Last Train to Pipsville

All you trainspotters out there will be aware there’s a ‘mock up’ of the new type of train that is coming to Merseyside that can be seen at Pacific Road tramsheds.
It is actually made of wood and rumoured to have cost a cool £1 million.  It’s not known whether Merseytravel considered consulting the travelling public of Merseyside whether would rather have their over-inflated fares spent on securing guards on trains or on an oversized boy’s toy.

Further rumours that  Merseytravel are planning to rustle up interest in the exhibit by hosting a special Halloween  ‘ghost train horrorshow’ featuring an imposing life size figure of Wirral Council’s Lead Investment Manager Martin Liptrot standing on the train with his arms folded and giving his best death stare are as yet unconfirmed.

We also noticed that the destination on the front of the train was West Kirby which is appropriate for Liptrot and his friend,neighbour,comrade and benefactor , Wirral Council ‘leader’ Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies . Both are season ticket holders on the West Kirby gravy train who try to not look out of the window as they pass through Birkenhead North!

Talking of tramsheds we note that there has been resurrection of the ideas of  streetcars in Birkenhead which were first mooted five years ago when the fantasy that was Wirral Waters was first floated. Now that that fantasy has sunk to the bottom of the Mersey along with Stella Shiu ,her prize winning marrows and the International Trade Centre and rebranded as Wirral Waters One,  the idea of transportation by streetcar been resurrected by Green councillor Pat Cleary in an upcoming Wirral Council Notice of Motion to be debated next week titled , ‘Sustainable Transport For Wirral Waters ‘. Dare we suggest the title should have been ‘ A Streetcar Named Desire To Have Some Coordinated Infrastructure Planning Between Partner Agencies For Once’?…

 

 

 

Wirral Leaks Weekly Dispatch #12

WHAT A WASTE

We’d like to thank the Wirral Leaks reader who sent us the above snapshot which is supposed to represent what Wirral life is like after you’ve made an additional payment over and above your council tax for Wirral Council to deal with your waste . It made us ask ourselves why we ever left Wirral and then we remembered amongst many other things that nepotism , undue deference and general subservience wasn’t for us.

Whilst it seems to be a case of ‘another week, another advertisement feature’ in Wirral Globe it really makes us wonder what made Wirral Globe so popular with Wirral Council all of a sudden – especially when they’ve got their own sewage outlet with Wirral View. Perhaps someone can enlighten us. Oh , wait a minute , they already have!

What’s more we were told :

It’s US-sourced stock photo library time again in Wallasey. This scene of glamorous young people at a barbecue in Tranmere is so typical of life round here.

https://mailchi.mp/wirral/wirrals-garden-waste-club-11th-april?e=c5e90571ae

Ain’t it just! We thought it was just us who didn’t buy the happy,shiny, ethnically diverse people malarkey! Lazy,unimaginative,insensitive and out of touch with reality – yes, that’s Wirral Council folks!

As for the comment on the right of our picture which reads ‘paper is inside’ shouldn’t that be ‘ paper is on the inside’ …….of the ‘Inner Ring’ that is. What a difference a tape makes! Just sayin’ !

SPRIGGS HAS SPRUNG

Keeping the seasonal theme it would appear that not only has spring has sprung so has Cllr Christine Spriggs – sprung into action that is after last week’s post where we questioned the lack of activity when it came to Wirral Council’s  Imagine Wirral programme. Subsequently a Wirral Leaks observer wrote to us to say :

Further strange odd coincidences… you will recall my email to you when I mentioned that there had been nil activity on the Imagine Wirral twitter account since its Feb 18th launch date….

And then of course (yesterday?) you posted a comment about Imagine Wirral – and asked a question to Cllr Christine Spriggs….

But then guess what? The Imagine Wirral Twitter account suddenly appears to have lots of activity on it… and guess who’s ‘tweets’ are very prominent?

Of course just an ‘odd’ coincidence…                            .

And here is another photo from elsewhere…from a couple of ‘election’ days ago.Haha

 

FROM A BANG TO A WHIMPER

We’ve been asked what questions you should ask those smiley people with rosettes (do they still wear rosettes?) currently interrupting your favourite TV programme. That’s up to you and what you feel is important to you ,your family and community – potholes? dog crap? litter? incompetence,dishonesty and corruption? However one reader has made the following suggestion :

My dear Lordship,

In this time of local elections I have been confused by silence. Only a week ago it was reported that the government were allocating a million pounds to the businesses of central Salisbury following the alleged Russian poisoning scandal. This was to support the local shopkeepers who had lost trade due to the tourists and locals steering a wide berth from the town centre.

I seem to remember there is another centre of a town on the Wirral that people are currently steering a wide berth from due to the fact, “It no longer exists, having been blown to bits”.

The good people of New Ferry are probably too shocked following the explosive nature of the incident to ask the question.

And what is the question you may ask?

Why is there no indignation from the local MP’s and councillors in regard to this matter. Or as in the case of a certain former Eastham school, is the land earmarked for a super housing development. Just asking your Lordship?

Regards

AND FINALLY…….. FROM INTERNATIONAL TRADE CENTRE TO DEMENTIA CARE VILLAGE

Meanwhile it’s a case of another week, another artist’s impression!

We still haven’t had a grovelling apology from Wirral Council about Wirral Waters and how they were duped by a Hong Kong bankrupt by the name of Stella Shiu and wasted thousands of £££££’s on far eastern jaunts in the hope of financing an ‘International Trade Centre’ . Instead it would appear we’re getting a ‘Dementia Care Village’ that is reminiscent of East German brutalist architecture from the 1970’s !

Whilst there is still a prize to be had for the person who tells us whatever happened to the portrait of Shiu that hung adjacent to the Wirral Council CEO’s office ,perhaps the Deputy Leader of Wirral Council Cllr George Davies can finally admit that Shiu was “ bloody useless….” . Or perhaps not!

 

 

 

Welcome to Neverland

 

There are times when we wonder whether there’s a greater force at work (other than Frank Field). We say this as we received these beautifully juxtaposed alerts which allow us to contrast fantasy with reality and proves that ‘WIRRAL WATERS’ IS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN!

First we have a Financial Times report

Meanwhile a day after the announcement of the closure of Birkenhead’s Marks & Spencer and on the same day that it was  reported that a woman had been assaulted by a man wearing a knuckle duster in House of Fraser , which for now anyway is the town’s last remaining department store, local politicians were obviously in desperate need of a good news story.

We’re afraid to say the closest they got was this Wirral Globe puff-piece optimistically titled ‘Multi-million pound boost for Wirral Waters housebuilding plan’ Read the full bogus story here :  Millions,Billions,Trillions,Gazillions

Here we discover that Wirral  has the honour and the privilege to have been bequeathed £6 million of public money alongside such glamorous destinations as Sheffield, Grimsby ,Cleethorpes, Barnsley, Sandwell , Blackburn and Burnley. Shitholes one and all.

Bigging up the news is the dubious duo of Cllr George Davies : “It’s fantastic news for local residents.” and the man for whom he acts as an electoral agent , Birkenhead MP Frank Field who’s sermon on the mount is : “This is a timely and vitally important boost for Wirral…….Having been working for the past year with the leader of the local authority to try piecing together such a programme, I hope shortly to report further developments”

Working with the ‘leader’ of the local authority Frank ? – does that mean having a conversation with yourself in the mirror? Is it just us or can you smell the desperation or is that the familiar aroma of bullshit?

Since when did handing over £6 million of PUBLIC money to a PRIVATE enterprise like Peel Holdings to piss into the River Mersey constitute a ‘good news’ story? There must be another celebration going on in the Isle of Man as the usual Peel Group tactic of holding on to a previously owned public asset until it attracts public money to GET A BLOODY MOVE ON reaps rewards.

And as for the pitiful manoeuvres of local politicians and their allies the expression ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’ doesn’t come close  – and surely nobody but nobody wants to see Gorgeous George and his political master Frankenfield in the buff!

Any Old Ion

Currently awaiting artist’s impression.

Have you noticed how the supposed grand plans for the regeneration of Wirral (and Birkenhead in particular) are being disseminated in the the press in exactly the same incoherent , opportunistic and uncoordinated  way.

For example we’ve already covered how the charisma free zone that is Wirral Council CEO Eric ‘Feeble’ Robinson chose the trade press Inside Media (who?) to tease us about future major land and property deals Double Dealers

Subsequently there then followed  an announcement in the Liverpool Echo that there were plans to convert Wirral Council’s former finance building into student flats under the title ‘ Hamilton Hub’ (groan ). Here we learned that Liverpool-based developer YPG wants to convert these offices in Cleveland Street into an ‘apartment complex’ for 200 students. Hamilton Hub

Sze Ming Yeung, managing director of YPG, said: “Our research tells us there is a real appetite for this kind of student and key worker accommodation in the centre of Birkenhead, partly because of the city region’s excellent cross-river transport links.

Since YPG were set up in 2015 have been busy  helping turn Liverpool city centre into ‘Studentland’. It also won’t surprise you to read  HERE that Asif Hamid’s  Contact Company and YPG have teamed up on the controversial Monarch’s Quay development in Liverpool about which we commented on here :  Asif Attack

Well it would now appear that another one of these landscape changing deals is now out in the open. As apparently the developer behind the controversial Lime Street redevelopment in Liverpool has bought the site of an old Birkenhead railway station – and has vowed to use the land to transform the town. Into what?  Reno? Or has that desert mirage faded before our very eyes too ? We can hardly wait for the artist’s impressions !

We learn from the Liverpool Echo that Ion Property Developments has bought the site of the former Birkenhead Town station, off Tunnel Road between Borough Road and the Rock Retail Park. Ion, formerly known as Neptune Developments, has not yet revealed what it plans for the land. But it says the site is “in a strategic position for the regeneration of Birkenhead town centre”. Read the fully story here : Old Site

Wirral Leaks readers may remember that Neptune Developments had exciting plans to redevelop Birkenhead town centre and which included (gasp!) a drive-thru McDonald’s .  Mysteriously Neptune’s plans were kicked to the kerb by Wirral Council only to be replaced by new plans for  ,er,  a drive -thru Maccy D’s !

So now that Neptune Developments have had a re-branding and changed their name to Ion Property Developments could Managing Director Steve Parry be getting in on Asif Hamid’s act and is acquiring land and sitting back and waiting for the grants of public money to enable them to develop a bit of particularly undesirable piece of derelict land ? Of course Ion don’t quite have Hamid’s position of power and influence as chair of the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Board . We await developments (pun intended) with interest.

Meanwhile Wirral Globe are gamely still referring  to ‘the Wirral Waters regeneration project’ in a story about an ‘art installation’ on the site of what perhaps should have been an ‘International Trade Centre’. Forgive us for being so cynical but after the Stella Shiu debacle we feel we’re in for a continual series of piecemeal , ad-hoc developments being heralded as part of the ‘Wirral Waters regeneration project’ rather than the comprehensive transformation we’ve been sold . As a highways feasibility study tender issued last week demonstrates it would seem that there is still a long and winding road to travel before the Wirral waters regeneration project’ becomes a reality.

As an aside an interesting aspect of this story Wirral Waters  was the accompanying picture which included  ‘Community Arts Facilitator’ Cathy Warren alongside Birkenhead MP Frank Field. Could Ms Warren be in any way related to Frankenfield’s favoured report writer and former Judge Nicholas Warren?  I’m sure all of you who know how things work round here will know the answer to that one. 

Pic : Wirral Globe

Finally a concerned correspondent from over the Mersey has been in touch to provide us with a salutary tale and timely reminder as to what can happenwhen Due Diligence is sacrificed in favour of headline grabbing developments .

According to the Department for International Trade, ‘The UK continues to attract record levels of inward investment and remains extremely attractive to foreign investors.’ In fact George Osborne went to China with the Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson to promote the ‘Northern Pitchbook’, with the £200 million New Chinatown development in Liverpool being the ‘centerpiece’ development 
In terms of Cash Only/Investor development investments, this is fast becoming a national scandal, which will have a very negative affect on UK/Chinese relations, and will seriously limit inward investment into the Northern Powerhouse. 
FACT 1 – Record numbers of Chinese and Hong Kong investors have been putting their money into northern developments, especially student accommodation and city apartments .Investors have to put 75% cash up front and the developments are usually ‘off-plan’. This means, in many cases, that not even the foundations have been built. 
FACT 2 – This has attracted the very ‘worst!’ of developers, which can be seen from the following information: 
[1] Angelgate Development- Manchester – which was developed by Pinnacle MC Global and went into liquidation in April 2015, leaving the development unfinished [foundations only]. By August, the developer told buyers the project had been “seriously undervalued” by around £14 million (HK$140.04 million), requiring additional funding in order to complete. The developer gave Angelgate [mainly Chinese/Hong Kong] investors two options: contribute more money to complete the project, or handle the construction themselves.According to a solicitor’s update from Pinnacle, a total of £13.2 million went to commissions and fees, with £7.9 million spent on “overheads, running costs and profits. [this begs the question: how can developers take profits when the development hasn’t actually been built]”An Angelgate investor said an estimated £32 million (HK$330 million) had been paid in deposit money from the buyers in the steering committee and they had filed reports with local police and fraud action groups.

 The Angelgate project was a scam and investors felt helpless, she said. One of the men involved in this development, Tony Freeman, has been arrested by the police. 
[2] Investors from around the world say they will never put money into Liverpool again after their experience of dealing with a city “landlord from hell”.

 They have been bombarding council chief executive Ged Fitzgerald [this man has also been arrested by the police for suspicion of conspiring to pervert the course of justice and intimidating witnesses.]with complaints about Nigel Russell, who runs a number of student properties around Liverpool. Investors say that if the council had carried out Due Diligence then they and fellow investors from as far away as Canada, Brunei, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines may not have had to endure what they called years of hell.

 They had to endure months without any payments, and some had put their life savings into buying units from Mr Russell. Nigel Russell has been arrested by the police 
[3] £200 million – New Chinatown development – The companies involved in this development were given ‘preferred developer ‘status by Liverpool City Council without any proper Due Diligence being carried out. There was significant investment by Chinese and Hong Kong investors. With only the foundations completed, two of the construction companies involved have gone into liquidation and the development is at a halt.

[4] Baltic House – The companies involved in this development are on the point of liquidation. There was significant investment by Chinese and Hong Kong investors. With only the foundations and a small amount of the construction completed this project is at a halt. 
[5] The Paramount – There was significant investment by Chinese and Hong Kong investors. The development is only half built with 140 Chinese students living in the built half. This building is probably dangerous and building is at a halt

[5]Berry House – There was significant investment by Chinese and Hong Kong investors. The company involved is close to liquidation-no building work completed at all.

[6] North Point – There was significant investment by Chinese and Hong Kong investors. The company involved is close to liquidation-very little building work completed .

[7] St James Court – sold to investors, but absolutely no building works even started

[8]Metalworks – sold to investors, but absolutely no building works even started

[9] Eldon Grove – sold to investors, but absolutely no building works even started

It is clear from the above information that Manchester and Liverpool City Councils [as just examples] are not carrying out Due Diligence and are leaving investors prey to criminals. It is quite evident that this is going to lead to a significant reduction in the number of foreign investors in the North West [Northern Powerhouse] and a deterioration in the Chinese/UK economic relationship. 

 

International Relations

Wirral  Council have a couple of mentions in the Rotten Boroughs section of the latest edition of Private Eye .

“Just a couple ?…..” snorts Her Ladyship ” that’s a good ‘Performance Indicator’ of the ‘Direction of Travel’ on their  ‘Improvement Journey’ “

The first mention is in an article about Sheffield City Council and their pursuit of Chinese investment (or “Wang wonga ” as the Eye would have it) . However when it comes to such ventures it would seem that Wirral Council has now become the byword for naivety, lack of due diligence and hyperbole after the Stella Shiu ‘International Trade Centre’ fantasy left them with “egg foo-yung on its face” ! 

It really doesn’t augur well for Wirral CEO Eric ‘Feeble’ Robinson and Wirral Council leader Cllr Phil ‘ Power Boy Pip’ Davies repeated declarations following their MIPIM missions that billions and billions and billions of pounds – or euros or dollars or yuan , they’re not fussed where the moolah comes from –  will soon be ‘transforming’ Wirral and it’ll be the land of milk and honey where the streets are paved with gold (see artists’ impression).

The second mention involves the Eye picking up on our  Sorrento Shame story under the title ‘Travel Section’ . You’d think after undertaking an ambassadorial role as Mayor and Mayoress that the Foulkes’ would be well equipped to foster good international relations. Alas – it would seem that whilst you can take the girl and boy out of Birkenhead you can’t take Birkenhead out of the girl and boy.

However to end on a happy note here – giving a whole new meaning to ‘holiday snap’- is a touching Sorrento memento which Elaine Foulkes posted on social media for us all to enjoy.

Men of Mystery

With all the bad news about at the moment we thought we’d lighten the mood and invite our readers to participate in some summertime fun and enter our mystery quiz.

The first mystery for you to solve is to identify the unlikely character who made the following comment earlier this year :

“I’m in favour of Wirral Leaks. If I was the Council I’d pay them money to find out what was going on in my Council….”

The second mystery is for you to identify the character in the tragic soap opera that is known as ‘Wirral Council’ .We understand that this supporting character (and who yet at the same time has a leading role) is moving on – no doubt to a less demanding role.

Prizes include:

• An artist’s impression of a fantasy Wirral regeneration project of your choice ( Wirral Waters, Tower Gardens, Hanging Gardens of Bebington , Seacombe Palace, Hoylake Housing Estate and Golf Course, Stella Shiu Monument etc; etc;) This will be signed by either one of our leading artists Dee Mented and Hal Lou C. Nation
• A referral to a Wirral foodbank of your choice (and let’s face it there’s plenty to choose from!)
• A lifetime’s subscription to Wirral View* ( * If Wirral View pegs it before you do this will be replaced by an equivalent publication such as Take A Break  , Pick Me Up , Beano etc;etc;)
• A recording device enabling you to compromise a local politician of your choice

Entries via the replies button below or wirralleaks@gmail.com 

Answers and prize winners will be announced when we get around to it! Good luck!

 

Political Manoeuvres In The Dark

We don’t know whether you’ve been playing close attention to forthcoming Council meetings –  we have. But before we go into detail we first need to remind everyone of the furore that surrounded the Wirral Council delegation that jetted off to the MIPIM event in Cannes earlier this year in pursuit of international investment.

That Riviera Touch

Appropriately enough the French Riviera has long been known as a ‘sunny place for shady people’ and accordingly we were promised an update from Wirral Council’s wannabe Billionaire Boy’s Club about all the millions,billions and zillions that would be flowing into Wirral, and particularly Birkenhead , as a result of  Wirral Council’s ‘offer’ at a planned Cabinet meeting to be held earlier today. Needless to say we were breathless with anticipation at Leaky Towers at the announcement,  as with Martin Liptrot’s spin, Eric Robinson’s charisma and  Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies’ power of persuasion – what could possibly go wrong?

But lo and behold and as you can see – the meeting was cancelled . First of all we thought it could be because of purdah but then we saw that there was a Cabinet meeting arranged for June 5th – which as you know is before the General Election to be held on June 8th . That means that it couldn’t be purdah that caused the meeting to be cancelled. Therefore we can only hope and pray that Pip and his ever growing team of highly paid ‘transformers’ have a special surprise for us all at the re-arranged meeting, as we don’t think we can go through another Wirral Waters and the extended series of false dawns we experienced courtesy of  Sam Wa and their special emissary, Stella Shiu.

Having said all that , what we couldn’t  find on the Wirral Council website of forthcoming attractions is a Standards Panel which apparently will discuss an investigation report covering 3 complaints against a certain councillor from 3 different complainants. 

Once again we have an overwhelming sense of deja vu as Wirral Council’s ruling Labour group desperately attempt to cover up the dark,dark heart at the centre of their administration. Lest we forget it’s almost a year since the last attempted cover up of alleged elected member misconduct :

https://wirralleaks.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/the-gaslighters-silent-but-deadly/

https://wirralleaks.wordpress.com/2016/06/29/behind-closed-doors/

However rest assured dear readers we will be shining a light on their shady shenanigans no matter how much they wish to keep us all in the dark !

Tourist Trap

It seems as though that the demolition of this infamous Borough Rd eyesore in Birkenhead has taken as long as the construction of the famous Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona.

You may remember an excellent report which we published earlier this year which questioned Wirral tourist figures which were being bandied about.

Tourism Awards : Wirral-style

Our knowledgeable contributor has undertaken further analysis and apparently according to the figures Wirral has the same lure for tourists as Barcelona (hence our picture and comments above).

Therefore the moral of this story is , as we’ve often said :  question everything !

Wirral Tourist Figures – Fake News?

As a rule I hate banging on about things, but, in this case I’m going to make an exception and bang on about the Wirral Tourism figures!

I apologise for the length of this item but I am truly dumbfounded that the people who are supposed to be running this Borough believe the figures.

Power Boy Pip and our very own tourism champ Tony ‘The Hoff’ Jones have both quoted the figures.

Wirral Chamber of Horrors, Wirral View, the Liverpool Echo, VisitWirral.com and various other outlets have fallen foul of the scourge of the internet age, copy and paste (ad infinitum). Nobody questions the figures because they are on the internet, therefore they must be true! Everybody believes them.

Well after contacting Lord Leaky a few months ago I got to thinking about the figures and did some deeper digging. I have come to the conclusion they are a load of spin. Should I be surprised? Probably not.

Were they used to ‘woo the Shiu’? Or are they to reinforce the case for a golf complex? Maybe they are just to say what a wonderful job the council and our esteemed Chamber of Horrors are doing in promoting this green and pleasant peninsula? Whatever the reason, they’re rubbish!

Its difficult to present the full picture succinctly so I shall use round figures and as few as possible.

Links to the documents are scattered around if you really want to read them???

The figures quoted for Wirral are:

8 Million visitors

£385m income

Over 5000 jobs

That equates to 22,000 visitors per day each spending £48 each! Do you believe that?

Lets put this into perspective. Barcelona is introducing legislation to limit tourism as they are overwhelmed. They had 8.3m tourists in 2015. (About the same as Wirral. Ha Ha Ha Ha)

Now at this point dear reader you are probably thinking ‘I’ve read this before’ but please bear with me. (You don’t need to read all the figures below, just look at the total.)

Figures from North West Research, Tourism Data Summary published July 2016.

Top Events Attendance 2015

Top Free Events

Three Queens – 1.2m

Mersey River Festival – 220,000

Transatlantic 175 – 200,000

International Music Festival – 161,000

Africa Oye – 80,000

Top Paid Events

Grand National – 142,500

Southport Air Show – 80,000

Creamfields – 70,000

Southport Flower Show – 54,000

Musical Fireworks – 35,000

Top Free Attractions

Museum of Liverpool – 747,000

Merseyside Maritime Museum – 662,000

World Museum – 658,000

Tate Liverpool – 626,000

International Slavery Museum – 460,000

Top Paid Attractions

Mersey Ferries – 607,500

Pleasure land Southport – 500,000

Beatles Story – 250,000

Haydock Racecourse – 203,000

Aintree Racecourse – 173,500

Total attendance for all these events held in the Liverpool City region 5,395,500!!!

That means more people visited Wirral than went to all of the above attractions and events (and some). Yeh!

Are you starting to see where I’m coming from with this?

The World Tourism Organization defines tourism as people “travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes”

(Acronym alert!!!!)

The figures are compiled using the STEAM model, (Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor) by http://www.globaltourismsolutions.co.uk on behalf of Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership.

Well, I don’t know how they do things in Scarborough but it don’t work in this neck of the woods!

Their beautifully illustrated pdf is available here

And this document gives the game away. https://www.liverpoollep.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/wpid-digest-of-tourism-statistics-12-2013.pdf

Section 1.5 tells us that:

A key component of the way in which STEAM works is its definition of ‘day visitors’; this is

defined as a person travelling to a district other than that in which they live, for a non-

routine purpose, with a stay of over 3 hours. Thus, someone making a trip to Southport Pier from Liverpool could be classed as a day visitor, but not someone making a

similar trip who lived in Formby.

Now I understand. These aren’t visitors to the Wirral, they are visits within the Wirral by people who live here. Hardly tourism or even visitor numbers.

Do you now see how useless these figures are?

So there you have it. Fake news!!

http://wirralview.com/news/wirral-enjoys-fresh-boost-visitor-economy-0

And yes, I did lose my bet on The Wro winning bar of the year 2017. They weren’t even nominated so I suspect they were asked to withdraw this year to give someone else a chance!

Sagrada Familia it ain’t – but at least it’s a start.

Aintree Irony

For those of you looking for a last minute topical tip for this afternoon’s Grand National Wirral Leaks  provides you with this free cut out and keep guide to some of horses that have caught our eye:

This one is for fans of Martin Liptrot – that’ll be Wirral Council leader Cllr Phil ‘Power Boy Pip’ Davies then. Liptrotsky is always the perfect candidate for Pip regardless of his experience or qualifications. Who needs an Equal Opportunities Policy when your mate is the Leader of the Council? This is also one for fans of Stewart ‘Happy’ Halliday  – that’ll be his preferred referees if not our friends in York ! And again this will be popular with the Basnett clan because a) if you’re related to Princess Paula or b) you’ve  lamped the former CEO of Wirral Council over a shared perk then you’re the ‘perfect candidate’ for the Wirral Chamber of Commerce !

No, this isn’t for fans of the current Labour administration at Wirral Council. They’re definitely (spelt correctly) NOT red! This one is for fans of current Wirral Council CEO Eric ‘the Red’ Robinson. No, we’re not referring to the fact he’s an LFC fan among all the high profile bluenoses at Wirral Council – we’re talking about his visage and his presiding over the ‘Wirral Council High Blood Pressure Club’ alongside Cllrs Phil Davies, George Davies and Steve Foulkes. Whatever could be the reason for the beta blockers?

It may have been a stellar notion for Wirral Council to place their bets on a Hong Kong bankrupt Stella Shiu. However we suggest looking elsewhere for a winner as this one could end up like Stella herself –  falling in the (Wirral) Waters.

This is one for fans of the Hoylake Golf Resort . That’ll be Power Boy Pip again – shame the response to the desecration of the Green Belt in the name of big business has been decidedly under par.

This one is for  Kevin ‘Lost’ MacCallum’s Communications Team at Wirral Council. Apparently they’re not averse to a tipple at our expense. Celebrating the launch of Wirral View and recently celebrating St Patricks Day. We wonder if they’ll drown their sorrows when Wirral View ends up in the recycling bin – again.

This one is for all fans of Wirral Leaks as we continue to expose dishonesty,incompetence and corruption and prick the pomposity of local politicians and senior council officials. But unlike Wirral Council we ask you to gamble responsibly. When the Fun Stops Stop! 

Online / Off Course

Thanks to our source for sending us this excellent explanatory graphic.

 

Apologies – this leak from Wirral Council has been in our inbox for a week but events somewhat overtook us . The leaked email below is one that was sent to all Wirral Councillors by a local resident voicing their concerns about the Hoylake Golf Resort or Hoylake housing development with attached golf course as we prefer to call it!

Although we’ve covered some of the  ground previously https://wirralleaks.wordpress.com/2016/04/30/big-hitters/  our enquiring local resident proves again that the interweb thingy is full of fascinating facts if you know where to look and brings some new and interesting information to the fore (!). Shame some of our senior councillors and council officers aren’t acquainted with the wonders of www as they might have been better informed about not only about the golf resort proposals but the past activities of the likes of Stella Shiu and Stewart Halliday!

Based on past experience  we can’t help thinking that our concerned resident’s plea to councillors : ‘I hope that you will look further into these matters and continue to ask
searching questions.’ will sadly end up in the Wirral Council bunker known as ‘recently deleted items’!

Subject: Hoylake Golf Resort – Wirral’s Preferred Development Partner

*Hoylake Golf Resort*

*I am asking you to look further into Wirral’s choice of partner for the
proposal to build a golf resort, a luxury housing development and a 5* spa
hotel and conference centre on Merseyside’s Green Belt land – Niklaus Joint
Venture Group*

WMBC have made much play about Jack Nicklaus’s involvement – he features in
a video on the Golf Resort website.  Everyone love a celebrity.  But the
Nicklaus Joint Venture Group consists of 5 directors, none of whom are Jack
Nicklaus.  Jack Nicklaus himself has no shares in the company.  Golf
courses under this company are designed not by Jack Nicklaus, but by his
son, Gary.  Gary is the “Nicklaus” of the company name.  The majority
shareholder of the company is *James Anderson*, who holds over 80% of the
shares.  James Anderson has been the director of 18 companies, most of them
now dissolved.

The interesting comparison for the Hoylake Golf Resort is with the *Machynys
Nicklaus Golf Resort in South Wales*, a very similar development to that
proposed for Wirral. The original Machynys planning application was for a
golf course, hotel, spa and enabling residential development, just like the
one proposed for Hoylake.  The NJVG is registered in South Wales.

James Anderson was the director of Carms Construction which built the
houses at the Machynys Nicklaus Golf Resort.  Carms Construction then went
into liquidation with liabilities of over £600,000.  Machynys Homes (of
which Anderson is also a director) which sold the houses wasn’t affected.

James Anderson was the man who promised to bring a 125 bedroom four star
Hilton Hotel to the golf resort in Machynys. However, the Hilton Group
pulled out of the Machynys project because of “flooding concerns”.
Planning permission at Machynys was granted despite Environment Agency
Concerns about flooding:

http://online.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/agendas/eng/plac20071108/REP03_02.HTM#
P127_1522

The hotel has yet to be built, although outline planning permission was
granted in July 2002, nearly 15 years ago. No hotel, no accompanying jobs.

The issues affecting the Machynys Resort are despite the significant
advantages it has over the proposed Hoylake site.  It is in a prime
location, with an adjacent beach and views over Cardigan Bay.  It has good
access, with three roads, each with a bridge over the adjacent railway line.

Carmarthenshire County Council was very supportive of the project, entering
into agreements with James Anderson’s companies. Councillors enthused about
how the hotel project would be fantastic for the area bringing jobs,
tourism and investment, in an exact parallel with Wirral.

Wirral Council already has a questionable record of choosing development
partners – witness the history of Wirral Waters involvement with Chinese
company Sam Wa.

The danger is that the events of the Machynys Golf Resort are repeated,
leaving a luxury housing development on Green Belt land as the main
heritage of the proposal.

I hope that you will look further into these matters and continue to ask
searching questions.