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This is what your council tax money pays for


Tory councillor Leah Fraser said decision to spend the money was “offensive to every taxpayer in the borough”

The new £25,000 carpet on the staircase at Wallasey town hall


Cash-strapped Wirral council has come under fire after it was revealed it is to spend £25,000 replacing carpets for the town hall stairs.

Council chiefs say the new carpets are needed for Wallasey town hall, which is a popular wedding venue.

However, it has also revealed that the original company due to supply the carpet was wound up and unable to complete the contract, meaning a second firm had to be brought in for the fitting – although the council insists this “did not affect the overall cost”.

But leading Tory councillor Leah Fraser said the decision to spend the money was “offensive to every taxpayer in the borough”.

She said the decision to spend so much on the carpet was made worse coming after the decision to press ahead with consultation on the future of Lyndale School, which caters for some of the borough’s most vulnerable youngsters with severe disabilities.

But David Armstrong, Wirral’s head of universal and infrastructure services, said: “The council is replacing carpets in areas that are used during the wedding ceremonies that regularly take place in Wallasey Town Hall, following a number of complaints from attendees.

“Every year, there are around 200 such ceremonies, held on Fridays and Saturdays, raising in the region of £20,000 per year, which is then reinvested.

“The carpets in these areas have been not been replaced since 1968. The cost of purchasing the carpet and fitting it is around £25,000, which was allocated in 2012/13’s budget.

“The carpet was sourced from a local firm, and fitted by a second company following the first’s winding up. This did not affect the overall cost of the process.”

Late last year the council came under fire for spending £850,000 on a “Downton”-style staircase for Wallasey town hall.

Senior Tory Ian Lewis blasted the ruling Labour group for approving the work while the council faces major budget challenges and must save £109m over three years.

Wallasey councillor Leah Fraser said: “Less than 24 hours after the Town Hall decided to consult on the closure of Lyndale School, we learn that the chief executive Graham Burgess is spending £25,000 on a carpet for a marble staircase.

“What planet is he on? The cabinet can’t preach austerity and cuts to the rest of us while lavishing this kind of cash on a carpet for a flight of stairs.

“It’s offensive to every taxpayer in the borough.”

they want to carpet this staircase

Things do have to be replaced from time to time but £25k! It will take a year and three months income from the weddings to pay for it.

Obviously any business seeing any form of Government office tripping along to spend the taxes knows they are onto a good thing. I wonder how much it would cost if a 'private' individual went along to the carpet vendors with the measurements without a hint of who or what it was for.

lord knows what price per sq m carpet they are using .The £25,000 surely has to be for a heck of a lot more areas as well as the staircase??
My maths is generally suspect ,so someone tell me if Im wrong but that 24 step staircase carpet even if every stair was a foot high and a foot deep, and overall was 2yds wide would only be about a max of 64 sq yds . If it was £100 per yd that would only come to £6400 plus a few hundred fitting. They must have done a lot more areas than just the stairs ,or something is very very wrong

The report in the echo does state the following

Cash-strapped Wirral council has come under fire after it was revealed it is to spend £25,000 replacing carpets for the

town hall stairs.

Also why are the council spending SO MUCH MONEY on the town hall as in FIRE ESCAPES
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Fresh twist in Wirral council ‘Downton stairs’ row
1 Dec 2013 20:58

Party rivals cross swords over fire escape scheme

Councillor Ian Lewis at the £850,000 'Executive Fire Escape' in Wallasey Town Hall


A political row has erupted over who approved a costly “Downton”- style staircase for Wallasey town hall.

Senior Tory Ian Lewis blasted the ruling Labour group for approving the work while the council faces major budget challenges and must save £109m over three years.

Wirral council is spending nearly £850,000 on the “'executive fire escape” in Wallasey town hall and a further £179,000 on first-floor alterations.

But Labour has hit back, saying the cash for the work was set aside by the Tories while they were in control of the authority and accusing the opposition of “blatant hypocrisy.”

Work, which is already under way, includes encasing the fire escape in double glazing and using cast-iron balustrades for the banisters.

Cllr Lewis said: “At a time when the town hall is turning off streetlights to ‘save cash’, how on earth can spending so much money on an ‘executive fire escape’ be justified?

“This fire escape looks as though it wouldn't be out of place in Downton Abbey.

“Either the Town Hall has been in breach of fire safety legislation for all these years, or whoever authorised this work must have missed the memo about cutting back on extravagance.”

Cllr Phil Davies, leader of the Labour group, defended his own party.

He said: “Given that Ian Lewis was a member of the cabinet which put £1.6m into the council capital programme at budget cabinet on February 21, 2011, and at the same meeting cut millions of pounds from the council’s budget, it is blatant hypocrisy for him to now criticise the council for undertaking work which was required to improve the town hall’s fire safety standards and ensure that it was fully accessible for people with disabilities.

“We also have a legal requirement to do this work to a standard to comply with regulations as the building has Grade II-listed status.

“When the scheme and estimate came to the Labour cabinet on January 12, 2012, the cost of the scheme had been reduced to £834,723 excluding fees.”

But Cllr Lewis hit back, saying: “It’s a bit rich for the Labour party to now seek to blame me for a decision they took on January 12, 2012.

“Nowhere in the council’s capital programme prior to this had there been any reference to a double- glazed, stainless steel and cast-iron staircase.

“I’m afraid the Labour party is once again seeking to blame others instead of taking responsibility for its own decisions at a time when it is telling Wirral there is no money for street lights.”

Why is there carpet on a fire escape?

I don't know Moonstar I would have thought its more dangerous if there is carpet on there if people are rushing to evacuate a burning building IMHO I think it's just another way of WASTING THE TAXPAYERS money