The Committee will be invited to appoint a Chair and Vice-Chair for the municipal year 2017/18.

The Assistant Director: Law and Governance’s representative invited nominations for the Chair.

It was moved by Councillor Janette Williamson and seconded by Councillor Ron Abbey –

“That Councillor Bernie Mooney be appointed Chair for the current municipal year”.

It was moved as an amendment by Councillor Bruce Berry and seconded by Councillor Paul Hayes -

“That Councillor Steve Williams be appointed Chair for the current municipal year.”

The amendment was put and lost (4:11).

The motion was put and carried (11:4)

Resolved (11:4) – That Councillor Bernie Mooney be appointed Chair of the Wallasey Constituency Committee for the current municipal year.

The Chair then invited nominations for the appointment of Vice-Chair.

On a motion by Councillor Tom Usher, seconded by Councillor Ron Abbey, it was –

Resolved (15:0) – That Councillor Chris Spriggs be appointed Vice-Chair of the Wallasey Constituency Committee for the current municipal year.

Members are asked to consider whether they have any disclosable pecuniary interests and / or any other relevant interest in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

Members were asked to consider whether they had any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or any other relevant interest in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

No such declarations were made.

Apologies had been received from Councillors Adrian Jones, Chris Blakeley, Lesley Rennie and Community Representative, Sarah Spoor.

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting of the Constituency Committee meeting held on 6 April, 2017.

Resolved – That the minutes of the Wallasey Constituency Committee held on 6 April, 2017, be approved.

The Chair informed the meeting that a number of questions had been received in advance of the meeting and these together with the responses were appended to the minutes.

With regard to questions on improvements in New Brighton, Councillor Tony Jones informed the Committee that a meeting was due to be held with the owners of the old Traveller’s Rest building within the next two weeks, a number of assets were being looked at for the Wirral Growth Plan and a number of projects were being considered by the New Brighton Coastal Community Team.

Councillor Ron Abbey commented that a request could be sent to Merseyrail in respect of the canopy at New Brighton railway station and whether they had any plans for refurbishment work.

The Chair then invited question from members of the public present.

In response, Caroline Laing, Constituency Manager, stated that with regard to artwork for Liscard Way, the original designs had been found and she was awaiting some costings from the Council’s in-house printing service. Funding would still need to be identified to reinstate the artwork on the metal framework at the entrance to Liscard Way.

The Chair commented that the issue of pot-holes on the unadopted Rudgrave Mews, Liscard would be raised with officers.

Jenni Jones gave an update to the Committee and referred to some community training that was due to be undertaken.

The Chair agreed to take item 8 next prior to the presentation on the ‘grotspots’ campaign.

The Constituency Manager introduced a report which provided an update on the Constituency Committee’s available spend and outlined the Committee’s budget for 2017/18, seeking decisions around how that budget was allocated.

With regard to the Transport Plan for Growth Fund (£3,596.93) there were three proposals for funding.

Councillor Ron Abbey referred to the very poor condition of the footpath at Kellet Road and Boyd Road, Leasowe which was consistently flooding and requested that the Committee support this scheme for the reconstruction of the footpath. He informed the Committee that he had been assured that any shortfall in funding would be met by the department.

Councillor Ian Lewis expressed support for the Kellet Road and Boyd Road scheme and stated that he was happy to defer the proposed scheme for Broadway Avenue / Belvidere Road if it meant that the scheme in Leasowe could proceed.

Members also expressed support for the dropped crossing proposals at Yew Tree Centre, Moreton.

On a motion by Councillor Ron Abbey, duly seconded, it was –

(1)  Resolved – That the following allocations of funding be made from the Transport Plan for Growth fund:

·  £3,596.93 towards the reconstruction of the footpath Kellet Road and Boyd Road, Leasowe.

The Chair agreed to give consideration to spend of £224.15 from the Committee’s Problem Solving Fund for the dropped crossing scheme at Yew Tree Centre, Moreton, due to the pressing nature of the issue.

With regard to the Community Clean Ups budget, the Constituency Manager reported that £3,930.83 was remaining. Following the suggestion made at the last meeting (minute 34 refers – 6 April, 2017) an appendix to the report gave details of proposals made by Keep Britain Tidy. Members expressed the view that they were not generally in favour of these proposals and would rather the funding was spent to tackle local issues identified by Members.

Councillor Paul Stuart asked the Committee to support the replacement of a bin on Poulton Road and requested a new bin on Brighton Street.

Mike Cockburn, Lead Commissioner for Environment, commented that Environmental Services would be funding community clean ups in the future under the ‘Love where you live’ promotion. There was a project to replace open bins with closed top bins and the Council did have an ongoing replacement programme for bins.

Councillor Stuart then withdrew his proposal for a replacement bin on Poulton Road and on a motion duly seconded, it was –

(2)  Resolved – That a new bin be funded for Brighton Street at a cost of £320.56.

With regard to the underspend of £8,691 from its core budget and £13,340 committed to its Problem Solving Fund, which were available to be spent in 2017/18, Members made a number of suggestions as to how some of these funds could be spent.

The Constituency Manager reminded the Committee that in accordance with its Handbook all decisions should be made in public and the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

A presentation will be provided by Mike Cockburn, Lead Commissioner – Environment.

The Committee received a presentation from Mike Cockburn, Lead Commissioner for Environment. The presentation updated Members on the efforts undertaken in 2016-17 to tackle the problems of untidy land, and the action plan for the coming year(s).

He informed the Committee that a ‘grotspot’ was defined as a piece of land that caused detriment to the local amenity i.e. having a significantly detrimental impact on the local community and residents’ lives, e.g. large-scale fly tipping, anti-social behaviour. Members were advised of the number of sites identified in 2016-17 and actions taken, as follows:

·  No. of sites referred - 26

·  No. of Community Protection Notices served – 7

·  No. of Section 215 Notices (Town & Country Planning Act) – 1

·  No. of sites where the owner has taken action following issue of notice – 18

·  No. of sites referred for Council remediation – 7

·  No. of sites completed to date - 5

The Committee viewed a short video that detailed the condition, and resulting clear up, of a site adjacent to Telegraph Road, Thurstaston.

Members then referred to a number of areas within their wards which might be considered as a ‘grotspot’ and it was agreed that any suggestions be emailed to Mike Cockburn. He assured the Committee that landowners were invoiced for the cost of clean ups and the Council did try to recover all costs.

Resolved – That the presentation and comments of the Lead Commissioner for Environment be noted.