Labour Challenge to Control Walsall Council
Walsall Council House
Opposition councillors on Walsall Council will attempt to unseat
the ruling Conservative and Liberal Democratic coalition next week after ‘a year of incompetence, inaction and increasing indifference.’
At the Council’s annual general meeting on Wednesday 22nd May Labour members will move a motion of no confidence in the Tory and Liberal Democrat coalition which currently runs Walsall Council after controversially scraping in by just one vote at last year’s meeting.
The motion will force the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats
to defend their record of failure to deliver major job creation schemes, their running of child protection services condemned as ‘inadequate’, breaking their promise to provide 275 apprenticeships, threatening the future of Walsall’s town centre Gala swimming baths - while awarding their cabinet members massive pay rises.
The vote will hinge on the borough’s three Independent councillors who hold the balance of power on the 60 seat hung council between Labour’s 28 members and the Tory/Lib Dem’s 29.
Labour group leader, Tim Oliver, said: “The last year has been a disaster for the people of Walsall as the Conservative-led coalition Government’s polices have been implemented by their local councillors.”
* In July, only weeks after last year’s crucial vote, Ofsted condemned the council’s child protection services as inadequate – its lowest possible rating.
* In September, nearly 30 per cent of shops Walsall town centre had gone out of business as the Tories and Lib Dems announced their deepest round of cuts in services so far, resulting in 166 lost jobs.
* In December, the private sector/council funded Phoenix 10 regeneration project collapsed resulting in a 25% downscaling promised jobs to 3,000 and forcing the council to borrow untold millions of pounds to save the project.
* In January this year, the Tory/Lib Dem’s promise of 275 apprenticeships for young people was shown to have failed after only 58 youngsters were found training places; while in the same month, cabinet members voted themselves a massive pay rise.
* In February, over 4000 families in Walsall were prevented from getting additional help from the council after Tory and Lib Dem councillors blocked a Labour move to increase financial help to those who face eviction because of the Government’s bedroom tax.
*In March council leader, Mike Bird, made it clear that the Gala baths were under threat, whilst users of the brine and swimming pools were forced to smuggle in a petition having been banned from collecting signatures by the council.
Cllr Oliver added: “Really, it comes down to a vote for or against the people of the borough. Just over the last year we have seen promises broken, front line services cut, jobs lost and the low paid, disabled and jobless being made to bear the cost. The vote of confidence will give the Independents representing Darlaston South and Blakenall the chance to put right their mistake, when they sat on their hands and effectively allowed the Tories and Lib Dems to take control.”
“We will outline the council’s failures, the refusal of theTories and Lib Dems to accept responsibility and their indifference to the impact and consequences of their actions. It will be then up to the Independents to choose if they will continue to support them or vote for change and throw them out.”
Walsall’s Tax Payers Prop Up Black Country Enterprise Zone costs
The cost of cleaning up and redeveloping one of the two Black Country Local Enterprise Zones have spiralled after Walsall Council took direct control of the project. The Conservative led authority was forced to take over the financing of the reclamation and redevelopment of the Phoenix 10 site in Alumwell after a private sector partner pulled out of the £18 million joint partnership.
In January the council said it would fund and redevelop the site, but privately council officers are predicting the scheme will far outstrip its original budget- with no guarantee it will breakeven.
Labour Group Leader, Cllr Tim Oliver, said the project is vital to the regeneration of the borough and the Black Country but Tory led Walsall Council has mismanaged the project from the start.
“Back in 2010 the council announced its deal with Parkhill Estates Ltd with much fanfare and the promise of 4,000 jobs. At the time it said the project would cost £18 million – £12 million being provided by the private sector. Now we learn that costs have far outpaced that while the predicted jobs number has fallen to 3,000.
“We have to ask why the budget has spiralled, what is being done to ensure costs don’t continue to climb and why the council put all its eggs in the private sector basket which has, ultimately, resulted in a bigger bill? “
The reclamation and redevelopment of land hinges on the cleaning up of the 37 acre former IMI James Bridge Engineering works – described by Walsall’s Council Leader, Mike Bird, as one of the most polluted sites in Europe. The site is presently owned by the Government funded Homes and Community Agency, who is rumoured will sell it to the council for just £1 when liability for its reclamation passes to the authority. Walsall Council is planning to borrow the money which it will pay off the loan with projected business rate increases from all four Black Country boroughs.
Cllr Oliver said the Tories were being forced to ignore their own national party’s policies of limiting public spending to deal with economic reality.
Cllr Oliver added: “It’s ironic local Tories, who argue against public sector borrowing, are being forced to take out loans to fund a project they originally told us would be paid for by private money. They have also been forced to pump in an estimated £8 million into the separate Old Square Shopping Centre development, which we were again told would be funded by the private sector; after the cash failed to materialise.”
“The Tories record on Walsall’s regeneration so far amounts to failed political dogma, broken promises and spiralling costs.”
Tory/Lib Dem Panic Over Shopping Deal
After three years of failed promises and unsuccessful negotiations Walsall Council has committed £8 million to a flagship retail project – with less than 24 hours notice.
Labour councillors at a special meeting of the council held on Tuesday night refused to endorse a deal to revamp the Old Square Shopping Centre because of lack of proper financial scrutiny and checks.
The meeting was told by Council Leader Mike Bird that the clock was ticking on 200 jobs with the high street chains, Primark and the Co-op
Labour group leader, Tim Oliver, said the council’s last minute move amounted to panic and Labour members were forced to vote against it.
“Of course, we are committed to bringing jobs to Walsall but what we asked to do last night was to make a major financial commitment to buy the leasehold of the shopping centre ,despite no proper checks on the impact to other businesses in the town centre or the risks for local tax payers.
“When we called for more information and time to consider the proposal we were told the contracts had to be signed within 24 hours otherwise the deal would fall through.
“We couldn’t make a safe decision whether this was an opportunity or potential burden for council tax payers. Last night’s meeting was a panic move by a council leadership which has had three years to deliver this project and has failed to do so.”
“Over those years, the Conservatives and their Lib Dem partners have dutifully followed their Government’s line of opposition to public borrowing and spending and reliance on the private sector to provide investment.
“Locally, as nationally, that policy has failed and at the last minute they ask the council tax payer to provide the cash without a properly scrutinised plan.”
Walsall Labour Leadership re-elected
Cllr Tim Oliver and Cllr Sean Coughlan have been re-elected to the positions of Leader and Deputy Leader, respectively, of the Labour Party Group on Walsall Council.
The vote took place at the group’s annual general meeting on Friday 3rd May, both candidates were unopposed.
Petition Smugglers Defy Council Leader’s Ban!
Women opposed to the closure of Walsall’s Gala Baths are smuggling in petitions hidden in swimming costumes after Council leader, Mike Bird, banned them from collecting signatures. The protestors are now secretly signing people up in changing rooms after the local authority chief ordered a petition removed from the leisure centre’s reception desk.
Campaign organiser, Debbie Fellows from Blakenall, said users of the facility were being forced to use cloak and dagger methods to have their say on the future of the Lichfield Street baths.
“The Gala Baths is a great facility used by all members of the community from young children to pensioners many who travel from across Walsall to benefit from the swimming pool, brine bath, dance studio and fitness gym,”
She added as the only centrally located sport and leisure centre in the borough it attracts visitors to the town which has one of the highest rates of empty shop units in the country.
“We started the campaign to save the Gala after it was reported the council was looking to close it. The staff agreed to let us put a petition on reception so users could show how much they wanted to keep it open, but very quickly council officials ordered it be removed.
“Now we are forced to smuggle in copies hidden among our swimming costumes and collect signatures in the privacy of the changing rooms as if it was against the law!”
With its 33 metre pool, diving boards and seating for spectators, the Gala Baths is home and a venue to a number of sports, including swimming teams, synchronised swimmers, diving, water polo and sub aqua training. It has the only brine pool in the region offering therapeutic relief to sufferers of orthopedic and muscular conditions such as arthritis. Its gym and studio offer fitness training and classes in aerobics, step, and body conditioning and it is regularly used by Walsall Football Club.
Local Labour Councillor, Eileen Russell, is supporting the campaign. Cllr Russell said the Gala is the best leisure facility in the borough and its loss would be a major blow to the health of local people.
“This year the council has taken responsibility for public health following the changes in the NHS. Part of that role is promoting fitness and exercise to improve health outcomes and wellbeing in the borough, so to talk about shutting a facility that adds so much to those aims seems short sighted and self-defeating.
She added: “As for the council banning users of the baths from collecting signatures for their petition, it smacks of an attempt to limit consultation to a time and method of their choosing and runs contrary to its promise to be transparent and open about major decisions affecting the borough.
“I will now be asking for a definitive answer on the future of the Gala at the next full council meeting so it can’t be swept under the carpet until a time it suits the local authority.”
