[Cllr Jo Bird] There is a lot of public interest in the matter of the council's Local Regeneration Fund programme which fits within the council's capital programme.
We note that the minutes of the last full council meeting record that "Councillor Paula Basnett eclared a pecuniary interest in relation to Pacific Road Studios advising that she held a contract with the Wirral Chamber" of Commerce - and she left the council chamber.
This contract is also declared in her register of interests. We also note that the minutes reflect that the Regeneration Committee had "approved Pacific Road Studios and Duke Street as projects to utilise any underspends within the Local Regeneration Fund programme. "
Put these two facts together and this creates a financial interest for the leader of the council in the whole of the Local Regeneration Fund. We believe that the leader of the council should clarify how her conflict of interest will be managed.
[Cllr Paula Basnett] Well it makes a change Councillor Bird that you're actually speaking and asking the question rather than posting on social media lies and dishonesty. And as I will say to you, if you have an issue with the leader of this council and a conflict of interest and things that aren't done right, then there's a due process to follow and that due process is - you speak and you email to the monitoring officer and then due process, an investigation...
[Mayor] Councillor Basnett, can I just interrupt can you withdraw the comments about lies please?
[Cllr Paula Basnett] I withdraw the comments about lies and then not telling the truth in those in those comments. Thank you Madam Mayor.
[Mayor] Councillor Bird
[Cllr Jo Bird] Thank you. There's absolutely nothing lying or not honest or dishonest about anything that I have said in public including on social media.
[Cllr Jo Bird] I would agree with that motion officer,
[Cllr Paula Basnett] Sit down Jo!
[Cllr Jo Bird] it is a shame that the Mayor
[Cllr Paula Basnett] Sit down Jo!
[Cllr Jo Bird] did not ask you Paula Basnett Councillor to sit down at that point.
Now, it's not okay that the leader of the council resorted to a personal attack against me that's so bad that she had to withdraw it immediately.
Cllr Jo Bird says “It is not appropriate for the leader of Wirral council, Paula Basnett, to be directly involved in New Ferry regeneration while she has a financial interest. Any underspend could go to the Chamber of Commerce’s project, Pacific Road Studios.”
Read all about Cllr Basnett’s involvement in New Ferry regeneration in THE POST (1st August 2026) ➡️ https://www.livpost.co.uk/nine-years-since-the-explosion-new-ferry-feels-betrayed/
Laurence Thompson writes in THE POST:
During a subsequent council meeting, Sam was primed to answer a public question to Basnett, who had supported the cut-price “tarmac option” for New Ferry. Could the council ensure that the “underspend” — money left over from selecting the cheaper option — would be reinvested back in New Ferry?
Before Sam could ask, Basnett stood up and declared to the council that she had a “pecuniary interest in having a contract with Wirral Chamber [of Commerce].” For the duration of Sam’s question, the leader excused herself from the room.
In Basnett’s absence, councillor Mark Skillicorn, the chair of economy, regeneration and housing, confirmed that any funds released from the local regeneration fund programme would be released to two schemes unrelated to New Ferry.
One is the Pacific Road Studios project, a proposed transmedia hub backed by the Wirral Chamber of Commerce (WCC), a support organisation for private businesses in the borough. This is a site owned by Wirral council but let to the WCC for a peppercorn rent. Effectively, this means that a body that Basnett is still contracted with could financially benefit from the decision by the council she leads to underspend on New Ferry’s revamp.
Basnett was previously CEO and executive chair of WCC. The Post contacted her about what this contract with them entailed, and whether it constitutes a conflict of interest.
“When I became leader of the council, I resigned as executive chair of WCC,” Basnett said. “My consultancy contract is separate, has been transparently declared and is recorded in my register of interests in accordance with the council’s governance procedures.
“I do not consider there to be any conflict of interest,” Basnett continued, noting that she does not sit on the committee that made the decision to go with the cheaper option for New Ferry.
Wirral Full Council meeting July 20, 2026
Cllr Paula Basnett and her partner have a paying contract from the Wirral Chamber of Commerce
October 2026