cabinet 1st September 2011 Part 8 – Street Lighting Central Management System Trial, Outcome Based Commissioning

Dave Green introduced item 11 Street Lighting Central Management System Trial. He said it was the outcome of a small pilot in New Brighton which had been well received and had led to a reduction in energy consumption. He would come back as to whether it was viable to roll it out to the rest of the streetlights under invest to save. There had been no adverse publicity.

Cllr Harry Smith referred to 13.1 of the report and the consideration made for disadvantaged groups on health and safety ground. Cllr Phil Davies said the report was accepted.

Ian Coleman introduced the next report on Outcome Based Commissioning. He said it was an update on progress as requested on the 22nd june. It was under review and there would be a further report. Cllr Adrian Jones said he was “quite happy”. Cllr Anne McArdle said that she welcomed it and asked specifically about discussions with the Department of Adult Social Services. Ian Coleman said that all departments were involved. Cllr Adrian Jones had a small comment about the range of risks identified in item 5. He said it was a “good report” and “nicely presented”. Cllr Phil Davies commented on the similarities between outcome based commissioning and Neighbourhood Plans.