Members are asked to consider whether they have personal or prejudicial interests in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state what they are.

Members are reminded that they should also declare, pursuant to paragraph 18 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, whether they are subject to a party whip in connection with any item(s) to be considered and, if so, to declare it and state the nature of the whipping arrangement.

Members were asked to consider whether they had personal or prejudicial interests in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state what they were.

Councillor T Anderson declared a personal interest in respect of minute 126 (Presentation by Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority) and minute 128 (Waste Recycling Policy Review Update) by virtue of his membership of the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority.

Councillor A Brighouse declared a personal interest in respect of minute 126 (Presentation by Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority) and minute 128 (Waste Recycling Policy Review Update) by virtue of his membership of the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority.

Members were reminded that they should also declare, pursuant to paragraph 18 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules, whether they were subject to a party whip in connection with any item(s) to be considered and, if so, to declare it and state the nature of the whipping arrangement.  No such declarations were made.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 20 January, and 15 February (and reconvened meeting 22 February) and 17 February 2011.

The Director of Law, HR and Asset Management submitted the minutes of the meetings held on 20 January, and 15 February (and reconvened meeting 22 February) and 17 February 2011.

Resolved – That the minutes be received.

The minutes of the meeting on 7 March will be circulated separately.

The Director of Law, HR and Asset Management, submitted the minutes of the panel meeting held on 8 November, 2010 when the following matters were considered:-

The Director of Law, HR and Asset Management, submitted the minutes of the panel meeting held on 8 November, 2010 when the following matters were considered:-

(i)  Objection Proposed Waiting Restrictions: Pensby Road/Penryn Avenue, Thingwall.

(ii)  Petition: Request for Further Road Safety Measures in Park Road, Wallasey and Surrounding Area.

(iii)  Resident’s Parking Permits – Silverburn Avenue, Moreton.

(iv) Objections School Keep Clear Markings – Brackenwood Infant School, Prenton Primary School, and St George’s Primary School.

Resolved –

(1)  That the minutes of the panel be received.

(2)  That the Committee recommend to the Cabinet Member that the following schemes be approved:-

(a)  Proposed Revised Waiting Restrictions, Brackenwood Infants School, Holmway, Bebington – a revised time of operation, Monday to Friday 8:00 - 9:30 am and 3:00 – 4:30 pm be introduced, as shown on plan B.Eng/51/10D1

(b)  Proposed Waiting Restrictions (Monday to Friday 8:00 am – 9:30 am and 3:00 – 4:30 pm), Prenton Primary School, Bramwell Avenue and Edinburgh Drive, Prenton, be introduced.

(c)  Proposed Waiting Restrictions (No Waiting at Any Time) St George’ Primary School, St Georges Road, Wallasey, be introduced, as shown on plan B.Eng/1/11/C.

Verbal report.

Mr Stuart Donaldson, Waste Strategy Manager MWDA, gave a presentation outlining the current position regarding the review of the Joint Municipal Waste Strategy for Merseyside.  He presented a series of slides giving details of municipal waste operations, current strategy objectives and drivers affecting future strategy development, performance against national indicators and targets, waste composition analysis, the review timetable, and key decision dates for District Council Action Plans.

Mr Donaldson responded to questions from members regarding current figures and future projections for residual waste, options for food waste collection, the trade waste pilot, recycling rates and partnership working with other agencies and businesses to reduce residual waste.

Resolved – That the report be noted and that Mr Donaldson be thanked for his detailed presentation. 

The Director of Technical Services presented a report which had been prepared in response to a notice of motion submitted to the Council in July 2010 requesting that new ways be examined to reduce waste to landfill and provide new recycling collections. This included a specific update on the separate collection of kitchen food waste from households within the Wirral.

The Director reported that initiatives introduced to date, together with the corresponding investment in the services by the Wirral, had resulted in a dramatic improvement in recycling performance over the past 5 years. Wirral’s recycling rate had increased from 14.4% in 2006/2007 to 36.2% in 2009/2010 and was projected to top 40% for the current year.

Before any decision was taken to invest in costly new additional kerbside collections services, it was recommended that Wirral continue to maximise all opportunities for the recovery of materials that could be collected using current collection systems and by maintaining and extending waste awareness campaigns. This would be based around the following initiatives which would provide an opportunity for Wirral to move to and possibly exceed a 45% recycling performance:-

• the continuation of existing initiatives aimed at educating and encouraging residents to participate in current collection schemes. This would include the targeted monitoring of areas to increase participation rates using assistant recycling officers, currently being funded via the Government’s Future Jobs Funding initiative which was due to end this year;
• the completion of roll outs of kerbside recycling collections to all households within the Wirral;
• working with the MWDA to provide suitable processing facilities at the Bidston MRF to recover mixed plastics and dry recyclable materials (glass, paper, cans, plastic), from street cleansing operations;
• a targeted intensive food waste reduction campaign, as a further extension and development of the ‘Love Food Hate Waste’ campaign which had been running for the past 2 years.

The Director reported that the MWDA was currently in the process of procuring a new long-term contract for the treatment and processing of residual waste currently being disposed of via landfill. The contribution of this contract and the associated treatment process towards Merseyside’s recycling performance would be closely monitored and the actual performance analysed to see how it related to the overall proposed strategy target of 50% recycling, and in turn determine specific targets for individual authorities. If a relatively modest 5% recycling performance could be obtained from treating Wirral’s residual waste, this would make a significant contribution towards achieving and bettering a combined recycling performance of 50% within the Wirral and may in turn obviate the need for further initiatives such as separate kitchen food waste collections and processing.

The current review of the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy for Merseyside was due to be concluded by the end of this year, and an update on the work completed to date, together with the key findings and recommendations, had been presented to this committee (see minute 127ante). The draft strategy would subsequently be submitted to members for comment with the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 128.

The Director of Law, HR and Asset Management, presented a report outlining the steps that were being taken to control illicit sales to young people including under age sales and the sale of illicit tobacco and alcohol and carry out the Council’s statutory responsibility to enforce provisions prohibiting the sale of age restricted products and provisions requiring legible health warnings on tobacco products.

On a motion by the Chair seconded by Councillor Mitchell it was:

Resolved – That the Committee note this detailed report and welcome the approved budget policy option to make permanent the Trading Standards posts required to continue the work to control the illicit sale of alcohol to young people.

At its meeting on 5 January, the Scrutiny Programme Board referred the attached Alcohol Scrutiny Report to the appropriate overview and scrutiny committees. The committee is requested to consider this report in conjunction with above agenda item.

Further to minute 42 (8/3/2010) when the committee received a report detailing the impact that alcohol was having on community safety in Wirral, the Director of Law. HR and Asset Management, presented a progress report comprising a review of changes during last year and the impact that they have upon crime and anti social behaviour in Wirral.  The report detailed for members the crime and anti social behaviour impact that alcohol was having upon victims, offenders, and locations in Wirral, and also outlined the new initiatives which had been introduced to minimise the impact of inappropriate alcohol use on crime and anti social behaviour since the last report.

Resolved  - That the Committee:

(1)  Note the contents of this report.

(2)  Support the recommendations of the Scrutiny Review Programme Board contained within its scrutiny review of Access to alcohol by young people on Wirral.

  (3)  Recommend that the Community Safety Partnership consider establishing a performance indicator which explicitly focuses upon reducing the impact of the link between Alcohol and Violence.

(4)  Request that the Community Safety Partnership establish performance indicators which:

·  Seek reductions in levels of alcohol related violence perpetrated by young people.

·  Measure levels regardless of the young person’s youth offending system disposal.

·  Seek reductions in levels of alcohol related violence perpetrated by adults, (aged 18 years and above).

·  Measure levels regardless of the adults criminal justice system disposal

·  Base percentage reductions upon 2009/2010 baselines.

At its meeting on 5 January, the Scrutiny Programme Board referred the attached Alcohol Scrutiny Report to the appropriate overview and scrutiny committees. The committee is requested to consider this report in conjunction with  agenda item 7.

Further to minute 44 (Scrutiny Programme Board – 5/1/2011) the committee considered the Final Report of the Alcohol Scrutiny Review that had been undertaken by a Member Panel. The focus of the review was “ access to alcohol by young people in Wirral” and based on evidence gathered from key officers, local community groups, and written evidence, eleven recommendations were due to be presented to the Cabinet for approval.

Councillor Mitchell, Chair of the Member Panel, gave a brief outline of the work that had been done to develop this document and also referred to the budget policy option to take forward the panel’s recommendation and continue the work to control the illicit sale of alcohol to young people.

Resolved – That this Committee supports the recommendations contained in the Alcohol Scrutiny Report and congratulates the Member Panel for its work in developing the Alcohol Scrutiny Report.

The Director of Technical Services Members presented the Draft Wirral Heritage Strategy 2011-2016 (‘the Strategy’) the aim which was to ensure that Wirral’s heritage was protected, managed, enhanced and used to meet the educational, recreational, tourism and regeneration needs of local people, visitors and investors in the borough.  The Strategy would assist those investing in and/or seeking funds for heritage projects, funding partners and allow local heritage and community groups to influence the policy and priorities for heritage development in Wirra. Its objectives were:

·  To promote, celebrate and communicate the value of the heritage of Wirral as a source of national significance and local civic and community pride;

·  To identify, recognise and give an understanding of Wirral’s heritage, which will inform future management and development;

·  To actively promote the role and opportunities presented by heritage in terms of the wider regeneration, economic and tourism development of the borough and to provide a framework for investment;

·  To ensure the highest standards of stewardship and protection of heritage assets, including buildings, natural or man-made landscapes and art and historical collections;

·  To promote community participation in heritage and to maximise the contribution heritage makes to education, lifelong learning and social development;

·  To ensure that Wirral’s heritage is widely accessible and to develop positive strategies for ensuring that heritage is enjoyed and understood by the widest possible audience, particularly those who have traditionally been excluded from heritage activity.

The Committee was requested to agree for it to be distributed for consultation and comments before being referred to Cabinet.

Resolved - That the Committee note the contents of the Wirral Heritage Strategy 2011-2016 and agree to its circulation for consultation and comment amongst interested groups.

The Director of Technical Services presented the draft Wirral Museum Service Business Development Plan, 2011-2016, the aims and objectives of which were:

·  To collect items of local, regional, national and international importance, to reflect Wirral’s life and history, and to place that in a meaningful context.

·  To encourage and enable access to museums collections by all sections of society.

·  To ensure the on-going development of the learning opportunities within the Museums Service.

·  To continue to develop the sites and venues of the Museums Service through an on-going capital investment programme and to secure external investment.

·  To attract visitors and tourists to the Borough through the promotion of the Museums Service.

The Director reported that these aims and objectives would be achieved by:

·  increased levels of engagement over both sites

·  becoming a key community hub embedded in its local neighbourhood,

·  further developing a vibrant cultural resource enjoyed and valued by Wirral residents and visitors to the borough,

·  reprofiling a widely recognised regional heritage asset and becoming a recognised key player in Wirral’s tourism and day visitor offer.

The Committee was requested to agree for the Service Development Plan to be distributed for consultation and comments before being referred to Cabinet.

Resolved –

(1)  That the Committee note the draft of the Wirral Museum Service Business Development Plan 2011-2016 which will be circulated for comments to interested groups.

(2)  That a review of the staffing structure of the Museum Service be carried out as soon as possible.

The Director of Technical Services presented the draft Management Plan for Wirral’s Beaches which had been prepared using a format adopted for the Parks and Countryside procurement exercise service plan and covered the following locations:

• Caldy Beach
• Egremont Shore
• Heswall Foreshore
• Hoylake Beach
• Leasowe Bay
• Meols Beach
• Moreton Beach
• New Ferry Foreshore
• New Brighton Beach
• Thurstaston Beach
• Wallasey Beach
• West Kirby Beach

The management plan itself provided an overview of the management of Wirral’s Beaches and specific plans would be added as appendices.  A site management plan had been prepared for Hoylake Beach and it was included for members’ comments before public consultation.  The plan was set out in a format which enabled it to be submitted to Natural England and other Public Agencies for approval of maintenance operations and other activities.

Resolved – That the Committee note the draft management plan for Wirral’s beaches and agree for it to be distributed for consultation and comments.

The Director of Technical Services presented a report providing an overview of progress made at quarter three against the indicators for 2010/2011 and key projects which were relevant to the Sustainable Communities Overview & Scrutiny Committee (paragraph 4). 

Resolved – That the Committee note the contents of this report.

Verbal report.

Further to minute 104 (Environmental Streetscene Services Contract – Fourth Annual Review) when members raised concerns regarding the bad weather disruption to bin collection services, the Director of Technical Services reported that discussions with the contractor Biffa were continuing and a comprehensive review document on contingency bad weather plans and the lessons learnt regarding bin collections this winter, would be presented to the June meeting of this committee.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

Verbal report.

The Director of Technical Services reported that a further report on the Benefits Realisation Review and Action Plan would be presented to the June meeting of this committee.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

The Forward Plan for the period March to June 2011 has  been published on the Council’s intranet/website. Members are invited to review the Plan prior to the meeting in order for the Committee to consider, having regard to the Committee’s work programme, whether scrutiny should take place of any items contained within the Plan and, if so, how it could be done within relevant timescales and resources.

The Committee had been invited to review the Forward Plan prior to the meeting in order for it to consider, having regard to the Committee’s work programme, whether scrutiny should take place of any items contained within the Plan and, if so, how it could be done within relevant timescales and resources.

Resolved – That the Forward Plan be noted.

To note the progress of the committee’s work programme.

The Committee received an update on its work programme.

Resolved – That the work programme be noted.