Wirral councillor turns his back on perks of the job (From Wirral Globe)
Send us news by text, start your message Globe News and your send photos and videos to 80360
Wirral councillor turns his back on perks of the job
9:38am Wednesday 30th January 2013 in News Exclusive By Leigh Marles, Editor
Wirral councillor turns his back on perks of the job
A RE-ELECTED Wirral councillor has told town hall chiefs not to bother giving him the usual perks of the job and to spend the cash instead on public services.
Councillor Ian Lewis, who regained Leasowe ward in a recent by-election, informed bosses he doesn’t want "a free iPad, computer desk and chair, mobile phone, car parking passes, tickets to Tranmere Rovers or travel expenses."
Nor will he require the borough’s Community Patrol to spend their valuable time delivering his town hall mail to his home – apparently another perk of the job.
His cost-saving stance will no doubt be warmly welcomed by the other 65 elected members of the council who next month will be attending a meeting at which a staggering £41m of spending reductions will be made.
These cuts will be the first tranche in a programme that will axe £107m from the authority's budget over the next three years.
In an open letter to the council’s chief executive Graham Burgess, Cllr Lewis explained his reasons for turning down the freebies: “I believe councillors should be leading by example and, while I appreciate it will not plug the gap in the council’s budget, nor will I add to it.
"As you may be aware, the possible purchase of 66 iPads for councillors was also an issue during the by-election and around 500 electors have signed petition cards against what I also consider to be a waste of public funds."
And he revealed: “On the night of the election, I was given a letter by the acting head of law inviting me to meet the ‘Council’s Member Development and Training Team’ to discuss my training ‘needs’".
He was also offered "a one-to-one meeting to discuss my ‘Personal Development Plan’; details of the ‘Council’s Induction Programme’, opportunities through something called the ‘Skills for Wirral Councillors Programme’ and last but not least, a Code of Conduct training session.
“Due to the financial difficulties the council finds itself in, I shall only attend what is a legal requirement.”
Comments(22)
Cheesy Peas
says...
10:19am Wed 30 Jan 13
Kudos to Cllr Lewis for this, however. Although I wonder if the author has his tongue firmly in cheek when saying "his cost-saving stance will no doubt be warmly welcomed by the other 65 elected members of the council"....
I doubt that VERY much!
colin12100
says...
10:22am Wed 30 Jan 13
PeteSheff
says...
10:39am Wed 30 Jan 13
bigfoot
says...
10:53am Wed 30 Jan 13
PeteSheff wrote:He won't last long! The other parasites will get to him!
Good Lad.
don't look back in anger
says...
11:34am Wed 30 Jan 13
djrimmer
says...
11:39am Wed 30 Jan 13
hueyblueshoe
says...
1:19pm Wed 30 Jan 13
1) Although some councillors don't need either the computer provisions made by the council, because they already have suitable technology, this won't be the case for all, and we should not exclude or look down on those who do need what the council provides. The same for travel expenses - why should those with limited financial means or who live further from the town hall be penalised ?
2) Why is this a story in the globe ? Because Mr Lewis didn't just "do the right thing" - the tory party produced a press release to tell us all how honourable he is - thus to quite a large extent detracting from any true honour in his action.
3) Turning down any offer of training shows a level of arrogance and ignorance symptomatic of some long term Wirral Councillors. The attitude that they already know it all is a large part of the failure to make the significant step change in the culture of Wirral politics that is sorely needed
PaulCa
says...
1:35pm Wed 30 Jan 13
Councillor Lewis believes, as many members of the public do, that this should be paid for out of councillors' own pockets. It is after all only 35 quid a year.
Councillor Crabtree sent me an email calling the idea of registering "A load of old tosh", but he appears to have been happy to be bailed out by his leader - or should I say by the Wirral public for this year's registration.
Apart from Councillor Lewis and a couple of notable others, these people are largely throwbacks to the "good old days" of abuse, nods&winks, secrecy, denial, cover ups and brown envelopes. It will take years to drag them kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
antisthenes
says...
12:45am Thu 31 Jan 13
anotheranon
says...
1:43am Thu 31 Jan 13
Subsequent reports have recommended that councillors should be provided with improved training to assist them to develop the necessary skill sets to properly hold the "professionals" to account.
It is depressing, but unsurprising, that this improved training programme is now being used to score grubby press points.
Some posters above are praising Mr Lewis's stance but I completely fail to understand how refusing to attend these training sessions could ever be seen as a positive, can anyone please enlighten me?
Rather than being a breath of fresh air these breathtakingly arrogant comments indicate that it will be same old, same old, in this utterly dysfunctional borough.
No.9
says...
9:59am Thu 31 Jan 13
Hon
says...
12:07pm Thu 31 Jan 13
MDRyUK
says...
1:32pm Thu 31 Jan 13
I hope others will reflect upon their own genuine requirements and lead by example.
This is not necessarily anything to do with what motivates politically but am pretty sure others see it differently.
LocaLGovwatcher
says...
10:37pm Thu 31 Jan 13
Hugo1008
says...
2:31pm Fri 1 Feb 13
If any of the half decent councilors are hesitant to support Ian Lewis then get the hell out of Wirral Council and make way for some real local Councilors, then maybe we will start to get real decent honest, open fair Governance at last.
bickyboy
says...
10:08am Sat 2 Feb 13
However, it does appear that one pig has turned his back on the trough.
What about the rest of you?
Hugo1008
says...
8:08pm Sat 2 Feb 13
Then he lost it, now he has come back, perhaps having learned a valuable lesson, maybe even a better Councilor and peoples representative for it.
Let us all do the same to all those long serving Councilors who get re-elected at more than one occasion.
Get them out for a period, maybe they too will come back a changed person and an even better Councilors, truly representing the interests of the population, instead of the Political Party they belong to.
So if you have a Councillor who has been in office for more than 5 years, do not under any circumstances vote them in again, get them out so they can learn a very valuable lesson, they are supposed to represent the people first and foremost.
That way we stand a chance to get some proper Local Councillors, instead of the long established Parasite we have at present.
Remember things can only get better, it is not possible to be worse than we have had for the past 10 years, with all the Waste, Greed, Deceit, Cover Ups, White Wash, and No Accountability.
But plenty of payoffs including Chief Executive's, Directors, Senior Managers, Etc. All with pockets bulging with your money, plus gold plated pensions, and no explanations, and no blame for the scandals that have taken place.
This defies Credibility in any language,
anonymousCH46
says...
12:58pm Mon 4 Feb 13
Hugo1008 wrote:Ian Lewis was voted out because at the time of the Councillor election we also had a national election too, people in Leasowe and Moreton voted locally for who they wanted nationally, it was nothing to do with him learning a valuable lesson about what is constituents need, the people of Leasowe and Moreton realised what they had lost when Ian was voted out, hence why he was voted straight back in at the earliest opportunity
I do not Know Councilor Ian Lewis, but one thing is very obvious. He was once elected to councilor position.
Then he lost it, now he has come back, perhaps having learned a valuable lesson, maybe even a better Councilor and peoples representative for it.
Let us all do the same to all those long serving Councilors who get re-elected at more than one occasion.
Get them out for a period, maybe they too will come back a changed person and an even better Councilors, truly representing the interests of the population, instead of the Political Party they belong to.
So if you have a Councillor who has been in office for more than 5 years, do not under any circumstances vote them in again, get them out so they can learn a very valuable lesson, they are supposed to represent the people first and foremost.
That way we stand a chance to get some proper Local Councillors, instead of the long established Parasite we have at present.
Remember things can only get better, it is not possible to be worse than we have had for the past 10 years, with all the Waste, Greed, Deceit, Cover Ups, White Wash, and No Accountability.
But plenty of payoffs including Chief Executive's, Directors, Senior Managers, Etc. All with pockets bulging with your money, plus gold plated pensions, and no explanations, and no blame for the scandals that have taken place.
This defies Credibility in any language,
Positive thinker
says...
5:47pm Mon 4 Feb 13
Spy from above
says...
9:58pm Mon 4 Feb 13
anonymousCH46 wrote:Just to confirm Lewis was voted out because cllr Anita leech is a much better councillor look back there was no national election in 2011
Hugo1008 wrote:Ian Lewis was voted out because at the time of the Councillor election we also had a national election too, people in Leasowe and Moreton voted locally for who they wanted nationally, it was nothing to do with him learning a valuable lesson about what is constituents need, the people of Leasowe and Moreton realised what they had lost when Ian was voted out, hence why he was voted straight back in at the earliest opportunity
I do not Know Councilor Ian Lewis, but one thing is very obvious. He was once elected to councilor position.
Then he lost it, now he has come back, perhaps having learned a valuable lesson, maybe even a better Councilor and peoples representative for it.
Let us all do the same to all those long serving Councilors who get re-elected at more than one occasion.
Get them out for a period, maybe they too will come back a changed person and an even better Councilors, truly representing the interests of the population, instead of the Political Party they belong to.
So if you have a Councillor who has been in office for more than 5 years, do not under any circumstances vote them in again, get them out so they can learn a very valuable lesson, they are supposed to represent the people first and foremost.
That way we stand a chance to get some proper Local Councillors, instead of the long established Parasite we have at present.
Remember things can only get better, it is not possible to be worse than we have had for the past 10 years, with all the Waste, Greed, Deceit, Cover Ups, White Wash, and No Accountability.
But plenty of payoffs including Chief Executive's, Directors, Senior Managers, Etc. All with pockets bulging with your money, plus gold plated pensions, and no explanations, and no blame for the scandals that have taken place.
This defies Credibility in any language,
Lewis is all show I don't see him turning his back on the allowance
No one is getting iPads and he has to have a computer to do the job, as for his mail well really maybe because they don't deliver to Manchester were he lives now or at his dads house.
If you are fooled by the fact that he wants to keep his seat in 2014 so he will tell you anything then you really are all fools!
anonymousCH46
says...
3:18pm Tue 5 Feb 13
In the year since she won her seat I have not seen her around Leasowe at all, I have not seen her attend any community based events, the long and short of it is, she does nothing for the people she represents.
As for Cllr Lewis being all show, I can personally vouch that he backs up his statements with actions, everything we have asked of him, he has delivered which is far more that I can say for his Labour counterparts, I suggest before you make such deluded comments you remove your head from the clouds and look into what it is and who it is that actually gets things done.
WirralAl says...
10:16am Wed 30 Jan 13
Its sounds like the old union mentality of get a much as you can brother. We all claim as much as we can so we are all just as guilty as it is our entitlement.
What all this crap about??
He was also offered "a one-to-one meeting to discuss my ‘Personal Development Plan’; details of the ‘Council’s Induction Programme’, opportunities through something called the ‘Skills for Wirral Councillors Programme’ and last but not least, a Code of Conduct training session.