Councillor Phil Davis informed the forum that he would be chairing the meeting, as Councillor Jean Stapleton was in London on business and sent her apologies. The Chair opened the meeting, wished Councillor Brian Kenny happy birthday, and welcomed the forum members and 17 members of the public to the Area Forum meeting at the Rock Ferry Community Centre. He invited the forum members to introduce themselves and to give a brief update.

Apologies were also received from Councillors Moira McLaughlin and Bill Davies, Myrtle Lacey, David Ball, Gary Cummings, Sarah Paterson and Len Richards.

Including matters arising from February 2008 meeting.

The Area Co-ordinator, Andy Brannan, informed the forum that the minutes of the last meeting held on 3 June 2008 had been incorporated on page  3 of the Area Co-ordinator’s report (copies of which were available for members of the public at the meeting). The matters arising were included on page 9 of the report, including responses to questions raised at the last meeting but not answered on the night. He highlighted the following:

• Highway Maintenance Programme – forms were available at the meeting for nominating roads for repair for consideration as part of the 2009/10 maintenance programme.
• Area Forum Funding - application packs were available at the meeting and further copies could be obtained from the Community Engagement Team (0151 691 8210 / engage@wirral.gov.uk). 

The following questions / issues were raised:

• Jim Cadwallader – find the forms difficult to complete.
• Chair – telephone Andy Brannan (0151 691 8391) who will help with filling out the form

• Roy Dennett – why has no funding been allocated for this forum area?
• Area Co0ordinator – each area forum is allocated £20,000.00, and this forum spent the funding in the first round held in June 2008. The other forums still have funding unallocated and are holding a second round of funding.

• Chair – there was good feedback from the event held at the Lauries Centre from residents and community groups, and agreed to write to the Fire Service, on behalf of the area forum, to congratulate them on the success of this initiative.
• Mick Blease agreed to pass on this feedback and informed the forum that this is to be a yearly event.

Resolved that:

(i)  The Area Co-ordinator be thanked for his report

(ii)  The Chair to write to the Fire Service, on behalf of the area forum, to congratulate them on the success of the event held at the Lauries

The following questions / issues were raised:

• Mrs Moss (Southwick Road) – the proposed flats to be built on the site of the old cinema are to be higher than the surrounding houses and will block out the light. Do not want three-storey flats like those built in Grove Road. 
• Councillor Meaden – the application was approved several weeks ago, there was a petition but it did not have enough names on it. I did not see the application before it went to the planning committee, but had asked for bungalows originally but ended up as flats.
• Alan Stennard requested that Mrs Moss pass on her details at the end of the meeting and agreed to get someone from the planning team to contact her directly to discuss this matter.
• Roy Dennett added that the proposal was published in the press.

• Gaynor Hilliard– when is the plot of land at Duke Street / St Anne Street / Price Street (by Birkenhead Park railway station) due to be built on?
• Chair – agreed to look into this and requested that contact details be passed on at the end of the meeting.

• Hugh Langford – has there been any progress on Byrne Avenue Baths and will the Council do all it can to help the Trust  to obtain additional monies required, as there are a lack of youth services in the area?
• Alan Stennard – immediate works were carried out to resolve the health and safety matters re: structure and asbestos, costing £10’s of £1000’s, but £100’s of £1,000’s of work still required. The Council stopped proceedings, but the Trust still needs to raise the money for the additional work. The Council handed the building over to the Trust as trusts can often get funding where a council can’t. The council is continuing to work with and help the Trust and is looking at facilities. The Oval is due to be opened next month.

• Member of the public – could off-road parking be set up, by removing pavement at Old Chester Road, to ease congestion and provide more parking at Devon Gardens?
• Councillor Meaden – have tried to resolve this problem, which will be made worse by additional traffic resulting from additional flats being built. The problems are particularly bad from 5pm onwards when leisure facilities are being used, the Police and Wardens patrol the area and the Council’s Engineers have been contacted, but say that this is not a problem.  She agreed to go back to the Engineer’s to see if there are any more solutions available for this area and will report back on this at the next meeting. Peter Exley added that the Engineer’s may just put in double-yellow lines in which will make matters worse.

• Jack Wilson – requested progress report on what is happening with field at St Peters Mews. The field is overgrown and used by people drinking and taking drugs, and have tried to contact the owners to solve this.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Chair informed the forum that this was a participatory budgeting pilot exercise under which each area forum was allocated £20,000 for spending on additional council services. A survey was held to find out what services local people felt that the additional funding should be spent on. 184 questionnaires were completed and the funding was allocated as follows:

£5,000 – to improve cleanliness (10 litter bins and litter picks in each of two wards)

£4,500 – to purchase security packs

£6,500 – for sports / youth activities / youth sports nights

£4,000 – for youth engagement (including £2,000 worth of additional RESPECT bus hours)

The Area Co-ordinator will provide a detailed report on how the funding is to be targeted / where the bins will be placed etc. This exercise will be re-evaluated to measure its success and whether it should be repeated in the future.

Resolved that the Area Co-ordinator to produce a detailed report on how the You Decide funding was allocated

·  Merseyside Police/Community Safety

·  Fire Service

·  NHS Foundation Trust

·  Primary Care Trust

·  Older Peoples Parliament

Merseyside Police

Inspector Blease informed the forum that this was his fourth year as the Neighbourhood Inspector, and has now taken over a larger area so has been allocated an extra officer and PCSO. There were 428 less victims of crime compared with last year, the biggest reduction being vehicle crime which was down by 50%. A team working in Wirral and North Wales that were taking older cars to the scrap yards (due to an increase in the price of metal) were traced. The legislation for scrap metal dealers has been tightened. There were 19 offences of robbery (compared to 32 last year), burglaries were down by 17% and violent crime was reduced by 4%.

The operation to catch the offender responsible for gluing up Alleygates was successful. We worked with the Anti-Social Behaviour Team and caught a male offender who is due to go to court in December. Further information will be provided on this after the trial. 

Crackhouse closures have taken place in Southall Road thanks to the co-operation from the public.

Extra resources have been put on for the Bonfire Night period (35 PCSOs and Police staff). Please look after your bins and try to place these out of site during this period.

The Birkenhead, Tranmere and Rock Ferry division won Team of the Year.

The chair thanked Inspector Blease for his update and the following questions / issues were raised:

• Jim Cadwallader – dealers bringing drugs into the country should be treated as terrorists, as money used to buy arms that may be used against English forces abroad.
• Inspector Blease – there is legislation in place, if drug dealers are caught they are given long sentences.

• Roy Dennett – cars parking illegally (on double-yellow lines) at Tesco’s Danger Hill makes it dangerous for traffic leaving the store.
• Inspector Blease – parking on double-yellow lines has been de-regulized.
• Chair – the Area Co-ordinator will bring this to the attention of Streetscene and request that the area is given extra attention.

• Member of public – what is to happen with property in St Anne Street that has been boarded since January (it was a crackhouse)?
• Inspector Blease – such properties can only be closed for three months then are the responsibility of the owner. This falls under Laird Street so will ask Inspector Paul Harrison to look into this.

• Fred Jones – can anything be done about cars speeding in the built up area at Grove Road / Old Chester Road, there are no signs in the area? Cars travel along at 50 / 50 mph, usually by young drivers, recently an 80 year lady old was nearly knocked over at the puffin crossing by the post office.
• Inspector Blease – will look into this and get an officer to monitor the area and set up a portable speed camera.

Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service

Simon Ashton, from Bromborough Fire Station, informed the forum that a copy of the Service’s Integrated Risk  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

February 2009 (venue to be decided)

The Chair informed the forum that the next meeting will be held on 25^th February 2009 at a venue, to be confirmed, within the Birkenhead and Tranmere ward. He asked if there were any suggestions for presentations at the meeting.

Councillor Meaden suggested an excellent presentation on the Energy Saving Strategy, which is being rolled out after Christmas. 

• Peter Exley - how long does the presentation last?
• Councillor Meaden – it lasts about one hour, but could be condensed.

• Jim Cadwallader – the Community Action for Energy (CAFÉ) could be invited to give a presentation.
• Councillor Meaden – the Council has its own energy efficiency team.

Mike Parkinson – could the meetings be more informal, like a social event?

Chair – would not be opposed to this, but would need to consider the practicalities of this.

Hugh Langford – there are not many members of the public in attendance at the meeting and they sign in, so could their names be included within the minutes?

Peter Exley – some people may not want their names to be listed.

Councillor Meaden / Chair – the sign in register is required for health and safety and to enable us to send out information, but feel that individuals names should not be included in the minutes.

Hugh Langford – could the number of members of the public attending the meeting be included in the minutes?

Chair – the numbers in attendance are included, under welcome and introductions.

There was no further business and the official meeting closed at 8.50pm. The Chair informed the forum that the RESPECT bus was unable to be at the meeting, requested that everyone take time to visit the HMRI exhibition stand before leaving the meeting and thanked everyone for attending the meeting.