Meeting documents
Area Forum (New Brighton and Wallasey)
Thursday, 9th June 2005
Present
Chair
WA Duffey
Ward Councillor
DJ Hunt, A Pritchard, Mrs LA Rennie, Mrs K Wood
Community Representatives
Mrs R Fraser, Ron Jones (President, NBTABA), I Lewis , Mark Owen
Area Service Co-ordinator
Tracey Smith
Birkenhead & Wallasey PCT
Jane Harvey (Director of Public Health, Bir. & Wall. PCT)
Merseyside Police
Inspector Phil Davies, Inspector John Hogan, Sergeant Ewan Turner
Council Officers
Chris Jones (Area Streetscene Manager), Cathy McNulty (Cycling Officer)
In attendance:
Iain Taylor (Mersey Basin Trust)
Apologies
David Green (Director of Technical Services), Cllr Pat Hackett, Pat Revans (Business Representative), Major Roy Tipping (Faith Representative)
Index to Minutes
- Minute 1 - WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
- Minute 2 - AREA CO-ORDINATOR'S REPORT
- Minute 3 - AREA PLANS
- Minute 4 - PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
- Minute 5 - PRESENTATION ON ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR - MERSEYSIDE POLICE
- Minute 6 - PRIDE IN OUR PROMENADES - IAIN TAYLOR, MERSEY BASIN
- Minute 7 - DEVELOPMENT OF CYCLE NETWORKS - CATHY MCNULTY -CYCLING OFFICER - TECHNICAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT
- Minute 8 - COMMUNITY INITIATIVES FUND
- Minute 9 - PRIMARY CARE TRUST UPDATE
- Minute 10 - DATE OF FUTURE MEETINGS
- Minute 11 - ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Minute 1 - WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Minute Text :
The Chair, Councillor Bill Duffy, gave Councillor Pat Hackett’s apologies, he was unable to Chair tonight’s meeting.
The Chair then welcomed members and the public to the Area Forum for New Brighton and Wallasey, being held at the Hollins Hey Hotel, New Brighton.
Area Forums were set up to consider the needs and priorities of the local community and the agenda included presentations from three speakers with opportunities for questions.
75 members of the public attended this meeting.
Councillor Kate Wood referred to page 43 of the papers attached to the agenda, on the item referring to the congregation of youths in Harrison Park. Inspector Phil Davies, Inspector for Moreton and West Wallasey responded and clarified the situation referring to a large number of youths who had been causing problems. He reported that this matter had now been addressed successfully and a subsequent survey of local residents had indicated that the Park is now being used again by local residents. He did add a comment that the problem may have been moved from this area to another, but he believed that the feedback from the public was positive.
Councillor Kate Wood also referred to page 44 and the necessity to use one of the ‘Dips’ for car parking during the Wirral Show and stated that this should be a ‘one off’ and not be assumed this area could be permanently used for similar purposes.
Chair agreed to take this matter up and ensure that it would not be regarded as a precedent.
Councillor Rennie referred to page 45 and commented that the forum had expressed concern about closure of Ward 6/7 and had requested a meeting with Ian Stewart. She also referred to an article in the Wirral Globe and requested that a further request be sent to the PCT about the closure of these wards.
Minute Decision :
Resolved that - the Chair take up the matter re: the use of one of the ‘Dips’ for car parking.
Minute 2 - AREA CO-ORDINATOR'S REPORT
Minute Text :
Tracey Smith referred to her report, which had been distributed to the meeting and referred to:
Section 1 – Community Initiative Fund – a total of £18,640 is available for the current financial year.
Section 2 – Local Area Plan
Section 3 – Youth Update
Section 4 – Streetscene Update
Section 5 – Local Update
Councillor Kate Wood referred to page 23 of the papers (Access to stations for people with disabilities and parents with prams) and asked the Forum to take some action in this matter.
Chair responded and said he would take this matter further.
Minute Decision :
Resolved that - the Chair take forward matter on access to stations.
Minute 3 - AREA PLANS
Minute Text :
Tracey Smith, Area Co-ordinator, informed the meeting that development of the area plans has been going on for 18 months and asked the forum to approve the Area Plan for New Brighton and Wallasey.
Tracey suggested that a sub-group be formed to look at particular issues, which are included in the plan, for example, safety issues and communications. Further consultation will be carried out in order to refresh the plan, which is due for publication later this year.
It was agreed to form a sub-group and Chair asked for volunteers.
Minute Decision :
Resolved – that an area plan sub-group be set up.
Minute 4 - PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
Minute Text :
The following questions / issues were raised by members of the public:
Q - Young people using scrambler bikes on Bidston Golf Club. What is being done to prevent this?
A – the Police are aware of the problem and some new legislation will enable action to be taken. Merseyside Police has invested in two scrambler bikes and is currently identifying “hot spots”. If locations of problem areas are provided they will be added to our lists to target.
Q – Request for residents parking scheme and traffic calming in Sandfield Road. Street Lighting was poor, pavements were uneven with potholes.
A – Chris Jones, Area Streetscene Manager, will deal with these comments and will respond.
Q – A member of the forum raised concern about racism, and referred to threats which had been made to residents. These had been reported, however, local traders were not reporting acts of racism.
A – The police representatives suggested they discuss these matters in detail at the end of the meeting.
Q – Stanley Pub in Rake Lane had applied for an extension to their premises with the proposal of a beer garden. This would cause problems to local residents, as the noise from the beer garden would be heard in their gardens.
A – Chair reported that planning permission had to be sought and there would have been a chance for people to give their objections to the extension and advised that he would look into the matter.
Q – The promenade is being used by motorcycles, scooters and cars. A Community Car patrol had been in the area recently when this had been happening but had done nothing.
A – This is a regular problem and the Traffic Wardens will be asked to give these areas some extra attention. The Council had been asked to block off one end of the promenade and that a request for use of the CCTV footage had been made and this matter is being investigated.
Q – Fisherman on Seacombe Promenade to beyond the Guinea Gap baths and Vale Park are driving on to the promenade and leaving rubbish, fish hooks, lines, plastic bags etc. A member of the forum had had to take his dog to the vet to have a fish hook removed.
A – PCN’s had been issued to car owners and this has improved the situation. Permits have to be issued by the Council to fisherman and Chair said he would look into how the permits were checked. Confiscation of motorcycles will be discussed at a forthcoming police meeting.
Q – Could bollards be erected to prevent the fisherman accessing the promenade?
A – Councillor Tony Pritchard said he would forward this request to the appropriate department.
Q – Could something be done to help the local footballers that use Wallacre Park, which is under water?
A – Councillor Rennie said she will take details later and ask Jim Lester to look into this matter.
Minute Decision :
Resolved – that
i. Chris Jones to look into residents parking scheme, traffic calming, street lighting and pavements in Sandfield Road and report back on this.
ii. the Chair to look into situation re: planning permission for extension to the Stanley Pub in Rake Lane and report back on this.
iii. Councillor Tony Pritchard forward request Re: erection of bollards on the promenade to the appropriate department.
iv. Councillor Rennie to take details of waterlogging problems at Wallacre Park and ask Jim Lester to look into this matter.
Minute 5 - PRESENTATION ON ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR - MERSEYSIDE POLICE
Minute Text :
Sergeant Ewan Turner, Merseyside Police, gave a presentation on how the Police/Health/Council are currently tackling this problem.
A measured approach is being formulated across Merseyside to tackle this effectively through co-ordinated activity. Tried and tested methods will be used as well as looking at new ideas. Merseyside Chief Constable earlier this year had announced concerted action plans to tackle this problem. Proposals have been formulated for short-term and long-term action. Statistics were showing that improvements had been made. Neighbourhood officers and Response Officers were co-ordinating matters, but it must be recognised that this is everyone’s problem.
A number of themes had been put forward which would be focused upon:
- Alcohol/car safety/anti social behaviour/shoplifting
- Dealing with broken windows , graffiti , tidying up areas quickly (Streetscene/Wirral Council had been fantastic in dealing quickly with such matters)
- Support for young people regarding the effects of alcohol.
- Prolific offenders were being dealt with by ASBO’s
- Prevention of sales of alcohol to under-age children
- Visits to areas where young people were known to congregate
- Schools visited to increase awareness of effects and problems associated with alcohol.
Other campaigns in the pipeline are tackling problems with vehicles/car safety campaign. Sergeant Turner explained how these are being tacked, how it is a co-ordinated operation with various other organisations working together, such as partner agencies, education departments, youth outreach teams, and streetscene.
These are not one-off initiatives there is a real dedication to roll-on such initiatives and investigate new ways of dealing with these problems.
Minute 6 - PRIDE IN OUR PROMENADES - IAIN TAYLOR, MERSEY BASIN
Minute Text :
Iain Taylor of Mersey Basin gave a presentation. He outlined how the project was started, its purpose - which was to re-energise the area of the Promenade. Mersey Basin is working with the local authority to make the area better and they are looking at what can be done with the minimum amount of money available. They are also working with other local authorities on Merseyside.
After consultation the first areas are Egremont/Vale Park and Otterspool. Mersey Waterfront has been approached for funding. Mersey Basin is developing consultations with local residents, associations and school children to find out exactly what people want and Wirral Borough Council has been involved. A public meeting had been held and a panel formed. The panel is producing ideas of what is wanted, and an outline of ideas has been produced.
Iain Taylor urged everyone to get involved by coming up with ideas of how they would like to improve Vale Park.
Minute 7 - DEVELOPMENT OF CYCLE NETWORKS - CATHY MCNULTY -CYCLING OFFICER - TECHNICAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT
Minute Text :
Cathy McNulty, Cycling Officer, Wirral Borough Council gave a presentation on how the Council are developing cycle networks throughout the borough, covering the following items:
- The role of cyclists
- Improvements in sales of bicycles
- Less dangerous to cycle than to walk
- Improving facilities for cyclists – joined up routes
- Routes to shops, doctors, schools, train stations, etc.,
- Setting up could habits for the future with children
- Currently collecting information to indicate which areas to begin working in
- Cycle training – National Standards
- Cycle events
- Maps showing where we can cycle
- How to buy a bike, maintain it, wet weather conditions
- Analysing the data, will include this in a matrix to select areas on which to concentrate
- Consultation work
- Final implementation
Minute 8 - COMMUNITY INITIATIVES FUND
Minute Text :
The area co-ordinator informed the forum that there is £11,000 in the Community Initiatives Fund, £3,000 available from the Community Safety Fund – ring fenced for Community Safety projects, and £1,500.00 available from the Local Agenda 21 Fund ring fenced for Environmental projects.
The funding will be advertised in July and the closing date will be set at 15 August 2005.
It was agreed to keep the same priorities of youth provision and older people. Request for projects that covered Wirral Wide would not be considered unless they could specifically state the benefits to the Wallasey and New Brighton Wards.
Minute 9 - PRIMARY CARE TRUST UPDATE
Minute Text :
Jane Harvey, Director of PCT for Birkenhead and Wallasey, gave an update on “The National NHS PCT Patient Survey”
A survey had been carried out last year and again this year and as a result of the latest survey a few points of particular interest had emerged:
Patients Survey
- National annual survey
- Just one of the many methods we use to gain feedback on our services
- Random sample of 850 patients
Access
- 47% seen on same working day (32% UK) – improvement in same day appointments since 2004 (41%)
- 85% seen ‘as soon as they thought necessary’ (75% UK and improvement from 60% last year). Only 3% feeling they should have been seen a lot sooner than they were.
- 40% said surgery did not allow appointments 3 or more days in advance (23% UK)
Experience of visiting the practice
- 70% said receptionist courtesy excellent/very good (60% UK). Only 1% said poor.
- 1 in 6 felt uncomfortable about the lack of privacy when speaking to receptionists
- 70% seen within 15 mins of appt time (with 8% waiting over half an hour)
- 80% felt that they had enough time with the GP
- 95% treated with respect and dignity by the GP
- 73% who wanted to discuss emotional issues were able to do so. This dropped to 65% for those who wanted to discuss family/living situation
Dental services
- 65% registered on list as NHS patient (57% UK)
- 13% registered as non-NHS patient
- 18% (20% UK) not on any dentist’s list
Jane Harvey asked the forum to let the PCT know of what experiences they had had in making appointments. She will bring a copy of this presentation to the next meeting of the Forum.
This National survey can be accessed on www.bkwpct.nhs.uk.
Minute Decision :
Resolved – that Jane Harvey provide copies of the presentation at the next forum meeting.
Minute 10 - DATE OF FUTURE MEETINGS
Minute Text :
It was agreed that the next forum would be held on 11 October 2005 and the venue will be St. George’s School.
Minute 11 - ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Minute Text :
Rita Fraser - New Brighton Community representative raised an issue relating to a community initiative fund bid from the Friends of Vale Park relating to a community notice board in Vale Park. Rita was informed at a meeting on 10th January 2005 by the CIF panel that they believed there would be some funding available for Vale Park from other sources and therefore the bid was not considered.
Rita asked if the area forum could re-consider the application form in the next round of CIF as there was still £3,114.33 left over from 2004/2005.
Tracey Smith replied that she would look into the protocols of re-considering the bid and if applicable it would be included in the next CIF panel meeting.
The Chair, Councillor Bill Duffy thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting at 9.00 pm.
Minute Decision :
Resolved – that Tracey to look into protocols of re-considering the CIF application made by the Friends of Vale Park.
(Minutes Published: 1 August 2005)