Councillors and Police and Crime Commissioner hear about collaborative working between Merseyside Police and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service at public meeting
Councillors and Police and Crime Commissioner hear about collaborative working between Merseyside Police and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service at public meeting
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What did Merseyside Police spend money on (96 pages of invoices)?
What did Merseyside Police spend money on (96 pages of invoices)?
Continuing from yesterday’s What did Merseyside Police spend money on (112 pages of invoices)? below are a further 96 pages of invoices covering work on the Wirral Custody Suite, Airwave (emergency services communications), payments to the Home Office, payments to solicitors, charges relating to police dogs, training, the fee of Mr Jeremy Johnson QC, CRG Medical Services (medical services for detained persons), payments relating to the Merseyside Residual Debt Fund (the debt left when Merseyside County Council was abolished in the 1980s), various pieces of hardware, recharges from other areas for salaries, payments relating to pensions, amounts to do with the Operational Command Centre, payroll, the fee of Mr Gerard Boyle (Serjeants’ Inn Chambers) to do with disciplinary proceedings, the Community Safety Fund, software and expert witness opinion (£11,368.60 for reviewing a case, correspondence, reviewing literature and writing a report).
As before all invoices are connected to the 2015-16 financial year.
Cllr Louise Reecejones criticised for failing to formally apologise for how she treated whistleblowers
Cllr Louise Reecejones criticised for failing to formally apologise for how she treated whistleblowers
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What’s in Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’s planning application for a new fire station in Saughall Massie?
What’s in Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’s planning application for a new fire station in Saughall Massie?
The planning application for a new fire station in Saughall Massie has been made to Wirral Council by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service.
The application number is APP/16/00985 and the description is, "A single storey two bay community fire station incorporating operational and welfare accommodation, offices and meeting space, external drill and training facilities and associated car-parking." at "land adjacent to SAUGHALL MASSIE ROAD, SAUGHALL MASSIE" .
The planning application form for this is 9 A4 pages long so I will summarise the details below. Further details are expected to be published on Wirral Council’s website in the near future.
You can make a comment supporting or objecting to this planning application on Wirral Council’s website which also contains the documents that are part of the planning application.
It is expected after a period of consultation with the public for the planning application to be decided by Wirral Council’s Planning Committee in October 2016.
1. Applicant Name, Address and Contact Details
Mr Colin Schofield
Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service
Merseyside FRS HQ
Bridle Road
Bootle
L30 4YD
2. Agent Name, Address and Contact Details
Mrs Dawn Coward
Ryder Architecture
Innovation Centre
131 Mount Pleasant
Liverpool
United Kingdom
L3 5TF
A single storey two bay community fire station incorporating operational and welfare accommodation, offices and meeting space, external drill and training facilities and associated car-parking.
Has the building, work or change of use already started? No.
4. Site Address Details
Land of Saughall Massie Road
Saughall Massie
Upton
Wirral
Easting 325469
Northing 388515
5. Pre-application advice
Has assistance or prior advice been sought from the local authority about this application? Yes
Officer name:
Mrs Sheila Day
Department of Regeneration and Planning
04/11/2015
Details of the pre-application advice received:
Following request for pre-application advice and meetings with planning case officer and colleagues, a detailed response was received and covered the following:
– Advice on scale, massing and positioning of the building.
– Advice on landscaping
– Advice on highway interfaces and parking
– Review of ground investigation.
– Request for further particulars that justified the location of the fire station and evidence of community consultation
– Request for details of training procedures and frequency
6. Pedestrian and Vehicle Access, Roads and Rights of Way
Is a new or altered vehicle access proposed to or from the public highway? Yes
Is a new or altered pedestrian access proposed to or from the public highway? Yes
Are there any new public roads to be provided within the site? No
Are there any new public rights of way to be provided within or adjacent to the site? No
Do the proposals require any diversions/extinguishments and/or creation of rights of way? No
If you answered Yes to any of the above questions, please show details on your plan/drawings and state the reference of the plan(s)/drawings(s)
Short description of Other Fire appliances (note: within appliance bay)
11. Foul Sewage
Please state how foul sewage is to be disposed of:
Mains sewer
Are you proposing to connect to the existing drainage system? Yes
If Yes, please include the details of the existing system on the application drawings and state references for the plan(s)/drawing(s):
28042 Drainage Assessment and Strategy REV 01.pdf
12. Assessment of Flood Risk
Is the site within an area at risk of flooding? No
Is your proposal within 20 metres of a watercourse (e.g. river, stream or beck)? No
Will the proposal increase the flood risk elsewhere? No.
How will surface water be disposed of? Sustainable drainage system Main sewer
13. Biodiversity and Geological Conservation
Is there a reasonable likelihood of the following being affected adversely or conserved and enhanced within the application site, OR on land to or near the application site:
a) Protected and priority species
No
b) Designated sites, important habitats or other biodiversity features
No
c) Features of geological conservation importance
Yes, on land adjacent to or near the proposed development
14. Existing Use
Please describe the current use of the site:
Vacant land
Is the site current vacant? Yes
If Yes, please describe the last use of the site: Vacant grass land
Does the proposal involve any of the following? If yes , you will need to submit an appropriate contamination assessment with your application.
Land which is known to be contaminated? No
Land where contamination is suspected for all or part of the site? No
A proposed use that would be particularly vulnerable to the presence of contamination? No
15. Trees and Hedges
Are there any trees or hedges on the proposed development site? Yes
And/or: Are there trees or hedges on land adjacent to the proposed development site that could influence the development or might be important as part of the local landscape character? Yes
If Yes to either or both of the above, you may need to provide a full Tree Survey, at the discretion of your local planning authority. If a Tree Survey is required, this and the accompanying plan should be submitted alongside your application. Your local planning authority should make clear on its website what the survey should contain, in accordance with the current ‘BS5837: Trees in relation to design, demolition and construction – Recommendations’.
16. Trade Effluent
Does the proposal involve the need to dispose of trade effluents or waste? No
17. Residential Units
Does your proposal include the gain or loss of residential units? No
18. All Types of Development: Non-residential Floorspace
Does your proposal involve the loss, gain or change of use of non-residential floorspace? Yes
Total gross new internal floorspace proposed (including changes of use) (square metres) 737
Use Class/type of use: Other
19. Employment
If known, please complete the following information regarding employees:
Proposed employees 10 (full-time)
20. Hours of Opening
No Hours of Opening details were submitted for this application
21. Site Area
What is the site area? 4,950.00 sq. metres
22. Industrial or Commercial Processes and Machinery
Please describe the activities and processes which would be carried out on the site and the end products including paint, ventilation or air conditioning. Please include the type of machinery which may be installed on site:
Compressors for refilling and testing of breathing apparatus.
Hydraulic cutting devices for car cutting during road traffic collision simulation.
Is the proposal for a waste management development? No
23. Hazardous Substances
Is any hazardous waste involved in the proposal? No
24. Site Visit
Can the site be seen from a public road, public footpath, bridleway or other public land? Yes
If the planning authority needs to make an appointment to carry out a site visit, whom should they contact? (Please select only one)
The agent
25. Certificates (Certificate B)
Certificate of Ownership – Certificate B
Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 Certificate under Article 14
I certify/ The applicant certifies that I have/the applicant has given the requisite notice to everyone else (as listed below) who, on the day 21 days before the date of this application, was the owner (owner is a person with a freehold interest or leasehold interest with at least 7 years left to run) and/or agricultural tenant (“agricultural tenant” has the meaning given in section 65(8) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) of any part of the land or building to which this application relates.
Owner/Agricultural Tenant
Wirral Metropolitan Council
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH44 8ED
15/7/2016
Mrs Dawn Coward
AGENT
15/7/2016
26. Declaration
I/we hereby apply for planning permission/consent as described in this form and the accompanying plans/drawings and additional information. I/we confirm that, to the best of my/our knowledge, any facts stated are true and accurate and any opinions given are the genuine opinions of the person(s) giving them.
15/7/2016
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I will point out (in case you’re wondering why it has taken nearly three years to get to that point) that this request has also been the subject of two other ICO decision notices FS50509081 and FS50569254.
So far Wirral Council has stated that the information requested would cost too much (section 12), that to give me the information would be prejudicial to the effective conduct of public affairs (section 36), that they class that doing an internal review of that decision as vexatious (section 14) and now finally when all of those prior decisions have been proven to be flawed, they withheld some of the information requested claiming it’s personal information (section 40).
My feeling about this is that Wirral Council, who refer to their approach in public as “open and transparent” have tried to engage in attrition warfare with myself and the regulator ICO over this request.
So what did I request that was released a fortnight ago? One document was minutes of the Members’ (Members’ means Councillors’) Equipment Steering Group meeting held on the 7th February 2013. The other document was minutes of the Members’ Training Steering Group held on the 19th March 2013.
Quite what is in these two documents that requires a nearly three year cover up about their contents, I’m not sure. The scanned pages Wirral Council have supplied for the meeting of the Members’ Equipment Steering Group and the Members’ Training Steering Group are unfortunately scanned at a low resolution which can make them hard to read. So I will reproduce them both below starting with the Members’ Equipment Steering Group. As that mentions audio recording and webcasting of committee meetings I will declare an interest.
The part of this request that relates to the minutes of a meeting of the Headteachers and Teachers Joint Consultative Committee I have appealed to the First Tier Tribunal (Information Rights) and am at the stage of awaiting ICO’s response to my appeal.
Actions from Members’ Equipment Steering Group Meeting held on 7 February 2013
Actions from the last Meeting
I Pads had been discounted at the last meeting.
Members’ Homepage and Toolkit – Homepage
Members would consider the proposed content and come back to XXXXXXXXXXXX with any suggestions for inclusion.
– Toolkit
The proposed detail of the Members’ Toolkit was endorsed and XXXXXXXXXXXX would progress it.
Councillor Equipment Device Options XXXXXXXXXXXX would obtain a price for the following devices:
430 i 5
430 i 3
A recommendation will be made to the Cabinet subject to price and specification
Councillor Equipment Printer Options
The preferred printer was HP Office Jet 8000. In exceptional circumstances only would a Member’s own printer be connected to the network.
Wireless in Wallasey Town Hall
All Committee Rooms in the Town Hall would have wifi facilities by the time Members were in possession of their new IT kit.
Officers will look at the possibility of Members being able to receive emails on smart phones via wifi.
Councillor Equipment Rollout Timetable – Personally owned Ipad
A system would be purchased, configured and installed by IT Services to allow Members to use their own Ipads.
– Laptop
This was an option. Members will keep their existing bag.
– Router
This was an option.
– Telephone Handsets
Members would keep their existing handsets.
– Furniture
New furniture would not be purchased
– Modern.gov Application
Modern.gov could provide an Application so that Personal Devices could access "Exempt Items" at a cost of £3000. This would not be taken up
– Political Offices
Office staff would not be included in the new equipment roll out.
– Windows XP and Office 2010
– Broadband Choices
– Further Members’ Survey
Councillor Case Management Systems
Use of Personal Electronic Devices
Use of Councillors own equipment
iPad and HP Slate Autumn Trial
Audio Recording and Webcasting of Committee Meetings
Date and Time of Next Meeting
XXXXXXXXXXXX to canvass Members and arrange the next meeting.
Any Other Business
Below should be the Action Minutes of the Member Training Steering Group held on the 19th March 2013. On the original there is a third column with OD (Organisational Development) Team written next to points two to nine. It’s easier to write this in HTML without creating the way it is laid out as a table so I have left this out. I’ve also left out the page numbers and the filename/path on Wirral Council’s computer that it’s stored. However these can be viewed on the original.
The group welcomed XXXXXXXXXXX who is an associate tutor with the LGA and will be providing an overview of the Leadership Programme for Members
Noted that Cllr Clements did not attend the last meeting and apologies had been received.
Minutes and Matter Arising
a) Terms of Reference
Agreed that the Chief Executive would be included as support for the group.
The group would continue to sign off requests for training and will continue to be mindful of the travel and accommodation costs.
Agreed that OD would report back on a quarterly basis training approval decisions.
Agreed to put the terms of reference into themes and circulate.
b) Recruitment to Leadership Modules
Agreed that Members should forward names to XXXXXX to reserve a place on the course and to contact XXX should they have any queries.
An introduction session will run on the 10th April a Flyer will be sent out providing the details of the session. XXXXX explained that the Pre course briefing would cover an introduction to the programme followed by the completion of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator questionnaire as this would form the basis for the content on Module one, feedback would then be provided either face to face, which preferable or over the phone, prior to the programme commencing on the 8th May.
It was noted that participants are required to attend both modules to benefit from the programme.
c) Elected Member training onto the committee calendar
Agreed to escalate the request to include members training from the skills for Wirral programme into the committee calendar.
Standing Item – Training Update (since last meetings)
a) 13th February – Developing the Council of the Future
Noted that 30 attended the event with a mixture of feedback
Agreed to chase up the feedback from this event and share with Members.
Agreed to look at how Member’s could be provided with more opportunities to feedback and participate in these events.
b) Public Health and Wellbeing: 20 February 2013
Noted that 9 attended with very good feedback
c) Understanding Local Government Finance: 27 February 2013
Noted that 8 attended with very good feedback
d) Media Skills
Noted that 2 attended with very good feedback
e) High Level Communications Skills
Noted that 5 attended with very good feedback
f) Attendance on training
Agreed to continue to send reminders for training but as a rolling programme of events that month and to include flash reminder the day of the training that spaces are available.
Standing Item – Upcoming training ( Members Development Programme)
a) Effective Surgeries and Caseload Management Training
Agreed to look at were we are up to with an Electronic System for case load Management. Meeting already arranged with IT to discuss this and Members IT training, feedback would be provided at the next meeting.
b) Training Venues
Agreed to look at other venues rather than The Laurie’s Centre for Elected Member training sessions and move the training already book to other venues, to minimise costs.
Standing Item – Approved Duty Requests
No outstanding approved duties
a) Spending for Approved duties
Members to discuss and feedback as to how they would like to spend monies for approved duties, agreed to monitor on a case by case basis.
b) Feedback from Events Attended
Agreed to look at feedback from events and if particularly effective consider developing a Wirral version of the event.
Standing Item – Budget
a) Profile 2012-2013
Budget profile discussed and noted that there would be an under spend this year. Details shared with the group.
b) Profile 2013-2014
Approximately £13,000 has been committed to date. Budget to be monitored at each meeting.
c) Spending for Approved Duties
Agreed to explore options around external funding available.
Members Development Charter.
a) PDP Returns
46 PDP have been completed with 6 scheduled for April. This would bring the total to 52 PDP completed, which takes us over the 75% requirement for completion of the Members Charter. Agreed to continue to encourage the completion of all outstanding PDPs.
Members Development Programme Accreditation
a) Agreed for flyer to be sent to all Elected Members to promote the programme
b) Additional information from ilm to be sent to Cllr Harney
AOB
a) 4th April New Constitutional Event 6pm – 8pm Floral
b) 16 May Key Transformation and Improvement Agenda Session
Suggestion from Cllr Glasman Ethics and Conduct.
c) Training for Members – Directorships and Trusts
Advert to be sent to Elected Members when programme agreed
Date and Time of next meeting
30 April 2013 4 – 5.15pm
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