Wirral Council is on a knife edge and just a small number of votes could completely change the local authority.
Labour’s Janette Williamson currently leads the council, but the party has just 27 of Wirral’s 66 council seats, meaning just a small number of seats could put Labour in complete control or see them thrown out of office should other parties group together. The May 5 vote will be held against the backdrop of the council’s £20m cuts package, which will see it withdraw funding from Woodchurch Leisure Centre, nine libraries, two golf courses and more.
Battles are currently being fought over the future of key leisure services, with local groups given the opportunity to take over the above facilities under a community asset transfer, supported by short-term council funding in some cases.
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The local elections could decide the future of these services and much else besides, as the council faces another tough twelve months. Here’s what each of the main parties will be standing on in less than seven weeks time.
Labour:
A Wirral Labour spokesperson said: “Our priority is and always has been the people of Wirral, and providing them a safe, well-maintained and inclusive borough. Where the Conservative government talks about levelling up, while delivering further austerity and cuts, Labour actually puts our promises into action, working at community level to make sure that our most vulnerable residents are protected.
“The regeneration of Birkenhead, Wallasey, Seacombe and New Brighton is exciting, and to be able to redevelop existing sites into assets our communities can use for now and for the future is a huge step forward. Our commitment to the environment is key, and the Local Plan allows us to meet our housing need, while safeguarding Wirral’s beautiful greenbelt and green spaces and putting new housing only on existing brownfield sites.
“Labour councillors are community councillors who roll their sleeves up and get involved. We make sure that our residents' voices are heard, and act as advocates for the people of Wirral.”
Labour said Tory government cuts made the budget a “hugely difficult task”, but the party claimed credit for preventing a number of cuts from going ahead including the closure of public toilets, saving Rock Ferry library while giving others time and support to stay open, throwing a lifeline to Woodchurch Leisure Centre and guaranteeing that golf courses will not be built on.
Conservatives
Cllr Tom Anderson, leader of the Conservative group, said: “The Labour-led council’s finances have been a mess for over a decade. Two independent reports laid bare the irresponsible financial decisions taken by successive Labour councillors.
“£7m spent on the Vue cinema and funding vanity projects such as the failed Hoylake Golf Resort to build on Wirral’s green belt. Then paying £500,000 to the developer to get out of their contract which Conservative councillors, local campaigners and residents told them was an expensive folly.
“The latest incarnation of creating a local authority run bank costing taxpayers £5m, has now thankfully died a death. Local Conservatives will protect our green belt. This is why we proposed the Local Plan at a recent council committee meeting which has only brownfield sites listed for development.
“These local elections will decide what type of Wirral we want. Local Conservatives’ priority is to have a clean, green and pleasant environment for all our residents to enjoy.
“We will use the £100m given from Government to level up Wirral, creating highly skilled jobs, attracting new businesses so our children don’t have to find employment out of the area. We will protect the local services which all our residents rely upon and the council exists to provide, such as maintaining our roads and pavements, keeping our streets clean and free from litter, cutting the grass across the borough and protecting our most vulnerable residents.”
Liberal Democrats
Lib Dem group leader, Cllr Phil Gilchrist, said: “Our future plans offer hope, our financial crisis, in stark contrast, is creating uncertainty and despair. It’s as though time has stood still in parts of Wirral for twenty years or more.
“We have had regeneration schemes before, the funding came and went, leaving a mixed legacy. Our Local Plan, if the funding and timing works out, offers opportunity for areas that have been left behind.
“We must remove the obstacles to developing the right places whilst protecting valuable farmland, open spaces and scenery. Wirral needs the money to redevelop, it needs Council Tax income from new homes to sustain services.
“Without new income the services and facilities Wirral has run since it was formed, almost fifty years ago, remain at risk. We cannot afford to slip up on the way to secure them.
“Our budget has been through a winter of despair. Without a fair deal from Westminster there will be another hard winter ahead. Just weeks ago Wirral set out to make huge savings yet we are back on the savings treadmill already.
“For thirty of the past forty years it has been the same story. Without a fair deal from the Government we are still standing on the cliff edge. We have much to do and must have a practical programme for Wirral’s recovery.
“We must support our ageing population, replace ageing school buildings, create modern sports facilities and, above all, be honest about our current plight.
“That means talking with people about what needs doing to put it right, in clear terms before the council makes its mind up.
“The public trusted the council during the pandemic. Political actions, with budget consultations that are ignored, tinkered with and changed on a whim, can so easily undermine that trust.”
Green Party
Cllr Pat Cleary, who leads the Green Party group on the council, said: “The Green Party is approaching these elections with confidence and on the back of a strong track record of delivery. Official data from Wirral Council clearly show that Green councillors work harder for residents.
“While the Greens reported an average of 283 issues to the council in 2021, the average Labour councillor reported just 54 and the average Conservative 56. Voters can be confident that electing more Greens will result in tangible benefits for where they live. The recent austerity budget voted through by Labour and Conservatives reflected years of Tory imposed austerity and financial mismanagement by Labour.
“In contrast, Greens have brought forward proposals that not only save money but bring real environmental gains – from reducing the council’s energy and diesel consumption, ending the spraying/raking of our beaches, promoting and protecting our biodiversity and ending the £1m annual subsidy for car parking. Green councillors have had a huge and beneficial impact on the council’s budget and Wirral’s environment.
"[Green councillors are] an independent voice. By, for example, voting against school closures in deprived areas, the sell-off of council assets and voting for stronger environmental standards in the regeneration of Birkenhead and a brownfield first policy for new housing, Greens have led the way in building a more progressive, greener future for Wirral and supporting those in our community who are most in need.”
