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Public consultation on future of Wirral cultural services

8:00am Saturday 4th February 2012 in News By Craig Manning

Public consultation on future of Wirral cultural services Public consultation on future of Wirral cultural services

A PUBLIC consultation is underway to gather views on what improvements could be made to Wirral's most popular cultural services.

Wirral Council is putting together plans for the future of Libraries and the Parks and Countryside service and wants to hear from you.

The libraries consultation is based upon a draft strategy which details how the service looks to tackle the challenges presented by new technology, customer demand and budgetary constraints, while still maintaining the expected high standards of service.

The survey wants to hear from library users about what they expectat from the service in future and what they think of the changes proposed in the strategy.

Among the planned changes are extending the opening of all 24 Wirral libraries to six days a week. They currently do not open on Wednesdays.

In addition, the four main libraries in Birkenhead, Wallasey, West Kirby and Bebington will be open into the evening.

The Parks and Countryside survey comes after the council decided it would continue to manage the service in-house.

The Council is looking to develop a long-term plan for the service and ensure that this meets the needs of local people, residents views are needed.

Cllr Chris Meaden, Wirral's cabinet member for culture, tourism and leisure said: "We're asking you to tell us what your local parks, beaches, countryside and open spaces should be like.

"What do you like about them? If you could change anything what would it be?

"This survey, and the libraries one which we are running side by side, is your chance to have your say on how the Council manages these well-loved facilities.

"Your views are important because any changes that are proposed will only be successful if they meet the needs of the people who use the service."

Related links

Links to both surveys are available on www.wirral.gov.uk.

Hard copies of the questionnaires are available at all libraries and One Stop Shops, and copies of the parks survey can be picked up from parks' visitor centres.

The closing date for the libraries consultation is February 29, while the parks survey runs until March 12.

Comments(22)

Ben Beaconsfield says...
12:18pm Sat 4 Feb 12

Before anybody starts on again about what a previous Labour-led council planned for our library services, why not give people the benefit of the doubt and recognise this for what is appears to be - a clean sheet and a genuine attempt to harness public opinion in the area of Wirral's cultural services.

So instead of posting here (sorry, Globe Ed.), simply get hold of the form, fill it in with your views and post it off.

Let's make this public consultation a worthwhile one by encouraging as many people as possible to respond.

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Jim O'Neil says...
6:21pm Sat 4 Feb 12

Just my thoughts, Ben, only you got here first! We won the war, we are now winning the peace.
Let's work together.
Jim

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red devil says...
8:32pm Sat 4 Feb 12

Call me a cynic, but seeing is believing

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Jimrob says...
8:49pm Sat 4 Feb 12

Good call Ben. I agree totally.

And whilst we are doing the Council Officers jobs for them, we can sack the useless lot of 'em.

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Cheesy Peas says...
11:54pm Sat 4 Feb 12

Or as it's known elsewhere:

Here we go again.

Why does the council need to "consult" (which they are palpably useless at doing - see Charteris) about something the public has NOT demanded they consult on?

Empty the bins. Keep the lights on. Fill the potholes - THAT is the council's job.

After they've sacked most of DASS, the head of spin gets the bullet or (doubtfully) resigns with grace (see also Jim Wilkie and the mayor and Foulkes), that is.

Incidentally, I hear whispers of a highly damaging story about to come out about a relation of a former senior council officer and a certain "service provider".

Hold on to your hats - this is all just beginning...

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Jim O'Neil says...
7:18am Sun 5 Feb 12

"Among the planned changes are extending the opening of all 24 Wirral libraries to six days a week. They currently do not open on Wednesdays.

In addition, the four main libraries in Birkenhead, Wallasey, West Kirby and Bebington will be open into the evening."

Having now read BRIEFLY through the documents - yes, I'll have to find more time to do teh research properly, again - the above 'good' news is at the price of losing evening openings in the other 20 of 24 libraries, hitting working people (the ones who PAY for the libraries) and children (our future).
Aaaargh, as a friend of mine would say.

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Ben Beaconsfield says...
7:38am Sun 5 Feb 12

I read that too, Jim. But at least we are being given the opportunity to express a choice - including 'none of the above' ("Other Comments").

Cheesey Peas - I think given the furore caused by the last venture into the minefield of library re-organisation, consultation is exactly what is called for.

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Ben Beaconsfield says...
7:38am Sun 5 Feb 12

I read that too, Jim. But at least we are being given the opportunity to express a choice - including 'none of the above' ("Other Comments").

Cheesey Peas - I think given the furore caused by the last venture into the minefield of library re-organisation, consultation is exactly what is called for.

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Cheesy Peas says...
1:06pm Sun 5 Feb 12

My point is, Ben, that whenever this council wants to "consult", it inevitably means "cut" somewhere down the line.

"Fewer but better facilities" was how the press office presented the last, ultimately doomed, plan to close half of our libraries.

Yet NOWHERE in the press release did it say so.

Slippery as eels. Except now, thankfully, they're eels in a barrel with a shotgun aimed at them.

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council officer says...
9:01pm Sun 5 Feb 12

I think we all need to get engaged with the consultation and have our say.

Personally, I don't believe a borough the size of Wirral needs 24 Libraries.

However, I would like to see the footfall of the Libraries before making my final decision.

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Jim O'Neil says...
10:16pm Sun 5 Feb 12

I assume that (the anonymous - why?) "councilofficer" is healthy and a car owner as s/he clearly has no concept of disability. Negative comments like his/hers are what caused the trouble three years ago and there is no need for them.

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Ben Beaconsfield says...
7:43am Mon 6 Feb 12

I agree with council officer: we would be better placed to express an informed opinion if we were to be given access to the number of people using each library each week, and for what purpose.

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statictom says...
10:04am Mon 6 Feb 12

I always fear the worst when this council have a consultation exercise. I still remember the last Wirral consultation, with the loaded questions, like, "Should we consider outside agencies to run our respite/care services if they are cheaper". The response from the Wirral people was a resounding "Yes", simply because 99% of them did not have to care for old or disabled relatives that relied on these services. They then used the results of this consultation to close Care Homes that offered respite using the excuse - "This is what the people of Wirral wanted".
By all means get involved with public consultation, but dont supply this council with any ammo to close the services. They use the stats provided to prove almost anything they want them to be.

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Kindleworm says...
8:20pm Mon 6 Feb 12

You can see on the information boards in any library the statistics re: footfall and issues. Beware though, not all of them are accuarate. I know for a fact that the number of customers using Higher Bebington Library would barely reach double figures on some days, yet this would be officially recorded as around 80 to 100.

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Spiffy says...
12:35am Wed 8 Feb 12

Speaking of things cultural...anyone know how an entire thread of (apparently) 48 comments on the BME issue ended up getting deleted ? It was @ 44 last I looked.

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Ben Beaconsfield says...
7:06am Wed 8 Feb 12

I feel a bit guilty about that, Spiffy. I expressed some deeply held but absolutely non-racist opinions (in my view, at least)which were either unacceptable or acted as an incitement to others with even more deeply-held but unsavoury views.

Sorry, everybody, but occasionally some things need to be said.

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bickyboy says...
9:18am Wed 8 Feb 12

I'm not ashamed to admit that whilst I admire your optimism, Ben, I'm totally committed to an utterly cynical view of any council-led consultation. Their clear intention is to achieve public endorsement of their own plans for reducing services, and the results will be used to that end; even if, as seems likely, only a fraction of the council taxpaying public in Wirral take part. I for one wont be bothering. I'll save my form filling for election time, where it really counts.

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Spiffy says...
11:03am Wed 8 Feb 12

Ben Beaconsfield wrote:
I feel a bit guilty about that, Spiffy. I expressed some deeply held but absolutely non-racist opinions (in my view, at least)which were either unacceptable or acted as an incitement to others with even more deeply-held but unsavoury views.

Sorry, everybody, but occasionally some things need to be said.
You're a fair bloke, Ben, so I can't imagine that you said anything *too* bad. Don't feel too guilty either...it's a common, recurring theme that Any discussion whatsoever regarding PC's favoured citizens is liable to deletion.
...
Add to that that offence is in the eye of the beholder, does not require proof but mere perception (any old third party will do) and that poor old Leigh must walk a very fine line between providing a forum for public opinion and adhering to the strict limitations on a "Free" press.
...
You're not the first to have been smack in the middle of a deleted thread and you won't be the last. In this case, it was inevitable, really. ;)

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Ben Beaconsfield says...
4:07pm Wed 8 Feb 12

Hats off to Leigh, though, for providing us with this electronic equivalent of a Speaker's Corner.

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Jim O'Neil says...
9:36pm Wed 8 Feb 12

How many of you, I wonder, know that there is a REAL Speaker's Corner in Wirral? It's one of many throughout the country and our local one is at Egremont Ferry - a lot closer than Hyde Park!

Go enjoy a rant - remembering that (a) people at the Town Hall with very high-powered eardrums may hear you (b)nobody is forced to listen and (c)it's a lot warmer INISDE the Eggy Ferry pub!
Jim

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bickyboy says...
6:15pm Thu 9 Feb 12

Well, I gritted my teeth, set aside my cynicism and completed the consultation survey. So shrouded was it in cliche and neutral language that eventually I ended up clicking "dont know" for every question. The fog of officious-sounding waffle was so opaque, the "proposals" so bland and ambiguous that I simply couldnt work out what it was that they were asking me to support.

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hugo2008 says...
10:22am Fri 10 Feb 12

I try not to be cynical, and I have dutifully completed the documents, I would like to see the honest un cluttered statistics about Libraries, I feel sure the decent library staff involved recognise that some things will need to change, and I also know from experience that change is sometimes difficult to handle.
Please let us not have any trace of the fiasco that we had last time with Steve Foulkes and Alan Stenard being deliberatly obscure and deceitful.
By all means set up a small group to oversee all the information and the decision making process, but do include some members of the public and ensure all is done in a clean, open, honest, fair method.
This would be one small step in the right direction, but Wirral Borough Council main priority and first task is to clean out all the vermin that still exists in the system and that includes those Employed or Elected.

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