Upton Matters

I am off on holiday so will be signing off until the New Year. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

The Audit Commission has published its its Organisational Assessment for the Council, and the Area Assessment for Councils across the Country.    Wirral is performing ‘adequately’ with 2 stars out of 4. Wirral has not been awarded any Green Flags, however it has been awarded a Red Flag for its safeguarding arrangements of vulnerable adults!      Whilst most, but not all of the other Councils in the area have been awarded 3 stars out of 4.  According to the Daily Post, the New Labour Council Leader is pleased with the performance! Is he really pleased that the Council is only performing ‘Adequately’ , pleased that we have no Green Flags, and pleased that we have been awarded a Red Flag?

The long awaited report from Sue Charteris into Labour/Lib Dem decision to close 11 Wirral Libraries has finally been published. You can read it here.

The report it damning and leaves no doubt why the Labour/Lib Dem Cabinet performed their humiliating U-turn. Some findings and recommendations are:

• A failure to look at what people need
• No assessment of the special needs of pensioners, the disabled or children
• No plan for the library service
• No understanding by the Council’s bigwigs of what goes on in a library
• A lack of logic

The report leaves no doubt that the people in charge of this council made huge errors in their decision. Yet Cllr Foulkes claims he doesn’t accept Sue Charteris report and call her wrong! The arrogance of this administration shows no bounds and no humility. Roll on next May when the people of Wirral will be given the chance to get rid of this useless administration.

At yesterdays Full Council meeting the main debate was on the Social Services PIDA report. After a heated debate, the Labour and Lib Dem coalition closed ranks and voted down our call for an independent inquiry into the matter.   Have they really got so much to hide?

Also on the agenda was a Conservative motion to remove the threat of compulsory closures of Wirral’s community centers if they are not asses ‘transfered.’ Again Labour and Lib Dems closed ranks and voted together to block us.

Finally another motion from the Conservative group was to reinstate the lollipop men and women that the Labour/Lib Dem diktat sacked was also rejected.

This afternoon your Conservative Action Team was out and about in Overchurch knocking on doors and asking people what issues matter to them. The reception was tremendous and the vast majority of those people were delighted that Conservatives had done so much in their area and pledged their support to us during the next elections.

As always if you have an issue or a concern that you think we can help with please do not hesitate to get in touch.

The Cabinet member and Lib Dem Greasby Councillor Jean Quinn has announced a motion to reduce the speed limit around schools to 20mph. While I applaud and support this move I have to point out it was the same person who was responsible for the sacking Wirral’s lollipop men and women. Where was here concern for child safety then?

Incidentally the cost of hiring a barrister for two days worth of work at the library inquiry approx £35,000 is roughly the same cost that the Council saved sacking the School Crossing Patrol. What are this useless administration’s priorities?

Pictured: Geoff Gubb & Esther McVey

Yesterday your Conservative Action Team help a fundraising event in the Tennis Club Victory Hall on Rake land. The event was oversubscribed with 50 people attending. Thanks have to go to Kath, Jennifer and Jasmine who did a wonderful job preparing the Sunday lunch.