Agenda and minutes

Venue: Eastway Community Centre, Knutsford Road, Moreton, Wirral CH46 8TN

Contact: Tracey Smith  Area Forum Co-ordinator

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome, Introductions and Apologies

Minutes:

WELCOME, INTRODUCTIONS AND APOLOGIES

 

Councillor Simon Mountney opened the meeting and welcomed 20 members of the public to the meeting. He introduced and welcomed Aidan Ryan a Youth Representative to the meeting and forum members agreed Aidan Ryan would join the forum members and attend the next meeting.

 

Minute decision: Resolved that Aidan Ryan will become an Area Forum member and attend the next forum.

 

 

 

2.

Area Co-ordinator's Report - minutes of last meeting and matters arising pdf icon PDF 564 KB

Minutes:

AREA CO-ORDINATOR'S REPORT

 

Tracey Smith informed the forum that the area co-ordinators report included the minutes of the last meeting and partner updates. She asked if there were any proposed amendments or matters arising – None were raised and the minutes were agreed as a true record.

 

Tracey advised the forum that Streetscene have £18,200 to spend on dropped kerbs, road signs and cycle paths as part of the new Integrated Transport Model questionnaire which gives residents a chance to say what they would like in their area. She invited forum attendees to fill in the questionnaire at the back of the room after the meeting and responses would be returned to Streetscene.

 

Tracey also advised that due to bad weather conditions over the winter each area forum now has £5000 to spend on grit bins and if any of the attendees have suggestions for locations of the new grit bins they should fill in the form and return it at the end.

 

Minute decision: Resolved that the Area coordinator be thanked for her report and the minutes be accepted as a true record.

 

 

3.

United Utilities Update

Minutes:

UNITED UTILITIES UPDATE

 

The Chair welcomed Gaynor Kenyon, Scott Bear and Simon Chadwick from United Utilities to the forum, to give a presentation on the recent water problems in the Moreton / Wallasey area.

 

Scott Bear started the presentation by thanking the forum for giving United Utilities this opportunity to attend and explain the issues which have arisen during recent weeks. Scott apologised for the inconvenience caused and explained that there were 3 incidents which lead to the problems in Wirral but that they were still conducting ongoing investigations.

 

The first issue involved the planned work in Reeds Lane on 20th-21st May to fix a 21inch leak in the water main, which all 11,500 residents affected were notified in writing in advance of the work commencing. Scott explained that when the excavation began the scale of the leak was more than they had originally anticipated and that normally they would abort the job at that point. The split in the pipe was getting worse and at this point they had no choice but to continue the work. They admit that residents were not notified of this extension to the repair work but this was because they were still confident that they would have the leak repaired by 6am. At 4am they realised it was going to take longer than expected but that most residents were restored to the water supply by 12pm. United Utilities was liaising with the local media all morning to inform residents of their return to the water supply and were confident that everything was back to normal.

 

On the Friday afternoon some residents were still reporting no water or low pressure in the Wallasey / Liscard area. United Utilities did not know why this was as all computer reports were showing that the pipe in Reeds Lane was fully repaired. United Utilities then decided to retrace the problem back along the water supply and found another isolated incident by the M53 which was a broken 36inch water valve.

 

United Utilities found it very difficult to fix this problem quickly as there were several overhead electricity cables directly above the ground where the valve was and this meant they had to Liaise with the electricity company to ensure there was no power around when excavation and repair began, as the valve was 36inchs long the excavation for this repair was huge. Scott showed some photos in the presentation which highlighted the scale of the challenge faced by the company. The repair on the valve took one week in which time was the hottest weekend of the year so far. This caused more problems as the levels of water in the reservoir dropped. This meant that water pressure was low and affected all of the North East of the Wirral for the whole of Sunday. United Utilities continued to monitor this situation and dispatched water bottles to residents. The normal procedure would have been to pump water straight into the mains but due to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

You Decide - Presentation by Carolyn Curr - Head of Policy, Wirral Council

Minutes:

YOU DECIDE

 

Lead officer Carolyn Curr gave a presentation to the forum on You Decide. She explained to the attendees that this was the 3rd year of You Decide and that this time around the process has been changed. Previously You Decide was a questionnaire for residents to fill in, now it is a small selection card for residents to tick which options they would like to see in their area. It is hoped that this new approach will make the process more pro-active and quicker.

 

Each area forum has £20,000 to spend on additional services in their area, and the top 5 choices out of all the responses would be funded. The public should think of locations of some of the services listed and write them on the slip where possible.

 

Carolyn advised the forum that some of the options need long term community involvement and to think of the feasibility of this before selecting this as a choice.

 

The following questions were raised by the forum:

 

Member of the public: how will CCTV law affect the selection of CCTV in the You Decide process?

 

Carolyn Curr: The CCTV and Alley gate options are subject to public consultation and therefore any area which applies for it would have to be in agreement before it could go ahead.

 

Member of the public: How are the options in You Decide additional services, this is what the council should provide as part of its day to day services.

 

Carolyn Curr: The options given are additional services which are above and beyond what the council already provides. This is for local areas to choose what they have in their area as some people may have different opinions on what they would like to see in their area.

 

Member of the public: Why doesn’t the council just take the money and decide what to spend it on?

 

Chair: There are many people who want to see the council’s elected members spend the money but there are just as many people who want to have a say on what additional services are provided in their area. This process is a middle ground between the two options. 

 

Member of the public: Will people who have not attended the forum be able to have a say in the You Decide process for example Moreton Umbrella group – youth meeting is tonight so they are unable to attend. 

 

Carolyn Curr: Yes, there are plenty of You Decide selection cards which can be taken away and given to people who want to participate for them to fill in and send back to the Area Forum team.

 

Member of the public: How will this get the youths off the streets?

 

Carolyn Curr: There are several You Decide options which if chosen would enable young people to become involved in other activities. Such as the Youth Sports night and the work of the Sports Development Officer.

 

Member of the public: Looking at the logistics of placing bins in parks etc  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Public Question Time

Minutes:

PUBLIC QUESTION TIME

 

The following questions / issues were raised:

 

Member of the public: Has there been a planning application submitted for the re-opening of Sorellas in Moreton with a music license until 12am weekdays and 1am Friday and Saturday?

 

Chair: Yes there has been a planning application submitted as Tesco have applied to build a new store on the current site where the Plough Inn stands the owners have decided to open ‘Cross Bar’ on the old Sorella’s site. The license request is for music and alcohol to be served until 11.30pm on a weekday and 12.30pm at weekends. If any residents have concerns and wish to object to the application a letter must be given in writing to the council by the 1st of July to the licensing committee. A letter will be distributed to the surrounding residents this week to ask for their views on the application.

 

Member of the public: Will supersaver be closed as part of the new Tesco site?

 

Chair: No, Supersavers will not be affected by the Tesco site.

 

Member of the public: Residents in Sunningdale flats in Moreton received a visit from Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service (MFRS) insisting the building must be sterile and everything must be removed from the hallways, including small pot plants. Why is this all of a sudden?

 

MFRS: Incidents nationally which have led to deaths has prompted the review of certain policies and MFRS have advised Wirral Partnership Homes (WPH) who own Sunningdale flats to carry out a risk assessment on the flats. WPH must have deemed the potted plants to be a risk on the assessment and this is why they will have been removed. If residents still have issues with this they must ask WPH to re-do their risk assessment of the building and maybe downgrade the level of risk attributed to small pot plants.

 

Member of the public: There was a drain cleaning machine on Hoylake Road during the early hours and the machinery made huge amounts of noise disturbing residents in the area. No notification was given and neither United Utilities nor Wirral Council will admit to sending the machine.

 

Carolyn Curr: This issue will be taken back to the Streetscene department and an update will be provided at the next meeting.

 

Member of the public: Why do kids who do bad things get rewarded with treats to try and get them to become good kids when kids who don’t do anything wrong don’t get anything?

 

Inspector Peter Kolokotroni: A few years ago all the funding given to the Police to treat kids was for the children who were on the brink of offending but now there is also funding out there to reward good kids who haven’t done anything wrong. The money is used in hotspot areas for both good children and children on the verge of offending.

 

Member of the public: The pigeon droppings previously reported outside Sayers in Moreton has not been dealt with and it is still  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Partner Update

·  NHS Wirral  -

·  Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

·  Merseyside Police/Community Safety

·  Fire Service

·  Older Peoples parliament 

 

Minutes:

PARTNER UPDATES

 

NHS Wirral

Martin McEwan advised the forum that NHS Wirral have provided a full report in the meeting pack.  Highlights include a new patient group in Wallasey in which patients can become directly involved in decision making about how services should be run in the area. There is also a new Minor Injuries Clinic at Victoria Central Hospital so Martin advised the forum if they have any minor injuries such as sprains etc they should attend this clinic rather that arriving at Accident and Emergency.

 

Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

Amanda Farrell advised the forum that there is a full report in the meeting pack. The forum was informed of a brand new facility for people having operations which has been open for 2-3 weeks and that feedback on the new facility was extremely positive. The new facility is a relaxed and open environment with separate areas for men and women to use before their operations and it is light and bright and right next to the theatre ward.

 

A member of the public raised an issue about his experiences at both Arrowe Park Hospital and Clatterbridge Hospital. He felt there was a distinct lack of communication between himself and Arrowe Park Hospital which led to having an unpleasant experience at Arrowe Park, whereas the experience and communication at Clatterbridge Hospital was excellent. 

 

Amanda Farrell welcomed this feedback and said she would pass this through to the relevant people to see how they can learn from this feedback. Amanda pointed out that Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge were different types of hospital but that if one hospital had good practices then the other hospital may be able to use some of these to improve its services.

 

Hazel Kelly advised the forum that she was a governor for Arrowe Park Hospital and attends all meetings on behalf of patients and if anyone would like to raise anything they can contact her at the membership office at Arrowe Park Hospital

 

Merseyside Police

Inspector Kolokotroni would like to pass on his condolences for John Cooper who died of a heart attack after an incident of Anti-social behaviour in Moreton.

 

Inspector Kolokotroni also advised the forum that there is a newsletter from the Police on their chairs. There is a new and reformed resident’s group taking place soon called ‘have your say’. The monthly meetings are for each ward and are with the Neighbourhood Policing Teams. Details of the meetings can be found in the newsletter.

 

All crime is down by 144, burglary and ASB is down 75 offences and vehicle crime is down 65 offences. There has been an increase of 3 in violent crimes. There were 6 robberies in the Wallasey area within a short space of time for things such as mobile phones and Ipods and 5 people were arrested 3 of which are now serving jail terms.

 

The forum was advised there would be an increased police presence in the area during the world  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Dates of Future Meetings

Monday 4th October 2010 – venue to be confirmed

 

Minutes:

DATE OF FUTURE MEETINGS

 

The Chair advised the forum that he would be resigning as Chair of this area forum with immediate effect and that another chair would be appointed by the forum.

 

Councillor Chris Blakely nominated Councillor Ron Abbey for the position of chair and this was seconded by a member of the public.

 

The Chair thanked everyone for attending, informed the forum that the next meeting would be held on 4th October 2010 and closed the meeting at 9:00pm.