A report of the Director of Neighbourhood Services was submitted which outlined the development process for the statutory Community Safety Strategy which was to cover the period 2021-2025.

Mark Camborne, Assistant Director for Neighbourhood Safety and Transport introduced the report. He indicated that there was a road map for the production of the Community Safety Strategy involving a consultation process with stakeholders and the community which would culminate in a final version of the strategy being presented to the Tourism Communities Culture and Leisure Committee in 2021. It was to have input from other stakeholders including the public, aligned with the Wirral Plan 2025 and had eight thematic areas.  

Members debated the report and the scope of it to ensure that areas of focus such as New Ferry and homelessness were taken into account in the development of the strategy.

Police Superintendent Martin Earl referred to a Dashboard Tracker which showed a summary of crime in the borough.

Councillor Stuart Whittingham moved a proposal.

This was seconded by Councillor Joe Walsh and debated.

Councillor Leslie Rennie proposed an amendment to delete certain wording from the proposal so that it would read as follows:

“That the Committee note the contents of the report; and the Committee endorse the co-production approach to developing the strategy.”

This was seconded by Councillor Dave Mitchell and debated.

On being put to the vote the amendment by Councillor Leslie Rennie was lost by 4 votes for and 6 against.

The proposal from Councillor Stuart Whittingham was then voted on and was carried with 6 votes for and 4 against.

Resolved: The Committee resolved that:

(1)   the contents of the report be noted;

(2)   the co-production approach to developing the strategy be welcomed and endorsed;

(3)   that further thematic specific reports as appropriate be brought to the Committee as part of the co-production process; and

(4)   as part of the co-production process a detailed report on road safety be included on the Committee’s Work Program. This report should benchmark Wirral’s performance against our statistical neighbours.

At the conclusion of this item, the Committee agreed to have a short adjournment.