Fears for future of Wallasey Town Hall aired at forthright meeting

Fears that the historic Wallasey Town Hall may never again be used for Wirral Council's meetings led to a passionate debate last night.

Wirral Council's Policy and Resources Committee, which replaced the cabinet last year and is the council's most important committee, discussed where its future businesses will be based at a meeting conducted at the Floral Pavilion.

The New Brighton location is being used for all of the authority's public meetings at the moment instead of the pre-covid venue of Wallasey Town Hall, due to factors including its size which allows for sufficient social distancing between councillors.

Last night's meeting agreed to keep using the Floral for a period of six months, with a potential review in September.

But Conservative councillor Jeff Green worried that there was an "agenda" to stop meetings at the famous Brighton Street site for good.

Cllr Green said: "I wasn't sure whether [this item in the meeting] was an attempt to get us out of Wallasey Town Hall for forever and a day.

He added: "I know it says six months, but it doesn't say [it's] going to end in six months, it says [it's] going to be reviewed.

"The report goes into some considerable detail about why we shouldn't be reopening Wallasey Town Hall.

"So as I read through it appeared to me that was the agenda."

Wallasey Town Hall has a long and proud history and has been the site of council meetings since 1920.

The Brighton Street site for the town hall was agreed after a long debate, known as the 'The Battle of the Sites', in 1912 within the now defunct Wallasey Council.

The town hall opened in November 1920, serving Wallasey's meetings until 1974 when all the local boroughs were joined together to form Wirral Council, which also used Wallasey Town Hall as its meeting place between then and the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

David Armstrong, Wirral Council's assistant chief executive, said that the meeting was not about a plan to leave Wallasey Town Hall for good and that all councillors were doing was approving the current arrangements.

Mr Armstrong did add that the two town halls, Wallasey and Birkenhead, were the most problematic buildings a council review had come across so far, due to issues such as poor ventilation.

Green Party councillor Pat Cleary, who represents Birkenhead and Tranmere, said he would not support moving back to Wallasey Town Hall due to the difficulty in getting there by public transport.

Cllr Cleary wanted the authority to look at meeting in Birkenhead as it had far better public transport links, suggesting the site did not have to be Birkenhead Town Hall if there were too many problems with the building.

He also thought it would be a great opportunity for the council to be "at the centre of where the borough is", given the major regeneration plans for the town which include a new permanent site for Birkenhead Market, hundreds of homes and high quality office space.

Tory councillor Lesley Rennie hit back at the Green member, saying there was nothing wrong with Wallasey Town Hall that cannot be put right.

The Wallasey councillor added that there were also clear plans to regenerate New Brighton and there are stations and buses in Wallasey also.

Ultimately, the plan to use New Brighton's Floral Pavilion for the next six months was voted through.

An amendment to scrap the original plan, which was to have a working group made up of councillors go through different options for future meetings, was also passed.

Labour councillor Yvonne Nolan proposed the amendment, saying the committee had enough to do at the moment and that officers should bring back a further report outlining the options.