Thursday 13 December 2007

Warren Bradley Whimpers as Liberal Democrats prepare him for the Sacrificial Roast at the Christmas Dinner 2007

Warren Bradley has once again opened his mouth in protest at being caught out having secret liaisons with Lee Forde.

He has publicly lied and lied again over this issue, to such an extent that the Liberal Democrats of Liverpool find him to be an embarrassment and make plans to remove him from office.

Lee Forde has prepared his fight well, he has documentation that Warren and Co cannot shred away from existence.

Bradley has been stupid in following Mike Storey's road into corruption, he gets the blame for Storey's mistakes.

Mike Storey has remained very quiet on the subject of meeting with Lee Forde.

Lee Forde has provided more evidence showing that Mike Storey was behind the cut in budget for Mathew Street Festival, which led to the cancellation of all the outside events booked for the Mathew Street Birthday of Liverpool Edition 2007.
See below for latest revelations thanks to Liverpool Subculture


LEE FORDE'S MATHEW ST DOSSIER: THE BATTLE BETWEEN STOREYTELLER AND THE HARBARROWBOY




The following emails between Councillor Storey and Jason Harborow illustrate the rising tensions between the two over budgets, but also that Councillor Bradley; the Lord Mayor, Councillor Paul Clark; and Mr Hilton were also all aware of the problems faced by Mathew Street in March 2007.

-----Original Message-----

From: Fogarty, Sandra On Behalf Of Harborow, Jason
Sent: 12 March 2007 11:39
To: Storey, Mike
Cc: Bradley, Warren (Leader of the City Council); Hilton, Colin (Chief Executive); Green, Chris; Forde, Lee

Subject: Son et Lumiere - Mathew Street Festival

Dear Mike
I understand that a meeting took place between yourself, Warren, Colin and Chris Green on 21st February. At that meeting the Son et Lumiere was discussed and also Mathew Street Festival. As you are aware, the planning for one off events for 2007 took place in the second half of last year. At that time the Son et Lumiere event was not being considered. Following a request to look at this a more accurate budget was produced highlighting that £160k would be required to deliver the event, we were asked to look at the budget to see if this could be found and to increase the budget for the pageant and square activities on the 28th August.
Following a thorough review of the budget I regret to inform you that it is impossible to find this budget without looking to reduce the budget for the fireworks on 28th August, however, this would undoubtedly create a serious PR issue if a decent display did not take place.
I felt it was important to inform you of this as soon as possible.

In relation to Mathew Street Festival, there are other issues which I will highlight as soon as discussions with my colleagues are concluded. These do include serious logistical issues around the closing of major roads and the utilisation of space not normally used for Mathew Street Festival, these issues of course do not have an impact on the event taking place but may have on the duration.

I will provide this information as soon as possible.
Best Regards
Jason Harborow
Chief Executive

-----Original Message-----
From: Storey, Mike
To: Harborow, Jason
Cc: Bradley, Warren (Leader of the City Council); Clark, Paul; Hilton, Colin(Chief Executive)
Sent: Mon Mar 12 17:11:47 2007

Subject: RE: Son et Lumiere - Mathew Street Festival

Jason

Not happy about this. wondered why nobody was talking to me about this!
Amazing how we can fin £50,000 for Summer pops in Sefton and other non essential items yet the opportunity for Liverpool folk to celebrate the opening of St Georges Hall is pushed out. Would want to meet up tomorrow morning to discuss this and to go through the Budgets to find the money. This will happen

Regards
Mike

-----Original Message-----

From: Harborow, Jason
Sent: 12 March 2007 20:18
To: Storey, Mike
Cc: Bradley, Warren (Leader of the City Council); Clark, Paul; Hilton, Colin(Chief Executive); Green, Chris; Molyneux, Lorraine

Subject: Re: Son et Lumiere - Mathew Street Festival
Mike

Thank you for your note.
I am afraid I am not available tomorrow but chris green is.

The issue is we don't have this type of budget without cutting other events, which chris has already propised to you. Chris will contact you tomorrow to discuss

Best regards

Jason
Jason Harborow
Chief Executive

So Storey and the Harbarrowboy were at each other's throats in March 2007, in the familiar Liverpool battle for power between councillors and officers.

Storey wanted one thing - his Son et Lumiere pet project - without any notice and without any money being identified to pay for it.

And the Harbarrowboy was refusing to let him have it.

The scene was set....Storey's pet project would eventually get the £100,000 it needed, while the Harbarrowboy would then, in petty revenge, slash the Mathew Street budget by £100,000. The games people play with public money....

And of course that £100,000 budget cut then triggered the entire Mathew Street fiasco.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

When will Finnegan unleash his information?
Come on Matt let the dogs out !

NADIA GETS TO USE MACCAS GOLDEN SHOWER

NADIA GETS TO USE MACCAS GOLDEN SHOWER

QUOTE OF THE YEAR 2007

Council leader Warren Bradley said that some individual councillors’ behaviour was “appalling” and not fitting of a democratic society.

FULL STORY

BUMBLING BRADLEY

FIREMAN'S INTERVIEW WITH ROGER PHILLIPS, AFTER COUNCIL RANKED THE WORST FINANCIALLY RUN

Roger: This is not a good report for us is it Warren?
Fireman:Well Roger we’ve got to put it into perspective really haven’t we and remember where Liverpool was and that’s not thinking back 10 years. Liverpool has come an awful long way. The people of Liverpool were asking for lower Council Tax and the Liberal Democrats have delivered that and they also wanted better services and you look at the services that are now delivered by Liverpool City Council. If we look at the most vulnerable either elderly or the Children’s Services the social care we are now delivering at a level that Liverpool has never delivered before. We also look at the bread and butter your schools, your sports centres, your libraries, One Stop Shops in communities, our parks, we’ve got 13 green flag parks. It’s like a new home to me when you get an old dilapidated derelict building you’ve got to bring it up to a standard and I think Liverpool City Council under the Liberal Democrats have certainly done that and I am certain if we did a survey of people in the City do you want Liverpool City Council to sit on £20m worth of reserves or do you want the City Council delivering front line services that affect the most vulnerable and people’s lives in the City. I think that they would vote with their feet and say that we support the policies of Liverpool City Council. We’ve got to look at the financial regulations put in by Government and if you want my opinion about this Roger it is purely political.
Roger: Well come on, you know the Audit Commission is not a political body
Fireman: Well with respect Roger and I would beg to differ on that
Roger: Well how can it be a political, it’s an independent organisation?
Fireman: We can say everything is independent to a certain extent but you know you look at what we’ve got at the moment in Liverpool and we’re delivering top quality services.
Roger: But the problem with this is that you’ve got an overall score rating of 2 which was adequate performance into 05, overall score in 06 was 2 which is adequate performance.
This year it is down to 1 below minimum requirements inadequate performance.
Fireman: Based around financial regulations…
Roger: Yes I’m talking about the financial…..
Fireman: Laid down by government. I mean that’s what you’ve got to remember. Don’t try and muddy the waters and say oh this is about Liverpool City Council and their overall performance. It’s not. You look at the issue that we’ve done about achievements. Liverpool scoring 3-4 on achievement at the moment through the Audit Commission.
Roger: I didn’t know that.
(EDs: Pitiful, just pitiful.)
Fireman: And we do seem to always go to the negatives when we’re looking for something like this.
Roger: The District Auditor was pretty negative about you wasn’t he and…
Fireman: No, I have got to say Roger I would love to have £50m in reserves. I would also love not to have to put additions of £7m into adult social care and £2-3m into children’s social care. The facts are we have got to do that because of the pressures that are on Liverpool at the moment.
Roger: So are other Councils….
Fireman: I’m not willing as Leader of this Council to take away care to the most vulnerable to allow it to sit in reserve. I am not willing to do that and I will go to the stake on that the people of the City. Liverpool now is only one of a handful of Councils up and down the country that is providing moderate care to the most vulnerable people in the City. Now to give people an idea of what moderate care is that is home care. These people who’ve got no family to support them and require a visit in the morning or a visit in the evening to make sure they’re ok to help them to take the pills, to make sure that they’ve got the food. Most Councils up and down this country have removed that care. Liverpool City Council is still allowing our most vulnerable people our sort of care. Now is that wrong, is that wrong?
Roger: Now no one would argue that’s wrong but everyone. But many people are affected by housing. Housing is really poor isn’t it. I mean you are so poor you’ve had to hand it over to a different group to run it.
Fireman: Well with respect Roger, with respect, you’ve got to know what the Housing Corporation have done and in partnership with the Government again it’s easy to say it’s the Council, in partnership with the Government we’ve tackled head on through the Pathfinder areas of the inner core of the City some of the housing inefficiencies of the City. That hasn’t happened over the last five years that’s happened over 30 or 40 years. The problems in Norris Green in housing were prevalent 30 or 40 years ago and weren’t tackled. As an Authority we’ve challenged what wasn’t tackled and we’ve challenged it head on and I opened a couple of weeks ago with Flo Clucas and Marilyn Fielding with Cobalt Housing the first phase of Norris Green. We’ve transformed that area and its got houses for sale and social housing in Norris Green that people are seeking to live in now. We’ve got in a core Edge Hill, Kensington, Kirkdale the same issues that have been there for 30 or 40 years that we’re tackling now hand in hand with the Government. I’m not taking the credit for it and the Government isn’t. We’ve got a schools’ programme that is second to none. Liverpool’s young people are now achieving at the national average. I want it higher than national average to give new opportunity but again I’ll say I’m not going to suit accountants’ financial regulations in London and leave £millions sitting in reserve while we have still got the challenges Liverpool has got and I think people you know.
Roger: Do you think it was a mistake to keep Council Tax down or freeze it over the past few years?
Fireman: Well isn’t it ironic Roger how last week John Healey said how Liverpool is charging £101 a head...
Roger: Because its inefficiencies….
Fireman: Well we have taken £150m worth of inefficiencies out of our budget over the last 10 years. We’ve kept Council tax down which is exactly what Government policy is and is exactly what John Healey is saying. Councillor Joe Anderson is saying something completely different to the people of Liverpool that he will put taxes up to build reserves to put in reserve well again this administration this Lib Dem administration is not going to tax for the sake of taxing to leave money sitting in reserve. We will build up the reserves over a period of years and then we will be able to tackle some of the other issues that we’ve got to do. We recognise the health inequalities. To improve health inequalities we’ve got to have a real stable economy offering real opportunity and raising the aspirations in them poorer communities. You cannot do that leaving millions and millions of pounds laying in reserves and this administration will continue the robust financial management that we’ve done. We’ll carry on delivering…
Roger: If it was that robust we wouldn’t have this problem of £20m overdrawn on Capital of Culture.
Fireman: Roger, lets put things into hindsight. We are still delivering front line services. We are still…
Roger: It’s about £20m overall that we’re short this year – now that’s not robust management
Fireman: But Roger we are going through a budget setting process. Every Local Authority up and down the country is in the same process as us. I remember reading about Wirral being £50m short. Other Local Authorities. I meet the core city leaders who are £40-£50m short exactly the same as Liverpool . And let’s not forget I haven’t come on here to knock the Government I’ve come on here to say that I believe we’ve got a robust financial programme in place that is going to deal with the shortfall. We’ve delivered year on year but I’ll say again I am not going to allow millions and millions of pounds to lay in reserve. Cut front line services to the most vulnerable and then say that’s acceptable. Nor as Leader of this Council am I going to allow Council Tax to go through the roof again which will drive the inability to bring further investment into this City. While the Lib Dems have been in control we’ve brought Council Tax down, we’ve brought renewed confidence and we’ve brought real investment that will bring opportunities to the most vulnerable and I think that is the most important and I think the people of this City will stand full square with us on that. I’m proud of what we’ve delivered in this City over the last 10 years and Capital of Culture is part of that."