Wirral’s £250,000 bill for privatisation that never was

Jan 4 2012 by Liam Murphy, Birkenhead News

WIRRAL Council “wasted” almost a quarter of a million pounds on consultants for a privatisation plan which never happened, according to details released under the Freedom of Information Act.

The authority employed consultants to prepare plans for the controversial “privatisation” of the borough’s parks and open spaces in a bid to save £10m.

However, the plans were dropped only recently when Labour council leader Steve Foulkes said the decision by the previous Tory-led administration not to allow an in-house bid from the council made it difficult to prove they could save the money.

Former council leader and head of the Conservative group, Jeff Green, said his party had initially agreed with the plans by Labour, which they hoped would lead to major savings.

But Cllr Green said the plans had been “consigned to the bin” when Labour took control of the council again in 2011. He said: “It’s a shame the council tax payers’ money has been wasted in such a way. Now we have lost that money by them not following through what they started.”

The initial proposals had been to use a private contractor to maintain the parks and countryside service.

However, the plans were dramatically scaled back when the Tories were in power, before ultimately being dropped over concerns by Labour that they could not provide the savings claimed.

Council leader Steve Foulkes said concerns raised by the district auditor over the council’s ability to prove value for money from a previous contract for outsourcing highways works threw the plans into doubt.

He said: “Our view is that there is even less evidence that the council would get value for money. The council workforce were not given the chance to prove they would compete with the private sector.”

According to a Freedom of Information request made through the Whatdotheyknow.com website, the council spent £149,000 on the Parks & Countryside Services Procurement Exercise (PACSPE) and the initial plans were approved by the ruling cabinet in July 2010.

However, the council also acknowledged there had been two additional payments for PACSPE consultancy, with Capita Symonds receiving £60,495 and £33,000 to KGB.