Proposed by Councillor Jeff Green

Seconded by Councillor Lesley Rennie

(1) Council notes:

The letter from Sue Charteris, now published on the ‘Hamilton Squared Blog’, to Wirral Borough Council in response to the Labour/Liberal Democrat Administration’s attempted rebuttal of her original Draft report.

That Ms Charteris attached an Executive Summary of her report to her letter which she described as ‘Embargoed’ and that this is at odds with the assertion that has been made, that, all information prior to the secret midnight meeting in the Town Hall of the leaders of Wirral Labour and Liberal Democrat Groups with Senior Officers of the Council and the Administration’s retreat from its flagship Strategic Asset Review Policy via press release on 30th September and Cabinet meeting 1st October, was strictly secret and could not be made available to other members of the Council.

(2) Council expresses its shame that arguments advanced by the Labour/Liberal Democrat Administration in its name should have to be dismissed by the Chairman of a Public Inquiry ordered by a Secretary of State using the following terms:

 ‘I find your point about predecessor authorities quite irrelevant given that the reorganization took place in 1974 and that, in any event, compliance with statutory duties are the responsibility of the incumbent administration’.

‘I do not accept your view that the Inquiry dismissed your evidence; this was thoroughly tested at the Inquiry. It really is not helpful at this stage to present the Council's evidence as fact and community groups’ evidence as hearsay.’

‘I find your argument here disingenuous; as stated above, I have based my findings and recommendations in response to the decision that the Council actually took in March 09’.

‘I fail to see how any council can judge whether or not it is providing a comprehensive and efficient service without having made an assessment of the needs it is seeking to meet in the delivery of such a service’.

‘I can only repeat my concerns about the paucity of evidence on which the Council took this decision. I would like to stress, for the avoidance of doubt that I have not assumed that other financial resources are available from other services budgets’.

‘You are fundamentally misjudging the points I am making to presume that this must be written down in legislation for this to apply’.

‘You will see that I set out in my report what I consider that a reasonable authority would do in seeking to identify a reasonable option in order to comply with its statutory duties. I am concerned, as stated in the report, at a lack of a service plan or strategy, the lack of a needs assessment (or demonstrable evidence/knowledge of existing local needs), the lack of an implementation plan and so on, all of which would be indicators of processes which could have led to the identification of a reasonable option for compliance’.

(3) Council further notes that Ms Charteris felt compelled to point out to the Labour/Liberal Democrat Administration the following:

‘I was indeed struck by the uniqueness of Wirral as a place, surrounded by water on three sides, distinctive and established communities, the location of your estates and the gap between the affluent and deprived. Comparing you to say Darlington in terms of the pattern of library distribution from the perspective of statutory compliance, would be nonsensical’.

(4) Council believes that it is a measure of how lacking in moral courage and how out of touch the Labour/Liberal Democrat Administration is, that despite having had the uniqueness of Wirral explained to them by the Conservative Group, the residents and communities of Wirral and now the Chairman of a Public Inquiry ordered by a Secretary of State, they have still not apologised for betraying the trust of Wirral residents and its communities.

(5) Council expresses its genuine concern that following the receipt of such a letter, independently authored, that no member of the Labour/Liberal Democrat Cabinet did the ‘honourable thing’ and resign.

(6) Council requests that the Chief Executive writes to Sue Charteris to thank her for reminding this and future Administrations of their responsibilities and apologising on behalf of the current Labour/Liberal Democrat Administration for falling so far below the standards of information gathering, consultation and decision making that the residents and communities of Wirral have the right to expect of their elected representatives.

Amendment submitted in accordance with Standing Order 7(2):

AMENDMENT

Proposed by Councillor Simon Holbrook

Seconded by Councillor Bob Moon

Delete all and replace with:

Council welcomes the publication of the Council's response to the draft inquiry report on Wirral's Libraries. Council notes that the draft libraries report and Wirral’s response to it were made confidential at the request of the Secretary of State at the time, and were promptly published after the Council was released from this obligation of confidentiality.

Council notes

·  that the Government’s National Review of libraries has been concluded and its report has been published. Council looks forward to the publication of future policy guidance from the incoming government after the general election to inform decisions on the long term future and shape of Wirral’s library services.

·  that at its meeting of 15th February, Council agreed, with all-party support, to bring forward proposals for enhanced community engagement to ensure that major policy decisions include more robust processes of public consultation, as appropriate, before decisions are taken. Thereby demonstrating that it has taken into account the findings of the Inquiry Report on those matters relating to public consultation.

·  that the Council is committed to the fullest public consultation on the development of sustainable library services that are both affordable and meet people’s needs and have committed to keeping open all libraries until such a review has taken place.

·  that the Cabinet has assigned a substantial amount of funding to the completion of maintenance backlogs at all library buildings.

Council is acutely aware that between 2011 and 2014, this Council will need to save over £60m, and that the limited resources the Council has will need to be shared out across a host of demands. This is before the impact of any post general election emergency budget on local government finances is taken into account.

Difficult decisions lie ahead, but the Council has set in place processes to ensure those decisions properly balance the public’s priorities with available resources to deliver a modern sustainable library service.

The amendment was put and carried (39:22)