MEMBERS of Warrington Borough Council’s Scrutiny Committee is set to consider a request to call-in a Cabinet decision to provide increased financial support of more than £1.3m to leisure and libraries operator LiveWire.
The Scrutiny Committee will meet next Monday, January 30, to examine the Labour Cabinet’s decision to give another subsidy grant and to restructure LiveWire, which runs council-owned sports centres, swimming pools and libraries across the town.
Opposition Tory leader Cllr Nigel Balding submitted the call-in to the Scrutiny Committee and will speak about why he thinks the decision should be sent back to Cabinet.
Committee papers have been sent to Members of the Scrutiny Committee; these include a report from Cllr Balding about the many issues associated with the decision, and why he thinks Cabinet should think again.
Cllr Balding said: “The papers published for Cabinet are misleading as they suggest that key elements of a Restructuring Plan are available, which is not the case. The reality is that the decision to subsidise and restructure LiveWire was made with insufficient information.”
“The contradictions in the papers might lead a reader to wonder if a Restructuring Plan was due to be available but was not ready in time.”
“I think that there must be more democratic accountability. Labour’s decision should not have been made until a Restructuring Plan and the amount of the grant had been made clear.
This will affect Warrington residents as well as LiveWire, so Councillors should be ensuring that proper consultation has taken place as well as taking responsibility for any changes.”
In his report Cllr Balding says the call-in relates to a decision involving financial support for two separate organisations, LiveWire CIC and Culture Warrington. He says it would have been better to have considered these two decisions separately
He also raises concerns that with over 400 employees, the report to Cabinet suggests that no consultation has taken place with the employees of LiveWire.
“This is a serious omission and WBC should regard consultation as good practice when considering a Restructuring Plan.”
He added: “Given the potential size and duration of the additional financial support to LiveWire, the lack of transparency and openness is both inappropriate and unjustified.
Cllr Balding’s report goes on to say that other options for supporting Warrington’s Leisure Services have not been considered.
“There are two significant options in the following paragraphs, but there may be others. Within each option there are a series of significant choices which impact Health and Leisure Services which should also be considered (“optioneered”).
“One alternative option is to bring the LiveWire services “in house” so that WBC would take over running the LiveWire services, as it did in 2012. The financial implications for this alternative option have not been specified or discussed in the report put to Cabinet.
“Another alternative is to tender the services of LiveWire. This would confirm the costs and scope of services that could be provided by other suppliers.”
He added: “Insufficient reasoning has been given to justify the specific levels of financial support proposed. Warrington’s residents need to be assured that these significant proposals are a good use of their Council Tax payments.”
He recommends that the WBC Scrutiny Committee asks Cabinet to reconsider its decision, taking into consideration the points made in his report.
A Warrington Borough Council spokesperson said: “We can confirm that the scrutiny committee where the call-in will be considered will take place at 6pm on Monday 30 January at the Town Hall.”
A full copy of Cllr Balding’s report can be viewed by CLICKING HERE
Tories bid to call-in Labour Cabinet decision to restructure LiveWire
