Wirral Council facing massive £17m overspend (From Wirral Globe)

It is time the councullors went to Specsavers what they are looking for is blindingly obvious!
What about a focus group drawn from ordinary voters,you know what they are the people that put you in power!

Once again Bungle and Zippy have more idea than this council.

Perhaps if they stopped paying off ex staff, making so many errors with Cheshire Lines building, DASS, Colas, Many consultants and investigations that they don't act on they might actually have some of OUR money left.

They need to go back to school. Most senior managers are too busy backing each other up they could not look at any important facts.

Lets face facts most of them could not run a bath or if they did they would have to go sick for 3 months to think about what they had done and how else they could blame.

Total embarrassment and a waste of hard earned money.

Still at least you all still get your perks!

Wirral Al i could not have put it better myself & I agree with everything you have said,Fat cat taking pensions they have not earned,councilors taking upwards of £1,2million in allowances,corrupt officers,contracts given out without due diligence the list is endless & who are the mugs who pay for it Wirral ratepayers .

You all seem to be missing the point here, instead once again choosing to rake over the past. Both political parties have agreed to work together on the budget and the council is committed to making some tough decisions going forward - id say that is something to cheer about not moan. Whether they stick to this consensus is another mattef but in the meantime im happy to see some relief from the political bickering.

briandrummond'

May I be so bold as to speculate that the ONLY reason the two parties have agreed to act together is to ensure that one party does not uncover some scandle the other is responsible for.

It's called "Covering each others backs" and it has been a useful tool that has been used equaly by ALL parties here on the Wirral for at least the last 25 years.

So what do we do? Sit in our armchairs moaning or worse initiate a witch hunt which seems to be flavour of the month. As i said, if it fails then criticise but in the meantime recognise that perhaps the tide may be turning. Im happy to accept ive been proven wrong in 6 months if you are?

All right, Brian. We heard you the first time.......;-)

On a more serious note, and for the sake of clarity, whose budget are these figures based on? Was it the outgoing Con/Lib one or a since-modified Labour one?

Your Jokin, how ya gonna aswer questions ,you cant face a camera ,like you cant say were the money has gone ,come on ,not every one is a #####,just a few ,

Ben Beaconsfield wrote:
All right, Brian. We heard you the first time.......;-)

On a more serious note, and for the sake of clarity, whose budget are these figures based on? Was it the outgoing Con/Lib one or a since-modified Labour one?

This is the Budget for 2012/13. It was originally decided by the Conservatives/Libera
l Democrat previous administration many months ago. The accounts for 2011/2012 are currently going through audit, so the true state of the finances won't be known until the audit is completed (hopefully) towards the end of the month. There are some Labour Cabinet decisions (policy options that had a financial effect) that have changed the 2012/2013 Budget as the Labour Cabinet has control over a (rather) small part of it. Some of these policy decisions have increased expenditure, others have decreased expenditure so the answer to your question is both, as it depends which bit of the Budget you are referring to as to whether Labour have made any in-year changes.

Well several months have passed since Phil Davies was appointed leader. We have not seen the promised changes he said he would make. Where are the staff he promised, yes promised he would deal with-still in post and snuggled up to you. Has the CEO got your full support? Don't see much sign of it. The overspend is a disgrace. but lets look at some facts: (I know the answers-do you?) How much has been spent on i pads in 2011& 2012? how much on i phones? What is the cost of all mobile phone & ipad purchases? What is the cost to WC to supplying wifi to all councillors? & many council staff? What was the total phone bill for these phones?What was spent on chairs,desks, blinds, etc (you see the delivery vans almost weekly). What has been spent moving one section 4 times in 18 months? What was spent on overseas jollies to China, India etc? the list is endless and so are the questions.
What are you spending on the womens golf? Don't give us the spin it brings millions into the Borough, have a look at the empty shops in Liscard, Birkenhead, Moreton,Hoylake & West Kirby and tell the shopowners that-you will soon get an answer.Wonder how many complimentary tickets for councillors & staff will be issued this time. Once you have answered some of these questions perhaps you can see where the overspend has gone.
You don't need to look far in the town hall Phil, you just need to open your eyes.

daggers drawn wrote:
Well several months have passed since Phil Davies was appointed leader. We have not seen the promised changes he said he would make. Where are the staff he promised, yes promised he would deal with-still in post and snuggled up to you. Has the CEO got your full support? Don't see much sign of it. The overspend is a disgrace. but lets look at some facts: (I know the answers-do you?) How much has been spent on i pads in 2011& 2012? how much on i phones? What is the cost of all mobile phone & ipad purchases? What is the cost to WC to supplying wifi to all councillors? & many council staff? What was the total phone bill for these phones?What was spent on chairs,desks, blinds, etc (you see the delivery vans almost weekly). What has been spent moving one section 4 times in 18 months? What was spent on overseas jollies to China, India etc? the list is endless and so are the questions.
What are you spending on the womens golf? Don't give us the spin it brings millions into the Borough, have a look at the empty shops in Liscard, Birkenhead, Moreton,Hoylake & West Kirby and tell the shopowners that-you will soon get an answer.Wonder how many complimentary tickets for councillors & staff will be issued this time. Once you have answered some of these questions perhaps you can see where the overspend has gone.
You don't need to look far in the town hall Phil, you just need to open your eyes.

There are a lot of sweeping accusations made here under the cloak of anonymity. Is that ethical?

daggers drawn wrote:
Well several months have passed since Phil Davies was appointed leader. We have not seen the promised changes he said he would make. Where are the staff he promised, yes promised he would deal with-still in post and snuggled up to you. Has the CEO got your full support? Don't see much sign of it. The overspend is a disgrace. but lets look at some facts: (I know the answers-do you?) How much has been spent on i pads in 2011& 2012? how much on i phones? What is the cost of all mobile phone & ipad purchases? What is the cost to WC to supplying wifi to all councillors? & many council staff? What was the total phone bill for these phones?What was spent on chairs,desks, blinds, etc (you see the delivery vans almost weekly). What has been spent moving one section 4 times in 18 months? What was spent on overseas jollies to China, India etc? the list is endless and so are the questions.
What are you spending on the womens golf? Don't give us the spin it brings millions into the Borough, have a look at the empty shops in Liscard, Birkenhead, Moreton,Hoylake & West Kirby and tell the shopowners that-you will soon get an answer.Wonder how many complimentary tickets for councillors & staff will be issued this time. Once you have answered some of these questions perhaps you can see where the overspend has gone.
You don't need to look far in the town hall Phil, you just need to open your eyes.

Good post, daggers drawn. I count around ten questions to which you say you know the answers. So come on, we're all dying to know as well. In the immortal words of Delia, "let's be 'avin' yer" !!

I would love to see the questions answered that "Daggers Drawn" has raised, I like many many others would love to see a bit of Open, Honest, Clean, Fair, corporate management taking place.
I would love to see some real straight forward Co-Opperation between all the elected Councillors in a concerted effort to put right the wrongs, clean up the whole corporate image of Wirral Borough Council, in short I would love to see Phil Davies, become a man and not a louse, come on Phil, open up give an in depth interview with the local media, stand alongside the new CEO and tell the public some very serious changes will be made, and then act on them, without fear or favour.

Mrsmccloud wrote:

daggers drawn wrote: Well several months have passed since Phil Davies was appointed leader. We have not seen the promised changes he said he would make. Where are the staff he promised, yes promised he would deal with-still in post and snuggled up to you. Has the CEO got your full support? Don't see much sign of it. The overspend is a disgrace. but lets look at some facts: (I know the answers-do you?) How much has been spent on i pads in 2011& 2012? how much on i phones? What is the cost of all mobile phone & ipad purchases? What is the cost to WC to supplying wifi to all councillors? & many council staff? What was the total phone bill for these phones?What was spent on chairs,desks, blinds, etc (you see the delivery vans almost weekly). What has been spent moving one section 4 times in 18 months? What was spent on overseas jollies to China, India etc? the list is endless and so are the questions. What are you spending on the womens golf? Don't give us the spin it brings millions into the Borough, have a look at the empty shops in Liscard, Birkenhead, Moreton,Hoylake & West Kirby and tell the shopowners that-you will soon get an answer.Wonder how many complimentary tickets for councillors & staff will be issued this time. Once you have answered some of these questions perhaps you can see where the overspend has gone. You don't need to look far in the town hall Phil, you just need to open your eyes.

There are a lot of sweeping accusations made here under the cloak of anonymity. Is that ethical?

Well Mrs. Mccloud-you read my post and then you ask if its ethical for me to post 'under the cloak of anonymity'
ETHICAL how on earth can you say that.
I am about as ethical as the Council.
There are no sweeping accusations they are all observations! and facts take a walk around the areas I mention and ask them if they feel they benefited from the last open golf?. Park yourself outside the town hall and see for yourself the comings and goings of furniture. Go to a council meeting and see them all on ipads & iphones, all I was doing was asking the questions, in doing so I would assume there are some answers.Ask your local councillor what was spent on overseas trips.How much is spent on leasing cars for staff? The questions are all there. Then come back and tell us its ethical, or perhaps you can post and tell us where the £17m overspend has gone, or been spent! Over to you.

Daggers drawn, I'd refer you to a previous point I made. You lose my respect because you remain anonymous. You may very well have a valid point to make in respect of activities of the council over the years but how do I know you are not one of the people you are criticising? How do I know you are not posting entries on a taxpayer funded iPad and you are upset because you see the gravy train reaching its final destination? I am a local taxpayer happy to use my real name because I am proud to live in this area and tired of the infighting that has dragged the council down and most importantly damaged investment in this area - the kind of infighting that goes on on this website by people with vested interests who know full well people would not listen to them once they were aware of who they really were.

Hugo2009 wrote:
I would love to see the questions answered that "Daggers Drawn" has raised, I like many many others would love to see a bit of Open, Honest, Clean, Fair, corporate management taking place.
I would love to see some real straight forward Co-Opperation between all the elected Councillors in a concerted effort to put right the wrongs, clean up the whole corporate image of Wirral Borough Council, in short I would love to see Phil Davies, become a man and not a louse, come on Phil, open up give an in depth interview with the local media, stand alongside the new CEO and tell the public some very serious changes will be made, and then act on them, without fear or favour.

Why should a leader or anyone for that matter be made to answer questions posted in a rant from someone firing salvos from behind a cloak of anonymity?

One has to look at how the council has spent thousands in recent years that could have been better used - £75K recent audit report, £250K on AKA report and staff that have received payoffs that are in the public domain, CEOs, Drectors of Adult Social Services, 2 senior members of Adult Social Services and that is only for starters must add up to well over £500K and what has improved nothing the distasteful cultures remain despite a so called improvementy board being in place that AK actually sat on!!! Defies belief and understanding

BrianDrumond:

I think you have answered your own question in a strange obtuse manner.

Every leader in any shape or form spending public money, effecting peoples lives, hopes, and aspirations must aswer all questions from whatever quarter they come from, it is his or her duty, and an obligation to the people who fund his or her life style.

As for anonymity, who exactly is "briandrummond says" or even "Hugo2009" they could be the same people for all we know, what is your point. I too would like to see questions answered with Honesty.