Summer Shorts : The Heat is On

In the absence of His Lordship we are titling this series of brief posts as ‘Summer Shorts’!

This truncated story comes courtesy of several readers who were startled to see a picture of shy and (hopefully) retiring Wirral Council CEO Eric ‘Feeble’ Robinson on the front page of this week’s print edition of Wirral Globe .

Whilst most of our readers were startled to belatedly discover the identity of our reclusive ‘Council chief’ (no laughing at the back!) especially when the mischievous Globe dug out the infamous picture that introduced the charismatic ‘Stressed Eric’ to us all when he got the top job at Wallasey Town Hall.

However one particularly perceptive blog follower reader asked us whether this ‘exclusive’ was the death knell to Stressed Eric’s ‘Reign of Error’ as having kept a profile lower than a rattlesnake’s belly he suddenly finds himself thrust into the public gaze.

Feebly pointing the finger at ‘guvmint’ for threats to the local Green Belt because Wirral Council’s failure to meet the statutory  requirement to have a ‘Local Plan’  is somehow the fault of Whitehall mandarins (huh?) , Stressed Eric appears to be dubiously entering the political arena in which local authority CEOs are required to remain resolutely neutral.

With the increasingly unpopular ruling Labour administration currently being under fire from the Wirral public over parking charges and their retention of litter Hitlers Kingdom Security, the cowardly bullies seem to be reverting to type . Historically, when the heat is on they like to throw a CEO and sundry senior officers into the furnace. From Maddox to Wilkie to Coleman to Burgess – especially Burgess who had the temerity to try and mark his territory and stand up to leader of Wirral Council Frank Field, sorry , we mean  Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies  –  there has been a scorched earth policy where highly paid public officials are burned at the stake and the politicians rise up like a phoenix from the flames.

We are left asking ourselves how long can Stressed Eric stand the heat before he’s all burnt out?……..

Living off the fat of the land : Is Eric Robinson morphing into Eric Pickles?

 

U -Turn on Parking Charges

So it would seem that the Wirral Council ‘leadership’ (ha! ha! ha!) have been forced to make yet another embarrassing u-turn on coastal parking charges.

It would appear that Wirral Council ‘leader’  Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies  has been out meeting the people and has been told in no uncertain terms what the local council tax payers think of his proposals. As when it comes to parking charges they’ve told him he can’t stick ’em where the sun do shine! Read more here : Council leader scraps Wirral coastal car parking plan

Of course when the opposition is on his own doorstep Pip was bound to finally sit up and take notice – especially when the protest is this eyecatching and dare we say, artisanal. How very West Kirby!

Wirral Leaks Weekly Dispatch #19

HAVE YOUR SAY ON PROPOSED PARKING CHARGES BEFORE JUNE 22

Derby Pool car park users have their say now its up to the rest of you to let Wirral Council know that drivers aren’t cash cows to fund fat cats.

ARTIST’S IMPRESSION OF THE WEEK

 

Here’s the latest artist’s impression for Wirral Waters (are they still calling it that?)

Apparently so :

As well as creating a hub for marine ‘entrepreneurship, enterprise, skills and culture’, the complex will revamp the 1860s central hydraulic tower and engine house designed by Jesse Hartley as a copy of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The Grade II-listed building was bombed during the Second World War and has remained largely derelict ever since.

Read more here : Wirral Waters Marine Complex

It wouldn’t surprise us that the next thing you know Wirral Council leader  Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies and the usual crew from the Wirral Chamber of Commerce will be jetting off to Italy to twin Birkenhead with Florence!

However it seems to us that Wirral Waters continues to progress with its opportunistic, ad hoc  developments. A dementia care village here, a marine complex there etc; etc ; – backed by a never ending portfolio of artist’s impressions . All very eyecatching – but not as eyecatching as the big red bridge in Tower Road that is still resolutely refusing to be put back in its place.

Pic courtesy of Wirral Globe

BAMBOO HULLABALOO

From “Save Our Social Housing” Facebook group :

Might we suggest that Labour Party members approach Wirral Councillors who sit on Magenta Living’s Board and particularly their Labour representatives Cllr Steve ‘Foulkesy’ Foulkes and Cllr Stuart ‘Witless’ Whittingham (or even Tory councillor  Jeff Green – after all he is Foulkesy’s ‘kindred’). Or perhaps not……

Magenta Living Board

AND FINALLY ……THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

Details of  latest Wirral councillors ‘Gifts and Hospitality’ register has been published . Needless to say we were particularly drawn to Council leader  Power Boy Pip’s entries. which are as follows :

Birkenhead and Tranmere leader of the council Cllr Phil Davies

March 11, 2018: Visit to New York for the City Leadership initiative – March 11 to 15, 2018, offered by Bloomberg Foundation.

Accepted.  

Value: unknown.

November 28, 2017: Meal and concert ticket at the Echo Arena, Liverpool offered by The Contact Company.

Accepted.

Value: unknown.

As our eyewitness source told us last November the latter was not just a meal and concert ticket- Pip  was in a private box….

 

….council leader Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies , seen bopping away in a PRIVATE box in the Liverpool Echo Arena at last night’s Queen & Adam Lambert concert, paid for the dubious privilege or at least made an appropriate conflict of interest declaration. Just sayin’ …… Full story here : A Repulsive Exclusive

We thought at the time that Pip could have been enjoying the hospitality of the Liverpool Echo itself  but it now transpires that he was the beneficiary of Asif Hamid’s largesse (!) via The Contact Company . As far as we’re concerned this is considerably worse in terms of conflict of interest , especially when you consider that Hamid is the Chair of Wirral Chamber of Commerce who have been the beneficiaries of Wirral Council generosity when it comes to giving the Chamber  grace and favour properties – sometimes at peppercorn rent. We would’ve thought that it would have been prudent of Pip to think twice before accepting such a gift.

But then we suppose this is nothing new for Pip. After all he is used to dancing to an old Queen’s tune isn’t he?…….

Public Service Announcement : Parking Signs (Retrospective)

As a follow up to our  Public Service Announcement : Parking Fines   story we bring you an update courtesy of a publicly spirited individual who spotted  – quite by chance because apparently that’s the only way you would discover it – the ‘Notice of Application For Advertisement Consent’ that was rather unhelpfully attached to a lamp-post OUTSIDE the Aldi, Prenton car park.

Significantly the site notice would not be visible to anyone entering or exiting the car park by motor vehicle and is not placed on any of the signs which currently do not have planning permission. Well , Wirral Council wouldn’t give the heads up to the public that the Parking Eye Ltd signs have been in place for years have been operating without proper authority now would they?

What’s more the site notice has been attached with the usual care and attention that you would associate with Wirral Council and the details of the application are all but obscured ( our publicly spirited source has since re-attached the notices so that the occasional dog walker can view at their leisure).

For your benefit the application from Parking Eye Ltd is for :

Car Park Management Signage – 12 signs mounted on lighting columns , signage poles or on the wall of the buildings signage is of 3 sizes, 600mm x 800mm, 700mm  x900mm and 600mm x 700mm facing internally into the car park to advise of the car parks stay allocation as per the British Parking Association (BPA) (Retrospective) 

Isn’t it a shame that the site notices weren’t facing internally into the car park? Note also how the word ‘Retrospective’ is tacked on in brackets – like the afterthought the belated application is itself.

Might we helpfully suggest that any representations about the proposals  should include the observation that as the car park site has operated without any legal authority to impose fines/charges/penalties/whatever , to whom do members of the public who have been cowed into paying apply for a refund? Parking Eye Ltd or Wirral Council for allowing the situation to arise in the first place?

Advent Farewell 24 – Feeling the Pinch at Christmas

As we await Santa’s arrival at Leaky Towers we have been reflecting on money matters – as most of us do at this time of  the year. But in this instance we’re talking about Wirral Council (just for a change) .

Does anyone think it was a bit Grinch-like of  Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies to announce plans at this week’s Labour Cabinet meeting for Wirral’s promenades and coastal walks to be subject to the same parking charges as our parks . This latest plan is projected to raise £245K per annum . Pip seems to be forever deriving pleasure from spoiling other people’s enjoyment of Wirral’s natural assets doesn’t he? Pip + The Grinch = The Pinch.

But does anyone think it is particularly obscene that at the same meeting (and behind closed doors obviously) the Cabinet made the recommendation to bung failed Super Duper Director Joe Blott £390K to get rid once and for all.  Is it just us who’s making the connection that rewards for failure are increasingly paid by us on a daily basis?

Isn’t it sickening to think that the likes of Blott and consultants like incompetent?/negligent?/corrupt? Stewart Halliday never have to feel the real pinch courtesy of  ‘The Pinch’. For when it comes to Wirral Council there’s always money for pay-offs , for consultants, for Frank Field’s pet projects and somehow income generation is not a concern when it comes to Wirral Chamber of Commerce and their peppercorn rents and gifts of public assets.

Meanwhile these are locations where you are going to have to scramble for change :

• North Parade, Hoylake / Meols
• South Parade, West Kirby
• Derby Pool, Wallasey
• Kings Parade, Wallasey
• Gunsite, Wallasey
• Leasowe Lighthouse

Might we suggest the change that really needs to come is at the local elections in May 2018.

Parking Perks

 

By popular demand we’re back to an unpopular proposal. Yes , we’re talking car parking charges again. Isn’t it a shame the local electorate don’t get quite so agitated about the power,corruption and lies within Wirral Council that have been going on for years?

However some of our correspondents have suggested alternative proposals to the £1 million car parking charging proposals. They are all eminently sensible – such as the under siege and ineffectual council ‘leader’ Power Boy Pip Davies dispensing with a personal hand holder at our expense . Yes,  that’s you Martin Liptrot (aka Liptrotsky) !

It has also been suggested to us that if the proposed car parking charges are approved that Wirral Council staff should stump up to park their car outside Wirral Council premises.

Whilst some of Wirral Council staff already pay heavily for the privilege and honour of having a monthly pay cheque we have to accept that the downtrodden rank and file staff of Wirral Council are just happy to have a job and are never going to question the excesses of their political paymasters which has let them enjoy the easy ride they’ve had all these years.

So let’s turn our attention to the people who make the decisions (or rather the people that make the proposals) – the ‘poor’ saps who head up Wirral Council departments who have to suggest ways to save money whilst trousering a big fat cheque.

Who can forget where this leads ? – the proposal from numbskull Rick O’Brien – whatever happened to him? , answers on a postcard please – that vulnerable people should have to wait 4 weeks before they receive a service to which they are legally entitled in the hope that they die and therefore save Wirral Council money. I’m sure we’re all agreed what an absolute hero that appalling piece of work was for coming up with that money saving scheme!

So here’s our suggestion (and let’s face it as they’re so bloody clueless we all know they’ll be taking notes)  – how about those ‘designated’ parking spaces right outside the town hall side entrance for CEO, Leader of Conservative Party, Leader of Labour Party, and same for Lib Dems (if there are any left)  painted in large white paint so nobody else  is allowed to park there!! Are they willing to lead by example and offer to ease the burden of the local Council taxpayer , freely relinquish their privilege and pay for their parking space?

No thought not!

So how about those overpaid Council officers who come up with these madcap fundraising schemes ? As most of them don’t live round here , how about they contribute to the place they said they cared so ‘passionately ‘ about in their interview and pay for the privilege of a personal tax free parking space ?  Perhaps we should ask the current Director of Law what he thinks about the suggestion – that’s if he isn’t too busy trying to arrange meetings in a car park  with his solicitor and the scammers in possession of an incriminating tape recording. Just sayin’