We asked, you said, we did

For more information on the consultation click here.

We Asked

We carried out a consultation on a set of budget proposals for the 2021/22 Council budget. We asked for your views on whether you supported the proposals. The 24 proposals included options for budget reductions affecting all council departments and the services they provide, from adult social care and young people & education, to bin collections, leisure centres, museum services, golf courses, public conveniences, and tourism. The budget proposals also covered areas such as council back-office reorganisation and income generation such as car parking and other fees charged by the local authority.

You Said

You told us which of the proposals you supported and those you didn’t. You also gave us feedback on the proposals and different ideas we could use for council budget setting. The analysis of responses showed that the proposals most disagreed with included:

Reducing youth provision, ceasing the school crossing patrol service, reduction of public conveniences, reducing the collection of general rubbish to once every three weeks, the closure of Europa Pools, review of council-run golf courses, closure of the Council’s museum service, and removal of support for the community alarm service.

You can view the whole consultation report in Documents here.

We Did

A meeting of the full Wirral Council was held on the 1 March 2021 to make a final decision on the budget. Councillors discussed the budget options including the public consultation responses.

In light of the findings from the extensive public consultation on the savings options, councillors agreed to remove a number of proposals in the budget, reflecting those areas people in the borough care about. This included the options to stop school crossing patrols, close public toilets, introduce three weekly bin collection and entirely close Europa Pools were removed from the budget. Investigations will take place to see if the Fun Pool at Europa can be opened for the six-week summer holiday while the main pool will stay open – this would have to be in line with Public Health advice, any lockdown restrictions.

The reviews of council golf courses and the Museums Service were also removed from the budget, although the Williamson Gallery will need to make efficiency savings totalling £90,000. The proposal to reduce the subsidy to the Hive Youth Centre from £400,000 to £200,000 was amended so the centre will receive £300,000 for one year only and the Birkenhead youth site will be helped to secure additional sponsorship and funding from businesses to make up the difference. The proposal to remove the Community Alarm Service which offers a low-level support service to aid independent living and reduces the burden on social care and health services was also delayed.

Eight major proposals were removed from the list of budget options after being highlighted by the public that they did not want them to go ahead.

You can view the minutes and webcast of the full council meeting here.