To receive notice of pre-raised questions.

In introducing this item, the Chair advised that those submitted questions relating to the Wirral Growth Company, Hoylake Golf Resort and council tax Band H houses would, so far as possible, be grouped together and would be responded to verbally by Councillor Phil Davies.  Copies of the submitted questions and written responses, where indicated below, were circulated at the meeting.

Submitted question from Mr P Simpson, in attendance and who read his following question -

“What due diligence has the council done on Muse Developments and Morgan Sindall Construction Company, In the wake of both companies being involved previously in boroughs where, social cleansing has taken place. What guarantees will the council give, that, any homes demolished, will be replaced with like for like properties. Especially, in our deprived areas, such as Moreton, Seacombe, Birkenhead and New Ferry. As per the labour party policy on the houses crises."

Submitted question from Mr T Watson, not in attendance and whose question was read by the Chair -

“Has the Council sought to engage smaller local firms by breaking up the Wirral Growth Company project into smaller parts to allow such local firms to bid? This would surely help local businesses and benefit Wirral more. Under the present agreement no matter how many local firms are engaged, 50% of the profit goes to Muse developments or Morgan Sindall, a national construction company and therefore leaves Wirral.”

Submitted question from Ms S Miller, not in attendance and whose question was read by the Chair -

“The Government has to bail out the now defunct Carrillion Company. Who will bail out the people of the Wirral should the Wirral Growth company collapse under a mountain of debt?”

In response, Councillor Phil Davies advised that as part of the OJEU procurement process, a lot of due diligence had been done of the preferred partner Muse Developments.  This due diligence had been rigorous and done by independent legal advisors; as such he was confident in what had been done.  He considered it wrong to suggest that Muse Developments and Morgan Sindall Construction Company had been involved in social cleansing having not seen any evidence of such, but the joint venture partnership with Muse was on a 50/50 basis and so the Council would have a veto on any deal.  The Wirral Growth Company proposal was not predominantly a housing project but an extensive regeneration scheme involving commercial, retail and some housing elements.  If comparing the project to Haringey, any housing built would be new housing and as such the projects were not comparable.

Submitted question from Ms A Underwood, not in attendance and whose question was read by the Chair -

“The Labour manifesto pledges "to ensure housing is about homes for the many, not investment opportunities for the few.  So why is Wirral Council lending a developer £26 million to build 160 Band H (worth at least £320,000) homes in Wirral West when that money would be more beneficially spent on affordable houses in this constituency?”

Submitted question from Mr G Turner, not in attendance and whose question was read by the Chair -

“The golfing fraternity in Wirral is well catered for as the borough has golf courses dotted all around the area. Given that the sport generally is in decline, why do Wirral Council think that it is a good idea to proceed with the Hoylake Golf Resort? How will it benefit the area? Don't we have more important things to spend money on?”

Submitted question from Mr P Simpson, in attendance and who read his following question - 

"With due diligence now carried out on the Niklause Joint Venture Group. Will the leader Phil Davies guarantee the Wirral tax payers that, the Niklause Joint Venture Group, will not dissolve or go into liquidation? Furthermore, will he advise the tax payers of Wirral, How much interest will be charged against the loan of £26m to the group which he intends to borrow, then loan to the Niklause Group.”

Submitted question from Mr K Barnes, in attendance and who read his following question -

“The recent collapse of Carrillion has left the new Royal Liverpool hospital in disarray. The Labour NEC has recently voted to call on Haringey Council to pause its controversial 50-50 joint venture vehicle which has been criticised for “social cleansing” Despite a Europe wide search, the only Developer that could be found to take on the Hoylake Golf Resort Project was a developer with a history of bankruptcy and a zero credit limit. The Golf Resort is to be funded by building Band H houses and not social housing. Labour Party policy now prohibits the transfer of public land to private developers and flawed joint venture vehicles. How much of publically owned land will be transferred to the private partners of the Wirral Growth Company and do the Councillors believe that the Hoylake Golf Resort and the Wirral Growth Company plans won’t end up in the same mess as the Royal Hospital and Haringey?”

In response, Councillor Phil Davies advised that the golf resort proposal was a completely different scheme to that in Haringey.  No public asset would be transferred to a private company and all public assets would remain owned by the Council.  In this regard he was confident this was not the same position as Haringey.  Looking at all the deals raised at the meeting, Councillor Davies noted that the government had slashed the Council’s income by £170M since 2010, with a further £130M by 2021.  By 2021 the Revenue Support Grant from government would be removed and if the Council did not identify new income streams it would become bankrupt; reference was made to Northamptonshire County Council that had not made such provision and had used reserves that were available once only.

With regard to the golf resort, this had not been agreed, and feasibility studies and environmental and traffic impacts still required consideration.  The Council would be failing in its duties not to consider such a scheme that could bring in £1M in business and residential taxes to fund local services and provide 175 direct jobs with further jobs in the construction phase.  It was sensible to consider the project and to await the outcome of the studies.  With regard to the question concerning due diligence, if Hoylake was to proceed, it would be proposed to charge a 5% interest rate on £2.5M to help fund public services.

With regard to Band H properties, Councillor Davies noted that the local government funding system was unfair as it penalised Councils such as Wirral that had mostly Band A and B properties; for example, a 1% council tax increase in Wirral brought in significantly less revenue that in wealthy Westminster which had predominantly Band H properties.  There was therefore a need to encourage higher banded council tax properties as they brought increased revenue to the Council.

Submitted question from Ms K O’Rourke, in attendance and who read her following question –

"A recent World Health Organisation Study found that the Air Pollution in Birkenhead exceeds safety levels. In a recent high court ruling a judge branded the current government policy “unlawful” and has ordered local authorities to do more, and to take action as soon as possible. Air pollution kills thousands every year. What steps will the Council take to improve air pollution levels in Birkenhead and do the Councillors think that the Council’s plan to spend £millions on new roads for a golf resort, just a few miles down-wind of Birkenhead, should now be scrapped?"

Details of the following response prepared by the Environmental Health Department had been circulated and was taken as read - 

“The World Health Organisation report relates to tiny airborne particles which can be inhaled, called PM_2.5. Measured levels within Wirral meet the current European / UK statutory levels of 25 microgrammes per cubic metre. The World Health Organisation has set a lower standard of 10 microgrammes per cubic metre. In 2013 the measured level in Wirral was 11. Since 2013 it has been below the World Health Organisation Level.

However, we are continuing to review measured and modelled data in order to assess levels of this and other pollutants (both in Birkenhead and across the Borough).  Officers from a number of Council teams meet regularly to scrutinise and share air quality data from the Council and identify what further action can be undertaken. The Council also participates in a Regional air quality group which is looking at air quality across the region.

The Council monitors air pollution at 31 points throughout the Borough and there are two Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) monitoring stations in Birkenhead. DEFRA publish this data on their website.

Wirral Council publishes the results of its air quality monitoring , together with an annual summary of action it is taking to improve Air Quality, on the Council website in an “Annual Status Review” document. This can be found by searching for Air Quality on the website.  

Environmental matters are considered during the planning process.

Any questions or feedback would be most welcome and maybe made to Environmentalhealth@wirral.gov.uk “

Councillor Phil Davies further responded with regard to the golf resort, noting that an Environmental Impact Assessment was a key study and would cover issues of air pollution.  These studies would be available to the public for scrutiny.

Submitted question from Ms L Clough, in attendance and who read her following question -

“The closure of M&S is another blow for Birkenhead and a further indictment of Wirral Council's failure to support Wirral's main town centre over several decades, notwithstanding the very recent announcement of the "Wirral Growth Company". There has been a chronic need for serious investment in Birkenhead for many years. In the light of this why in recent years has Wirral Council ploughed over £1 million into the deeply unpopular golf resort / executive housing development proposal for Hoylake, especially as the leader of the council has recently said that "there is a national downturn in the amount of people playing golf". This is leading to a huge shortfall in fees collected at public golf courses in Wirral. Does the council accept that the chronic need for investment in Birkenhead means that further waste of resources to promote the Hoylake Golf Resort is totally unacceptable to the vast majority of people in Birkenhead and throughout Wirral.”

In response, Councillor Phil Davies advised that the challenge of investing in Birkenhead was why the Wirral Growth Company had been set up.  Birkenhead town centre was a key area and it was planned to invest huge resources into improving the offer there, including a new market and new facilities.  The challenge was the need to spend significant amounts of money on the project which the Council did not have.  With regard to the golf resort, this would not just comprise golf but would act as a destination in its own right, for example in the hosting of conferences, which would bring in increased income.  The Council needed to identify new income streams and did not want to end up in a similar position to Northamptonshire County Council. 

The Wirral Growth Company was a mechanism to deliver investment.  If the Council did not do this, it was questioned what alternative answer there was.  The Wirral Growth Company presented the opportunity of a lifetime that needed to be grasped.

The following question from Mr T Watson, not in attendance at the meeting, and a written response, details of both being circulated at the meeting, were taken as read –

Question – “At the cabinet meeting on the 18th December 2017 George Davies said 'there is a massive shortage of top band houses (in Wirral)'. Whilst I recognise having more band H houses would bring in more Council tax revenue to Wirral, how do you conclude that there is a massive shortage of such houses? For there to be a shortage there must be an identified need. For there to be a shortage you would imagine that we have fewer than other boroughs? In fact we have the highest number of band H houses in Merseyside. In the Northwest there are only four boroughs that have more. What evidence do you have to support your statement?”

Response – “Cllr George Davies statement was made in relation to the fact that as a Council, we do not have as many Council Tax Band H homes as those in other bands.  This is a fact and the report speaks for itself in that Wirral has the largest percentage of homes in Council Tax Bands A-C.  There was no comparison on the need for this against other Local Authorities and the report does not state this.”