However investigators said “the findings do not warrant the council making a referral for further investigation by the police.”
Birkenhead Market(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
A 20-month-long Wirral Council internal investigation has found the council misled the public over information it put out about Birkenhead Market, as well as other issues in the organisation. Eight allegations were investigated against council officers and one councillor but “the findings do not warrant the council making a referral for further investigation by the police.”
A complaint was made by a Birkenhead Market trader on behalf of the Birkenhead Market Tenants Association (BMTA) in April 2023 as well as further concerns raised in November 2023 and March 2024. Wirral Council said its current regeneration director Marcus Shaw, who joined the local authority in 2023, had apologised over incorrect information being given about market rents in 2021.
The local authority said: “The action plan outlines measures to ensure greater transparency in the future, better record keeping following a planned review, and ensuring Birkenhead Market rental policy and rent levels are transparent and available to the public [and] market traders.”
The allegations are related to previous as well as current plans for a new Birkenhead Market in the town centre. Wirral Council currently plans to move the market into the former Argos in the Pyramids Shopping Centre which is deeply unpopular with traders.
Alan Featherstone, who is understood to be the subject “T1” referred to in the report, “feels that his concerns relate to mismanagement of the Birkenhead Market, council funds and misconduct of officers [and a] Councillor, and this is part of a hidden scheme by the council to reduce the number of market stall holders, putting the market into a managed decline.” He first made the complaint when he headed the BMTA which represents market traders and “believes that he was left with no alternative.”
This prompted an investigation by the local authority’s internal audit team in October 2023 who found responses from the council claiming rents for vacant units were not increased was misleading with “an unwillingness to publicly state that vacant rents were increased in November 2021.” This is because it may have led to rent reduction requests from some traders.
The report found opportunities were missed for the council to be transparent and there was a lack of consistency in historic rent levels. Auditors have urged the council to review vacant rents within a month with rates made public going forward.
Other issues raised included delayed, incomplete, or incorrect responses to requests for information as well as forwarding complaints against one officer to that staff member to provide the response. The investigation upheld these concerns and a task group has been set up to better manage information requests.
However there was little or no evidence found to suggest the council had refused to allow a new let to a market trader or that the council had spent £45,000 on gazebos in storage. While the investigation found excessive delays in resolving the dispute, inspections also found there is “a lack of trust on both sides” between officers and two traders.
Auditors said it was difficult to work out for certain where two traders had been treated unfairly “but across all the allegations it is understandable why they may have reached that conclusion.” Inspectors also said “an oversight” meant one trader was unable to read a statement in March 2024.
A number of allegations weren’t upheld including refusing to allow a question to be asked on someone’s behalf, that a feasibility report on the current market was unable to be found, and a public meeting was cancelled for the right reasons.
In their conclusions, inspectors said “misconduct in public office is an offence that concerns serious wilful abuse or neglect of the power or responsibilities of the public office,” adding: “Although weaknesses have been identified in the council’s arrangements, it is our view based on the work undertaken that the findings do not warrant the council making a referral for further investigation by the Police. In respect of the Employees/Officeholder there are no grounds to take any action going forward.”
Auditors said the investigation was “of a very complex nature with five officers interviewed as well as one councillor with further information obtained from another 24 employees. However some key officers could not be interviewed as they had left the council “resulting in some information not being available, particularly in respect of the Birkenhead Market rents.”