·  Streetscene 

·  Primary Care Trust 

·  NHS Foundation

·  Merseyside Police/Community Safety 

·  Fire Service 

·  Older Peoples parliament 

Streetscene – Chris Jones informed the forum that there was an update in the Area Co-ordinators report and that there was a recovery plan in place for dealing with potholes and repairs following the severe weather conditions, and that were on schedule to carry out the repairs within the next few weeks. He requested that people report any areas of concern via the Streetscene call centre on0151 606 2004.

Q. Barbara Epstein – asked if the Council had a list of vulnerable spots as part of its ice-clearing programme, and explained that the elderly residents from Sunningdale has to walk on  a solid piece of ice to get to the shops. 

A. The Council does have a winter maintenance policy covering strategic routes. The winter gritting policy sets out 10 primary and 10 secondary routes and gritters / officers were on call for 20 weeks and monitoring weather warnings. The main aim of the policy was to clear strategic routes and keep Wirral moving. Biffa cleansing teams and Colas were clearing areas along with Community Payback during the severe weather. He requested that areas of concern be reported via the call centre and that we will endeavour to get someone to attend to these.

Q. Member of the Public – added that the area outside Birkenhead Town Hall was bad, causing many slips – but that the Council response was that they did not clear pavements.

A. The Council has a priority to keep strategic routes clear, but that resources are diverted to deal with ice when possible, however, grit levels were rationed and controlled by Government this year, but that areas of concern should still be reported.

Q. Member of the Public – felt that the Council had coped admirably during the severe weather, but that there was still a problem with glass, syringes and burnt debris at Witley Lyons Estate field, and that this was not fair on the tenants that look after the area.

A. Councillor Ian Lewis – confirmed that Wirral Partnership Homes were running a clean up day and agreed to pass on date for this.

Mike Collins added that discarded syringes should be reported to via the Streetscene call centre or Community Safety (0151 606 2004 –day and 0151 666 5265 -evening and weekends), as they should be removed using appropriate equipment.

Q. Margaret Testo – reported that there was still a lot of rubbish and pigeon droppings on the pavement outside Fosters in Upton Road, leading up to Sayers, and that this had not been cleared despite it being reporting to Streetscene.

A. Chris Jones agreed to raise this with the Environmental Health Section.

Q. Member of the Public – mentioned a meeting with umbrella groups in Moreton and Wirral Partnership Homes where there was a request for grit buckets to be placed outside centres, and were informed that the Council were unable to provide these.

A. Tracey Smith – advised that the Area Forums had been allocated £5,000 for grit bins (costing £300 each full, to be refilled again). The placing of the bins needs to be confirmed and this would be decided following consultation with the local community, further information on this will be passed to the forums.

Q. Bob Seddon mentioned that he raised an issue re: the proposed health village in Moreton at the last meeting, which NHS Wirral agreed to report back on, but this was not mentioned in the minutes. He confirmed that his concern was that this had been proposed four years ago, planning permission had been granted two years ago and there was still now sign of when this would be developed.

A. The Chair confirmed that planning permission had been granted by the Council some time ago, but the application was now with the Government Office for the North West to make the final decision on this. Paul Edwards agreed to discuss this at the end of the meeting.

Carolyn Curr agreed to look into this and report back to the forum.

NHS Wirral – Paul Edwards informed the forum that there was an update in the Area Co-ordinators report and a newsletter available at the meeting; that included a list of activities taking place during 2010 - the Year of Health and Wellbeing – to improve general health and wellbeing, including a focus on mental health.

Q. Barbara Epstein – what age groups would be targeted for the activities?

A. Various groups are promoting a wide range of activities for all age ranges, and we can put people in touch with these groups.

Q. Chair – mentioned letter that has been sent to all Wirral residents on the new care records service, and asked for more information on this and  asked why this was set up so that people have to opt-out rather than opt-in?

A. This was a national initiative (that was set up as an opt-in process) that would allow access, limited to certain health professionals, to information to enable them to treat patients safely e.g. details of allergies.

Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – Amanda Farrell informed the forum that there was an update in the Area Co-ordinators report and a briefing pack available at the meeting; and mentioned the large development taking place at Arrowe Park Hospital on the new Women’s and Children’s facility due to open later in the year, and the high capital investment over the next two years on hospital and ward facility improvements – including single rooms to improve dignity and reduce infection rates. She added that there had been a 27% drop in cases of Clostridium difficule, as well as a reduction in the number of cases of MRSA.

Q. Member of the Public – what was being done about patients smoking outside the hospital entrances?

A. This was an ongoing problem and that, as managers of the Trust, we do have responsibility to undertake smoking patrols. Security staff carry out regular patrols, but there was no law in place at present to prevent people from smoking outside entrances, which would need to be introduced by Central Government.

Q. Councillor Ian Lewis – raised the issue of parking and the affect new investment would have on this, as it could bring in more people. He also asked about working towards free car parking.

A. The investment was aimed at improving existing facilities, and that there were no plans to extend the car park. At present there are 300 free parking spaces, and income from parking charges was used to maintain the car parks / repair barriers.

Q. Barbara Epstein – added that 300 spaces were not enough, and added that the park-and-ride scheme at Sainsbury’s did not operate at the same time as the hospital opening hours, and asked why the service was not available on Fridays and if the proposal to put in a second tier for car parking was still an option?

A. Sainsbury’s supports the park-and-ride scheme, but that it will curtail this at peak times as wants the parking spaces for its customers – which was why the service was not available over Christmas. She agreed to look into issue of the service not being available on Fridays and report back on this, and confirmed that the proposal to put in a second tier for car parking was ruled out many years ago as there was a need to encourage green transport.

Police – Sergeant Mike Roberts informed the forum of the following:

• The alcoholics using the bus shelter on Pasture Road was no longer an issue as one of the alcoholics had died and the other had moved away, however he confirmed that the area would continue to be monitored.
• All crime on Wirral was down compared to last year, with only a slight rise in robberies.
• In January a multi-agency day of action took place in the forum area, involving Police, Benefits Agency, DVLA and County Enforcement. This was a very successful day that led to three people being arrested on drug offences, penalties being issued for motor offences and a public house being closed down. A similar operation took place with British Gas revenue officers to tackle illegal use of meters, leading to the arrest of a number of people.
• Underage drinking / alcohol purchase is a main issue and we rely on the community to report incidences. The training measures for off-licence staff seem to be taking affect, as all premises visited in last operation did not sell alcohol to young people sent to try and purchase alcohol.
• Areas had been targeted resulting in fixed penalty notices for motoring offences.
• Get Out Days – an initiative where all police staff target area and spend the day issuing leaflets / questionnaires asking what needs addressing as well as issuing notices etc.

Q. Pat Gannon – parking problems in Kingsley Road / Kingsmead Road / Kingsway Road area are getting worse, she also asked why there was a police car in the station car park. A member of the Public added that cars were parking all the way up to the station

A. We have been issuing tickets in this area over the last week, but will continue to monitor this. The car belongs to the British Transport Police.

Community Safety – Sai Ming informed the forum that there was an update in the Area Co-ordinators report and that a race hate task group has been set up to develop systems to monitor, prevent and tackle hate incidents across all six equality strands (disability, gender, age, race, sexual orientation, religion and belief).

Fire and Rescue Service – Sarah Patterson informed the forum that there was an update in the Area Co-ordinators report and highlighted the following:

• Bonfire Strategy – this initiative, involving Community Safety, Probation Service and other partners, led to a marked reduction of secondary fires and incidents of anti-social behaviour.
• Small Fires Strategy – Wirral Community Patrol and Park Rangers have been issued with / trained to use portable fire fighting to equipment to enable them to be able to extinguish small fires on discovery.
• Trailblazers Mountain Bike Club – this has been set up at Bromborough Fire Station to encourage healthy diversionary activity, and this initiative could be spread out to other fire stations if successful.

Older People’s Parliament – the Chair informed the forum that Mrs Testo had to leave the meeting early, but that there was an update on page 38 of the Area Co-ordinators report, and that any questions / issues on this could be sent to Tracey Smith.

Minute Decision – Resolved that:

(i)  The partners be thanked for their updates

(ii)  Councillor Lewis to inform forum of date of planned clean up day for Witley Lyons Estate field

(iii)  Chris Jones to pass on request for clean up on pavement outside Fosters to Sayers in Upton Road

(iv)  Tracey Smith to keep the forum informed of consultation re: placing of grit bins in the area

(v)  Carolyn Curr to report back on latest situation re: proposed health village at Moreton

(vi)  Amanda Farrell to report back situation re; availability of the park-and-ride service on Fridays

(vii)  Sergeant Mike Roberts to arrange for parking problems within the Kingsley Road / Kingsmead Road / Kingsway Road area to continue to be monitored