Councillor J Hale – Ward Councillor (Hoylake and Meols)

Prior to giving evidence to the Committee, Councillor Hale expressed his belief that the redacted exempt reports, referred to by the Chair in his opening remarks, should have been made available to members of the public without redaction. In response, the Chair advised the Committee that he had sought the opinion of the Director of Law, HR and Asset Management, with regard to this matter and had complied with the advice that he had received.

Councillor Hale commented that the value of the sailing school was less than the value of the land that was to have been leased to the developer if the loss of parking charges and rental income was taken into account.

He referred to the consultation event at West Kirby Concourse and advised Members that he had inspected every response that had been completed. He noted that there was not an option in the document for respondents to signify their approval separately to the Hotel development and/or the redevelopment of the sailing school. He noted that there were a significant number of positive returns, which contained a comment that they were in favour of the sailing school but not the hotel development.

He had always considered what was right for West Kirby and had never regarded the issue as a personal matter. He referred to previous reports that had been considered by the Cabinet, before the preferred developer had been identified and he claimed that the Director of Technical Services had identified parking as a significant issue.

Councillor Hale referred also to meetings of the West Wirral Area Forum, which had always been very well attended. Although a formal consultation exercise was not undertaken, he commented that views expressed at Area Forum meetings and in response to informal consultation undertaken by ward Councillors, suggested that 95% of people were opposed the Sail project. Councillor Hale believed he was acting for the majority of his electorate and indicated that having actively campaigned on that basis at the local elections in 2008, his majority had not been affected.

Councillor Foulkes commented that the project had always been about an enabling scheme, to raise finance to upgrade the sailing school. He stated that there had always been an acceptance that there could be an impact on parking spaces in order to achieve the wider aims of the project. In response, Councillor Hale stated that because of the impact on parking he had objected to the scheme from the start at the proposed location. He was not prepared to agree to any loss of parking spaces at Dee Lane because, he believed, to do so would be damaging to local businesses.

Michael Maynard – Representative of the Lake Users Group

Mr Maynard advised the Committee that although he did not live in the local area, he used the marine lake, as a windsurfer, on a regular basis. The Lake User Group did not wish to express an opinion in relation to the proposed hotel development and, confined their comments to the impact of the proposals on the marine lake. He supported the original aims for an enabling development to improve the sailing school, but expressed concern about the impact of the proposals on the spur parking area and the reduction of storage space indicated in the revised plans. He commented also that a user group had already moved to Chester because of the lack of storage space.

Elizabeth Davey – Chair of Hoylake and West Kirby Civic Society

Mrs Davey advised the Committee that she now resided in another part of Wirral, although she had previously lived in West Kirby for 30 years. She questioned the suitability of the proposed hotel location and welcomed the decision of the Cabinet to halt the process, which had allowed for concerns to be addressed. She referred to the existing sandstone building that presently housed the sailing school and expressed a view that it should be retained as a core for improved facilities. She referred also to areas of deprivation in other parts of Wirral and commented that West Kirby had always been a valuable resource for people from those areas. It was also important that it remained so and, in addition, that any proposal for the sailing school should take into account the views of schools and youth organisations. Furthermore, it was essential that the plans for the sailing school were further revised to provide separate facilities for adults and children.

Councillor G Watt – Ward Councillor (West Kirby and Thurstaston)

Councillor Watt commented upon the background to the proposed redevelopment of the sailing school by way of enabling development. He advised Members that consultation undertaken in 2004, although indicating support for a hotel development, had identified a potential loss of parking spaces as a prime concern of local residents. A more recent meeting held in Westbourne Hall had focused primarily on parking issues and, a vote at that meeting, had overwhelmingly rejected the proposed hotel development. He referred to previous reports that had been considered by the Cabinet and commented upon the merits of the original expressions of interest that had been considered. He had also campaigned on the need to protect parking spaces at Dee Lane and had received an increased majority in the local elections in 2008.

He expressed the view that the Dee Lane site was too valuable to be released by the Council and the decision of the Council to halt the scheme was long overdue. He stated that the proposed scheme could not be to the benefit of West Kirby if the parking issue could not be resolved. In response to a question from Councillor Foulkes, Councillor Watt indicated that there was not an acceptable number of parking spaces to be given up, in order for the scheme to proceed.

Ally McDermott – Member of West Kirby Regeneration Liaison Group

Mrs McDermott advised the Committee that she ran a business and lived in West Kirby. In addition to being a member of the West Kirby Regeneration Liaison Group, Mrs McDermott also ran an independent website in which she published her views. She indicated her support for the redevelopment of the sailing school, but remained opposed to the hotel development and the subsequent loss of parking spaces. She expressed the view that Carpenter Investments were not the right developers to deliver an iconic building, as had been proposed, as they did not have the expertise to do so. She believed that the local ward Councillors represented the views of the majority of residents in West Kirby and that they had attended all of the public meetings in the area that had been called.

In response to comments made by Mrs McDermott as to the suitability of the developer, Councillor Foulkes commented that Carpenter Investments had been appointed by a unanimous decision of the Cabinet following a rigorous selection process.

Mrs McDermott commented also that the questionnaire that had been issued as part of the consultation process undertaken by the developers was somewhat misleading, and that the consultation event was based only on conceptual ideas. She believed that the public meetings held at Black Horse Hill Junior School and Westbourne Hall were far more representative of local opinion. In response to questions from Members, Mrs McDermott indicated that her preference for achieving the redevelopment of the sailing school was for a scheme that did not lose parking spaces at the Dee Lane Car Park.

John Robinson – Representative of Lake Users Group

Mr Robinson indicated that he was a resident of West Kirby and a user of the Marine Lake. He had undertaken an analysis of the plans for The Sail project, having regard to the proposals for car parking, the sailing school and boat storage locations and gave a brief presentation to the Committee to support his conclusions. He believed that there would be insufficient parking spaces for the proposed development and indicated that current peak demand regularly used all 176 spaces. He commented also that shared parking with lake users detracted from the original objectives and had been rejected by the Cabinet. Mr Robinson commented also that the proposed location of the outdoor boat storage was unfeasible, as it was outside the site boundary and below the high water line. The sailing school would also be at high risk of flooding and its location would create a wind shadow that would be detrimental to lake users. In addition, the plans contained no provision for a chandlers and the indoor storage area had been reduced from the original specifications.

Mr Robinson also claimed that rejection of the plans being due to a vociferous minority was disingenuous, as it had been rejected at every Area Forum meeting and by the lake users, who were to have been the main beneficiaries. He concluded that the plans had never been realistic and did not have wide community support. He suggested that the consultation undertaken on behalf of the developers was not representative and recommended that the Council should seek supported alternatives to redevelop the sailing school.

Members commented that many of the views expressed by Mr Robinson would be matters for the Planning Committee and that his conclusions had largely been informed by conceptual drawings. Plans had not as yet been submitted to the Planning Department.

Councillor G Ellis – Ward Councillor (Hoylake and Meols)

Councillor Ellis advised the Committee that comments that he was alleged to have made at a public meeting in relation to the proposals being rejected were untrue. He confirmed that he had in fact stated that he hoped that the Cabinet would reject the proposals.

Local Councillors were in favour of the development of the sailing school and he believed that it could be funded by savings from lost income, supported by grant funding. He commented that the developer had offered the development of a world class sailing school, but expressed the view that a worse facility than at present would be provided. Having made a comment about the expertise of the developers, Councillor Ellis subsequently agreed to withdraw his remark, having been asked to do so by the Chair.

He went on to suggest that the sailing school would be of a lower grade than the present facility and commented also that a loss of parking spaces was not acceptable to the majority of local people. With regard to young people having been consulted about the proposals, Councillor Ellis questioned whether it was appropriate for such important proposals to be based on the views of school children. He believed there to be ample facilities already provided for young people in West Kirby and indicated that there was also no shortage of good hotels and restaurants in the local area. With regard to the consultation that had been undertaken by Mrs Beer, Councillor Ellis commented that neither he nor Councillor Hale had been approached to take part in the consultation process. There had been fourteen meetings of the local area forum and it was clear to him that the majority of residents did not want the proposed development to go ahead.

Councillor Foulkes commented that the proposal was an enabling development to allow the redevelopment of the sailing school. In response to a question as to the number of parking spaces that he would consider acceptable to allow the development to proceed, Councillor Ellis stated that he would not consider any loss of parking to be acceptable and that more parking spaces were required in the area.