Wirral Tory has 'grounds' to complain after 'George Clooney-style' coffee machine installed in town hall



WIRRAL Council chiefs have been told to "wake up and smell the coffee” after what has been dubbed a “George Clooney” style coffee machine was installed at Wallasey Town Hall at a time when the cash-strapped authority is making cuts to public services.

Wallasey Conservative Cllr Paul Hayes has requested details of the costs of the coffee machine, which has been installed next to the office of the leader of the council Phil Davies, as well as the make and model.

He submitted the questions under the Freedom of Information Act via the ‘What Do They Know’ website, the day after councillors voted through a package of cuts for public services.


Cllr Hayes said: “The hypocrisy is breath taking – they preach austerity and cuts to the taxpayer while splashing the cash on the town hall.

“First we had the ‘Downton Abbey Staircase’, then the air conditioned executive lift, the hand woven carpets and now this all singing, all dancing coffee machine.

“Wirral’s Labour controlled council need to practice what they preach - why on earth do they need a coffee machine that grinds beans into six different kinds of coffee?

“I’m afraid it’s high time Wirral Labour woke up and smelled the coffee. This kind of tax payer sponsored extravagance is an affront to everyone who is fighting Labour’s cuts in Wirral.”

A spokesman for Wirral Council said the new machine is leased through Auto Bar, who have an existing contract with the authority, and has replaced the old machine which was broken.

The spokesman added: “Our FOI team will provide the specifics in response to this enquiry, but in the meantime we can tell you that, as far as we are aware, George Clooney was not involved in its purchase, and does, in fact, advertise coffee machines for a different company.

"The coffee machine is located in the members room for use by all members."

In a statement, Wirral's Labour group described Cllr Haye's criticism as "pathetic", adding: "If Cllr Hayes believes this decision to have been wrong, I trust he will condemn all of his Conservative colleagues who were seen using the new coffee machine at full council last Monday night?"

"Cllr Hayes’s hypocrisy know no bounds: has he forgotten that the funding for the ‘Downton Abbey Staircase’ and the new lift was agreed by the Tory Group when they were in control of the Council in 2011? Is he aware that the carpet in the town hall had to be replaced because the previous one was over 30 years old and was considered a health and safety risk?

"If Cllr Hayes thinks he can use a coffee machine to deflect attention from the millions of pounds of cuts in Wirral Council’s budget by his government and hated policies such as the bedroom tax then he is sadly mistaken."

source : Click me

2 Sugars please lol

Well if I'm right in thinking the Town Hall is a public building,maybe all Wirral Citizens could use the expensive coffee machine

I went to a 'Tea with the Mayor' Event, a while back- posh tea and M and S biscuits!!!

Shame on you Rude

Tory Councillor Hayes at it again! The real issue is the cuts that Wirral and other councils have to make because of the Tory/LibDem funding cuts. Wirral has to cut over £27m now and another £55m before 2017. Given the impact his government is having on local services no wonder he prefers to talk about coffee.

Considering it was a Labour Council throughout the 10year (and before)period up to 2010, who dished money out and allowed others to spend it like fools thinking there was no tomorrow, who failed to accept Government Grants for two consecutive years since then(why ?), are one of all tory or labour councils in the same predicament, invested their money from guidance under the Labour Government in Icelandic Banks, but still seem to be able to put forward schemes to upgrade leisure centres, which are not really necessary at the moment.
We can blame whoever we want to, for whatever we want to, but if the country had no money in 2010, then what would you suggest is the answer ? No cuts and savings and then sink into being a third world country ?
We must neither forget that all the wars we have been engaged in must have also cost the country an arm and a leg. Many of those servicemen and women didn't come home, so WE have nothing to moan about really.

With regard to the 'coffee machine' , what happened to 'procurement' which the council once became very engaged with ?
Is it the best possible cost, or could coffee come a lot cheaper ?

Meaning : procured at the best possible cost to meet the needs of the acquirer in terms of quality and quantity, time, and location.

Maybe so, but it doesn't excuse the extravagant spending that's been going on for some time:

Cash-strapped Wirral council under fire after revealing plans to spend £25,000 on replacing carpet on town hall stairs
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/wirral-council-under-fire-plans-6772612

£20,000 to spend a penny: Wirral council spend thousands on new Town Hall toilet facilities
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/20000-spend-penny-wirral-council-7253314

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.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/fresh-twist-wirral-council-downton-6359879

Fiddling while Rome burns springs to mind.

Lol, it was a heritage week thing.

Granny, Labour took control of the Council in 2012. Prior to that no party had had overall control since 2002. Since the international financial crisis the 3 main parties all agree spending had to be cut because of the cost of bailing out the banks, but they have been greater than they would have been if the Tories had chosen to target big companies paying little or no tax in the UK. Now tax income is far less than the government expected so ordinary people face still more cuts.

What about this:

EXCLUSIVE: Wirral Council under fire after lending £35m to other local authorities
http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/1...ending___35m_to_other_local_authorities/

Or this:


Wirral’s £13 million uncollected council tax
http://www.cheshire-today.co.uk/14474/wirrals-13-million-uncollected-council-tax/

excuses excuses, you should be a politician

PMSL x

Yes, you are correct although we did have the same Labour Council Leader for 12 years.
For Government to implement the collection of tax that big businesses owe, and have owed for numerous years, which was overlooked for long enough, is not able to be done by the stroke of a pen. As WMBC have bee investigated, there must have been something drastically wrong.It is perfectly open knowledge that WBC have wasted money, made wrong decisions, and probably much more that is not available on the FI. e.g. Compensation claims, redundancy pay offs.
Due to Labour Government implementation of Job Evaluation Scheme. I've mentioned it before, and when staff had their jobs upgraded and gained 5/6 years of back pay, which must have cost £100's of thousands,, that was the point that other jobs started to go, replaced by university graduates on a different job description and salaried at 2 and half times the salaries of others, due to more government intervention. (Get these graduates employed) Therefore higher pensions and higher redundancy packages. Waste.... without forethought of the repercussions that could evolve.
Renewal of the Biffa Bin contract at £120 million, and part of that original contract was to collect all household rubbish, not making a distinction between general waste and garden waste. A council perk to charge for brown bin waste.
http://johnbrace.com/2014/09/11/bif...ing-contract-worth-at-least-120-million/

I could go on and on as most on here know, but cannot be bothered.......and after todays news, we'll be getting more next year. I am not condoning the present government's implementation of policies and we will all feel it, but as the council so far have managed to meet the cuts, then there had to be vast overspending all around, previously. The old saying of, 'look after the pennies'...springs to mind, rather than spend ,spend,spend principle, of the 2000's.

I love the labour lovers crying about cuts ect as the facts are all laid out in front of you , wirral is a sham under labour and is in the doldrums . The towns are dying because of parking fees , ect and u are losing all services. . Wake up wirral ..... Have u seen the mess that is birkenhead , liscard , can u not see how let down u are ?

this is the important sentence, they were already paying a lease on a coffee machine, now they just have a new one to replace the old one, much like a mobile phone contract or a hire purchase car.

franky a £100 coffee machine, or whatever it costs, isn't gonna scratch the surface of a £70m deficit, at least if they have coffee they have no excuse now to not do anything.

Why do they need coffee machines or .3 million works on cleavland street depot
. Not as cash strapped as they say

It isn't unusual for local authorities to lend to each other. They have policies setting out their investment strategies and if they loan to other councils this will be set out in their policy. This is an article on the matter which includes comments by the Strategic Director of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse, two Tory run councils with shared services, confirming that it is a reasonable practice.
http://www.room151.co.uk/latest/wonga-words-worry-wirral/

As for non collection of council tax, personally I think non payment should be pursued where there is a realistic prospect of obtaining payment. Opinions differ on that but I'm not sure about how accurate some of the detail is in the article you link to. Firstly, Wirral has started legal action against substantial numbers of non payers
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/thousands-wirral-residents-face-council-4711908
and an audit commission report last month pointed out that individual local authorities had arrears ranging from £11m to £105m, so I'm not sure where the justification is for saying that Wirral, at £13m of arrears, is one of the worst. Incidentally, the audit commission says council's collect between 92% and 99% of the tax due. According to Wirral, their collection rate is 96%.

Do you work for the council?

No I don't, and never have. I worked for UNISON for many years and dealt with many employers in the public sector throughout the North West, mainly local government and health. For a short time, 3 or 4 years ago, I worked with the Wirral council branch, but the Branch Officers dealt with Councillors and Senior Officers. So I know something of how local government and the NHS works and is financed but have no insider knowledge of Wirral Council.