Why did Wirral Council’s Cabinet recommend closure of Girtrell Court despite a protest against closure and opposition from the trade unions?
There was a protest outside Wallasey Town Hall before Wirral Council’s Cabinet meeting on Monday morning. One of the decisions at that Cabinet meeting was to recommend to a meeting of all councillors (which will be on the 3rd March 2016) a budget for Wirral Council for 2016-17. The protest was about a proposal to recommend to close Girtrell Court. Pictures of the protest are below (each photo should link to a higher resolution image).
Protest outside Wallasey Town Hall against closure of Girtrell Court 22nd February 2016 photo 1 of 5 thumbnail
Wirral Council’s Cabinet agrees to consultation on £2.498 million of cuts
There were hundreds of people at last Thursday’s Cabinet meeting.
In fact there were so many people present that the venue for the Cabinet Meeting that evening was moved from Committee Room 3 (maximum 46 people) at Wallasey Town Hall to the Civic Hall (maximum 370 people). However those maximum numbers are reduced further by about twenty if you bear in mind the ten councillors on the Cabinet plus senior management that support the Cabinet at its meetings.
Before the meeting started at 6.15pm there was a large protest outside Wallasey Town Hall.
As it was dark, at that time of the evening my photos of the protest haven’t come out very well. You should however be able to see the flags and some of the protest slogans in the pictures below (although I apologise that some are unreadable). The trade unions were protesting about the potential loss of jobs, there were those who use the Council’s services that are under threat there too.
Protest outside Wallasey Town Hall 17th December 2015 before Cabinet meeting photo 1 of 6 thumbnail
Report on Cabinet meeting of the 7th February 2013 Part 1 with video. UNISON Wirral welcome agreement on severance scheme
Wirral Council: Trade Unions Agree to Labour Cabinet’s Decision to Change Severance Scheme
Wirral Council’s Cabinet decided to reject Chief Executive Graham Burgess’ advice that Wirral Council’s severance scheme should be reduced to the minimum required by law. Councillors opted instead for a multiplier of 1.8 (uncapped) compared to the previous scheme’s multiplier of 2.2 (reports for this agenda item).
A trade union representative gave councillors credit for not going for the statutory scheme. He said the enhanced scheme would help to bring forward volunteers for redundancy. Joe Taylor that had the Cabinet followed the advice to move to just fulfilling their legal requirements then they would’ve balloted their members for strike action.
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Report on Cabinet meeting of the 8th November 2012 Part 1 with video.
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Wirral Council: Trade Unions Protest at Labour Cabinet’s Decision to Consult on Future Job Cuts and Changes to Terms and Conditions
Last night’s Cabinet meeting was so well attended, that the room venue had to change at the last-minute from the Council Chamber (capacity fifty) to the Civic Hall (capacity hundreds). Its usual venue of Committee Room 1 is being used for the Police and Crime Commissioner elections.
Unusually both the Civic Hall and the balcony were packed following a picket at 5pm outside Wallasey Town Hall.
In scenes that haven’t been seen at a Cabinet meeting since the Labour/Lib Dem Cabinet tried to close Wirral’s libraries (which led to the public inquiry led by Sue Charteris), the Labour Cabinet Members were booed on entering the Civic Hall. The first video (part of a longer playlist of the meeting) shows the first three items of the meeting, which are Declarations of Interest, Minutes and Workforce Change and Consultation and the report for this last item can be found on Wirral Council’s website.
There was a change to the original recommendation proposed and seconded by the Labour Group which was circulated to those at the meeting. This amendment (which was agreed) is below:
Proposed amendment
Agenda Item 10 12.1 a) 4. The potential impact on staff of the officer budget options including redundancy
b) Immediately suspend applications to the council’s existing employee enhanced Voluntary Severance Scheme
3. The terms upon which to implement the final stages of Job Evaluation, under the 1997 National joint agreement.
4. The potential impact on staff of the officer budget options including redundancy.
b) Immediately suspend of the council’s existing employee enhanced Voluntary Severance Scheme.
12.2 To recommend to the Employment and Appointments Committee that this report is considered and the Chief Executive is authorised to open consultation as outlined in Recommendation 12.1 (a) and that Recommendation 12 (b) is implemented.
The Chief Executive will report back on the progress of consultation the special budget Cabinet on 20 December 2012.
Below are links to the various videos of this Cabinet meeting.
I spent an enjoyable afternoon with the Wirral History and Heritage Association at Wallasey Town Hall on Wednesday afternoon. Joy gave an excellent lecture about Wirral’s history and how Wallasey Town Hall came into existence (and what has happened in it since) and a really in-depth look at the history of the Borough.
The Mayor showed us around the Mayor’s parlour (where she kindly offered us all a cup of tea or coffee), the Council Chamber, Round Room, Civic Hall and unfortunately at this point in the tour I had to go (missing the tour of one of the Committee Rooms). Pictures are below if you’re interested. As usual you can click on the thumbnails for a larger version.
This is in the lobby and describes how the building was used during WWI.
Every year Tam O’Shanter Urban Farm pays a pinecone as rent to Wirral Council. This is a few years of pinecone rents in the Mayor’s parlour.
Wirral Council’s mace.
Wirral Council’s mace.
Wirral Council’s mace.
Wirral Council’s mace.
Clock and statues in the Mayor’s parlour.
This is the seat the Mayor sits in at Council meetings.
