Meeting documents
Area Forum (Bidston and Claughton)
Wednesday, 7th February 2007
Present
Chair
DE Roberts
Ward Councillor
JR Cocker, George Davies, S Foulkes, Ann McLachlan, H Smith
Lead Officer
Kevin Miller (Director of Adult Social Services)
Area Service Co-ordinator
Michelle Gray
Wirral Primary Care Trust
Dr Abhi Mantgani (Medical Director), J South (Director Primary Care and Modernization)
Merseyside Police
Sgt. Paul Harrison, Inspector Mark Smith
Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service
Keith LePoidevin
Council Officers
Gary Cummings (Area Streetscene Manager), Tara Dumas (Recycling Officer), Jan Johnson (Minute Taker)
Apologies
Graham Cole (Business representative), Pat Landsborough, Collette McDonagh , Jean McIntosh, Alison Moulder (Bidston Community representative), Anna Wallis, St James Centre
Index to Minutes
- Minute 1 - Welcome, introductions & apologies
- Minute 2 - Minutes & matters arising from previous October Forum
- Minute 3 - Area Co-ordinators Report Update
- Minute 4 - Flaybrick Memorial Gardens Progress
- Minute 5 - Recycling Update for 2007
- Minute 6 - Partner Updates - Merseyside Police - Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service - Wirral Primary Care Trust , Public Health Annual Report Update
- Minute 7 - Public Open Forum
- Minute 8 - Any other business
- Minute 9 - Date of next meeting - Tuesday 5th June 2007 - Venue to be confirmed
Minute 1 - Welcome, introductions & apologies
Minute Text :
Cllr Denise Roberts, Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Bidston & Claughton Area Forum. There were 14 members of the public present. A loop system was available for anyone with hearing impairment. Presentations this evening were on Flaybrick Memorial Gardens and Recycling Update for 2007. There would also be updates from Merseyside Police, Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service and Wirral Primary Care Trust. There would also be an Open Forum at the end of the meeting providing an opportunity to raise any other issues. If not able to provide response tonight, then the Area Co-ordinator Michelle Gray would follow up any outstanding issues.
A round table introduction was held to ensure members of the public were aware who was present. Apologies had been received from Alison Moulder, Colette McDonagh, Pat Landsborough, Graham Cole, Jean McIntosh and Anna Wallis.
Minute 2 - Minutes & matters arising from previous October Forum
Minute Text :
Matters arising and issues of the minutes from the Area Forum meeting 3 October 2006, had been addressed and included in the Area Co-ordinator's report shown on pages 13 - 17. These included updates on the Park & Ride Scheme, Bus Services, and the Constitution. Draft operating protocol and a draft Area Forum Constitution have been written and once approved will be available for future forums.
At the last meeting there had been a presentation on the Family Safety Unit/Multi Agency Risk Assessment Committee, booklets detailing the statistical information were available to take away.
Minute 3 - Area Co-ordinators Report Update
Minute Text :
The Area Co-ordinator drew attention to the key features of her report. Section 2 consisted of press releases/sharing of information and new initiatives that would benefit the local area and Michelle highlighted a few:
 Merseyside Police were looking for volunteers, special constables, traffic and support officers and details given on pages 18-20.
 Jack Cuffe of Wirral Senior Citizen Forum was looking for older people to join Wirral’s new Older People’s Parliament and contact details given on page 25.
 Wirral Hospital NHS Trust Engagement Strategy was mentioned on pages 27-28 and there would be hopefully presentations at the next round of Area Forums.
 A special reception was due to be held in the Mayor’s Parlour in January to honour people in receiving the Wirral Award. This was now going to take place in February and the Area Forum extended their congratulations to Jean McIntosh who was receiving an award for services in founding Wirral BNBEAG.
In response to queries about bins not being collected, there was a link on the Council website giving information about collection days, shown on pages 44 – 45.
Section 3 covered Area Forum funding progress and listed expenditure 2006-7. The Community Initiatives Fund would be set following budget Council in March.
Councillor Steve Foulkes also commented on possible changes to support arrangements for Area Forums, which may revert to 8 from the current 11.
Section 4 provided a Local Area Plan update.
Section 5 gave an update on Streetscene. Michelle Gray pointed out if anyone had any suggestions on any traffic issues or locations requiring investigation for potential inclusion in the Integrated Transport Block Programme to forward information to her directly michellegray@wirral.gov.uk or tel: 0151 691 8213
Councillor Foulkes raised, through the minutes, an issue re Beryl Road area, where there was a problem around inability to access Upton Road from Noctorum Avenue. He registered this growing concern in the area. If controlled lights were installed this would enable people to turn right. Area Co-ordinator Michelle Gray will pass this issue of concern to Technical Services to be considered under the Integrated Transport Block Capital Programme.
Minute 4 - Flaybrick Memorial Gardens Progress
Minute Text :
John Moffat presented a progress report on work at Flaybrick Memorial Gardens since his last presentation the previous year and provided the website address www.flaybrick.com for people to find out more information. The good news was that the battle against vandalism was succeeding. 100 stones were damaged, compared to 800 stones the previous year, with no significant damage since mid 2006. John commended the Police, and the community action meetings initiated by Councillor Harry Smith which were held bi-monthly and resulted in the installation of a CCTV camera at the entrance and night time closure of public entrance. The Council had installed a gate at Lower Flaybrick Road entrance. John briefed on current negotiations for more robust security controls. John’s slide presentation covered:
 Replacement to railing sections
 Funding secured to convert chapels into a Bat Centre
It was noted that Flaybrick would be hosting the Europe a Cemeteries Conference in 2008.
Q – Councillor Anna McLachlan asked for further information on the leisure facilities John referred to at the Bat Centre.
A - Bat Centre would have areas for bats to roost in the roof spaces. Thermal image cameras would enable people to see them. Number of other strands including local history and demonstrations of how to do family history research. Councillor Harry Smith referred to the contribution also made by PC Tony Buckman as community officer and Councillor George Davies.
John was thanked for his excellent presentation.
Minute 5 - Recycling Update for 2007
Minute Text :
Tara Dumas, Waste and Environment Manager, attended the Forum to make a presentation on Paper and Packaging Recycling Collection.
An update on progress was provided in the Area Forum pack and Tara briefed on the roll out of brown bins for garden waste, though these could not be used until April. Paper packaging was also being rolled out to households, and producing a lot more tonnage than predicted. As scheme is relatively new have not started any enforcement activity. This was still being decided by O&S committee. During phase 1 looking at an educational approach where households are contaminating and this would then help inform the enforcement policy. Most households should have grey bins for paper and packaging May/June and work was in hand to raise the profile of what can go in the bins. Tara briefed on:
 funding from a Government sponsor programme which would finance two additional officers.
 further small amount of funding which would assist in looking at terraced housing where bins are being left out
Tara requested that any problems with fly tipping or bins left out should be forwarded, through the Forums, to target. The paper collection scheme has got problems with reliability and collection and they were trying to deal with issues. When grey bins come into operation the paper scheme would become redundant and information on this would be given to residents in a leaflet. There was a trial currently underway with food and garden waste.
Q – Councillor Harry Smith asked for clarity on whether grey bins would be delivered
May/June to Bidston/Claughton.
A – yes, all of Bidston/St James area.
Q – a member of the public reported they had no collection of paper in their area since before Christmas and wanted to know when the next one would happen?
A – Tara would check, but people could go on website to check collection days as the Area Co-ordinator had reported earlier.
Q – query over whether bottles should still be taken to the bottle bank?
A – vast majority were going through from grey bins so use them.
Q – if bins were collected early morning should they be put out the evening before?
Also query on why blue bags had not been collected for 3 weeks? Third query on any plans to deal with disposal of batteries.
A – if not possible to put out early morning, then night before. Tara would investigate blue bags. There were no specific plans on battery collection, however Tara confirmed that better public information on where to take them should be made available and she would contact retail organizations and publicise on website and report back through Area Forums.
Councillor Foulkes referred to the commitment from the Council to ensure provision of facilities to deal with waste stream.
Councillor George Davies queried where diabetics would dispose of their needles?
A – nine pharmacists across the Borough where they can be taken. In discussion with Wirral Primary Care Trust about how best to implement the scheme, how we can give most people a solution of some kind which will result in them not being charged.
Q – query of the quality of some teams, with rubbish strewn across roads after collection
A – many teams had changed round following the introduction of new services. And Tara confirmed that they have devised a checklist and would be going out randomly checking crews.
Q – what causes delay in collecting bins to next day?
A – various issues can prevent crews going out but they do their best to try and catch up through the week.
Q – are we supposed to take bins in and bring them out again?
A – bring it in is the best solution but appreciate that ability to manage bins is not always practical.
Q – bins still out from early this morning, presume it is due to gritting. Should we put against wall, or keep on kerb
A – kerbside. They are about half day behind due to the weather and will be trying to catch up for the rest of the week.
Councillor Foulkes confirmed that performance was closely monitored. The service provider did inherit the workforce and they have identified there are good and bad crews and are trying to tackle this.
The Chair thanked Tara for her informative update.
Minute 6 - Partner Updates - Merseyside Police - Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service - Wirral Primary Care Trust , Public Health Annual Report Update
Minute Text :
Merseyside Police
Inspector Mark Smith referred to the work been undertaken by Paul Harrison and updated the Forum on recent activities:
 the main areas of emphasis were on criminal damage and anti social behaviour
 autocrime was down due to an effective tool of a covert vehicle which had resulted in 10 arrests
 ASBOs had been tacked on to custodial sentences for some individuals. An anti social behaviour task force had been launched last year, Operation Cougar, and anyone affected by anti social behaviour should contact them
 3 cannabis factories had been discovered with a total over 1500 plants.
 Mark alluded to the Area Co-ordinator’s reference to special constables and volunteers. He confirmed that they were looking for assistance with processes such as communications, admin support, customer satisfaction, Speedwatch, etc.
Targets year on year were looking very good for the Wirral, with significantly less burglaries. Figures for autocrime, robbery and violence were also down. Areas of concern were anti social behaviour and criminal damage.
Councillor George Davies asked how figures compared to the rest of Merseyside?
Inspector Smith confirmed they other areas wanted to know how Wirral worked and he attributed this to excellent partnership work and working smarter.
Q – a member of the audience reported on an incident where the bus she had been traveling on, the 193, had terminated its journey early and she had a long walk home in the dark in the fog. There had been no notice of this at the bus station.
A – the service operators had refused to go into Noctorum owing to incidents of bus drivers been subject to having bricks thrown at vehicles.
Inspector Smith confirmed Police were linking in with Merseytravel on regular meetings. If something was happening on Wirral Police would offer support. Forum would following comments up with Merseytravel.
Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service
Keith Le Poidevin Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service, updated the forum on statistics, issues and achievements of the Service, including the main target areas:
 insurable damage to property
 anti social behaviour
 deliberate vehicle fires
 road traffic collision and injuries.
There had been 120 anti social behaviour fires over the last period in this area, which was a low figure. Deliberate vehicle fire was also low with 14 cases. Significant reductions have been made over the last couple of years and the difficulty for the Service now would be to sustain or reduce further. Wirral’s Fire Service is very high performing and the best in Merseyside and Keith reported this was very much due to the partnership they have with Police, CST, colleagues etc.
Keith briefed on several projects involving Fire Service Youth Engagement:
 ‘Dig It’ had transformed section of land in Bromborough Fire Station. This had been excavated by 40 young people with youth worker, and they were proposing to grow fruits, veg, to sell on Farmers market in New Ferry.
 Upton Fire Station were involved in a partnership with Wirral Primary Care Trust Health Links programme, Start Right. This was about child obesity/ lifestyle, etc. Fire Station had helped with premises and fire fighters had become involved with the project.
 Fire Support Network was a registered charity with over 200 volunteers who support the work.
 Keith on briefed on fire dogs which take 9 months to train. Recently placed one dog with a visually impaired person and 2 other dogs would be placed in the near future.
 Another benefit being offered was a pilot scheme for an oven cleaning service. Volunteers go out with steam cleaner to people who are vulnerable and can’t clean their own ovens, which was helping to reduce the most frequent cause of fire.
Wirral Primary Care Trust
Dr Abi Mantgani from Wirral Primary Care Trust briefed on recent developments in the Primary Care Trust. Re-organisation of the two Primary Care Trusts into one Wirral has taken place with new board now in place. The Trust were keen to engage/consult with the public in forums on a regular basis. Primary Care Trusts were meeting targets and working very effectively with social care. New Government targets were being announced, including an 18 week turnover time from point of referral from GP, to complete end point of care, including any major operation. These had been brought forward to December. Diagnostic services in the community, MRI scan etc were also being introduced.
Dr Mantgani briefed on the proposed move of the medical centre in Woodchurch Road to the Noctorum area. He highlighted the positive public response from the consultation and that this would be on a forthcoming Overview and Scrutiny Committee He referred to the innovative work being undertaken by Public Health and reported that an annual update been published on the web, snapshots were available at the end of the meeting for people to see.
Councillor Foulkes thanked the Primary Care Trust for the consultation that took place about relocation of the medical centre at Townfield Lane shops. This was subject to planning application and people would be able to make their views known. Concerns had been expressed about safety issues, security, pharmacy hours and car parking. It was confirmed that it was in the interest of practices to ensure no vandalism there and safety and security issues addressed. Centre would have its own car park with 41 spaces, not counting those allocated for staff.
The Chair thanked Dr. Mantgani for his update.
Minute 7 - Public Open Forum
Minute Text :
Q – a query was raised over an application for Community Initiative funding by a social enterprise which had been rejected.
A - The Lead Officer would look into this, investigate and report back.
The Chair highlighted that Public Health would be doing a brief presentation on their website if anyone was interested and wanted to stay.
Q – a query was raised about the issue of pavement and verge parking. Could somebody explain the present law and what the Council is proposing to do?
A – The Streetscene rep confirmed they had targeted a number of specific roads to pilot.
Minute 8 - Any other business
Minute Text :
 Public Health Presentation
Minute 9 - Date of next meeting - Tuesday 5th June 2007 - Venue to be confirmed
Minute Text :
The Chair thanked everyone for coming and the Bidston/Claughton Area Forum would meet again on Tuesday, 5th June 2007.
(Minutes Published: 9 March 2007)