Tales from the Chamber : Annual General Meeting

The Wirral Chamber of Commerce (WCoC) AGM kicks off any minute now so we’d provide an alternative to the formalities. No doubt with their local connections the Chamber must feel as though they have gold plated protection from criticism from either us or the growing number of aggrieved former employees. However perhaps they’ll take more notice of their own ‘strategic partners’ –  well they are for now anyway!-  who have been getting in touch. It comes to something when their quite happy to share the Chamber’s  audited statutory accounts , revised Articles of Association and the agenda for the AGM. We wouldn’t want to spoil the excitement of tonight’s meeting by publishing them in advance but we would like publish this comment made by one of our sources about the accounts:

Chamber accounts……..less an income and expenditure statement which the

directors would rather not disclose!!!!!!

Moreover here’s a unique insight into how WCoC operates from one of their  ‘strategic partners’ which we guarantee won’t be aired at tonight’s meeting :

I work for a company who are strategic partners with the WCoC.

Well we are until the renewal date and then we will be leaving all together. What a disgrace. On more than one occasion we have used the cafe in the Lauries for dinner and seen the “Golden Girls” Paula Basnett, Kate Eugini, Sara Davies and I forget the other names, sat there drinking wine in the afternoon.

However, the main reason for my email is the Construction Forum run by Sara Davies. The summer forum saw us all at Thornton Hall Hotel (who were excellent by the way). The guest list was pure VIP!! Muse, YPG and Peel all there. Of course it was hard to speak to them because they were placed on a table at the front guarded by the “Golden Girls”. Did I mention the “Golden Girls” were necking bottles of Prosecco on the “Chamber” tab???? I saw 6 and I left at 7pm so God knows how many they had. Muse and Peel, once again, failed to answer any questions and “our chamber” failed to ask any questions.

“60% OF THE WORKFORCE MUST BE LOCAL!!”

Paula Basnett told me that she would be personally overseeing this!!! That’s a bit like Harvey Weinstein saying he will look after your wife!!!

I then attended the Construction Forum last month. Sara Davies promised the world, YPG, Carrol Build, Peel!! None turned up obviously, but then why would they when they had already told her they were not. They were placed there to attract people to the forum, which was awful!! “A talk from Jonathan Quinn”. Wow!!! I wont be slagging that gentleman off but let’s face it he brings nothing to the table does he!!!

I have also seen the 2 best members of the chamber staff leave (Lisa Furlong and my favorite Heather Heaton!!!). They both left having a gripe with the chamber!!!

They need new management!! And they need to start working FOR Wirral businesses!!!

Wirral Leaks Weekly Dispatch #13

CARPET BURNS 

Our Wallasey Town Hall (WTH) fixtures and fittings expert contacted us to say :

Hi,
Sorry not able to get a picture ..but for over a week a team of carpet fitters have been fitting the most luxurious carpet in the council chamber at WTH .
It’s very thick, predominantly black with gold swirls, must have cost a fortune, it looks and feels like top end! But what else would you expect from these self righteous t****.
Perhaps one of your contacts will be able to get you a pic.
Just sayin’….

Sounds like it was designed by Wirral Leaks’ favourite motivational speaker Mr T !

The first person to provide us with a pic of the new carpet gets to roll around on it with a chief officer of their choice . Let’s bring back the glory days of municipal rumpy-pumpy (Shake’N’ Vac not provided) .

STUCK IN TRAFFIC

The appointment of of highly paid consultants to perform statutory tasks on behalf of Wirral Council officers continues. The latest insult brought to our attention involves the appointment of Mott MacDonald (not a euphemism) to complete a Traffic Network Management Plan at a cost of £22,745.19 . Apparently they were the only ones to submit an application. And what do you get for your money you might ask?

Wirral Council are looking to appoint a consultant to produce a Traffic Network
Management Plan. The objective of the commission is to undertake two
distinct stages of work. This will include an audit to review against the current
legislation to ensure that Wirral Council is discharging its responsibilities. The
second element of the work is to produce a Traffic Network Management
Plan.
The Traffic Management Act 2004, Part 2: Network Management by Local
Authorities imposes a duty on traffic authorities to secure expeditious
movement of traffic on their network and to appoint a Traffic Manager. It is
important that the authority undertakes its duties under Part 2 of the Traffic
Management Act satisfactorily, and in the event of an authority failing to
perform its network management duty the Secretary for State has powers to
intervene. This work will identify what is required to pass the duty.

Read more here : Network Management Plan

By the sounds of it it is basically an arse-covering exercise in case central government intervenes yet again ( see also ‘Local Plan’) and asks why local government officers haven’t got a Mr Magoo as to what is required to cobble together their own Network Management Plan.

BCEGI TO DIFFER

We understand  BCEGI  is an international property developer and construction company with foundations in China who hoped to be Wirral Council’s joint venture partner in the Wirral Growth Company . However as we reported it was Muse Developments who got the gig – Muse Musings and More Muse Musings . You will also note that the runner up in the bid was BCEGI/ Scarborough and we noted that there were some problematic areas with bids .Sure enough we have just received the following leak from a well placed source :

So a letter has been sent from BCEGI (the other company competing for Wirral Council’s assets) complaining about several serious issues relating to the whole procurement exercise. Now who was the person heading up the procurement exercise? ………..

Oh dear – we do hope these allegations prove unfounded. How many times have Wirral Council cocked up a procurement exercise and uttered those immortal words : lessons have been learned. We certainly hope they didn’t put the procurement in the hands of a highly remunerated consultant with a chequered past or we could be looking at yet another potential failure of due diligence couldn’t we?

AND FINALLY ……..TRIBUNAL TRIBULATIONS

We’re best not commenting on news of this Tribunal found on John Brace’s blog . Suffice to say we believe a forthcoming Tribunal in that there London is likely to feature many of our recurrent themes /recurring nightmares. Who needs a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) bout when you’ve got Martin Morton v Information Commissioner’s Office and Wirral Council . There’ll be blood and snot flying everywhere – hopefully anyway……. 

Wirral Leaks Weekly Dispatch #7

THE FREE PRESS

If nothing else Wirral is well served by free media – mainstream or otherwise . From Wirral Leaks  to Wirral Globe to Wirral View to Wirral Life – all along the news spectrum from the grime to the gloss.

However did you spot the deliberate mistake? We’ve been asked what part of  the word ‘free’ doesn’t Wirral Council understand . Those of our readers who have miraculously received their first ever print edition of Wirral View have been asking us how can it have ‘FREE’ emblazoned on the front cover when the print and distribution costs and presumably the wages of the cut and paste mob who are responsible for compiling the unwanted rag runs into hundreds of thousands of £££ each year and is paid for by council tax payers ?

For those who had the honour and privilege of finally receiving a copy of Wirral View the most frequently asked question is : “Are there elections due ?  In probably the last edition before purdah we understand it was rammed with Wirral Growth Company/Muse Developments/Wirral Waters articles replete with the obligatory artist’s impressions. There wasn’t even room for any healthy, cheap and nourishing recipes! We are sure a peep at the online edition would confirm the veracity of these claims but as the saying goes you don’t have to go to the Arctic to know it’s cold…

Another reader was a bit alarmed by the Wirral View headline above . At first they thought it was members of the Wirral Council cabal getting a vigilante posse together and taking time out from next week’s MIPIM conference in Cannes to track down ‘His Lordship’ and give him a good pasting . That was until they read the article , which was about how not to upset the kiddiewinks with stories about all the nasty things going on in the world. Although we think telling them to get a good education, not to do drugs and get away from Wirral as fast as you can is the best advice that any Wirral parent could give to their child.

THE ART OF DOING BUSINESS ON THE GOLF COURSE

From the glitz and glamour of Cannes we glide seamlessly to the latest glossy, glamorous, aspirational edition of Wirral Life . Inexplicably the cover star is hasbeen chanteuse / gardener Kim Wilde. So is Kim –  best known for that annoying racket ‘Kids in America’  – coming to Wirral as part of her UK tour ? Er,no. She’s going to Wrexham ( oh the glamour of it all) . We couldn’t work out a Wirral connection even though the exclusive and highly insightful interview revealed that Ms Wilde only has “2 handbags and less than 10 pairs of shoes (not counting trainers) “. Now if the interviewer had asked her about what trackie she would wear to visit The Pound Bakery we might have understood why Wirral Life was plugging her tour and giving her front cover status.

However less of this celebrity flummery what did interest us was finding out about the inevitable Wirral Chamber of Commerce section. There was news of Wirral Waters ( don’t they know it’s had a re-brand to Wirral Waters One?) and the Wirral Chamber Corporate Cup as the Chamber  ‘host prestigious corporate golf day at Caldy’  . What is it with these people and bloody golf?  We’ve long known that much of Wirral Council business is conducted at Wallasey Golf Club and of course there’s that  Hoylake housing development proposal masquerading as a ‘golf resort’ but we’re definitely with Mark Twain on this one – “golf is a good walk spoiled”. The point of this anti-golf tirade (and we do have one) is that one of the 2018 teams is Morgan Sindall . Muse Developments are part of the Morgan Sindall group of companies .  Is anyone other than us joining the dots? Read more here : Morgan Sindall

 

WIRRAL UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL : #PROUD  – The Musical 

Following our  Wirral University Teaching Hospital : #Proud ?  story we’ve been sent a video of the opening of Arrowe Park Hospital entrance from 2014 involving a ‘flashmob’ performing the song ‘Proud’. It brought a lump to the throat and a tear to the eye – but for reasons that probably means that we’re best walking away from the keyboard. Disgraced former WUTH CEO David Allison can be seen at the start of the video doing the difficult job of encouraging someone to cut the ribbon. So David tell us what did YOU do since this was filmed to make you feel proud?

AND FINALLY…….

We have some very observant and tuned-in readers who look at the world in the same slightly skewiff way that we do . Accordingly we are grateful for both the picture taken from a Channel 4 ident along with the following comment :

My daughter has forwarded me this image today explaining that this giant monster is actually a deconstructed number 4 (as in C4).

So, not only is it a good New Brighton image but it is also, I guess, some kind of metaphor for what Wirral Leaks is trying to do – deconstructing Wirral?

(or, like those blokes in wheelchairs…maybe I am pushing it)

More Muse Musings

The closest we’re ever going to get to a Pre-Raphaelite joke Pic : ‘The Blessed Damozel’  Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Lady Lever Art Gallery , Port Sunlight )

What warms what’s left of the dying embers of our heart is when we set the hares running and questioning, enquiring  Wirralians come running back to share their concerns with us.

So following on from yesterday’s Muse Musings story we have yet more muse musings.

The first observation concerns a report in Place North West with whom Wirral Council seem to have struck up a special rapport.  After reading about the Wirral Council/Wirral Growth Company / Muse Developments ‘preferred development partner’ hook up what particularly caught the interest of one of our readers was something not included in the bulletpointed  list of ‘initial proposals’ and which as far as we know , is not reported elsewhere (or indeed in Council leader’s Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies’ message to  Labour Party members – see below) . Hidden in plain sight is the comment that  ‘Place North West also understands that some of the office space is earmarked as a new headquarters for Wirral Council’ . No prizes for guessing which of those currently playing ‘let’s- pretend-to-be -property magnates -with public assets’ will be earmarked for spanking new office space if this proposal comes off . However it would seem to be politically inopportune to metaphorically shout it from the top of the Wirral Waters ‘International Trade Centre’ (see any number of previously published artist’s impressions).  Read full article here : Muse chosen for £1bn Wirral regeneration

Meanwhile another switched on Wirral Leaks reader referred us to report of  next week’s Cabinet 28th February  where the Muse Developments appointment is to be rubber -stamped.   We’re sure you all know the drill by now . Pip introduces the report and talks about challenges/ Tory cuts/ budget shortfall/20 Pledges/bigs up Wirral Growth Company and then the rest of the Cabinet chip in with carefully rehearsed variations of Pip’s paean.

We can guarantee that what won’t be discussed is some of the more problematic areas in the report identified by own of our readers :

Bidder A is Muse

Bidder B is BCEGI/Scarborough

An investigative journalist such as your good selves might want to look at how Muse develop and how this agreement is to be made. (And the so called ‘Muse tax). They are stating 50/50 but Muse never put any money into schemes. They borrow. The report states that the BCEGI/Scarborough bid matched the land value with cash.

3.32 Based on the business plans submitted, Bidder A requires a Council cash injection whereas Bidder B requires land investment as security for the cash equity that it would put into the Joint Venture (JV) on the Council’s behalf. In terms of the peak exposure, Bidder B had a peak security requirement of £7.5m whereas the peak cash requirement from Bidder A is only £3.96m. Therefore, under the worst case scenario where the market crashes and the developments stall then Bidder A’s proposal has a lower peak risk exposure. 3.33 The total returns from the proposed development of the 11 priority sites assessed under Bidder A’s proposals is c£30.4m. This is broken down as follows:
· Land Value (Capital) – £17.7m
· Profit (Revenue) – £11.7m
· Loan Note Interest – £0.8m 3.34 The majority of the financial returns from Bidder A are delivered to the council in the first couple of years of the JV being established. In fact, £27.8m would be received by 2021.

 A couple of points which whiff:

 If the market crashes, what happens to land value? Presumably it rockets towards zero, whereas cash is always cash and their £3.96m loss is absolute.

1. If Muse aren’t completing until 2022 (one year later Bidder A), how can they possibly have realised 91% of total returns by 2021?
2. The 7.5m land value is also Bidder B’s assessment which is much more than the actual land value!!!

 Why are they happy to bear a risk of £3.96m cash against using their land intelligently! This doesn’t fit with the revenue & financial pressures that the council is under. I would have thought that an asset based investment would be more attractive to a cash poor authority.

 You may want to also look into the relationship with WBC financial analysts GVA and their relationships with MUSE in other schemes. The whole thing is a stitch up. The Bidder B development is quicker and a much more financially sound offer without the council borrowing cash. Bidder A has 2 multi storey car parks and the council are saying this is a good thing! During the bid they were telling all bidders that they can’t fill or make pay the car parks they already have! 

By the looks of it this one will run and run (and our hares are on to it). Meanwhile here’s the Pip-approved  version of the story that the Wirral Council ‘leader’ chooses to share with the Labour Party faithful (and clearly the not so faithful!) Check out the final line (which we have put in bold) which is pure Corbyn-lite Common Purpose speak . We’re just left wondering whether Frank Field approved the Jezza references?

Dear Labour Party member

In the coming weeks, Wirral’s Labour Council will be announcing a new initiative to drive economic growth across the borough in what will be the biggest public-sector led regeneration programme in the UK.

Wirral’s development story began nearly 200 years ago when investors were encouraged to choose our peninsula to build great shipyards, factories and plan new towns and villages that were the envy of the world.

Today we face new challenges – how to fund our public services, improve job opportunities for residents, provide suitable housing, and attract new investment into our borough.

As you know, in 2021 this Tory Government will stop providing councils with the Revenue Support Grant, a vital source of income for us to deliver front-line services. While wealthy London councils may be able to get by on their council tax and business rates, for authorities like ours it will be a devastating loss of nearly £30m a year.

We have to act to secure the services we know our residents rely upon. As Jeremy Corbyn made clear in our 2017 Manifesto  – “our public services must rest on the foundation of sound finances.”

Council’s Cabinet will meet on 28th February to approve a recommendation to appoint Northwest-based regeneration specialist Muse Developments as our joint venture partner to create Wirral Growth Company.

Muse has been behind a number of impressive schemes across the North West such as St. Paul’s Square in Liverpool and urban regeneration projects in Chester, Warrington and Stockport and we are impressed with their track record of working with local authorities and meeting a wide range of regeneration goals.

In what is an ambitious but responsible public-private sector partnership, the profits from the numerous developments will be split 50-50, with the Council’s share providing income to be reinvested to help compensate for the financial shortfall we face because of decisions taken by Tory Ministers in Whitehall.

This Council’s ambitions are shared by our new partner. We have enshrined in the guiding principles of the joint venture a commitment to deliver our 2020 pledges, to hire local workers, purchase materials and services from local businesses and to provide training and work experience for local residents through our relationship with Wirral Met College.

Three years ago, our administration set 2020 Pledges and I am pleased that Wirral Growth Company will play a key role in delivering these goals. We said we would create thousands of new jobs, attract 100s of millions in new investment, and provide good quality housing and protect and improve Wirral’s attractive local environment.

Wirral Growth Company will deliver:

£1bn Growth Plan
As the economy continues to flat-line under the failing, Brexit-obsessed Tories, Wirral Growth Company will be a game changer, injecting hundreds of millions of new investment in Wirral.

Buy Local, Hire Local
As our 2017 General Election manifesto stated, we understand the creation of wealth is a ‘collective endeavour between workers, entrepreneurs and investors’. That’s why I wanted to make sure Wirral got the best possible social outcomes from this deal, so have included commitments to hire locally, buy supplies from and contract with local firms, train local workers, and meet the highest environmental, health and safety standards.

New Homes
There is a housing shortage nationally, and a need for appropriate new homes to be built here in Wirral. Our plans will include the creation of more homes right across Wirral, meeting and exceeding our affordable homes targets in a way the private sector alone never could.

Extra Care Village
With health and social care services struggling to survive under the Conservatives, Wirral Growth Company will develop an Extra Care Village to look after vulnerable residents because this Labour-led authority cares for all, especially those in the greatest need.

Thousands of New Jobs
Providing work for our residents sits at the heart of any regeneration plan. We predict Wirral Growth Company will help deliver more than 3,000 new jobs within the first three years. We will also develop and strengthen local ties with Wirral Met College to train the workforce of the future as part of  a solid foundation for a local industry strategy.

With the deal being proposed, Wirral Council won’t be selling any of its assets, we will have full involvement in every development decision, we will benefit from the economic growth any regeneration creates and, as a 50-50 joint venture, the Council will benefit from the profits.

If cabinet approve the recommendation, the next steps include starting the conversation with you and local residents about what, where, when and how regeneration begins across Wirral.

I believe this is the start of an extraordinary new chapter for Wirral. Through our pioneering spirit, Wirral Growth Company can help blaze an urban regeneration trail that shapes our 21st century economic fortunes.

By using the strength of our common endeavour, I know we will able to deliver these bold plans to deliver for the many, not the few.

Members who are interested in learning more about Wirral Growth Company should visit www.wirralwellmade.com website for more details, or join the conversation on @wirralwellmade twitter account or wirralwellmade facebook page.

Cllr Phil Davies

Leader of Wirral Council

 

 

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

 

Dispatches from Dystopia

You do insist on sending us news about our former domicile. But where else would you go for solace from the dark foreboding place we know as the Wirral peninsula?

Whilst we appreciate we’ve found refuge far from the madding crowd you poor people still have to endure the madness. Nevertheless we promise you (and ourselves) that we will try and make sense of it all from a sunbed overlooking the Med and living the life of a flâneur – it’s a hard life but someone’s got to do it (as long as it’s not too much effort.)

However we tell you now you won’t get a look in once the temperature rises. So get your grievances and observations in before it’s too late!

First up we have a number of comments on the unfolding Wirral University Teaching Hospital  (WUTH) story (not that you’d know there was a story from perusing the local press) . Whilst it was obvious to us and others that there was a mahoosive problem years ago it obviously went ignored by senior management and regulators – because as we know that’s what they do. Denial may be pathological but for some but for others it’s a career path.

Wirral University Teaching Hospital – Leaks to Cascade

Sadly , it must be bittersweet for some of our contributors who have been ousted from their roles – be it nurses or trustees – because they dared to speak truth to power ( to the likes of former WUTH CEO Len Richards) and now find themselves belatedly vindicated only when their careers and livelihoods have been trashed. Meanwhile the bullies and incompetents go on to find themselves a lucrative niche elsewhere . Talking of which why do we keep coming across the name Linda Birch/Bryceland?

Meanwhile don’t raise your hopes of any improvement as NHS Improvement (!) are clearly in denial about the historical concerns that led to the current crisis as they have written to a prominent complainant and explained that cultural,behavioural and governance issues have seemingly sprung up from nowhere  :

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding Wirral University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Earlier this month we announced that Carole Taylor Brown will oversee the independent investigation into Wirral University Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The investigation follows a number of allegations made to NHS Improvement about cultural, behavioural and governance issues at the trust, as well as concerns about the handling of a recent disciplinary case involving allegations of sexual misconduct. 

 The investigation will:

(i) investigate concerns raised by members of trust staff in late 2017 with NHS Improvement regarding cultural, behavioural and governance issues

(ii) review the trust’s handling of a recent disciplinary case involving allegations of sexual misconduct; and 

(iii) consider NHS Improvements’ response to the concerns raised with it per (i) above

Meanwhile we’ve had a message about Wirral Council from Frankie . Not that one, obviously – he’s got the starving mites to look after like a low rent St Francis of Assisi . This particular Frankie says:

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 !