Birkenhead Park 300

PLANS to hand over control of Wirral’s parks and other open spaces to a private company must be looked at again, after they were called in for further investigation.

The council is seeking to save up to £10m over the next decade by finding a private company to manage the borough’s parks, golf courses, cemeteries, rangers, beach lifeguards, highway verges and trees and war memorials.

But last night, the Labour opposition used the “call-in” procedure, forcing the authority to hold a further meeting to examine that decision.

Councillors raised concerns about the council’s refusal to allow an in-house bid by existing employees for the contract.

With the council on the verge of beginning its biggest-ever public consultation on how to make savings across the authority, deputy opposition leader Cllr Phil Davies accused the Tory and Lib-Dem leadership of failing to take account of employees’ views, calling the situation “a total sham”.

Cllr Davies said: “We are frankly outraged the council staff, who have worked extremely hard to serve the public, should be treated with this level of contempt by the present administration.