Wirral Council’s Cabinet asked to agree to consult on Birkenhead Town Centre changes and to outsource the running of the Floral Pavilion and 2 golf courses

                                           

The agenda and reports for the next meeting of Wirral Council’s Cabinet were published today (16th November 2018) on Wirral Council’s website and contain a number of items that’ll be of wider interest to people.

The pages for the public part of the meeting run to 166 pages, with a further 104 private pages detailing a full business case for the Birkenhead Commercial District project and 4 private pages relating to the golf courses part of the Review of Leisure, Libraries and Cultural Services.

Agenda item 4 (Birkenhead Commercial District), along with Appendix 3 (outlining legal documents) and Appendix 4 (about the approach to public consultation) outline Wirral Council’s plans for Birkenhead Town Centre.

These are intertwined with its Wirral Growth Company plans and involve relocating staff at 14 locations to a new hub, creating office space, buying out the lease to Birkenhead Market and moving it to a new location (the Council’s purchase of the Europa Buildings which Cabinet previously agreed to buy for £8.4 million is mentioned) as well as other changes to Birkenhead Town Centre. If agreed by Cabinet consultation on the plans is expected to take place in the first few months of 2019.

Elsewhere on the agenda is a recommendation that the running of the Floral Pavilion is outsourced to a private organisation to reduce the amount of Wirral Council subsidy that it needs.

There is also a recommendation that the running of a number of Wirral Council golf courses (Arrowe Park and The Warren golf courses) are outsourced to the private sector to reduce Council subsidy.

Cabinet will also asked to approve an extra £2 million for early voluntary retirement and voluntary severance, which suggests that there will be job losses.

Budget forecasts to the same meeting plan a 2.99% council tax rise in the Wirral Council element in 19/20 (although after police and fire elements are added this could be slightly different). There is also a forecast overspend in Wirral Council’s 18/19 budget of around £1 million.

Wirral Council’s Cabinet meets in public (at least for items 1-15) on Monday 26th November 2018 starting at 10.00 am in Committee Room 1, Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Seacombe, CH44 8ED. Contact details for councillors on the Cabinet can be found on Wirral Council’s website.

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