Peel, Pillow Talk and Forked Tongues

As a follow up to yesterday’s Peel group story and as promised we bring you news of a significant appointment at Wirral Council which has surprisingly gone unheralded.

So ladies and gentleman we proudly present to you , Brian Bailey , who from last month has been Wirral Council’s Corporate Director for Economic and Housing Growth  

As you can see he has a very familiar profile to the unlamented former Wirral Council CEO Graham Burgess. Indeed they would have worked together at Blackburn with Darwen Council as Bailey was there between 2001-18 .

We can only surmise his former CEO and mentor at Blackburn with Darwen Council must have given him some sage advice. Something along the lines of : ” Fill yer boots. Just don’t get too big for’em or Frank’ll have you out in a flash”

So how was Bailey’s appointment greeted by long suffering staff at Wallasey Town Hall? This is typical of the correspondence received by Wirral Leaks but is particularly interesting in the light of recent press coverage as it reveals a significant connection to Peel Group:

Hello —

See attached the Google search for Delyse Bailey, the wife of Wirral Council’s new regen and economic chief Brian Bailey. Weirdly (or not so weirdly) the LinkedIn profile in question has now been deleted. The council has deals with Peel — and the new guy in charge of the councils relationship will be liaising directly with his wife! It comes at a time when MPs in the borough are launching scathing attacks on Peel for land banking (see Angela Eagle article published on the Globe online). Councillors like Angie Davies have also waded in.

Was Brian’s appointment a Conflict of Interest? Was due diligence even done for this £120k plus role? It stinks. We lower-ranking officers are sick of the incompetency at the top, it emanates from Eric Robinson.

Question surely is what’s going on at an officer level in Wallasey Town Hall? Incompetency, incompetency, incompetency.

This info needs to come out.

Yours,

Wallasey Town Hall insider

We just wonder whether Brian and Delyse might have had a little chinwag over the breakfast table or indulged in some pillow talk about Peel Group’s plans for Wirral Waters which somehow didn’t filter their way through to the leader of Wirral Council, Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies?

Meanwhile current Wirral CEO Eric Robinson is given a platform at a conference held in Manchester to spout the usual bollocks about Wirral Council’s Local Plan ( i.e. they don’t have one and haven’t had one for years):

Wirral’s Local Plan

Wirral Council chief executive Robinson opened the event with a presentation outlining the upcoming opportunities in the borough as it looks to put in place its Local Plan.

• Wirral is one of three authorities in the country that does not have a Local Plan, but is now proposing a major review of green belt land, which will see the proportion of green belt in the borough drop from 46% to 32%
• The “big thing” for the plan was to transform Birkenhead, with a “fantastic opportunity” in place to reverse the decline that has impacted the area for nearly 50 years
• He said the area needed a “younger, more vibrant offer” particularly around Hamilton Square, with options around Birkenhead including a new civic centre, leisure centre, offices, and residential, as part of the Wirral Growth Company’s plans being delivered in partnership with Muse
• Reflecting on the area’s relationship with Liverpool, Robinson said: “Birkenhead should be Brooklyn, not another Manhattan”
• However, Robinson said the Local Plan would look to adopt a “brownfield-first” approach to development, and would look to benefit “the whole of Wirral”
• The chief executive, who has been in post since 2015, said the council had become “much more commercial and business-like in its approach” following changes at the top, and had taken steps to improve skills within the council including doubling its planning team

Full story here : Meet the Authorities: Public-Private Partnerships

Whilst it was bizarrely reassuring to find that Eric Feeble finally acknowledged that Birkenhead had been in decline for half a century we have a horrible vision of him, Bailey and growing horde of ‘transformers’ and ‘planners’ in t-shirts emblazoned with the message :

BIRKENHEAD SHOULD BE BROOKLYN, NOT ANOTHER MANHATTAN      

Muse Musings

How lovely of the local MSM to join the local party (and we all know what party that is don’t we boys and girls?).

OK so the Liverpool Echo and Wirral Globe are exactly ONE MONTH late in dancing to Martin Liptrot’s tune after Wirral Leaks exclusively revealed that Muse Developments were Wirral Council’s preferred partner – in what exactly? Wirral Growth Company – apparently !

Our thanks go to ‘Frankie'(not that one obviously) for saying this  :

I know you’ve moved away and hope your enjoying being away from the rat race…. just to give you an update looks like the clowncil are about to appoint the partner this being MUSE who seem to be the front runner in the shenanigans.

Loves ya leaky
Frankie

MUSE

Wirral Council placing public assets and development programmes under the control of a private company –  what could possibly go wrong?  Just don’t mention Carillion ! Full story here :  Dispatches from Dystopia

However it wasn’t us who noticed that the orchestrated media message about Muse Developments was embargoed until it could be better managed . As one of our (many) sources said after picking up the story from Martin Liptrot’s Facebook page : ” He’s headlines in all our local fearless news outlets today….”

Cabinet to consider appointment of Wirral Growth Company partner

Stunning new images

Isn’t he just ? – but we just wish he’d spare us yet more bloody artist’s impressions. Our favourite quote was from Wirral Council ‘leader’ Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies who is in the Liverpool Echo saying that the Wirral Growth Company “would be accountable to the public”.

Wirral Growth Company – A PRIVATE Limited Company

Well that would make a change wouldn’t it? We can’t even get a public body to be accountable let alone a private limited company. Moreover the Wirral Growth Company appears to be a one man operation (or should that be be one man bandit?) as it is registered in the name of the eternal Wirral Council frontman David Armstrong. A man who when it comes to being held accountable on behalf of Wirral Council at a forthcoming Tribunal said he’d call in sick if asked to do so ( didn’t he Rosemary?)

We’d also like to ask as to why Wirral Council had to resort to a solicitor in Bristol by the name of Christopher Harper (Bevan Brittan LLP )to set up this thoroughly flimsy looking operation.

Having said all that what we’re particularly interested in is the role of Power Boy Pip’s friend and neighbour Martin Liprot (aka Liptrotsky) who according to his LinkedIn page is no longer the ‘Lead Investment Officer (Interim)’ at Wirral Council and has now resorted to being a ‘Communications, Stakeholder Engagement & Public Affairs Consultant’. That’s ‘Spin Doctor’ to you and us. Although somebody still needs to explain how ‘Wirral. Well made. ‘ fits into all of this – even if it is Col Regis Davies ( are you still going with that hilarious nom de guerre, Martin?)

However at this point we really must direct you to Liptrotsky’s vainglorious Facebook page – 98 Republic

All we’d like to say is that you’d think a ‘Communications, Stakeholder Engagement & Public Affairs Consultant’ would know the difference between an ‘article’ and an ‘advertisement feature’ paid for by us wouldn’t you?

We’re left feeling that that we should send out a message to the various inadequate protagonists involved in this increasingly sordid story and ask them to listen to a song written appropriately enough by ‘Propaganda’:

Sell him your soul, sell him your soul, sell him your soul
Never look back, never look back