Council leader vows to listen to Wirral public before making decision on budget cuts

More than 100 members of Unite and Unison marched to Wallasey Town Hall on Thursday evening, to lobby members of the council's ruling cabinet to rethink their proposed cuts.

Phil Goodwin, branch secretary for Wirral Unison, addressed cabinet and said staff had "had enough of their jobs being butchered and pay being slashed" and said the authority's workforce was "living in fear of losing their jobs".

He called on the authority to think carefully before making decisions that will impact on workers, services and the community.

"There are budget options before you that, if passed, will result in more redundancies and the immediate financial destruction for members," said Mr Goodwin.

Council leader Cllr Phil Davies said it was unfair that authorities in the northern, more derived areas of England, are facing deeper cuts than those in the south.

He said "no cut is painless" and vowed to continue working closely with trade union members to "protect our workforce and protect our residents"

Thursday's protest came as Wirral's cabinet discussed the findings of its Future Council consultation, which closed on October 31.

Cabinet heard that 7,874 completed questionnaires were returned before the deadline, giving their views on a range of options put forward by chief executive Graham Burgess for potential savings in the 2015/16 budget.

The options consulted upon proposed potential savings of £3.7 million, of which £2.5m worth of options will be chosen when the cabinet next meets on December 9.

At their meeting, members thanked those who had completed the questionnaire and noted the findings of the consultation and additional feedback given to them.

Figures show how a number of options - including a reduction in Wirral's youth and play service, and introduction of parking at the borough's countryside parks - received an overwhelming "thumbs down" from the public.

41% of those who responded said they "strongly disagree" with options to introduce parking charges at Wirral's country parks. The proposal would save £65,000 over two years. A further 25.2% respond "disagree" to the proposal.

Nearly 65% of respondents stated they disagreed or strongly disagreed with a plan to change youth and play services, which would've £450,000 if accepted.

However, other options - including the removal of 41 school crossing patrols on existing pedestrian, pelican or puffin crossings to save £90,000 - received more welcoming responses.

Figures presented to cabinet last night show 19.3% of people strongly agree with the proposal, 36.4% agree, 10% had "no opinion", 16.3% disagreed and 18% strongly disagreed.

Wirral Council leader Cllr Phil Davies said: "There has been an amazing response once again from the Wirral people. Many residents realise that, because of the ever-diminishing financial support local authorities receive from central government, difficult decisions have to be made about valued local services and they are taking their opportunity to influence those decisions.

"We will take some time now to look at what those who took part in the consultation process say are their priorities and this feedback will very much be a factor when we set out the council's budget for 2015/16."

He added: "The people of Wirral have spoken fairly loudly and clearly. We need to listen to them and we will do that."

Other eye-catching results from the consultation show that there was strong support for an option to introduce a combined dog fouling and litter enforcement team to target those who persist in discarding their waste irresponsibly.

Chief executive Graham Burgess said: "That we received such a good response to this consultation and others like it in recent years is down to the experience and dedication of our engagement staff and the constituency teams.

"Having such a strong and comprehensive consultation process gives elected members greater confidence to make the difficult financial decisions that have to be made."