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, ‘Evaluation of Your Wirral Projects (2014/15 – Year 1)’ and application YW28 because of her involvement in assisting the Friends of Yew Tree Group.

Apologies had been received from Councillors Ron Abbey, Bruce Berry, Chris Blakeley, Rob Gregson, Paul Hayes, Chris Spriggs and Steve Williams.

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the Constituency Committee meetings held on 28 January and 15 February, 2016.

Resolved – That the minutes of the Wallasey Constituency Committee held on 28 January and 15 February, 2016 be approved.

The Constituency Manager updated the Committee on the market place event held in the Civic Hall prior to the meeting which had comprised representatives from 25 local services, community groups and not for profit organisations. A number of issues had been raised, including, services for carers, homelessness, health and social care and environmental issues. Twenty five members of the public had attended.

The Chair informed the meeting that no questions had been received in advance of the meeting. The Chair then invited questions from the audience but no questions were posed.

The Chair invited Jenni Jones to give an update on behalf of the Community Representatives. She informed the meeting that the three newly appointed representatives had met together with the fourth Community Representative for their first meeting to discuss their roles. She spoke of the need to get across the message about the ‘Have Your Say’ events. They had suggested that they could go out into the community ‘door knocking’ and visit community groups. There was a possibility of setting up a facebook page or communicating through other social media; a feedback form could also be circulated for the community to raise issues. Their next meeting would be held on 12 May, 2016 and these ideas and suggestions would be discussed further then.

The Chair agreed that items 7 and 8 on the agenda could be considered jointly.

The Constituency Manager introduced two reports which set out evaluations of projects funded by Wallasey Constituency Committee through Your Wirral (Wallasey) 2014/15 and also through the Wallasey Little Sparks Fund (2014/15).

The first report gave details of the 28 Your Wirral projects funded to an amount of £61,733.42 together with the amount awarded to each and a collated evaluation of those completed projects, which had had to be submitted by 15 December, 2015.

The second report gave details of the 8 Little Sparks Fund projects funded to an amount of £3,784.94 together with the amount awarded to each and a collated evaluation of those completed projects, which had had to be submitted by 31 January, 2016. One project had been granted an extension of time until 31 March, 2016 to deliver on its project.

A short slide show presentation took place, detailing the outcomes of individual projects with photographs of team members and facilities that had benefitted from both funds.

The Chair then introduced Julie McManus, Ian Calder and Colin Hunt, who provided the Committee with verbal updates on the following projects:

·  St Thomas’ Revival – St Thomas the Apostle Church, Seaview Road, Liscard (funded through Your Wirral)

·  Fire Alarm Upgrade – Wallasey Sea Cadets (funded through Your Wirral)

·  Leasowe PF Lads’ Friday Night Football – Leasowe Positive Futures (funded through Wallasey Little Sparks Fund)

Colin Hunt introduced six of the participants from Leasowe Positive Futures project, three of whom gave testimony to the way in which the project had helped them.

The Chair thanked all those present, and, in particular the young people from the Leasowe Positive Futures project for their truly inspirational accounts of the difference this project had made in their lives.

Members expressed their appreciation for all those who had spoken and of the way in which all the projects, with just a small amount of money, had helped local communities.

The Chair thanked the groups for their presentations and invited all the groups present to receive a certificate acknowledging the success of their projects.

Resolved – That the reports and presentations be noted.

(See minute 43).

Presentation from Kevin MacCallum, Senior Manager: Marketing and Communications.

Kevin MacCallum, Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications, gave a presentation on the Resident Insight survey, the first such survey of its type since 2008.

He indicated that to drive a better strategy, policy and decision-making there was a need to have the best possible insight and intelligence into what residents actually wanted or needed. This survey allowed the Council to make informed decisions in developing its five-year Delivery Plan and its five-year Budget Strategy.

Ipsos MORI had undertaken the first stage of the insight work to provide a base snapshot of how residents felt about living in Wirral, what they saw as their priorities and what their top issues were for the area. Residents were asked what was important to them. Feedback information would be used to inform all of the Council’s strategies, policies and the budget-setting / planning process.

He highlighted the methodology and benchmarking used behind the survey; the views of those residents living within Wallasey and issues which residents felt needed improvement:

·  Road and pavement repairs completed as quickly as possible

·  Streets and environment kept clean

·  Low levels of crime and anti-social behaviour

·  Teenagers have access to activities and facilities

·  Job prospects are good.

The highest priority for Wallasey residents was reported as being a reduction in ASB and crime, the second being street cleanliness and road maintenance with the lowest ranked two being sports and recreation facilities and parks and countryside.

Kevin MacCallum concluded by highlighting the next steps and indicated that the Council was committed to repeating the research on a regular basis to track progress and changes in perception and to assist the Council in monitoring its progress along with that of the Wirral Partnership.

Responding to comments from Members, Kevin MacCallum outlined how the survey was undertaken, which was completely random with 5,650 resident addresses being sent the survey and a 21% response rate. The sample of 1,202 being more than double the minimum size for research of this type.

The Chair thanked Kevin MacCallum for his informative presentation.

Resolved – That the report be noted.