The Chair referred to the recent tragic death of PC David Phillips and the Committee stood in silent tribute to his memory.

Members are asked to consider whether they have any disclosable pecuniary and/or any other relevant interest, in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

Members were asked to consider whether they had any disclosable pecuniary interests and/or any other relevant interest in connection with any item(s) on this agenda and, if so, to declare them and state the nature of the interest.

Councillor Treena Johnson declared a personal interest in agenda item 7, ‘Your Wirral Wallasey 2015/16’ and application YW52 because of her involvement in assisting the Friends of Yew Tree Group.

Councillor Anita Leech declared a personal interest in agenda item 7, ‘Your Wirral Wallasey 2015/16’ and application YW56 because of her association with the Leasowe Development Trust.

Councillor Pat Hackett declared a prejudicial interest in agenda item 7, ‘Your Wirral Wallasey 2015/16’ and application YW51 because of his employment with the New Brighton Community Centre.

Apologies had been received from Councillors Matt Daniel, Leah Fraser and Lesley Rennie, and from Alex Cooke.

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the Constituency Committee meeting held on 25 June, 2015.

Resolved – That the minutes of the Wallasey Constituency Committee held on 25 June, 2015 be approved.

The Chair invited Sergeant Stuart McIver to update the Committee on the police matters for the previous quarter. Sergeant McIver:

·  In New Brighton dispersal zones had been implemented and up to two dozen dispersal notices had been issued to individuals. Numerous letters had been issued to parents through the Anti-Social Behaviour Team. Diversionary activities had taken place working with 120 youths which had led to a reduction in problems. A meeting had been held regarding off-road motorcycles at the Grosvenor Assembly Rooms which 90 people had attended. Vale Park was an area which the police would be concentrating on over the coming weeks.

·  In Seacombe and Poulton primary issues which the police had been dealing with included anti-social behaviour, drug dealing and off road motorcycles. A number of warrants had been issued and he gave details of addresses which had been involved with the intent to supply class A and B drugs and of a property which had been closed because of this.

·  In Liscard and Egremont issues which the police had been dealing with also included anti-social behaviour, off road motorcycles and drug dealing in Central Park, patrols had been increased in Central Park. Funding was obtained through the Youth Hub for a barbeque event in the park and a dog chipping event was also held at which between 40 and 50 dogs had been chipped.

The Chair thanked Sergeant McIver for his report.

The Constituency Manager reported that the market place event held in the Civic Hall prior to the meeting had comprised representatives from a number of agencies, community groups, charities and a local trader. A number of issues had been raised, including, debt advice, dementia friends and anti-social behaviour. There had been slightly less members of the public present than previously.

The Constituency Manager thanked Michelle Gray (Constituency Engagement Officer) for organising the ‘Have Your Say’ marketplace event.

The Chair informed the meeting that no questions had been received in advance of the meeting; he then invited questions from the audience.

Rev. Father Leon Ostaszewski informed the meeting that the road surface on Rolleston Road was still very bad and that clear Bus Stop road markings had not yet been introduced at the Wallasey Road end of Belvidere Road (north bound) to counteract illegal parking of delivery vehicles at the Bus Stop.

Rev. Father Leon Ostaszewski then asked what was happening to the proposed artwork for the medallion structures at the ‘gateways’ into Liscard Way. The Constituency Manager responded that she was still seeking an electronic version of the designs in order to obtain a quotation for the work.

The Constituency Manager introduced a report which reconsidered the funding allocated by the Constituency Committee from its devolved budget to tackle anti-social behaviour on 25 June 2015 (minute 9 refers) due to borough-wide funding subsequently allocated by the Council’s Public Health section. 

Since the meeting on 25 June, Public Health had funded the Council’s Youth Support Service to deliver two GIRLS Projects in each Constituency over the next 6-9 months. The Service had therefore returned the £8,985 allocated, to the Constituency Committee and the funding was now available for reallocation.

The Committee, at its June meeting had been supportive, on the whole, of the other projects outlined, the remainder of which totalled £7,505. It was proposed that these were funded by the Committee and that the outstanding amount of £1,480 was used to purchase more Alcohol Testing Strips (‘dipsticks’) as agreed for funding by the Committee on 25 June 2015, which cost £17.50 per box. These would be used across the Constituency, to deal with alcohol misuse by young people, by the police and Council officers authorised and trained to enforce relevant alcohol-related powers within the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

Mark Camborne, Head of Corporate & Community Safety, responded to comments from Members that the Anti-Social Behaviour Team would work with the police to identify current hotspots including the ‘dips’ on the promenade and Harrison Park, New Brighton. He informed the meeting that progress was being made against the 2020 Vision Plan and discussions were being held with the RNLI as one of the Council’s partner organisations, although no conversations had been held yet specifically about quad bikes.

There was also some discussion around the use of £1480 for Alcohol Testing Sticks ‘dipsticks’ and the need to ensure that resources were moved in line with where problems were occurring within the constituency.

Mark Camborne concurred that this would indeed be the case and resources were targeted at those areas most in need.

Sergeant McIver commented that he had seen for himself how good a resource the ‘dipsticks’ were for the police and Anti-Social Behaviour Team to use.

Resolved –That the funds be allocated to the following projects:

(i).  Off-road bike campaign - £500

(ii).  Youth engagement activity with voluntary / community groups - £2,000

(iii).  Public engagement (including crime prevention, public reassurance and improving perceptions of anti-social behaviour) - £2,005

(iv).  Quad Bike Patrol - £3,000

(v).  Alcohol misuse by young people –alcohol testing sticks, £1480.

Councillor Pat Hackett, having declared a prejudicial interest, left the room whilst this item was considered.

Further to minute 8 (25/6/15), the Constituency Manager introduced a report which set out the details of applications made to Your Wirral (Wallasey) fund of £50,000, with applications invited from voluntary and community sector (not for profit) groups for bids of up to £2,500. 

Of the 33 applications received two were deemed ineligible as the respective applicants were based in Liverpool (albeit to deliver projects within Wallasey Constituency); the terms and conditions stated that grants would not be awarded to organisations based outside Wirral. Following submission, three applications were revised by the respective applicant and the amount of funding sought reduced and these were detailed in the report.

The 31 eligible applications were seeking a total of £59,912.68; this meant that the fund was oversubscribed by £9,912.68. Each application was summarised in an appendix to the report which contained a scored assessment of the content of each application against the set criteria (i.e. impact on themes; evidence of need; measuring success and an assessment of value for money). She gave details of those involved in the assessment and how the bids had been ranked, which was set out in a further appendix to the report. 

It was recommended that 24 projects were fully funded and one partially funded to the amount of £1,189.82 (the shortfall to be supplemented by the Committee’s 2015-16 allocation for Christmas lighting), bringing the ‘Your Wirral’ budget to full spend. It was therefore further recommended that the four lowest scoring projects were not funded. Applicants were required to deliver projects within one year of receipt of the funding.

Responding to comments from a Member, the Constituency Manager reported that all the assessments on each bid had to be based on what was detailed on the application form and that this had to be an objective process.

Councillor Janette Williamson expressed her disappointment that the project, Mersey Counselling and Therapy Centre, was not recommended to receive funding

A Member suggested that those bidders which had not been recommended to receive funding should be helped in their quest to secure alternative funding.

The Constituency Manager responded that help had been available from the Constituency Engagement Officer over the submission of applications and that feedback would be given to those unsuccessful in their bids. They would work with the four unsuccessful bidders, if Committee were minded to agree the recommendation, in their quest for alternative funding.

Resolved –

That this Committee, having reviewed the applications, detailed in the appendices to the report, and having given consideration to the evaluation conducted by officers, awards the total funding of £50,000 to the following projects:

The Constituency Manager introduced a report which provided an update on the Constituency Committee’s committed spend. It also provided proposals for larger scale projects identified by the Committee, for consideration by the Committee.

She reported that an initiative, ‘Reducing Super Strength Alcohol Campaign’, which the Committee had agreed to fund in June 2014 (minute 18 refers) had since been funded by the Council’s Public Health service across the whole borough and the funding committed by the Committee had therefore been returned for its reallocation. This £2,500 allocation had been added to the balance available to the Committee, which was now £57,367.60.

With regard to the £25,000 devolved Integrated Transport Block Capital Programme Fund for schemes to improve road safety and/or promote active travel, it was proposed that the Committee identify their priority (priorities) for each respective ward. These would then be costed by officers in the Council’s Traffic and Transport division, for decision by the Committee at a future Constituency Committee / Working Group meeting.

The Constituency Manager requested that the Committee give consideration to which of four suggested large scale projects should be funded from its budget. The four projects:

(i).  Dementia Friends/Dementia-Friendly Communities

(ii).  Defibrillators

(iii).  Handy Persons Service

(iv).  Reducing Social Isolation

were outlined in appendices to the report.

A fifth project, Safe Havens, would be pursued through existing resources and would be led by Merseyside Police (Wallasey Neighbourhood).

Members discussed the merits of the allocation of the Integrated Transport Block Capital Programme Fund either to one particular project or to smaller projects within each ward. Problems of illegal parking around a number of schools were referred to by Members and the need for extra enforcement of measures in place to alleviate the problems. Members referred to particular small schemes within their wards which could be funded from this allocation.

On a motion by the Chair, it was –

Resolved – That potential projects for enforcement of traffic measures around schools for funding from the Integrated Transport Block Capital Programme Fund be costed by officers in the Council’s Traffic and Transport division, and Members inform the Constituency Manager of any ward schemes to be costed up by no later than Sunday, 8 November, and that these are then reported back for decision by the Committee at a future Constituency Committee / Working Group meeting.

Councillor Mooney declared that with regard to one of the projects, ‘Handy Persons Service’ she did work for Age UK but not for the ‘Friends in Action’ service.

Councillor Pat Hackett, then declared a prejudicial interest as a member of the New Brighton Coastal Community Team, and left the room during discussion on the remaining part of this item.

The Committee then discussed the merits of each of the four large scale projects. There was general consensus on funding projects (i), (ii) and (iii), however, on project (iv), Members suggested that the business community in New Brighton should be contributing towards this proposed scheme because of the benefits it would bring to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

The Chair thanked the four Community Representatives whose term of office would expire later this month. A new recruitment process for four Community Representative positions would commence shortly and the Chair thanked, Tony Jones, Ken Harrison, Brian Higgins and Keith Raybould for their time served and contribution they had made, and stated that they would be welcome to reapply.

The Chair suggested a venue for the next meeting of the Committee and it was then –

Resolved – That the next meeting of the Committee, on 28 January 2016, be held at The Mosslands School, Wallasey Village.