The Chair, Councillor Gerry Ellis, opened the meeting and welcomed approximately 220 members of the public to the meeting in West Kirby.  He invited members of the forum to introduce themselves.

The Chair thanked members of the public for an excellent turnout, which he assumed was due to the high level of interest in the issue of a hotel in West Kirby. On three occasions in the last six months, the Chair had requested Howard Mortimer to ask the developer, Carpenter Investments Ltd, to organise a public meeting, and on each occasion the reply had been that it was not appropriate to do so. Councillors therefore decided to use this Area Forum meeting as a public meeting on the issue. The agenda will be re-scheduled to bring forward the item, Regeneration Projects update, and if necessary the meeting will be extended beyond the normal close time of 9 pm to allow everyone an opportunity to express their views or to ask a question.

• Minutes of last meeting and matters arising

The Area Co-ordinator’s report has been posted on the Council’s website and paper copies have been distributed to One Stop Shops. A limited number of copies were available at the meeting. Further copies can be obtained on request to the Area Co-ordinator. [tel. 0151 691 8026 / email: traceysmith@wirral.gov.uk.]

The minutes of the meeting of the Area Forum on 11 June 2008 had been incorporated on pages 4 to 12 of the Area Co-ordinator’s report. Written responses to the issues raised at the meeting had been incorporated under Matters Arising on pages 13/14.

The Area Co-ordinator drew attention to unallocated Community Initiative Funding of £15,812.77 and PCT funding of £4,250.00, available for projects in West Wirral.  Voluntary and Community Sector groups are invited to submit applications by the closing date of 12 noon on Monday, 10^th November 2008.  Application forms were available at the meeting.

Minute decision:
Resolved:  That –

i  the minutes of the meeting of the Area Forum on 11 June 2008 be received;

ii  the Area Co-ordinator be thanked for her report.

Wirral Council has allocated £250,000 new money to be spent on extra Council services in Wirral’s 11 area forums through a new project called ‘You Decide’. To ensure everyone had the chance to take part, a Borough-wide survey was conducted in September asking residents to identity the additional Council services they would most like to spend the money on.  A total of 179 responses had been received to the 5,000 questionnaires distributed in West Wirral. Forum members had met to analyse the results of the surveys and based on the priorities identified, Councillors and community representatives subsequently met and decided to allocate half of the £20,000 received by this area forum for youth supported activity and youth sports in Hoylake, Meols, West Kirby, Newton and Thurstaston areas with the remainder being spent on street cleaning, including additional litter bins and graffiti removal; and road safety, including the introduction of automatic solar panel safety signs, initially in Caldy Village and one/two other areas.

A request was made at the last Area Forum for a talk on the control of dogs in the area. Phil Dickson, Environmental Health Manager, was invited to give a presentation on dog fouling.

The Environmental Health Division of the Department of Regeneration has responsibility for a number of disciplines, namely, Food Safety, Health and Safety, Pollution Control, Environmental Health. Pest Control, Animal Health and Welfare and Animal Control.

Wirral Animal Control and Welfare Service [the Dog Warden Service] has three principal roles – enforcement of legislation in relation to dangerous dogs, the collection, kennelling and, wherever possible, the re-homing of stray dogs, and dog fouling. The Dog Warden Service is based at the Council Kennels in Corporation Road, Birkenhead, and is staffed by one senior warden, three dog wardens and three kennel staff.

The whole of Wirral Council area is designated under the Dogs [Fouling of Land] Act 1996.  On designated land it is an offence for the owner or keeper of a dog to fail to clear up after their dog has fouled.  Failure to comply can result in prosecution and a fine up to £1,000.  Anyone who fails to clean after their dog may be issued with a fixed penalty or prosecuted. Enforcement concordat policy requires that offenders be given a verbal warning upon which they have the opportunity to put right any offence [ie by picking up the mess]. Further action is taken if they refuse. The burden of proof that is required before action can be taken is ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’, ie the wardens need to have seen evidence of an offence at close hand. Where there is insufficient evidence for issuing a fixed penalty notice a verbal or written warning may be given. An authorised Council enforcement officer or in some cases a Police Community Support Officer [PCO] may issue the owner or keeper with a fixed penalty notice of £50.

A Wirral Dog Watch campaign involved visiting all areas of the Borough over a 12-month period and using the media and other means of publicity to raise awareness. As a result, there has been a progressive change in attitude, evidence of increasingly responsible dog ownership, and a reduction in the number of complaints about dog fouling.  Nevertheless, dog fouling remains an issue of concern. 

In 2007 Wirral Council invested £20,000 in a further campaign, ‘Don’t give a dog a bad name’.  This involved increased presence via wardens and community patrols, posters, poop scoop bags and leaflets.  In 2008, Wirral Council committed a further £40,000 for dog fouling initiatives. This involves the purchase of a new multi purpose cleaning and enforcement vehicle, new tri-signs, posters on lampposts, and an incentive scheme that offers reward cards for a monthly £50 draw.

The Services continues to work successfully with Wirral Partnership Homes and more recently has worked with the Police CSOs in dealing with this issue of dog fouling.

In response to questions, Phil Dickson stated that there have probably been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Jim Wilkie explained that he proposed to give a presentation on the regeneration plans for West Wirral, to provide an update on how the projects have developed so far, and finally to focus on the regeneration programme for West Kirby.

In providing background information, Jim Wilkie stated that the return of The Open was the catalyst for regeneration. A master plan was developed and consulted on and although there was disagreement with some aspects of the plan, there was general support for the overall master plan.

The principal aims of the master plan are to:-

• enhance the quality of Hoylake and West Kirby and their sea fronts
• improve local facilities and business prospects
• improve the quality of the Country Park
• seek investment in a golf resource
• benefit residents and businesses.

The potential outcomes would be to:-.

• improve the local environment.
• improve the local economy
• secure £160 million investment
• create 500 new jobs
• influence the future return of The Open to Wirral. 

Following a major consultation exercise, initial work on the development of the proposals began in 2003/04 with the aim of gauging the interest of major backers to support the proposals.

Jim Wilkie described the progress made to date on each of the projects:

• Market Street Hoylake Improvement Scheme
• Hoylake and Meols Promenade improvements
• Proposal for a new Golf Resort in West Wirral.
• Wirral Country Park – new Visitor Centre
• West Kirby –

  ?Public Realm improvements

  ?The Sail Project (hotel)

  ?The Greater Concourse.

  ?The Crescent

  ?The Canopies

To date, no firm decisions have been taken on the Sail project except that the Cabinet has identified Carpenter Investments Limited as the preferred bidder to develop their ideas for a new hotel in West Kirby under a lock in agreement. The lock in agreement ends at the end of the year and Officers will be preparing a report and recommendations to Cabinet on the West Wirral master plan. 

The Chair commented that both he and Councillor Hale have made it clear in the past they are  opposed to the Sail project in its present form and that other West Wirral Councillors are opposed to the proposal. The public have been consulted and the response of Councillors as representatives of the people in the area is that the project should not go ahead.

Councillor Hale referred to the public meeting attended by 120 people in 2003. He was the first to say that he was opposed to a hotel on the proposed site and nothing has happened since to change his mind. 95% of the people at that meeting had voted against a hotel on that site.  Since then, leaflets have been issued to every house in his ward and people had voted overwhelmingly against the proposal. He had recently been given access to the developer's questionnaire which had allegedly indicated that the responses were in favour of the development. He intended to study the results in greater detail.

He reiterated the comments by the Chair that the Officers should reflect  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

16 February 2009

The next meeting will be held on Monday 16th February 2009 at Hoylake Chapel, Station Road, Hoylake