Mark Cambourne, Assistant Director for Neighbourhoods, Safety & Transport introduced the report of the Director of Law and Governance, which provided the background to the presentation that the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) had been invited to give to the Partnerships Committee. It was reported that workshops had been undertaken with Councillors regarding the forthcoming Community Safety Strategy, where it was fed back that coastal and inland water safety should be more prominent within the strategy. The Council currently commissioned RNLI to provide the Coastal and Inland Water Safety services, but the RNLI also had a national role as a volunteer organisation.

Peter Rooney, Area Life Saving Manager at RNLI then introduced his presentation to Committee. The presentation detailed the RNLI’s purpose, vision and values, as well as its staffing arrangements which were predominantly volunteers with lifeguard services operating from six locations across Wirral in the Summer with three lifeboat stations. The presentation further detailed the national water safety statistics, with 621 people drowning in the UK in 2020, 43% of which were when people did not intent to enter the water. Locally, in Merseyside around half of drownings involved drink or drugs which was much higher than the national average. The Committee was advised that it was anticipated that Summer 2021 would be exceptionally busy due to more people holidaying at home, therefore there was a Summer engagement campaign underway to tackle this.

The Committee discussed the dangers locally including Leasowe Bay and access to Hillbre Island from Hoylake and West Kirby. The Coast Review process was queried where it was reported that an interim review had taken place two years previous and had resulted in a hovercraft being located in Hoylake. Members were advised that the performance of this would be tracked and measured through the Community Safety Partnership.

It was proposed by Councillor Jenny Johnson and seconded by Councillor Jean Robinson, that RNLI be invited to report back to the Partnerships Committee at the end of the season to present their ideas and recommendations. The motion was put and agreed by assent. It was therefore –

Resolved – That

1)  RNLI be invited to report back to the Partnerships Committee at the end of the season to present their ideas and recommendations.

2)  The report and presentation be noted.