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 Pat Hackett, Treena Johnson, Lesley Rennie, Chris Spriggs, Steve Williams, Janette Williamson and Community Representative, Sarah Spoor.

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meeting held on 26 January, 2017.

Resolved – That the minutes of the Wallasey Constituency Committee held on 26 January, 2017, be approved.

The Chair informed the meeting that no relevant questions had been received in advance of the meeting.

The Chair then invited questions from the audience but no questions were posed.

The Chair agreed to this item as urgent business in view of the presence of two Community Connectors.

Shelly Daverin, Lead Connector and Phil Currall, Community Connector gave a short talk to the Committee about the work of Involve Northwest and Community Connectors. They were involved in tackling social isolation, inspiring belief and positive change, building new friendships between people and thus improving health and wellbeing. They worked with a wide range of partner organisations including, the Department for Work and Pensions, local councillors, Wirral Ways to Recovery, local churches and Community Spirit. Leaflets were distributed to a lot of community venues including GP surgeries, cafes and churches and a lot of their time was spent door knocking. They were looking for peer mentors and new volunteers and details were given of their telephone number and website and email address. Their base was in Rock Ferry and currently they had 15 connectors.

Responding to comments from Members both Shelly and Phil stated that they would be trialling different methods of contacting people as well as using the method of mass door knocking which they had just undertaken in the Rock Ferry area in partnership with Age UK. They were not offering a quick fix but rather very small steps along the way to help people.

During the course of discussion of this item, the Chair declared a personal interest as an employee of Age UK.

The Chair then wished the Community Connectors well in their work and thanked them for their attendance.

The Chair invited Jenni Jones to give an update on behalf of the Community Representatives.

Jenni Jones commented that they were wanting to get more people involved in the Constituency Committee and were doing this through door knocking and through social media. They would also work as close as they could with Involve Northwest.

The Committee received a presentation from Jeannette Royle, Senior Manager, Asset Management on the Asset Strategy.

The Strategy’s vision was, ‘to create an efficient, fit for purpose and sustainable estate to deliver better integrated public services across Wirral and the wider city region, to support businesses and to use our assets as an enabler for economic growth and income generation.’

The five priorities in the Asset Strategy were:

1.  One Public Estate

2.  Place Shaping

3.  Policy and Strategy

4.  Financial Efficiency

5.  Managing the Corporate Portfolio

The ‘One Public Estate’ priority was a national initiative aimed at making best use of assets across the Public Sector by rationalising poor quality and costly buildings; bringing services together for the benefit of residents. This in turn could release assets and land for other uses. There were already excellent examples of co-location with the Police, Health, Children’s Services, Citizens Advice, Libraries, Leisure, One stop shops, Community Centres, Adult Learning etc.

The ‘Place Shaping’ priority involved working with partners which spanned the public, private, voluntary sectors and neighbourhood groups and would enable the Council to shape the Borough into a place where people wanted to live, work and do business. The activities in Asset Management were increasingly linked to Regeneration, Growth projects and commercial opportunities. These were co-ordinated through established “Asset Boards” to ensure the best outcome for residents, businesses, visitors and the wider community.

Jeannette Royle also gave details of the other three priorities and then in response to comments from Members both Jeannette and David Armstrong, Assistant Chief Executive, made the following comments:

·  Clauses were now being put into land sales so that land was developed in a certain period of time although this could be more problematic for the sale of individual buildings.

·  Sites were now being cleared before being sold on, so that buildings would not be left empty in a dangerous condition.

·  Capital receipts from the sale of Council assets were put into the Capital programme to fund a range of projects, such as work improving leisure centres, local parks and other community assets. She acknowledged that there was perhaps a need to communicate these links in a better way.

·  Regional benchmarking and best practice was used in respect of lease renewals although some banks and building societies would not lend unless there was a lease of at least 25 years in place.

·  The Council did own and manage a number of small industrial estates and the question was posed as to whether the Council was the best organisation to be managing these estates.

With regard to developments on Council land which had been sold off, Councillor Anita Leech informed the meeting that each application was taken on its own merits with the decision based on the evidence which came before the Planning Committee.

The Chair thanked Jeannette Royle for her informative presentation.

Further to minute 25 (26/1/17) the Constituency Manager introduced a report which gave details of a further elected member proposal for spend from the devolved community clean ups budget. There was currently an unallocated sum of £4,247.53 within this fund.

A Member queried whether contact could be made with Keep Britain Tidy to ascertain any priorities they might suggest for the spend and the Constituency Manager agreed to pursue this.

Members raised the issue of referrals from the Street Scene department when they were unable to fund new or replacement street litter bins and the need for some process to be in place to refer these requests to Constituency Committees.

Resolved –

(1)  That the proposal for the installation of a new litter bin in Victoria Road, New Brighton, at a cost of £316.70, be approved.

(2)  Further proposals for spend from the remaining balance are submitted to the Constituency Manager for costing and collated for consideration at a future meeting/s of Wallasey Constituency Committee.

Further to minute 24 (26/1/17) the Constituency Manager introduced a report which gave details of a further elected member proposal for spend associated with the devolved Transport Plan for Growth fund. There was currently an unallocated sum of £8,310.93 which had been set aside from the Committee’s core budget to support schemes funded through both the Transport Plan for Growth Fund and Integrated Transport Block Capital Fund Programme.

A Member referred to a longstanding problem with a footpath in his ward and stated that he wasn’t aware the money in this budget could be used for this purpose, although he was in favour of this proposal. Another Member expressed reservations over using half of the remaining funding for this proposal. The Chair, referring to the minutes of the previous meeting in January, stated that previous schemes approved from this budget roughly averaged about £4,000 and this proposal was in line with earlier funded schemes. Another Member commented that it was a small sum to pay for the safety of children.

Resolved – That the proposal to repair footways around the children’s play area in Linear Park, Moreton West and Saughall Massie ward, at a cost of £4,714, be approved.

The Constituency Manager introduced a report which provided an update on Problem Solving Fund spend. In accordance with the Committee handbook she reported that since the last meeting the following spend had been agreed:

·  Cleaning of directional signs in Wallasey obscured by algae and the cleaning of high level interior windows in Wallasey Village Library (whilst seeking its redecoration through reparation activity) - £140.

Resolved – That the report be noted.