Tag: Merseytravel

Merseytravel 9/2/2012 2012/13 Budget Meeting Mersey Tunnels, Mersey Ferries Limited subsidy

Everyone was present, so the Chair Cllr Mark Dowd started the meeting at 2.30pm by wishing everyone a very pleasant time. He asked for declarations of interest. Cllr Chris Blakeley declared an interest as a Fast Tag holder and an interest in item 5 as a recipient of allowances from Merseytravel. The Chair declared an … Continue reading “Merseytravel 9/2/2012 2012/13 Budget Meeting Mersey Tunnels, Mersey Ferries Limited subsidy”

Everyone was present, so the Chair Cllr Mark Dowd started the meeting at 2.30pm by wishing everyone a very pleasant time. He asked for declarations of interest. Cllr Chris Blakeley declared an interest as a Fast Tag holder and an interest in item 5 as a recipient of allowances from Merseytravel.

The Chair declared an interest for everyone else in item 5. He asked if the minutes were ok? They were and agreed. The Chair then wanted to move a recommendation c in respect of the item on the Mersey Tunnel tolls. Cllr Chris Blakeley said he wished to move an amendment (which is below).

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AMENDMENTS SHEET

MERSEYSIDE INTEGRATED TRANSPORT AUTHORITY

Authority/Committee/Sub-Committee: Integrated Transport Authority Budget Meeting

Date: 09 February, 2012

Agenda Item/Minute No: Item 3 – Mersey Tunnel Tolls

Amendment moved by: Councillor Chris Blakeley. Seconded by: Cllr Les Rowlands

11 Recommendations

Accept all recommendations and add new clause (d)

(d) The Authority asks the Interim Director General / Director of Resources to investigate the cost implications, as well as any implications to the Tunnels Act 2004 of bring forward a further discount for Fast Tag users in order to reduce the burden of tolls on regular users of the Mersey Tunnels.      The results of that investigation to be brought back to an Authority meeting in October 2012 prior to the review of the Mersey Tunnel Tolls for 2013 as per the Tunnels Act 2004.

C/MISCELL / SR / DW

23rd July 1991

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He said he “won’t keep us too long” as he was not calling for tunnel tolls to be removed. He was not going to shout for immediate reductions. He felt that the 2004 Act had taken away some of their powers, as they couldn’t vote against an increase, but they did have the power to discount. He had trouble with the Tunnels Act but was delighted that tolls would not increase. The small reduction he asked for Fast Tag users had been circulated.

The Chair said Cllr Blakeley’s motion was ” ill-conceived” as the Tunnels Act had been agreed by Merseytravel before going to the House of Lords. He said they should be doing this anyway, so why do what they should be doing?

Another councillor said wasn’t Cllr Blakeley up for election, therefore wasn’t this political?

Cllr Blakeley said he moved an amendment every year and there was nothing peculiar.

The Chair asked for a vote on the amendment. Five voted for the amendment (including Cllr Blakeley and Cllr Rowlands). The others voted against the amendment so the amendment was lost.

All councillors ten voted in favour of the original motion.

The Chair moved the meeting onto the 2012/13 Budget.

Jim Barclay introduced the report.

A councillor asked where the £2.985 million grant came from for the ferries?

The answer given was that Mersey Ferries Limited was a limited company, the subsidy was reduced in order to trade in line with its constitution. He was thanked.

Another councillor pointed out an error on page 31 in the 4th paragraph. Jim apologised for the error.

The councillors approved the 2012/13 Budget unanimously.

The last report on the agenda was the independent review of Members Allowances. The Chair welcomed Professor Hall and also circulated a recommendation from the Labour Group to not accept an increase in the Basic Allowance or Chair’s Allowance.

Cllr Chris Blakeley welcomed what had been moved, but asked for clarification. Were they accepting the other recommendations?

Councillor’s amounts for being on outside bodies

Councillor’s amounts for being on outside bodies

                                                

Following a comment on the previous post, I thought I would demonstrate how easy (or otherwise) it is to get this information and whether it’s as easy as Councillor Chris Blakeley claims because it is on the website.

Let’s start with Merseytravel. So like most people you do a search on Merseytravel’s website.

The first result is their publication scheme, which states they publish “PTA Members Allowances” and “PTA Members Allowances paid” (PTA stands for Passenger Transport Authority). This states it’s only published on paper, not electronically or on the website, but then this document was written eight years ago and not updated.

So you change the search for Members Allowances. Eventually you find this page on the website which only has the details for 2007/2008 and 2008/2009. With a bit of digging you’ll find they call the amounts for 2009/2010 “Members Year End Figures” and that you can get figures for 2010/2011 under “Members Allowance” but this only has a list of amounts and titles (no names).

As Merseytravel don’t publish online the minutes of their meeting at which they decide who does what there is no easy way to find out what Merseytravel councillors are currently being paid. My personal experience of Merseytravel is that they don’t make it easy to get information. For example this report showing how Merseytravel charged the disabled and elderly on Merseyside £48,000/year in 2007 if they lose their pass (and that was before they doubled the charge!) was subject to a “public interest test” before they would release it! Since they doubled the charge it’s now probably nearer £100,000/year. Perhaps this is how they plan to finance the hundreds of millions they’re spending on Merseytram’s “Line One to Nowhere”! The Mersey Tunnels Users Association has had similar problems getting information out of Merseytravel.

Cllr Blakeley is right, Merseytravel do publish the information, but it took me a good ten minutes to find it. Merseyside Police Authority’s was easier to find (however the Merseyside Police Authority has since been abolished so I have removed the link) and simpler, but again has no names. They currently pay councillors ~£11,000, + ~£4,000/chair + ~£14,000 as Chair of the MPA.

Mersey Fire and Rescue Service do publish the information, in part 5 article 28, page 206 of their constitution. However once again it is a list of amounts, job titles and other allowances (travel etc) with no names.

I gave up trying to find the information on the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority site, but the above took a total of twenty minutes. There is no easy way to answer the question “What was X councillor paid for being a councillor this year”? This information is (sadly) still a secret to me and (apart from the councillors themselves and the taxman) a secret to the members of the public who pay them.

Another apology from Wirral Council… FOI request over amounts paid to councillors on outside bodies Merseytravel, Merseyside Police Authority, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service & Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority

In an email Wirral Council apologises (“The Council apologises that it failed to collect the information“) as they weren’t complying with their own agreed policy. One only has to look at the information to guess at £120,000 worth of reasons why it took so long to release it!
It took nearly three months after the FOI request to put the information on their website! The information is 12 months out of date now anyway, but the public can now see (in the same place) how much councillors are getting for representing Wirral Council on various outside bodies for 2009-2010. They say they’ll update the start of April with the 2010-2011 figures.

Merseyside Integrated Transport Authority (Merseytravel)

Cllr Ron Abbey £12,958.64
Cllr Chris Blakeley £24,120.19
Cllr Dave Mitchell £5,942.34

Total: £43,021.17

Merseyside Police Authority

Cllr Adrian Jones £11,172
Cllr Kate Wood £15,214

Total: £26,386

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority

Cllr Gerry Ellis £10,713.30
Cllr Steve Niblock £14,660.64
Cllr Lesley Rennie £16,508.66
Cllr Denise Roberts £8,025.75

Total: £49,908.35

Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority

Cllr JJ Salter (amount not specified)
Cllr G Gardiner (amount not paid as she is already in receipt of an Special Responsibility Allowance as Deputy Leader of the Lib Dem Group)

Total: Unknown

The above amounts are in addition to their councillors allowances which range from just over £9000 for 2009-2010 to just over £32000. These are not the only outside bodies that councillors are paid for being on but cover most of the ones covered by Council tax (and precepts) eg police, fire, Merseytravel and waste. I’m not sure if these amounts include payments that come under councillors allowances as attending meetings on outside bodies is classed as an “approved duty”. Nor does the above amount AFAIK include amounts paid for conferences & accomodation.

It’d be nice to have in one place a list of names, council allowances, amounts from outside bodies with a total. I might compile such a list later this year. After all the public should know they’re getting value for money. Just so the public know:-

Labour voted for and decided the budget for Merseytravel (which includes the amounts paid to councillors).
Labour (and independent members) voted for and decided the budget for the Merseyside Police Authority.
Labour voted for and decided the budget for the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority.
Labour voted for and decided the budget for the Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority.

All the cuts this year and last to police, fire, transport and other services were voted for by Labour who voted against other parties such as the Lib Dems and Tories that wanted things differently.

Merseytravel respond on Mersey Tunnels issues – Fast Tag, Disability

Prior to yesterday’s meeting at Merseytravel, I submitted some questions about certain aspects of the Mersey Tunnel Tolls changes . A Merseytravel spokesperson responded today. Their answers are below the original questions. Q1) Is the difference in price charged between Fast Tag holders and cash payers because of increased costs to Merseytravel regarding the latter? […]

Prior to yesterday’s meeting at Merseytravel, I submitted some questions about certain aspects of the Mersey Tunnel Tolls changes . A Merseytravel spokesperson responded today. Their answers are below the original questions.

Q1) Is the difference in price charged between Fast Tag holders and cash payers because of increased costs to Merseytravel regarding the latter?

A) No, this about marketing the convenience of this system for regular commuters.

Q2) Regarding 4.24 in the report, would this report mentioned be available on Thursday or will it only be prepared if the recommendation is passed?

A) A review of concessions will now be undertaken, after the recommendation was approved.

Q3) There are references throughout the report to the County of Merseyside Act 1980 as amended by the Mersey Tunnels Act 2004, in relation to the increases in tolls and discount structure. However it seems (at least to me) misleading to include references to the legal basis behind the other proposed recommendations, but not in 4.24. As I have pointed out in previous correspondence, the authority does this using its powers under s.92 ss.1(a) of the County of Merseyside Act 1980 as amended by the Mersey Tunnels Act 2004. It seems strange the tunnels legislation would be referenced elsewhere, but not here. Is this just an oversight?

A) This is covered by the Act. The general power to offer concessions is actually to be found at s.92C(a)(c) – the Authority has power to allow a class of traffic to use the tunnels on payment of tolls at a reduced rate, “on such occasions or in such other circumstances as it may from time to time determine”. In other words, the authority can review concessions from time to time and it would be remiss if it did not do so, as it was proposed here. Thus this recommendation is a proper one, with a firm legal basis. There is no particular need to mention this legal reference, but equally nothing sinister in its absence.

A) A review of concessions will now be undertaken, after the recommendation to investigate the issue was approved.

Q4) Have the legal implications of removing the current exemption for Blue Badge holders (and other disabled users) been thought through, regarding the authority’s legal duties under the Equalities Act 2010 and other relevant legislation?

Q5) What would be the cost implications to Merseytravel if Blue Badge holders were charged?

A) (to questions 4 and 5) These issues will be covered in the review, all considerations taken into account.

Q6) If a report is agreed reviewing this, which Merseytravel committee will it go to and when will it be considered?

A) It will be reported to the P&R committee and/or the Equalities Committee, in an appropriately timely manner to enable due consideration of all the issues concerned.

Q7) Will the Merseytravel Access Panel (public or affected disabled users of the tunnel) be consulted on any changes?

A) It will be consulted upon in an appropriate manner.

Clearly if the report recommends charging disabled users of Mersey Tunnels it’s going to be something the disability associations, charities and disabled drivers on Merseyside will have a view on. P&R refers to Merseytravel’s Policy and Resources Committee.

Merseytravel Tunnel Tolls meeting

Merseytravel Tunnel Tolls meeting

                                             

Yesterday I gave a brief account of what had happened at Merseytravel’s budget meeting. As we arrived early, I took some photos of the room in which the decision was made and of the hospitality.

Here is the first of the tea, coffee and 35 biscuits provided for councillors, officers, journalists and members of the public.

Tea, coffee and biscuits for Merseytravel meeting

Below is a quick video of the room the meeting was held in:-

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My wife comments that the way it’s set up resembles a court room.

Finally, here is a photo of the 5 Coats of Arms representing the councils on Merseyside that make up Merseytravel. Can you guess which one is which?

Merseyside council's coats of arms at Merseytravel HQ