Wirral councils monthly newspaper

Following last night's special council meeting Labour will be going ahead with a monthly council newspaper. This is despite strong arguments against. Below are the points I raised in opposition or you can watch John Brace's video from 28:35.



It's a very big step from a survey indicating residents would like to feel well informed to a monthly newspaper paid for by those same residents.

In the supporting information for this proposal it says this newspaper “is a direct response to survey findings.”

In fact it's an indirect response. The council has not directly asked residents if they would favour a monthly council newspaper.

Perhaps this is because they know what the answer would be.

But, for the record, I have already asked that question.

Out of almost 200 responses, 66% says its a bad idea. Only 15% think it's a good idea.

Moreover, where is the evidence this newspaper will actually be read be the people we want to reach?

The proliferation of “no junk mail” stickers on letter boxes is a strong indication that people already receive far more unsolicited mail than they would like.

On page 31 of today's council agenda we are told about “the great Wirral door knock” and what a huge success this was in in referring residents to appropriate services.

Surely the lesson here is that better intelligence about our residents combined with direct outreach is far better than mountains of newsprint that few will read.

Finally, it is self evident that this publication will harm local newspapers. The first business pledge in the 2020 vision is to create and safeguard jobs. This publication clearly threatens existing jobs in the print media.

In conclusion, this publication will:

• antagonise those residents who don't want it
• divert resources from more important and effective outreach work
• not be read by many of the people we are trying to reach
• impact negatively on existing local newspapers

My response to OFSTED's report on childrens' services in Wirral

OFSTED recently published this highly critical report on children's services in Wirral. This is being debated at a special council meeting this afternoon.

Essentially the report catalogues huge cultural failings within the council. My response, which is copied below, addresses this along with my lack of confidence that the response to date will address those failings.

Alternatively you can watch my contribution to the debate (or at least until the Mayor cut me off!) courtesy of John Brace. I'm 13:10 minutes in.



Response to OFSTED report on children's services in Wirral

National reports on the issue of child protection provide some valuable context to assess this OFSTED report.

We know that referrals to children's social care are rising – up 15% over the past decade. This is hardly surprising given the increasing strain on low-income families.

We know all about the withdrawal of government support and the pressure on local authority finances.

And just last week, the National Audit Office told us that the quality of help for children in need provided by councils has been “unsatisfactory and inconsistent, suggesting systemic rather than local failure”.

In other words, government meddling has made matters worse for vulnerable children.

Ruth Allen, chief executive of the Association of Social Workers said: “More early intervention to robustly address concerns rather than waiting for Ofsted failure is a clear message. There is a pressing need for a strategy that enables improvement across all authorities.”

So government must take its share of the blame for failing to support local authorities.

But that does not change or excuse the fact that service provision in Wirral is inadequate.

This OFSTED report reveals a systemic top to bottom failure. There is inadequate case recording on the front line, a failure of middle management to oversee and implement best practice, a failure of senior management to deal with these systemic failures and a clear lack of oversight at the executive and political level.

In short there is a massive cultural failure in how this council operates in terms of one of its basic responsibilities.

And we know from recent history that those cultural failings extend beyond child protection.

Massive culture shift required

What we need is an open, transparent culture where its ok to say “we have a problem”

Its clear from this report that this is not something people within Wirral Council feel able to do. That, to me, represents a huge cultural failing.

And these failings start from the top. The political approach sets the tone for the whole council. That approach is to act generally like everything is fine or as OFSTED puts it there is “a culture of over optimism”.

I had a look back over the cabinet member reports from recent council meetings and what they had to say in respect of our service provision for vulnerable children. In March we were told about an awards ceremony for children in care. In July, there was a paragraph about a play to warn people about the dangers of Extremism. In the light of what we now know, these reports are a clear manifestation of “a culture of over optimism.”

I repeat, it must be ok for people working in this authority to say “we have a problem”.

We all know there are grave problems in our society. We know there are huge and growing demands on council services and less funds to deliver them. People will understand if the council reaches out. We all want to do our best for at risk children.

On page 6 of the report we are told that that there have been six serious incident notifications and two serious case reviews. Why have none of these cases, with appropriate confidentiality, not found their way into the public realm? Why does our first response to a crisis always seem to be reputation management? Surely one of the most important ways of informing the public that help is available is to highlight serious cases when they do occur and project positively how we are responding.

Response must address cultural failings

The response to this report must address the obvious and deep seated cultural failings within Wirral Council.

I wish I had confidence that they will but we have been here before and scathing public reports have changed very little it seems. I don't see any attempt in what has been proposed to seriously addresses our cultural failings.

A glaring example is the unwillingness to change scrutiny arrangements . Our scrutiny arrangements are feeble.

A confident, outward looking council embraces scrutiny. It ensures that opposition councillors chair committees and that every member has the space to properly question officers. It encourages councillors to challenge officers and not simply assume that they are doing a great job. . It should not be the position of any councillor to instinctively defend officers.

Furthermore, and in the light of the obvious failure of the last Improvement Board to address cultural issues, what guarantees can be offered that this new Improvement Board will do any better? Will it again just focus on processes and procedures.

And what measures are being put in place to guarantee that new external scrutiny arrangements will be truly independent? Some might want an uncritical friend as Chair of the local safeguarding board. But that is not what vulnerable children need. They need someone who will speak truth to power even if what they have to say is unpalatable.

Nobody want more reports like this one from OFSTED. But if we don't address our cultural failings we will simply rerun these issues further down the line.

Grange News, alcohol licence application

Grange News at 44 Grange Road West has applied for an alcohol retail licence. Here is the letter I have written in opposition:

RE: Grange News

44 Grange Road West

Birkenhead

CH41 4DA

I feel the public interest would be best served by rejecting the licence for this store for the following reasons:

1. There is a well established problem with street drinking in this area. I have witnessed this at first hand many times. Clearly another licensed premises will exacerbate this problem. There are established services in the immediate area such as the YMCA dealing with the fall out from alcohol consumption and we should support them by denying yet more access to cheap alcohol. We should also be mindful of our health related pledges in Wirral's five year plan which specifically aims to "reduce levels of alcohol related ill-health".

2. There are already numerous retailers selling alcohol in the immediate vicinity including:

• ASDA, 222 Grange Road
• Bargain booze , 54-56 grange road Ch414da
• 10 0 clock shop 18 grange mount
• Freshway 10-12 grange road west ch414da
• News and booze , 264 Conway street ch414ah
• Charing cross hotel , grange road west
• The Cavendish, grange road west
• Best price grange road west
• Bollywood Lounge 33-37 Grange Raod West Ch414BY

All this before you consider the additional outlets on Oxton Road. Clearly there is no need for yet another alcohol retailer in this area.

3. Alcohol is an undoubted contributing factor to the level of criminal activity in this area. Police figures confirm the high reported instances of crime and the contribution alcohol makes to the overall level of crime. Significant policing resources are required to deal with the adverse impacts that alcohol is having via crime and anti-social behaviour. In the circumstances, another off-licence will exacerbate this problem.

4. Alcohol consumption is a clear source of public nuisance in this area not just as a result of street drinking and anti-social behaviour. The broader environment suffers hugely and I get frequent complaints about the level of litter in the area much of which consists of discarded alcohol containers.

For the above reasons I request that you reject this application.

Cllr Pat Cleary

Green Party Councillor

Birkenhead and Tranmere ward

Death knell for New Ferry?

The decision by Wirral planners and Labour councillors to approve a new Aldi store at Port Causeway off the A41 represents a hammer blow for New Ferry shopping centre. The new store on a designated industrial area with no retail facilities not only represents a clear breech of the Town Centre First policy but also negates Wirral Council's promise to protect employment infrastructure. Located just a mile from New Ferry, the new store will suck millions of pounds out of New Ferry and will also damage the existing retail in Bromborough Village.

At Thursday's planning committee I made a compelling case for refusing Aldi's application. Sadly, only Stuart Kelly from the Lib Dems supported my position. Below you can watch the video of the debate (courtesy of John Brace) accompanied by my detailed arguments against approval.

Reasons for refusal:
As the officer's report makes clear this site is identified as a Primarily Industrial Area. That was very apparent from the site visit and we could see the significant infrastructure in place to support employment. This designation is retained in the draft Core Strategy so the potential loss of employment land is a serious consideration, particularly as the council's own Employment Land and Premises study found a serious shortage of immediately available and serviced employment land. In contrast, it would be difficult to argue that Wirral faces a shortage of supermarkets.

So this site is important in terms of ensuring that, as the 2020 Vision says: “Wirral is a place where employers want to invest and businesses thrive” If we are to approve this application we need good reasons for doing so especially as this site is far from existing retail centres.

So a good starting point would be: Is there a suitable alternative location that would accommodate a similar development?

In doing so we should take account of the guidance from the National Planning Policy Framework paragraph 24 of which states “only if suitable sites are not available should out of centre sites be considered” and also“applicants and local planning authorities should demonstrate flexibility on issues such as format and scale”

The obvious potential site to consider is the former CO-OP in New Ferry which is only a mile from the application site and is in an established town centre. The applicant's reasons for rejecting that site is its irregular shape and lack of connectivity between the store entrance and the car park. Those are hardly insurrmountable challenges. Bear in mind that the applicant will demolish two large buildings as part of this application if approved.

So I would argue that there is a suitable alternative site and we shouldn't let the fact that it doesn't suit Aldi's precise requirements undermine our existing policies supporting town centres and centres of employment.

We also need to take account as part of the retail assessment the negative impact that this application would have on the vitality and viability of existing town centres.

Even on the applicants own figures 8% of the new store's trade would be diverted from existing New Ferry stores and 6% from existing stores in Bromborough Village. There is also a row of shops, including a convenience store, in between these two centres on Coronation Drive which is 5 minutes walk from Port Causeway. 

The existing Aldi in Bebington Road is forecast to lose 27.5% of its trade, which would mean that there would also be fewer linked trips to other shops in New Ferry.  Similarly a further 27.5% of trade is forecast to come from Asda, which would limit the opportunity for linked trips on the Croft Retail Park and generate a lot of additional traffic on Port Causeway.

There will therefore, even on the applicant's own assessment, be a demonstable negative effect on existing town centres.

Basically, if we approve this application it is highly likely that there will be severe stress on existing outlets in New Ferry, Bromborough Village and in between.

Paragraph 27 of the National Planning Policy Framework states that

Where an application fails to meet the sequential test or is likely to have significant adverse impact on town centre vitality and viability it should be refused

Clearly this application fails on both grounds. It should be rejected on the grounds that:

Insufficient information has been provided to demonstrate why alternative premises in New Ferry Town Centre cannot be utilised for the proposed development.  Therefore, it is the opinion of the Local Planning Authority that the sequential test set out in Paragraphs 24 and 27 of the National Planning Policy Framework have not been met and that the proposed development would undermine the vitality and viability of New Ferry Town Centre.

Fossil fuel divestment within the Merseyside Pension Fund

Divestment from fossil fuels is a key plank of Green Party policy in dealing with climate change. Since being appointed to the Pensions Committee that oversees the Merseyside Pension Fund (MPF), I have pushed for this issue to be addressed with a view to reducing the fund's exposure to fossil fuels. This is not just an important ethical concern. As the Governor of the Bank of England and many others have pointed out, investors in coal, oil and gas risk their assets becoming worthless if action on carbon emissions progresses as it must do if we are to secure a safe climate.

Yesterday's committee included a detailed report on carbon risk. You can read that report here. You can also watch the debate as it happened via this link. My contribution begins at 08:30.

While full divestment from fossil fuels is a long way off, I am hopeful and will continue to press for reduced exposure to fossil fuels within the MPF. Developing expertise around climate risk also gives Merseyside the opportunity to take a real lead on this issue and in time promote the use of pension funds to green our economy.

My sincere thanks to John Brace for providing this video.

Proper consultation on future plans for Birkenhead

Last Monday's council meeting included a motion on regeneration, specifically referencing plans for Birkenhead. Notable in its absence was any reference to consulting the people of Birkenhead on the plans which will dramatically their lives.

With the help of Lib Dem councillor for Oxton Alan Brighouse I put forward the following amendment which commits the council to meaningful consultation with the people about future plans for the town including the more immediate scheme for the Europa Pools area:

(Insert)
Council believes that the prospects for the regeneration of Birkenhead will be strengthened
if proposals are developed through an open and meaningful consultation with local residents,
if the Constituency Committee is consulted at the earliest stages of any projects, and that
effective, timely and widespread consultation is undertaken  about future investment plans.
Officers be requested to develop mechanisms to establish this for consideration. 

My amendment was passed unanimously and I will be holding the council to its word in the months and years ahead. Below is a copy of my speech in delivering the amendment:


My thanks to Cllr Brighouse for seconding this amendment

Many will have seen the Move Ahead Birkenhead literature and website which has recently been promoted. It has several positive features in terms of its long term aspirations for Birkenhead. It focuses on the right areas – the incredible potential of Woodside and the river front area, Birkenhead's amazing heritage assets, the sad decline of Birkenhead market and how it could be revived.

It also asks the right questions such as how we can revive the waterfront and link it and Hamilton Square to the rest of Birkenhead. How do we create an attractive town that people from outside Birkenhead want to visit. How do we create an attractive environment for people who live and work in Birkenhead and, crucially in my view, how do we exploit Birkenhead's position as the main public transport hub for all of Wirral. There is a strong contintental influence which is very welcome given that urban space in much of Europe is far better planned than in this country.

To quote directly from their literature:

This is a conversation that involves everyone who lives, does business, visits or simply cares about the town. Because we believe it's high time we learned from our past – and looked to the future.

And while it is right and proper that we should have high aspirations for Birkenhead there are also many, many lessons to be learned from the past.

The most recent has to be the thankfully withdrawn and deeply unpopular road scheme for Hamilton Square. If this scheme had been presented in outline form at an early stage to the constituency committee it could have been strangled at birth and much time and aggravation saved. So let's make much more effective use of the constituency committees across Wirral as a sounding board for important proposals.

The Hamilton Square scheme was also a very clear example that when you prioritise traffic movements you get bad town planning. The best town planning is based around people. If you create a pleasant environment for people lots of other good stuff happens.

And that's why this amendment explicitly calls for "open and meaningful" consultation with the people.

On that score and referring back to Move Ahead Birkenhead they recently held a three day publicity exercise in The Pyramids. Unfortunately, only 48 hours notice was given through local media. I as ward councillor wasn't notified. The Birkenhead and Tranmere Neighbourhood Forum and other community groups were not notified. Anybody without internet access was very unlikely to know anything at all about it.

If residents are not consulted properly it is self evident that they are likely to form negative views about the motivation behind these plans.

Which leads me to my final point. While the long term objectives for Birkenhead are excitingly aspirational the near term proposals for Europa Boulevard contain several controversial features. Apart from replacing an existing leisure facility which is less than 20 years old, the over provision for car parking in an area with excellent public transport links is very disappointing. A drive through McDonalds at the centre of the plans surely sends entirely the wrong message about how we should plan and perceive the future for Birkenhead.

So let's start as we mean to continue, by listening to the people we serve and giving them the best possible investment that meets their needs and our aspirations for Birkenhead.

Wirral Change Sew Together

I was really pleased to attend the Sew Together exhibition at the Williamson Art Gallery today. It's the culmination of a nine month project involving 160 people from across Wirral run by the lovely people at Wirral Change.

The exhibition features eight patchworks, each one representing a different ethnic community in Wirral. The picture shows me with Malena Eriksson-Lee from Wirral Change and the Arabic patchwork.

This is the culmination of a process that has taught many people valuable life skills and encouraged them to repair and re-use fabric. It's a great antidote to our throw away society and I am sure the self esteem of those who participated has been really lifted by seeing their work on display.

The exhibition runs until May 1st and you can find it in gallery 11 at the Williamson. More details here.