Angry scenes at meeting as Wirral Council leaders are jeered over leisure facility closures

Dec 17 2008 by Lorna Hughes, Bromborough and Bebington News

DEMANDS for a referendum on plans to close libraries and leisure centres were defeated at a meeting of all 66 Wirral councillors on Monday.

Council leader Steve Foulkes and cabinet member for culture Councillor Bob Moon were jeered and repeatedly shouted down by members of the public sitting in a packed public gallery as they tried to defend plans to invest £20m to develop a network of “multi-purpose complexes”.

Eastham councillor Phil Gilchrist held up a copy of a story from the Bebington News in 1974 about the opening of Bromborough Library and Civic Centre.

He said: “When I was group leader, I was being told, even then, we had too many buildings. So it’s not a new problem.

“I hope more will be done, more quickly, to cut our office costs and re-direct money to facilities in the community.”

Members of the public were allowed to ask questions on the council’s controversial strategic asset review and other issues like school crossing patrols.

A series of petitions protesting about plans to close buildings like Higher Bebington Library were handed in before the meeting started, containing around 24,000 signatures in total.

Speaking for his party’s motion, which included the referendum proposal, Wirral Conservative leader Jeff Green said: “This would have the biggest impact on local services for a generation and we believe there should be a referendum of the public of Wirral.”

Speaking in favour of the closures, Liberal Democrat leader Simon Holbrook said: “There are times when we are all called upon to do difficult things - the question is whether we rise to the challenge.”

Council leader Steve Foulkes was booed as he repeated his claim that “doing nothing is not an option”.

He said: “This is the start of a consultation and people are engaging, people are making their point of view known, they are asking questions.”

The referendum proposal was defeated by votes from Labour and Lib Dem councillors.