Plans to build thousands of homes, completely change the way Wirral’s elections work and bring in a ‘Hillsborough Day’ to commemorate the disaster have been agreed tonight.
Wirral Council’s crucial meeting unanimously passed a draft Local Plan, which will see the greenbelt protected in its entirety with the building of around 13,000 homes between now and 2037 to be focused around brownfield sites in the east of the borough, particularly in and around Birkenhead.
Tonight’s vote does not mean it will come in today however, as it still faces a number of hurdles including a six-week public consultation and a review by the government which could take as long as 12 months.
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But it is a big moment for the council, as it puts its massive ambitions for Birkenhead into writing and helps it to argue that it is protecting the green belt.
The passing of this plan was just one big moment at tonight’s meeting, here are the five key things we learnt tonight.
East Wirral to get a huge number of homes
The draft Local Plan, which was wholeheartedly endorsed by full council tonight, includes proposals which will transform Birkenhead and see development focused on brownfield sites in the east of the borough. The homes plan includes the huge Wirral Waters project, a series of schemes which will see up to 13,000 homes built over the next 25 years along the Birkenhead docklands.
It also includes plans for around 1,000 homes at a new Hind Street Urban Village near Birkenhead town centre, as well as many other projects in Birkenhead and developments in Liscard and Leasowe. The Local Plan said 835 homes per year need to be delivered in Wirral, or 13,360 over the period of this plan.
However, the council must identify more than this amount as some sites may not come forward at the pace expected. The document read: “This Local Plan therefore makes provision for the delivery of almost 18,000 dwellings.”
Speaking at tonight’s meeting, Cllr Janette Williamson, leader of Wirral Council, said the plan was a “brownfield first option”, and an option she was proud of as it would protect the green areas which are important to the council. The Labour leader added it will support the physical, social and economic regeneration of Wirral underpinned by a strategic vision to reduce inequality.
Cllr Tom Anderson, leader of the Conservative group, supported the Local Plan but said it had taken the council 18 years to get to this point and referred to the ditched Hoylake Golf Resort project as an example of the local authority’s failings during this time. But Cllr Anderson said if delivered correctly, the Local Plan could bring high skilled jobs and investment to the borough and would be a blueprint for the next 50 years.
Elections will look very different
Tonight’s meeting also voted for Wirral Council to have just one set of elections every four years, starting in 2023, in which all 66 councillors will be up for election. This will replace the current system where a third of councillors go up for election in votes which take place in three out of every four years, with the last election of this kind happening on May 5 this year.
Labour and the Conservatives backed the move, despite being sceptical about whether it was a good idea, as it was one of the recommendations in an independent report which slated the council last November. The Liberal Democrats and Independent councillor Jo Bird voted against the vote, while the Greens were split, with two councillors voting in favour of the move and two voting against.
Big changes in the council’s politics
The party divide in the vote on so-called ‘all out elections’ led to a hostile debate, with Labour’s Steve Foulkes frustrated with the Lib Dems for opposing the move. Lib Dem group leader, Cllr Phil Gilchrist, said the move took away the opportunity for people to support one party or the other as often and was “not democratic”.
But Cllr Foulkes said the Lib Dems had virtually encouraged us to not set a budget by opposing the budget after their amendments were defeated at a meeting last month. He said he was not in favour of all out elections, but felt the council needed to do it given it was a recommendation made in an independent report last November.
Liberal Democrat councillor Dave Mitchell said his party never proposed an illegal budget and their amendments were within the rules. While Cllr Anderson accused the Lib Dems of “self-indulgence”, saying there were bigger items on the agenda than this one, with Cllr Williamson arguing the Lib Dems were making it “incredibly difficult” for parties to work together in big items like the budget.
Hillsborough’s 97th victim given Freedom of Wirral
Andrew Devine was posthumously awarded the Freedom of Wirral at tonight’s meeting. Mr Devine died last year as a result of injuries sustained in the Hillsborough tragedy.
His death prompted a wave of tributes and Wirral Council has now voted for him to join the other 96 victims of the disaster in receiving the honour.
Labour councillor Tony Cottier, who was at Hillsborough on the day of the disaster, said Andrew Devine had “defied all odds” in surviving for 32 years after the injuries he sustained. He added that his story epitomised Liverpool’s motto 'You’ll Never Walk Alone'.
‘Hillsborough Day’ for Liverpool City Region endorsed
The full council meeting also backed a move to endorse the Hillsborough Real Truth Legacy Project. The project calls for a dedicated ‘Hillsborough Day’ in the Liverpool City Region, to take place on the nearest Friday to the anniversary of the tragedy and wants teaching of the Hillsborough disaster to be added to the national curriculum.
Tonight’s move comes after a similar motion was passed by Liverpool Council in January, calling on the local authority to support the project, led by Ian Byrne, the Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby, in conjunction with many Hillsborough families and survivors.
The Hillsborough Day would see every primary and secondary school in the Liverpool City Region, which includes Wirral, taking part in a special assembly. The assembly would mark the anniversary and teach children more about the disaster, the cover-up and the fight for justice through dedicated teaching resource packs made available to every school in the City Region by local education leads.
Speaking about the motion tonight, Cllr Cottier said he walked away from Hillsborough physically unscathed but it never left him. The Labour councillor added that so many lost their lives or had them changed forever and discussed the way that survivors through their own trauma came together to support one another.
