Meeting documents
Area Forum (Bidston and Claughton)
Monday, 6th June 2005
Present
Chair
DE Roberts
Ward Councillor
JR Cocker, George Davies, S Foulkes, Ann McLachlan, H Smith
Community Representatives
Pat Landsborough (Claughton Community Group), Collette McDonagh (Slatey Road Area Residents Association)
Lead Officer
Kevin Miller
Area Service Co-ordinator
Michelle Gray
Birkenhead & Wallasey PCT
Ms C Maddaford (Director of Nursing and Quality)
Council Officers
Julie Barnes (Technical Services), Gary Cummings (Area Streetscene Manager), Ritchie Humphreys (DAAT), Jan Johnson (Minute Taker), Peter Riley (Lottery Officer), Tracey Smith
Apologies
Rev. Pat Billsborrow (Prenton Churches Together), Graham Cole (Business representative), Jean McIntosh, Alison Moulder (Bidston Community representative)
Index to Minutes
- Minute 1 - WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
- Minute 2 - AREA CO-ORDINATOR'S REPORT/AREA PLAN UPDATE
- Minute 3 - PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
- Minute 4 - COMMUNITY INITIATIVE FUNDING
- Minute 5 - LOTTERY FUNDING PRESENTATION
- Minute 6 - LOCAL TRANSPORT PLAN 2 UPDATE
- Minute 7 - COMMUNITY SAFETY
- Minute 8 - PRIMARY CARE TRUST
- Minute 9 - ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Minute 1 - WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Minute Text :
The Chair, Councillor Denise Roberts, welcomed members and public to the Area Forum for Bidston & St James/Claughton, being held in Our Lady’s Social Club, Park Road North, Claughton. A round table introduction was held to ensure members of the public were aware who was present.
29 members of the public attended this meeting.
Minute 2 - AREA CO-ORDINATOR'S REPORT/AREA PLAN UPDATE
Minute Text :
Michelle Gray, updated on her Area Co-ordinator’s report which is an ongoing account highlighting activities in the area covered by this Forum. Information was provided on the following areas:
- Community Initiative Funding, the total available for 2005-6 is £18,239.32. Projects that had been successful in the previous round were listed together with the amount awarded.
- Section 3 covered information regarding youth forums and included a funding allocation.
- Streetscene update in Section 4 included the clean up operation for the Open Golf Championship, Support for Recycling, and Litter Prosecutions.
- Section 5 provided information on local updates that affect this area including press releases.
Members of the public were invited to take the report away to read, contact details were available within the report for any queries.
The Area Plan for Bidston & Claughton was published in May and provides information about the local area, including statistics relating to the area and lists issues that have been brought up from roadshows, forums and events such as the Tranmere and Wirral Shows. Again copies were available for people to take away and have a look at. Michelle confirmed that the consultation process needs to be completed by December 2005.
Minute Decision :
Resolved - that the Area Co-ordinator be thanked for her report
Minute 3 - PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
Minute Text :
Q – A member of the public pointed out that the picture of Bidston Windmill within the area plan is incorrect.
A – The Area Co-ordinator agreed to correct this.
Q – A question was raised about whether the previous minutes should be accepted as a true record at the start of each Forum
A – The Chair confirmed that if there was something to raise from the previous minutes it could be raised now. It was agreed to include an opportunity to raise issues on future agendas.
Q – Minute 9 mentioned non-policing of our areas. A member of the public had corresponded with Chief Superintendent Alan Jones who had confirmed that concerns were in hand, including new intake of 14 Community Support Officers. It was noted that there was no representative from the Police at the Forum and no apologies had been received. A question that would have been put to the Police was which areas these CSO’s been designated to, and how to get in touch with them when you need to?
A - Lead Officer, on behalf of Area Forum, would approach Police to get some information about general deployment, contact numbers and non attendance.
Q – Query about the ERIC service. Concern about prices, with report of £40 charge to remove a 3 piece suite. Also fear that the amount of fly tipping would increase.
A – With every budget setting round it is difficult to select priorities. A charge for service has been put in place and this was £15 per visit and up to 5 articles could be taken, excluding white goods. There was no evidence that this has resulted in additional fly tipping but the service was being monitored. People who are irresponsible are irresponsible. We are monitoring service. Monies raised would help towards Council tax and raising number of hit squads. A number of voluntary schemes were entering into recycling service and contact details could be provided.
Q – What happened with the paper collection? Putting blue bags out but not being collected.
A – There was no information available on this but the Area Co-oridnator will look into this.
Q – On the issue of Policing there don’t appear to be any Community Support Offices on duty after 9.00 at night.
A – One of things raised with Mark Smith was timing of the CSOs, who apparently can only work until 10.00 p.m.
A comment was made that there was fly tipping in quite a lot of rented properties, and this was general negligence on part of some landlords.
Q – traffic problems around ‘the triangle’ were highlighted. Problems with cars speeding and traffic calming such as 20 mph speed limit or speed bumps had been requested around Upper Brassey Street and Norman Street, which is a designated cycle route. Where do we go from here?
A - Gary Cummings responded, he’d been involved originally in 2003 when measures were taken based on accident stats. GC would get details after the meeting and report back.
Q – Problem highlighted since Bidston Avenue had been blocked off, with all traffic directed one way.
A – An issue had been included in the consultation around St James’ roundabout. Sumner Road is also going to be ‘no entry’ from Norman Street. It is up to the Forum to decide whether they want to make ‘the triangle’ a priority for investment. It would be useful to have another meeting with Technical Services and ward councillors on this.
Minute Decision :
Resolved - that:
i the Area Co-ordinator arrange for the picture of Bidston Windmill to be replaced
ii. future agendas will be amended to include an opportunity to raise issues from the previous minutes
iii. Kevin Miller to request information from the Police re: general deployment, contact numbers and non attendance
iv. the Area Co-ordinator to look into and report back on thefailure to collect blue paper recycle bags
v. Garry Cummings to investigate traffic problems around the triangle and report back on this at the next meeting
Minute 4 - COMMUNITY INITIATIVE FUNDING
Minute Text :
The forum has a budget of £18.239.32 for 2005/6. Money is to be spent on voluntary community groups to support local initiatives within the area and includes funding ring-fenced for community safety and environmental projects.
A question was raised about a late application in the last round of bids and the Area Co-ordinator confirmed that this will considered in the current round. Adverts will be going in the Wirral Globe on 6th and 20th July, with the closing date 15 August.
It was noted that, as public money, all successful and unsuccessful bids were reported to Committee.
Minute Decision :
Resolved - that the Area Co-ordinator put forward the application from the Norman Street Residents Association for consideration with the next round of Community Initiatives Funding applications.
Minute 5 - LOTTERY FUNDING PRESENTATION
Minute Text :
Peter Riley – Lottery Officer, Corporate Services addressed the Forum on Lottery Funding and offered to answer questions at the end. He also offered to give advice about individual projects, and can be contacted on 691 8112.
Peter detailed the different types of lottery awards available, including the Big Lottery Fund which has a £4m pot. Under the Awards for All bid, lottery funding to date amounted to nearly £1m and the Heritage Lottery Fund had awarded £7m to Birkenhead Park. There are now new rules for engagement from the original priorities, with the general principle that if you are a constituted group with own bank account and a committee structure, you are eligible to apply for funding. He provided a list of websites offering information on this.
The Chair thanked PR for his presentation and asked if there were any questions.
Q – Is the limit for awards per bid, per group or per project?
A – The limit is per project.
Q – A member of the public asked about access to funding to repair damage to allotment site in Tollemache Road.
A – depends if fulfils the general principles and the specification of the project and what it is aiming to do. Suggest look at information on website
Q – there appears to be great difficulty of funding with Arts Council in Birkenhead.
A - don’t have a production theatre in the town which is therefore not viewed as a specific arts area.
Minute Decision :
Resolved - that Peter be thanked for his presentation.
Minute 6 - LOCAL TRANSPORT PLAN 2 UPDATE
Minute Text :
Julie Barnes, Principal Officer, Technical Services, attended to present an update on the Local Transport Plan 2 (LTP2). This is a strategy document, containing a clear programme of plans for the next 5 years, that Merseytravel have to submit in partnership with Wirral and other Merseyside districts. It aims to continually improveme transport conditions on all modes of travel - buses, cars, trains, bikes, freight, etc. A full consultation on the Travel Plan will go out in October and presents an opportunity for people to have an input into the process. The date for the final submission is March 2006. There will also be a consultation on the Accessibility Strategy in February, with a feedback session setting out the results of the consultation before submission in March. The outcome of the process will be a 5 year plan, with annual updates and monies linked to progress that has been made. Julie would answer questions on any of the wider issues but would have to refer back on any specific issues on roads.
A member of the public had attended meeting looking at increased use of tram to Birkenhead Park and Tam O’Shanter and suggested another idea might be to have a monorail.
Q – What are emerging priorities for Wirral?
A – Councillor Harry Smith responded, as Chair of Environment & Transportation Select, that the Local Transport Plan comes under 5 authorities of Merseytravel and there had been joint agreement on priorities for the whole of Merseyside.
Q – what are you going to do about getting transport access for public? Double-decker buses going through tunnel, for example, with no access for families or disabled.
A – Are aware and taking forward and acknowledge that community transport is needed.
Q – Problem of people being reluctant to travel out of areas due to safety reasons was highlighted. Would the Forum support electrification of the new line and proposed stations?
A – Councillor Foulkes confirmed this had been discussed at Cabinet level and Councillors were keen to see progress on this issue and were given some assurance from Neil Scales Chief Executive of Merseytravel.
Q – Query about whether planners think far enough ahead.
A – Councillor Harry Smith stated his view that transport was not a serious issue for Government until 1997, when Labour came in and prioritised it. Issues are being addressed and Select Committee have agreed £300k towards Merseytravel plans to extend Birkenhead Bus Station.
Minute Decision :
Resolved - that Julie be thanked for her presentation.
Minute 7 - COMMUNITY SAFETY
Minute Text :
Richie Humphreys from the Drugs & Alcohol Action Team, gave an update on Community Safety. The latest survey of the Citizens Panel indicates a reduction in crime levels, and that people feel safer.
He gave details of the work currently being undertaken, including neighbourhood wardens, expanding CCTV, Ant-Social Behaviour Orders, closure of crack house, and Operation Hawk - which had been a very positive exercise.
Less information on crimes is being received from the community and the Police wish to receive more information from the public. They could be contacted directly or via the freephone Crimestoppers number - 0800 555 111. Information stands in the Pyramids and at events such as the Wirral Show provide facts and statistics about drugs.
Q – Another problem that needs to be addressed is youths’ drinking.
A – It is acknowledged that this is a growing concern and we are currently co-ordinating an Alcohol Strategy. Information on where alcohol can be bought by youths should be forwarded to DAAT/Police who will then target the areas.
Q – Youths should be encouraged to undertake other activities/projects, to distract from drinking alcohol.
A – A Schools Advice Pilot was introduced last year and we are now recruiting new staff so that we can expand this scheme. Work is going on via Education targeting truancy.
Minute Decision :
Resolved - that Ritchie be thanked for his update.
Minute 8 - PRIMARY CARE TRUST
Minute Text :
Cathy Maddaford, Director of Nursing & Quality, Birkenhed & Wallasey PCT, provided an update on the Trust.
The Patient Satisfaction National Survey had been completed recently and this indicated a high level of satisfaction in terms of communication. The PCTs do want to hear from people in order to tackle and address issues. Problems highlighted nationally included pre booking appointments and access to NHS dentists - about 18% of people who responded to the questionnaire are not registered with dentist.
The PCTs are producing an achievements document which will be published along with the Annual Report. Another issue that they need to implement locally, is to support people with long term conditions to manage their condition more effectively. This would involve providing community matrons who will support the individual and be a named person to help them within the community.
Cathy referred to other developments including roles of health visitors, midwives, school nurses, the expansion of Children’s Centres, and St James’ Centre and drew attention to ‘Healthy Progress’ - the PCT’s annual stakeholder event being held Pacific Road Theatre on 28th June 2005.
Q – People felt accessibility to NHS services was good between 9.00 – 5.00 p.m. but that it was difficult to get to Arrowe Park Hospital on public transport from some areas. Could GPs increase their hours?
A – The GP out of hours can be used at other times and there is a taxi service that people can access. There is a national programme about supporting the hours of GPs.
Q – Why aren’t there always doctors on duty at Arrowe Park Hospital? (A member of the public waited for over an hour but there was no doctor available so had to travel to Victoria Central Hospital, which would have been difficult without own transport).
A – Cathy confirmed that there wasn’t always a doctor at VCH either, but would take on board the need to publicise this more with the public.
Q – Getting a taxi can be a problem re: costs (went to APH but only received a refund for bus fare).
A – Cathy agreed to follow this up.
Q – A Member of the Public raised the issue of pylons on the Beechwood Estate and wondered whether the Council would do a survey looking at the risk of cancer?
A – The Area Co-ordinator has looked into this and will pass on her findings. There was no substantial evidence that there is any risk from pylons. A report was put to the Environment & Transportation Select Committee in 2001 which went into detail about this issue. Michelle also contacted the National Radioactivity Production Board and is waiting for information from them, and will include information on this in the next Area Co-ordinator report.
INFORMATION ON WIRRAL EMERGENCY OUT OF HOURS SERVICE
How to contact Wirral Out of Hours Service: with a single phone call - All you have to do is dial 0151 678 8496
When to call 0151 678 8496:
-Monday - Friday 18:30 to 08:00 the whole of the weekends, Bank Holidays and Public Holidays
- When your GP surgery is closed (including Bank Holidays) and you or your family have an URGENT healthcare problem and your problem cannot safely wait until the next routine surgery.
What the Wirral Out of Hours Service will do for you:
- Give health advice
- Provide telephone advice by a GP
- Invite you to attend one of our Primary Care Treatment Centres or arrange a home visit if necessary
- Direct you to another service such as ambulance, Walk in Centre, local pharmacy etc.
TRANSPORT / TAXI SERVICE:
Patients wishing to attend the Out of Hours (OOH's) Centre need to make their own transport arrangements. For those patients who do not have their own transport we ask that they arrange for a friend or relative to bring them to the centre or use public transport. If there is no transport available and it is absolutely necessary for the patient to attend the OOH's centre (urgent health care need) we will provide transport (Taxi).
Michelle Preston is the Primary Care Development Manager for Wirral Emergency Out of Hours Service/Arrowe Park Hospital/Birkenhead and Wallasey Primary Care Trust.
Her contact details are: Telephone via GP Out of Hours Reception - 0151 488 3700 / Direct Line - 0151 488 3703 / Mobile - 07799 430613 / or via e-mail: Michelle.Preston@BKWPCT.nhs.uk
Minute Decision :
Resolved - that:
i. Cathy be thanked for her update
ii. the Area Co-ordinator include information re: risks from pylons in the next Area Co-ordinators report.
Minute 9 - ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Minute Text :
Pat Landsborough referred to interesting demographic data in the Area Plan and made particular reference to youth provision, which showed 28% of population in Bidston and 16% Claughton were under 16. This highlighted a glaring omission in various provisions for youth, in both Bidston and Claughton. He noted that the Claughton Community Group are offering a play scheme this Summer at Tam O’Shanter Farm, but felt that the plan should include data indicating some provision for youth in Claughton.
The Chair thanked speakers for their interesting presentations and Our Lady’s for use of the club. If anyone has an issue that they would like on the agenda for the next Forum please contact Michelle.
The next meeting will be held at St James Centre on 3 October 2005.
(Minutes Published: 25 July 2005)