The Vice-Chair referred to the recent death of former Councillor Rob Gregson and former Chair of this Committee and the Committee stood in silent tribute to his memory.

Members are asked to consider whether they have 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.

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 Adrian Jones declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 6, ‘The Hive’, as his son was a volunteer there.

Apologies had been received from Councillors Ron Abbey, Chris Jones, Anita Leech, Ian Lewis, Bernie Mooney and Lesley Rennie, and also community representatives, Jenni Jones and Sarah Spoor.

To approve the accuracy of the minutes of the meetings held on 6 and 31 July, 2017.

Resolved – That the minutes of the Wallasey Constituency Committee meetings held on 6 and 31 July, 2017, be approved.

The Vice-Chair informed the meeting that one question had been received in advance of the meeting as follows:

Question from Mr Imrie:

“There are overgrown and over-hanging trees at junction of Vaughan Road and Maitland Road. This situation will cause problems for emergency services at the School (Vaughan Road Primary) if they are needed in the event of an incident, the branches in Maitland Road could prevent high sided emergency vehicles being parked or situated at this point.”

Response from Shaun Brady (Council’s Highways Asset Manager):

“The work to cut back the trees has been issued to the Council's tree contractor and is expected to be completed in the next couple of weeks.”

The Vice-Chair then invited questions from members of the public present.

In response to questions from Mr K Lomax and Mr V Borg of Knutsford Road on possible developments on the site of the former day centre in Knutsford Road, Moreton, Councillor Spriggs stated that a full response would be provided once further information had been gathered.

As both representatives had sent their apologies there was no update given.

A presentation will be given by Stuart Barnes, Chief Executive of The Hive.

The Committee received a presentation from Stuart Barnes, Chief Executive of The Hive. Mr Barnes outlined the activities available at the Youth Zone and the impact that it was having on young people. This was the eighth Youth Zone created by the Onside Network, a growing charity, which was aiming to have 20 projects by 2020. There was a growing membership of 5,700 young people, many from the most deprived ward areas. The Hive had also created 75 jobs, full-time & sessional and over 100 volunteers had been recruited. A breakdown was also given of membership and participation from within five wards of the Wallasey constituency. Seventeen out of the twenty-two wards in the Borough had now hit their target with just one outreach worker employed by the Hive.

Responding to comments from Members Mr Barnes’ comments’ included:

·  The Outreach Worker was taking one constituency at a time and work was being undertaken with schools and residents’ groups, work was currently being undertaken in Heswall.

·  With regard to transport the Hive did now have two minibuses though he explained the difficulties in staff being able to drive without a D1 code on their licence. There was a smaller minibus which could be driven on a car licence. Merseytravel had initially promised to help with regard to transport but this help was so far not forthcoming.

·  The business plan was created by Onside and was being developed by the Hive.

·  Links had been established with the Wirral Youth Service outreach team.

·  Outreach was currently focussed on those wards with the lowest participation.

·  The figures for reductions in anti-social behaviour were based on the experience of other Youth Zones and this was early days, just six months after the opening of The Hive.

·  Partnership working was being undertaken with other groups with youngsters being signposted on to other groups.

·  Capital funding for the Hive had come from a number of national bodies.

·  The possibility of some form of accredited qualification for youth work was something that could be looked at for those youngsters looking to be youth leaders in the future.

Councillor Blakeley expressed his disappointment that Mr Barnes was not aware that Moreton West and Saughall Massie ward was in the Wallasey constituency and that the statistics on participation by this particular ward were not included.

Mr Barnes apologised and stated that he would supply the figures for the Moreton West and Saughall Massie ward in the version to be emailed to the Committee members.

The Vice-Chair thanked Mr Barnes for his presentation and urged all those Councillors who had yet to see the Hive to visit as soon as they could. 

The Constituency Manager introduced a report which provided an update on Problem Solving Fund spend. In accordance with the Committee handbook she reported that since the last meeting the following spend had been agreed:

·  Installation of a dropped access at Yew Tree Centre, Moreton, as service users with physical disabilities were experiencing difficulties as there was no other dropped access point - £224.15.

·  Payment to Charlotte’s Brightside CIC to maintain the breakfast & lunch club over the summer (for on average 33 children per day), following the highlighting of a number of financial challenges facing the organisation - £485.

·  Payment to Sacred Heart Primary School for a road safety measure (pavement footprints leading to two safer locations for children to cross the road), due to the funding not being available from other budgets - £500.

There was a total of £8,790.85 remaining in the Problem Solving Fund.

Resolved – That the report be noted.

The Vice-Chair agreed to accept this matter as an item of urgent business in view of the need for a decision prior to the next meeting of the Committee.

The Constituency Manager reported that in connection with the ‘Love Where You Live’ campaign a litter pick event was going to be held in Wallasey on 17 October, 2017. In connection with this there might be a request for funding for the hire of skips from local community groups.

A Member queried the need for the hire of skips when he knew that the Council would come and collect bagged rubbish following an organised litter pick and suggested that skips should only be provided once all other options for the collection of the litter had been explored.

The Constituency Manager reported that some of the areas suggested for clearing were more complex and might not just involve bagged rubbish.

It was moved by Councillor Chris Blakeley and seconded by Councillor Steve Williams, that –

“The Committee opposes the provision of skips but supports the litter pick scheme.”

The motion was put and lost (3:8).

On a motion by the Vice-Chair, seconded by Councillor Janette Williamson, it was –

Resolved (7:3) (One abstention) (Councillor Blakeley voting against) –

That this Committee funds the provision of skips, where required for local community litter picks, from the Community Clean Up fund.