Tree Lines

There are a variety of subjects that Wirral Leaks has covered over the years that have engaged people on Wirral who have particular interests – be that litter,NHS, the Green Belt, whistleblowing etc; etc;

One subject that regularly strikes a chord with our readers is…trees. So as today (2 December) marks the end of National Tree Week we thought we’d publish some pertinent comments we’ve received on the subject. First of all , a dedicated Wirral tree preservationist has written the following to commemorate the occasion :

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council (in NW England) is marking the UK’s National Tree Week by felling 19 healthy, mature trees in Ashton Park, West Kirby……and lopping off branches from another 24 healthy, mature trees. It appears that Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council has quite grasped the true purpose of the National Tree Week.

The tree felling and general usage of chain saws, in Ashton Park, should stop immediately. Tree felling in parks, across the whole borough, is under way. The chipped timber is sent to a bio-fuel plant in Wrexham.

Is the tree felling campaign linked to the roll out of 5G (fifth generation) mobile phone masts?

7,000 mature trees have been felled in Sheffield…..with many more lined up for felling.

Madness.

However this is only half the story. From what we understand Wirral Council thought they were ‘out of the woods’ when it came to a particular tragedy involving neglect of Wirral’s trees but a council insider tells us :

The tree situation is one of the most ridiculous you can imagine . Total mis- management and neglect based on ignorance,  stupidity and lack of competence within every level of the council.

Basically, the council made redundant, some years back, competent tree specialists , hence the situation became dangerous. Trees have fallen in parks, mainly in winds, very very few are diseased, but some are. One fell in Central Park landing on the site hut 18 months ago. That was swept  under the carpet . Another falling on a car with the unfortunate passenger losing her baby. Read here:  Heartbreaking tragedy as mum-to-be loses newborn baby after tree falls   

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have passed the investigation over to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE).

Basically the contractor Man Coed name a tree for action, cut away and they are not questioned because no one (within Wirral Council) knows what they are looking for. The council are reactive not proactive and are now looking to employ two tree specialists following countless thousands of pounds wasted along with accompanying environmental destruction…

An LRJ Reaction

Apparently Cllr Louise Reecejones (LRJ) is appealing. Well , we suppose there’s a first for everything!

However in this particular case when we say appealing we mean that yet another disgraced Wirral councillor is proving once again that taking responsibility for their actions is an alien concept.

As ,yes indeed, according to Liverpool Echo  LRJ  is appealing against the recent sanctions imposed against her by a Wirral Council Standards Panel.

Sanction Distinction

We note that Wirral Leaks gets its first mention in the Liverpool Echo as a ‘local news site’ courtesy of Liam Mk II (Liam Thorp) . Of course Liam Mk I (Liam Murphy) wouldn’t give us the oxygen of publicity as he was too busy dancing to Wirral Council’s ruling administration’s tune despite apparently being ‘outraged’ by how they carried on. So outraged was he , he made a covert recording of a covert recording , played it to his oppo in Wirral Council, later claimed he couldn’t take part in an investigation exposing corruption as he was protecting the confidentiality of his sources and thus allowed a corrupt regime to carry on abusing their power. Thereby proving once and for all that Liam Murphy was to investigative journalism what Larry Grayson was to Rugby League!

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/councillor-sent-texts-saying-could-13292419

Among the damning evidence made against LRJ are texts released during a Code of Conduct investigation include : “They don’t seem to realise I’m at the top of the pecking order ” and referring to the investigator : “She doesn’t scare me and a little councillor involved might just shut her up.”

Listen folks , all we can say is that we know we’re all in big trouble if LRJ considers herself  ‘top of the pecking order’ . However what can we expect when local Labour politicians consider themselves to be untouchable and have been acting with impunity and without consequence for years? Let’s remember the only reason that LRJ’s adversary and convicted criminal Cllr Jim ‘Crabby’ Crabtree was suspended by North West Labour was down to Wirral Leaks ! So we’d  like to know what their Regional Director , Anna Hutchinson, is going to do about this latest disgrace. It’s all a bit embarrassing (yet again), isn’t it Anna ?

As you can see from the extracts from the leaked Wirral Council Internal Audit report the evidence against LRJ was ‘compelling’. And again you know you’re in really big trouble when even the complicit and compliant Internal Audit come to this conclusion (and yes we’re particularly looking at the Chief Internal Auditor – googly-eyed brown-noser Mark Niblock) . The information we have in our possession (and have had for some time ) is eyewatering and leaves us wondering why it takes 2 years for it to reach the public domain.

We understand the reason that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) didn’t proceed with prosecution because the money was ‘recoverable’  and it was not possible to prove who had fabricated the invoices.  Moreover we understand that Wirral Council have been trying for over a year to retrieve sums relating to this case amounting to £16.5 K (out of the infamous £19K that Crabtree referred to in his malicious phone call to LRJ) .

Strangely it would appear Wirral Council have been unsuccessful in retrieving the money to date. Can you imagine if any of us owed them £16.5K? We’d be hauled right down Wirral Magistrate’s Court.

But then we’re sure Wirral Council (and particularly the ruling Labour administration) wouldn’t want any of this heard in open court.

Which is why Wirral Leaks will continue to publish – in the public interest – the continuing developments in this case two years after we first gave the heads up on this increasingly complex and particularly sordid story.