• Minutes are a summary of the meeting, issues raised with individual officers after the main meeting are actioned separately.

Chair Andrew Hodson welcomed Forum Members and 33 members of the Public to the

Heswall, Pensby & Thingwall Area Forum.

Chair Andrew Hodson welcomed the Leader of the Council Steve Foulkes, who has been visiting all Wirral’s Area Forums. The purpose of his visits is to meet as many residents throughout Wirral, and to launch the Neighbourhood Plans.  All Elected members are signed up to this and plans/reports will be shared with the scrutiny committee, and want residents to have more power/control to help shape services, allocation of funding etc through the area forums.  20.8 Million is our saving for the next year therefore services do need to be looked at and delivered in a smarter, cost effective way in the future.  Neighbourhood plans will lead departments on how services are delivered

  Libraries:

·  No plans at present to close Pensby Library

·  Future of libraries does need to change

·  Libraries are to stay open for the foreseeable future

·  Library Strategy in place and going to Cabinet

Council:

·  Reduced budget of approximately £91 per head in Wirral

·  51 Million pound savings made

·  Staff went Early Voluntary Redundancy (1,100)

·  Lost fantastic members of staff with a vast amount of experience

·  Difficult times ahead with less money in budget and less staff, the way forward is to get involved at a local level and ask residents how budgets should be spent and what services they want

Cllr Steve Foulkes informed the forum that he was going to attend as many area forums as possible to introduce himself, promote the neighbourhood plans and to hear the views of those attending. He informed forum members that he was ‘here to help’ and is very ‘approachable’.  He gives his backing to the neighbourhood plans and how they are about evolving power and resources, to re-invigorate and to get the community involved with the area forums and for residents to play a huge part in developing our neighbourhood plans.  Steve also explained that the objective is to have plans approved by December 2011. These plans will also influence our budget thinking.

The minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd February agreed with two corrections:

(i)   Greenwood Drive should read Greenbank Drive

Tracey Smith gave a brief overview of updates that were in the papers for tonight’s meeting.  Tracey also highlighted that we were looking for suggestions from residents for the Highway Maintenance Programme for 2012/2013 any roads or pavements that you think need addressing/improving to let us know.  The programme of works for 2011/2012 were detailed in the report (pages 19-21).

Tracey Smith over 500 requests for additional bins has been requested.  Each area forum had a budget of £5,000 to purchase 10 bins.  All suggestions have been collated and all suggested sites are being reviewed and assessed. 

Phil Miner Highway Maintenance has all the grit bin new suggestions for 2011 these are being looked at will feedback details and 10 bins will be allocated within this forum area.  New requests will go on list for 2012/2013

Requests for bins:

·  Wall Rake

·  Church Meadow Lane

·  Holmes Way

Winter Issues/Grit Routes:

·  Council has defined gritting routes through Wirral (Priority routes)

·  Severe weather Council will assist residents if these areas has not been gritted or are not on a gritting route

·  Help is there for the vulnerable and elderly

·  Council did assist a Cul-De-Sac off Seabank Road and were very grateful they cleared the area

Public Question Time

Cheap Alcohol:

MOP – What are your views on cheap alcohol?

Steve Foulkes – Price increase on sales for alcohol needs to be led from Government and to be nationally delivered, all areas of the country needs to put prices up and not just certain areas. Alcohol Free Zones is a way forward and it a huge task for the future for all partners to address and improve.

Libraries:

MOP – Pensby Library in general, to stay open, used by community and delivers a good service, only has two members of staff and is difficult to open over lunchtime for example as library cant be open and run effectively with one member of staff.

Steve Foulkes – Need to maintain libraries we have, services to be streamlined, change to opening times etc i.e. why closed over lunchtime, closed on certain days, to be open longer, to encourage more users. Less funding to deliver our services, public sector/private sector all to be flexible. Some library staff have gone on EVR and Council are looking into the recruiting of staff for libraries in general.

MOP – Felt Steve had miss understood her question, she was merely pointing out that that due to H&S that one member of staff can not run a library on own, and having the responsibility of the users in the library and  young people in there.  Access to library has two doors and staff have to be vigilant and supervise users.

Vacant Site/Empty Shops:

MOP – Garage Site (Grange Road/Pensby Road)

Bob Wilkins – There has been a public hearing by Sainsbury’s, for and against for this new development, after the hearing there will be site visit. 1^st refusal and Sainsbury has the right to appeal.  The main concern was the amount of traffic this new development may bring and the Council suggested a crossing for the area.

MOP – How many times can they appeal?

D McCubbin – once and then it goes to high court

Empty shops is a concern for the area, Heswall has a vibrant shopping area with good local shops, however there are a few empty shops, the feeling of the area forum is that if funding is available for anyone to apply for then this does need to be reviewed and they don’t want lots of charity shops, as this effects the other retailers business.

Traffic Issues:

MOP – M&S area is grid lock can anything be done?

Phil Miner – to get a traffic officer to re-visit the area and to an assessment

Steve Hall – it does get extremely busy and grit lock at certain times of the day. Council and Police to work together and review this issue.

MOP – Commerical Vehicles parking on pavements, Cornelius Drive also in Ashley Road

Steve Hall – Police to visit and monitor the area.

Parking on pavements:

·  Clear obstruction that pedestrians can not use the pavement

·  Difficult to apply legislation

·  Leaflet drop to houses in that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Tracey Smith gave an update on the development of Neighbourhood Plans – a vision for your community. 11 area forum meetings for Wirral, Established in 2001, Engage with local residents, Since 2003 forums have distributed over £1,470,707 funds to local community and voluntary groups through initiatives such as Funds for You and Big Lunch.

Next few months each area forum will develop a neighbourhood plan, Reflect the real challenges for the area based on engagement and consultation with local communities, Set the vision for the community, Identify local priorities, Influence the way the Council invests resources and delivers services, Determine the future distribution of forum funding, Community Consultation will be at the core of developing the neighbourhood plans, We will engage with local residents and community groups in a number of ways: Community Events, Community and residents group meetings, One Stop Shops, Libraries, Leisure Centers etc

Timescales: Launch of neighbourhood plan consultation   - June 2011. Programme of community consultation events - July to October 2011, Findings to be collated – October.  Findings reported to area forums and local action plans - October/November 2011. Local Plans in place – December.

Funding Available for Forums: - Empty Shops Fund £17,500, Funds for You £15,500, Public Health Fund £4,577, Community Energy Efficiency Fund (£110,000 across Wirral)

Advertisement for all the funding will run from 1^st July to 9^th September 2011

Other funding available - You Decide £20,000 for additional council services and Improving Road Safety & Promoting Active Travel and Health £20,000

How YOU can get involved - Let us know of any community events and meetings we can attend, Register your interest, email: engage@wirral.gov.uk, tel: 0151 691 8391 or website: wwww.wirral.gov.uk/area forums

Dates of future meeting: Wednesday 9^th October 2011 – venue to be confirmed

• Andrew Hodson closed the meeting at 9pm and thanked everyone who attended, the meeting this evening was interesting and informative.

• Anyone who is interested in being part of the Nieghbourhood Plan developments to contact the Community Engagement Team.