The Chair, Councillor P Hayes, welcomed forum members and 24 members of the public to the area forum at New Brighton Primary School.

Apologies were noted from Pat Hackett, Pat Glassman and Dave Green.

Andy Brannan gave a presentation on the You Neighbourhood section of the Neighbourhood Plan consultation including the main priorities and issues in their area that people told the council during the consultation and some of the actions the council will take to address the issues.

At the June Area Forums we will be presenting information on the Your Family and Economy sections of the Neighbourhood Plan.

Not only will the information obtained in the Neighbourhood Plan help council departments plan their services to best meet the needs of the community it will help ensure that Area Forum Funding is spent against the priorities people have highlighted.

Q. Dog fouling has been mentioned under street cleanliness. Wellington Road is terrible for dog fouling and because there aren’t any litter bins people throw the bags over walls and gardens.

A. Mike Collins from the Dog Fouling Team agreed to liaise with the resident.

Q. Safety in parks is important to people, has low level lighting in Vale Park ever been looked into to improve the safety?

A. Jim Lester – There have been trials into low level lighting in some parks already. However in some of the trials this actually led to an increase in anti social behaviour as it attracted young people. The issue is still being discussed and will form part of the consultation into the redesigning of the parks service.

Q. Dave Hanlon – There is a Friends of Vale Park who would like to take part in the consultation regarding the parks.

A. Jim Lester – The consultation will be engaging with all of the friends groups in Wirral.

Inspector Kolokotroni (Merseyside Police)

-Nearly all the statistics for the area are included in the newsletter.

-There has been a slight increase in burglary from dwellings. The instances are mainly occurring in the day when residents are in work and houses are empty. To try and combat this we are targeting shops that sell second hand goods to see if any of the stolen items are going through them.

-There is a new number for non-emergency calls to the Police. The number is 001 and can be used to speak to the Police.

Paul Murphy (Merseyside Fire Service)

-The Fire Service are focusing on looking at issues at neighbourhood level to see if there distinct differences in the needs of different areas. So far results have been positive.

-The Fire Service is continuing to work closely with partners such as the police and local authority on issues that affect the wider community.

Q. Dave Hanlon – There was a fire recently in the Cliff. The caretaker pulled a resident out the fire, is it true that he is being put forward for an award?

A. Paul Murphy – It is not possible to go into too much detail about the incident but the caretaker has been recommended for an award at a Merseyside wide ceremony.

Mike Collins (Dog Fouling Team)

-Mike advised that there are ‘No Dog Fouling’ stickers available to take away. However these can not be put up on council property so residents can put them in their windows and on garden gates.

-The Dog Fouling Team have issued 48 fixed penalty notices which is a big increase on previous years. To assist this Police Community Support Officers and the Community Patrol Team can now also give out penalty notices.

Q. There are different partners at the forum tonight but not many young people. What is being done to encourage younger people to get involved with the forums and in their community?

A. Various – There are Youth Forums and Youth Parliament which engages specifically with young people. It is one of the aims of this area forum to have a representative from the Youth Forums but this has not happened yet.

As part of the Neighbourhood Plan consultation a number of focus groups were held with primary and secondary schools to get the views of younger people and officers from the Community Engagement Team will be liaising with the same schools to make sure the information is feedback to them.

Q. Who is responsible for ‘grot spot’ areas such as the old Victoria Hotel site, which not only are an eye sore but attract anti social behaviour?

A. Jim Lester - Most are in private ownership which makes it difficult to tackle some of the issules. Work is on going with the ownership of these sites and building regulation powers can have some effect.

A. Chris Jones – There are certain powers under the Highways Act and any issues should be fed back to Streetscene for investigation. Chris will liaise with the resident on the site of the old Victoria Road Hotel to see if there is anything that can be done.

Q. I recently received a letter from the Community Engagement Team advising that letters promoting the forums will only be sent out to interested people via email in future. How will people who don’t have email know about the forum?

A. Lucy Beed – We are trying to make sending out invites to the forum more efficient which means were possible we would like to email information. However if there is anyone who doesn’t have email we will still ensure that they receive written information. We also put details of the forums in information points such as GP surgeries, council buildings and dentists etc so we try to publicise them as much as possible. 

Q. What is happening with the Tidal Pool project that was funded through the Seaside Coastal Funding and the empty units by the Marine Lake at the Neptune Development?

A. Jim Lester – The Tidal Pool project is on the agenda for the 2^nd February Cabinet meeting as there are concerns over the health and safety aspect of the project.

Q. Can the empty units be on the agenda for the next area forum?

A. Cllr Sue Taylor – The company planning to originally run the gym at Neptune pulled out leaving units empty. There were then plans to have a childrens splash area. However the current situation is that a different company has expressed interest in opening a gym and health suite so until talks develop further we will have to wait to see what progress can be given.

Q. Dave Hanlon – Sports clubs were consulted with regarding the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Meeting was closed at 7.45pm.  Next Meeting June 2012 (date and venue to be confirmed)