The Chair, Councillor Karen Hayes, welcomed the forum members and four members of the public to the meeting.

Apologies were received from Councillor Leah Fraser, Councillor Adrian Jones, Diane Ledder, Joe Lee, Margi Allen.

Councillor John Salter informed the forum that the Deaf Society were unable to provide signers for this meeting, as there are only 28 signers for Merseyside, but the Chief Executive of the Society had guaranteed that signers will be available for all future meetings, if enough notice is provided.

The following points / matters arising were raised from the minutes of last meeting held on 13^th October 2008:

Page 6 – Dave Hanlon asked for clarification re: meeting of Friends of Liscard Hall. Carole Thomas confirmed that the view was from members of the Central Park Steering group, who are part of the Friends of Liscard Hall. It was agreed that the last paragraph of item 5 in the minutes be amended to read “Carole Thomas informed the forum that members of the Central Park Steering Group expressed the view that there should be no residential accommodation in the park.”

Page 8 – Fr. Leon Ostaszewski clarified that question 5 under item 6 was referring to parking problems in Liscard Road by the zebra crossing near the Boot Inn and at the bus stop at the corner of Belvidere Road and Wallasey Road. He added that drama school clients parking cause difficulties for people alighting from the 9 and 409 buses and that both of these sites are major hazards.

Page 8, question 1 under item 7 – Fr. Leon Ostaszewski commented that he had reported the problem of plaster falling off the walls at the Earlston Road Library in June last year but nothing had been done about this.

Chris Jones informed the forum that Belvidere Road had been included in next year’s budget for improvement.

Resolved that:  The minutes of the last meeting held on 13^th October 2008 be agreed, subject to the last paragraph of item 5 being amended to read “Carole Thomas informed the forum that members of the Central Park Steering Group expressed the view that there should be no residential accommodation in the park.”

The Community Engagement Co-ordinator gave a brief overview of her report, highlighting the following:

Page 2 - Launch of new Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) website (http://wirral-lsp.org). This is in its early stages and will be fully operational by March 2009 and comments on this would be valued. The contact for the website is Maxine Joynson (0151 691 8266 / maxinejoynson@wirral.gov.uk)

You Decide Results – the reports on the £20,000 allocation had been forwarded to the relevant departments (Technical Services and Regeneration). 

The Chair asked if there were any questions on this and none were raised.

Minute decision: Resolved:  That the Community Engagement Co-ordinator be thanked for her report.

Mark Camborne gave an update on the Integrated Transport Block (ITB) Funding.

In Autumn 2006 the forums were consulted on how this funding would be allocated. Nine of the forums requested that the funding remain in a central pot for funding larger schemes. Two of the forums (Heswall/Pensby/Thingwall and Bromborough/Eastham) requested that the funding be allocated by the forums. The success of this initiative piloted in 2007/08 in these two Area Forums, has led to continued de-centralisation of funds for 2008/09 for the two forums and officers being requested to consult with the remaining nine Forums to determine if they wish to receive de-centralised funding (this will be approximately £18,000 per area forum) for allocation on traffic schemes. If the forums decide to opt for this the funding they will be supported by an officer form Technical Services, who will offer guidance, advice, ideas and information on costs, risks, pitfalls etc. The funding would have to be spent within the financial year it is allocated. A report on the forums’ recommendations will be taken to Cabinet on 19^th March 2009, so the decision needs to be made by 13^th February 2009.

The Forum debated this proposal and the following questions / issues were raised:

1.  Councillor Keeley – raised concerns over amount of funding available as would not cover the cost of larger schemes and felt that it would be better to leave it in the central pot if want larger schemes to be implemented.

2.  Stan Thompson (representative of the Older People’s Parliament and the small community at Mariners Park) – asked if there was an avenue of approach to the decision makers, as a pelican crossing is needed in the Mariners Park area as the average age of people crossing the road to the bus stop is 75 years.

The Chair confirmed that this had been on the list for some time and that if forum decide to de-centralise the funding they would get together and discuss how and where it would be allocated. Carole Thomas added that the community representatives can be contacted through the Liscard / Seacombe Partnership and offered to provide further details on this at the end of the meeting.

Chris Jones confirmed that if the other area forums decide to keep their allocation then this comes off the central pot, but that forums could pool funds to carry out a larger scheme in one forum area one year and one in the other forum area the following year. Mark Camborne added that it may also be able to be added to other funding pots, such as You Decide.

3.  Fr. Leon Ostaszewski – could the fund be used in conjunction with Merseytravel, as it would be beneficial to have an rendezvous point for buses in the Liscard area with an information kiosk (as at Heswall bus station) to make the area safer?

Mark Camborne – the fund would probably not be enough to cover such a scheme.

4.  Dave Hanlon –  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Simon Finnie, general manager at Arriva buses on Wirral introduced himself to the forum and agreed to answer any questions in relation to this. The following questions / issues were raised:

1.  Councillor Keeley – has there been any progress on the provision of numbers on the back of the buses (this issue was raised at a previous forum meeting)?

A - all new buses have the number on the back, side and front and it is automatically updated. The capital expenditure being allocated will result in 60% of buses at Laird Street having the number on the back, side and front.

2.  Fr. Leon Ostaszewski – confirmed that he had raised the issue of the number on the back of the buses with Neil Scales and was told that the numbers should always be on the back of the buses as the drivers are responsible for changing the indicators.

A. the older buses have had so many destinations added that it can be difficult to find the correct destination. This is much easier on the new buses, and 15 new single decker buses are due to be introduced in March 2009.

3.  Ken Harrison and Stan Thompson – welcomed the new buses and congratulated Arriva. 

4.  Dave Hanlon – can anything be done about the following:

·  the chaos of the number of buses stopping at Sir Thomas Street between 4 - 6.30pm

·  provision of more buses from Wallasey to Liverpool in the evening (since the removal of the First Bus 32 /33 services buses are only every 20 minutes and sometimes the buses don’t stop at Scotland Road)

A –

• Since Liverpool One opened the bus stop has become more congested as the buses to Bootle also go form here. When Liverpool City Council deal with the issues in the City Centre there will be a stop just for Wirral services that will be nearer to Liverpool One, but this will not be in place until towards the end of the year.
• The competition from the introduction of the 32/33 service generated extra passengers. Now that First Bus has withdrawn the service we have been left with more passengers. We recognise that something needs to be done and the new vehicles are being introduced to generate more passengers and from the end of May 2009 we will be sending three buses back out during the evening peak from 3.30 – 6.30pm. It is not in our interest not to stop and collect passengers.

5.  Tony Ford

• The 413 route from Liscard to Seacombe is poor, I wanted to travel here by public transport, but at this time of the evening it can mean a wait of an hour between buses. This is an important route for those wishing to get places such as the Town Hall, Guinea Gap Baths, Seacombe Ferry and Liscard. Dave Hanlon added that he got the bus at 6.20pm and the next bus wasn’t due until 7.25pm so had to get on the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

• Merseyside Police/Community Safety
• Fire Service
• Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• NHS Wirral
• Older Peoples Parliament

Merseyside Police – Inspector Julie Fletcher

Inspector Julie Fletcher informed the forum that there had been lots of enforcement action taken in the last quarter. A total of 23 warrants had been executed in the forum area, leading to 24 arrests and the discovery of a cannabis farm. In January two S30 dispersal orders were obtained for Brougham Road and Percy Road / Palatine Road area (maps detailing the areas covered were available at the meeting). The orders allow groups of 3 or more young people to be directed to leave and can be arrested if they return within 24 hours. Section 27 dispersal orders can be applied for to deal with people over the age of 16.

Action to tackle anti-social behaviour has led to 13 arrests, 10 fixed penalty notices being issued, 3 summonses and 98 dispersal notices being given out. The action has dramatically reduced calls reporting incidents of anti-social behaviour.

Monthly newsletters are now being produced by each neighbourhood inspector, only 500 of these are being printed at present (copies were available at the meeting). Anyone wishing to receive regular updates can receive this via e-mail if they let us have their details. (Dave Hanlon added that copies of the newsletter were being handed out at Asda a few weeks ago).

On Friday a five year anti-social behaviour order (most are normally only issued for two years) was secured for 19 year old Daniel Berry following a long history of anti-social and criminal behaviour, he was banned from entering the Sherlock Lane area of Poulton. We worked closely with Caroline Laing, Manager of Wirral Anti-Social Behaviour Team, to secure this. Inspector Fletcher thanked Councillor Salter for his support on this. The residents of the area had been intimidated by this young person for a number of years.  Press notices will be going out this week showing the boundaries and details of the order and posters (with photo) will be placed in the area by the Anti-social Behaviour Team.

Last Sunday there was an open day at Wallasey Police Station, including a guided tour and history of the station along with a demonstration of the technology used. 90 people wanted to visit so a further open weekend has been arranged for 9^th -10^th May 2009, anyone wishing to attend should telephone 0151 777 2052/2053 to arrange this.

The Chair thanked Inspector Fletcher for her update and congratulated the Police on the success of the action taken within the Poulton area. The following questions / issues were raised:

1.  Carole Thomas – what is a fixed penalty notice?

A. – it is an on the sport fine given for criminal damage, minor crimes and traffic offences.

2.  Fr. Leon Ostaszewski – are you based at the Courthouse with the Community Safety Team and is this due to close at the end of March?

A. – Inspector Fletcher confirmed that the Inspectors are not based at the Courthouse. Councillor Keeley confirmed that the Courthouse is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

June 2009 – venue and date to be confirmed

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 10^th June 2009, at a venue to be confirmed.

There was no further business and the meeting closed at 8.40pm