Tory leader demands Wirral Council administration resigns in wake of libraries report (From Wirral Globe)

Tory leader demands Wirral Council administration resigns in wake of libraries report

4:49pm Monday 30th November 2009

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THE leader of Wirral's Conservative group is demanding the resignation of the council's ruling Lib-Lab administration after publication of the Charteris report into the now abandoned plan to close 11 libraries.

In a statement, Cllr Jeff Green said: "The Wirral public know that the Labour/Liberal Democrat Administration had been given a copy of the Sue Charteris Library Inquiry report on July 27 and that Wirral Council Officers were subsequently informed on September 29 that the Secretary of State’s decision on the administration’s library closure plan was going to be announced on October 1.

"The public will find it shocking, having now had an opportunity to read Sue Charteris’ report, that following their midnight meeting on September 29 the Labour/Liberal Democrat administration, having created so much distress to Wirral residents including some of our most vulnerable citizens and spent so much of Wirral residents' own council tax on developing and defending the their library closure plan, decided not to accept that through their own failings they had got the biggest decision in Wirral’s history wrong.

"The public will be disgusted that members of the Labour/Liberal Democrat Administration thought only of themselves and how to protect their own positions, carrying out the biggest political ‘U’ turn in Wirral history and, under the cover of secrecy and then seeking to characterise it as 'decisive leadership'.

"The contrast between the way the ruling Liberal Democrat/Labour administration has behaved over their library closure plan and the professional and inclusive way Sue Charteris conducted her inquiry could not be starker.

"Her report has laid bare the unwillingness of the Labour/Liberal Democrat Administration to listen to anyone who disagrees with them and the confused and incompetent decision-making process currently in use by council officers and members of the administration.

"The Wirral public will not forgive those council officers or members of the Labour/Liberal Democrat administration who have brought such a stinging repudiation from Sue Charteris, nor will the public forget that Sue Charteris has exposed them for seeking to impose these closures without even considering the needs of local communities, children or the elderly.

"The public of Wirral owe Sue Charteris a huge debt of gratitude, she has exposed the way this administration has treated the Wirral public and how they disregarded the needs of the most vulnerable in our community.

"This coalition has tried to take the public for fools and been exposed for what they are, they have lost any moral authority or any lingering trust of Wirral residents.

"They should just go – and go now."

Liscard Conservative Cllr Leah Fraser said: "This is an explosive report, not only into the disgraceful decision to close our libraries, but also in exposing the shadowy, secretive nature in which this Labour-led council operates.

"The report states that the council's leadership has now understanding of the range of services in libraries nor any kind of plan for the service.

"Nor had the needs of older people or the unemployed, both of whom are key users of the libraries in Wallasey Village and Seacombe, been considered let alone addressed.

"There is now only one honourable course of action for the people who got us into this mess - and that is their resignation."

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