Prior to the first item of business, in the absence of his chaplain the Revd Beth Glover, the Mayor invited her curate, the Revd Maureen Coats to lead the Council in prayers.

The Members of the Council were invited to consider whether they had any disclosable pecuniary and/or any other relevant interests in connection with any matters to be determined at this meeting and, if so, to declare it and state the nature of such interest.

Councillors S Niblock, L Rennie, D Roberts, and J Stapleton declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 11 – Recommendation from the Regeneration and Environment Policy and Performance Committee: Notice of Motion ‘Cuts to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’ (see minute 40 post) by virtue of their appointment to the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority.

Councillor A Sykes declared his non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 6 – Leader’s, Executive Members’ and Policy and Performance Committee Chairs Reports (see minute 33 post) by virtue of him being a school governor of Thingwall Primary School.

The Mayor referred to the sad news of the recent death Sylvia Hodrien, former Labour Councillor for Upton ward.

He referred also to the sad news of the death of Jim Edwards, former Labour Councillor for Egremont ward in 1972 and who, upon reorganisation, represented Moreton Ward until 1978. Jim was re-elected to the Council in 1980 representing Leasowe Ward and was a former Mayor of Wirral in 1990/1991.

The Council stood in silence, as a mark of respect.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Leah Fraser and Pat Williams.

In accordance with Standing Order 21, the Mayor received petitions submitted by –

(i)  Councillor Les Rowlands on behalf of 74 signatories objecting to the proposal to sell a plot of land at the corner of Boundary Lane and Telegraph Road, Heswall.

(ii)  Councillor Stuart Kelly on behalf of 110 signatories requesting the Council to improve the lighting on the pathway from the Holmlands area to Woodchurch High School and Woodchurch Leisure Centre.

(iii)  Councillor Phill Brightmore on behalf of 237 signatories requesting the renewal of pavements in Heywood Boulevard, Thingwall.

(iv)  Councillor Pat Hackett on behalf of 100 signatories objecting to a proposal to sell off the car park in Field Road, New Brighton.

Resolved – That the petitions be noted and referred to the appropriate Chief Officer in accordance with Standing Order 34.

The minutes of the Council meetings held on 15 July and 19 September 2013 had been circulated to Members and, it was –

Resolved – That the minutes be approved and adopted as a correct record

The Leader of the Council presented his summary report upon matters relevant to his portfolio. He responded to questions from Councillors Green, Roberts, Kelly, Blakeley, Whittingham, A Hodson and Johnston and made a number of additional comments, including –

·  He referred to the success of the recent delegation he had led to Taicang, Wirral’s sister city in China, and was confident that Wirral would see considerable investment associated with the International Trade Centre. He was pleased that the Chancellor of the Exchequer had recognised the impact the Chinese economy in the global market and had followed Wirral’s example in also sending a recent trade delegation to China.

·  With regard to the Scrutiny Review that had been undertaken in relation to the International Trade Centre, he confirmed that the ITC was a key priority for both the Council and Peel. He anticipated that a cross party working group would soon be put in place to take forward the scrutiny recommendations.

·  A school teacher exchange was also an element of the recent delegation to China and he would report to a future meeting upon the development of educational links.

·  He referred to the protocol of exchanging gifts with Chinese delegates and indicated that a number of gifts that had been unable to be delivered had been returned at no additional cost and would be kept for future visits to Wirral by Chinese officials.

·  He confirmed that a report would be presented to an early meeting of the Cabinet upon the support to SME’s and the strategic approach to partnerships.

·  He was pleased that Members had found the Elected Member Annual Conference to be beneficial and he had been encouraged by positive comments that had been received from a number of speakers.

·  In recognising the recent appointment of Esther McVey as Minister for Employment, he hoped that she would endeavour to influence changes to Government policies which had been so damaging to Wirral residents.

·  With regard to a question which sought information related to a reported substantial payment to a Member of staff, the Leader indicated that he had nothing further to add to a communication on the matter from the Chief Executive that had been sent to all Members of the Council.

Resolved – That the report of Councillor Phil Davies be noted

Councillor Chris Jones presented her Cabinet portfolio report on Adult Social Care. Her response to questions from Councillors Kelly, Mountney, Leech and Gilchrist included the following comments –

·  There had been a significant improvement in services through transformational changes in the way that services in Adult Social Care were delivered and commissioned and she commented that the improvements had been largely as a result of the hard work and commitment of officers. She confirmed that it was intended that the service would be delivered without the use of zero hour contracts.

·  She was pleased that changes to a number of residential and day services agreed by the Cabinet in June had been delivered on time and within budget and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 33.

On a motion by Councillor Phil Davies, seconded by Councillor McLachlan, it was –

Resolved – That minute 49 (Cabinet – 19 September 2013) – Financial Monitoring 2013/2014, be noted.

In accordance with Standing Order 10 (2)(b), notice had been given of a question from Councillor Phil Gilchrist to the Leader of the Council in respect of the ‘What Really Matters?’ consultation.

Councillor Phil Davies responded accordingly.

A referral was made from the former Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee (minute 76 – Elected Member Development (26 March 2013) refers), which requested the Council to reaffirm its commitment to the training and support of elected Members. It was then –

Resolved – That the recommendation of the former Council Excellence Overview and Scrutiny Committee be endorsed and the Council’s commitment to the training and support of elected Members be reaffirmed.

Notices of Motion submitted in accordance with Standing Order 7(1) were reported to the Council. The Mayor, having considered each Motion, in accordance with Standing Order 7(4) had decided that the Motions would be dealt with as follows –

(i)  Tackling Financial Exclusion – to be debated

(ii)  Bedroom Tax – to be debated

(iii)  Improving Wirral’s Sites for Jobs – referred to the Regeneration and Environment Policy and Performance Committee

Resolved – That the Notice of Motion ‘Improving Wirral’s Sites for Jobs’ be referred to the Regeneration and Environment Policy and Performance Committee.

Proposed by Councillor Stuart Kelly

Seconded by Councillor Alan Brighouse

Council notes that many Wirral people, particularly those on low incomes, cannot easily access mainstream financial services such as bank accounts, low cost loans and cash withdrawal facilities.

This lack of access results in financial exclusion for people and can mean that the cost of many of their financial transactions are higher, resulting in stress, poor health and increased risk of debt and poverty and the need to access short-term credit by sub-prime or payday lenders.

Council, therefore, calls on Cabinet and the Chief Executive to put in place a strategy to promote financial inclusion, such a strategy to include measures to:

1.  Highlight the issue of access to automatic cash machines (ATMs) to enable people to withdraw money without being charged a fee (ranging from £1.50 to £2.00 per withdrawal), effectively a tax on withdrawing money, by working in partnership with other organisations, including those representing retailers, to promote ways of expanding the network of free ATMs and to examine the possibility of providing free ATMs in Council offices (One Stop Shops/Libraries) in areas of high deprivation.

2.  Raise awareness and promote the use of Credit Unions as a means of building savings and accessing low cost credit, including;

·  an evaluation of a scheme being introduced by Glasgow City Council which aims to support financial education by depositing £10 in a community Credit Union account for every new secondary school student each year.¹

·  consideration of how Wirral MBC can contribute to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s initiative to build up Credit Unions to help people with financial problems keep away from usurious payday money lenders.²

3.  Work with the new ‘Move Your Money’ organisation to encourage residents and businesses to move their bank accounts to get better terms.³

Council further welcomes changes made by the Government to make it easier to create new banks and notes the possibility of the creation of a ‘Bank of Liverpool’ by Liverpool CC with a long-term aim to expand to become a retail bank in which local residents and businesses from the City Region can invest and use the services of and asks Wirral officers to ensure Wirral is able to contribute and benefit from such a development.⁴

Links

¹ Link to Glasgow City Council scheme – http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=10084

² Link to Arch Bishop of Canterbury initiative – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23433955

³ Link to Move your Money UK Organisation – http://www.moveyourmoney.org.uk/

⁴Link to Liverpool City Council minutes – http://councillors.liverpool.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=93553

An amendment was then submitted in accordance with Standing Order 12(1) and (9), which had been circulated around the Chamber.

Proposed by Councillor Phil Davies

Seconded by Councillor Ann McLachlan

Add the following after final paragraph:

“Whilst supporting the measures listed above, Council believes that the Liberal Democrats should accept responsibility for a number of the measures implemented by the coalition government, of which they are part, which have directly contributed to financial exclusion and poverty that they now seek to mitigate. These  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

Proposed by Councillor Phil Davies

Seconded by Councillor George Davies

This Council believes that the Bedroom Tax introduced by the Tory/LibDem coalition government is morally wrong as well as being financially inefficient.

Council therefore welcomes the recent announcement by Ed Miliband that one of the first acts of the next Labour Government will be to repeal the Bedroom Tax. This will be paid for by reversing George Osborne's recent tax cut for hedge funds announced in Budget 2013; reversing George Osborne's shares for rights scheme which has been rejected by business, has opened up a tax loophole and will lead to £1bn being lost to the Exchequer according to the Office for Budget Responsibility; and tackling disguised employment in the construction industry.

In Wirral 3,800 Registered Provider tenants are affected by the Bedroom Tax.

Council is concerned that the Government has never carried out a proper financial analysis of the hidden costs of the Bedroom Tax. Forcing people to move from a socially owned property to a privately owned property costs more in housing benefit. Chasing people for small debts can cost a lot more than it brings in. Evicting people for not paying rent and re-housing them is extremely expensive. Some Councils and housing associations are no longer able to let out three bedroom properties and this is reducing rental income and our ability to finance more property building.

Council notes that the Bedroom Tax is disproportionately hitting disabled people, 420,000 people who need space for carers, washing space and equipment are being affected by it. People are getting into arrears which is causing them anguish. They are forced to move out of their neighbourhoods and away from their support base because there is a shortage of one-bedroom properties – a situation that has built up because Councils listened to governments of all parties and built properties big enough for families.

The Government gave local authorities discretionary housing payments but that money only covers £1 in every £5 cut from the benefit changes and in many Councils it has already run out.

The Bedroom Tax is forcing people who cannot work and those on low incomes out of their homes and into debt. It is hitting the most vulnerable in society the hardest and is forcing people to loan sharks and food banks. At the same time, the Tory/Lib Dem Government is giving a tax cut to millionaires.

Council calls for urgent action in Wirral to deal with the growing demand on advice services and one stop shops by residents affected by the Bedroom Tax which is approaching crisis point and agrees to allocate an additional £25,000 to Wirral advice agencies to be paid for by the under-spend identified in the month 3 monitoring report.

Council also calls on all parties to write to the relevant minister to request an immediate suspension of the Bedroom Tax to allow for independent research to be undertaken to assess its impact on the most deprived parts of the country.

An amendment, which  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

At its meeting held on 15 July 2013 (minute 21 refers), the Mayor had referred a Notice of Motion ‘Cuts to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’ to the Regeneration and Environment Policy and Performance Committee. The motion was duly considered at the meeting of the Committee held on 17 September 2013 (Regeneration and Environment – minute 15 refers).

In accordance with Standing Order 7(5), the Council was invited to consider the recommendation of the Regeneration and Environment Policy and Performance Committee, which advised that it fully supported the Notice of Motion and had invited the Chief Fire Officer to attend the Committee to highlight the potential impact of Government proposals on residents of Wirral.

The Mayor indicated that any debate should take place on the recommendation of the Committee and there should be no separate debate on the motion itself.

With regard to a further motion ‘Local Investment in Rail – High Speed2 and Borderlands Railway’, that had been referred by the Mayor to the Leader of the Council, the Leader advised that he would present a report to the next meeting of the Council.

Resolved – That, in the light of the views of the Regeneration and Environment Policy and Performance Committee, the motion in relation to ‘Cuts to Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’ be supported in the following terms –

(1)  Wirral Council recognises the excellent work undertaken by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and applauds the commitment of its frontline and support staff. This Council also notes that those individuals’ ability to protect the people of Wirral is being jeopardised by the Government cuts to funding as well as undermining staff morale.

(2)  This Council is deeply concerned by the findings of the Ken Knight review of fire and rescue services which makes the case for further huge cuts, mergers with other Authorities or Police Crime Commissioners and most worryingly privatisation. The Ken Knight review gives very little recognition of the very difficult decisions taken by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority to date in managing the deepest cuts inflicted on any Authority in the Country and instead advocates its replacement by a PCC without any evidence whatsoever to prove that this would improve the service delivered to the residents of this city region.

(3)  This Council notes with serious concern the Government’s alarming proposals to privatise part if not all functions of the fire and rescue service, along with yet further cuts to their grant funding which will impact on their ability in protecting residents from fire, road traffic collisions and other emergencies within the Borough of Wirral.

(4)  This Council is deeply worried that the Government has lost sight of the fire service’s main purpose, to protect residents from fire, road traffic collisions and other emergencies and their devastating impact on our communities and that it threatens to put private profit ahead of the need to save lives and help people feel safe in their homes and community.

(5)  This Council further notes that the Government’s  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40.

The Council was requested to deal with the following matters in respect of appointments to Committees and outside organisations.

COMMITTEES

(i)  Pensions Committee

Councillor Paul Doughty to replace former Councillor Sylvia Hodrien

(ii)  Transformation and Resources Policy and Performance Committee

Vacancy to replace former Councillor Sylvia Hodrien

(iii)  Licensing, Health and Safety and General Purposes Committee

Councillor Phill Brightmore to replace former Councillor Sylvia Hodrien as deputy

(iv)  Families and Wellbeing Policy and Performance Committee

Councillor Anita Leech to replace former Councillor Sylvia Hodrien as deputy

(v)  Birkenhead Constituency Committee (18 Councillors)

Bidston and St James Ward Councillors –

Jim Crabtree, Ann McLachlan, Harry Smith

Birkenhead and Tranmere Ward Councillors –

Phil Davies, Brian Kenny, Jean Stapleton

Claughton Ward Councillors –

George Davies, Steve Foulkes, Denise Roberts

Oxton Ward Councillors –

Alan Brighouse, Stuart Kelly, Pat Williams

Prenton Ward Councillors –

Paul Doughty, Tony Norbury, Denise Realey

Rock Ferry Ward Councillors –

Bill Davies, Chris Meaden, Moira McLaughlin

(vi)  Wallasey Constituency Committee (18 Councillors)

Leasowe and Moreton East Ward Councillors –

Ron Abbey, Anita Leech, Ian Lewis

Liscard Ward Councillors –

Darren Dodd, Bernie Mooney, Janette Williamson

Moreton West and Saughall Massie Ward Councillors –

Chris Blakeley, Simon Mountney, Steve Williams

New Brighton Ward Councillors –

Patricia Glasman, Rob Gregson, Pat Hackett

Seacombe Ward Councillors –

Adrian Jones, Chris Jones, John Salter

Wallasey Ward Councillors –

Leah Fraser, Paul Hayes, Lesley Rennie

(vii)  Wirral South Constituency Committee (15 Councillors)

Bebington Ward Councillors –

Christina Muspratt, Walter Smith, Jerry Williams

Bromborough Ward Councillors –

Steve Niblock, Joe Walsh, Irene Williams

Clatterbridge Ward Councillors –

Peter Kearney, Cherry Povall, Adam Sykes

Eastham Ward Councillors –

Phil Gilchrist, Tom Harney, Dave Mitchell

Heswall Ward Councillors –

Andrew Hodson, Kathryn Hodson, Les Rowlands

(viii)  Wirral West Constituency Committee (15 Councillors

Greasby, Frankby and Irby Ward Councillors –

Wendy Clements, Tony Cox, Mike Hornby

Hoylake and Meols Ward Councillors –

Eddie Boult, Gerry Ellis, John Hale

Pensby and Thingwall Ward Councillors –

Phillip Brightmore, Mark Johnston, Michael Sullivan

Upton Ward Councillors –

Tony Smith, Stuart Whittingham and Vacancy

West Kirby and Thurstaston Ward Councillors –

David Elderton, Jeff Green, Geoffrey Watt

In respect of the above Constituency Committees, the Council was requested to approve that a maximum of up to six community representatives may be appointed on a co-opted basis.

OUTSIDE BODIES

(i)  ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY

Liverpool Airport Consultative Committee

Councillor Steve Niblock to replace Councillor Rob Gregson

(ii)  HEALTH AND WELLBEING

Tam O’Shanter Cottage Trust

Councillor Chris Meaden to replace Councillor Jim Crabtree

Resolved –

(1)  That the appointments and amendments to the membership of the Committees and outside bodies, listed above, be approved.

(2)  That each of the Constituency Committees be authorised to appoint up to a maximum of six community representatives on a co-opted basis.