Date of next meeting:  27^th June 2012.

Venue:  To be arranged

Matters Arising:

Q. The procedure for cleaning roads is terrible as I was quoted it would take 15 days for rubbish in Rodney Street to be moved after neighbours threw their rubbish on the pavement on two occasions.

A. Mark Smith: If the details are passed on at the end of the meeting we can look into enforcement as this is clearly a repeated offence.

15 days is the response time for an issue raised with the Council’s Contact Centre and a CRM issue, not a street cleanse issue which in normal circumstances depends upon the schedule of cleanse.

For example Rodney Street is cleansed every Monday. Therefore the longest someone will have to wait is 7 days (this would be worst case scenario - if the incident occurred after cleanse on a Monday).

Q. Cllr Bill Davies: There has been an increase in people taking dogs through the Pyramids Shopping Centre which has lead to more dog fouling. Can the Police or the Dog Fouling Enforcement Team do something about this?

A. Steve Preston: The shopping area is enforced by a private security firm but we can liaise with them and ask if there’s any assistance than could be given.

The operations team for the company running the area have been contacted by the Dog fouling team manager and training offered to assist in the prosecution of offenders.

Q. Why has Highfield South been re-tarmaced twice over the last year?

A. Mark Smith: We will look into the reasons behind this and report back to the next forum.

Highfield South / Highfield Road was given a carriageway retread, due to binder issues failed in a number of places. To remove the problem Colas carried out a micro – asphalt at their expense to seal the surface.

Q. Thank you for the work that is taking place by Network Rail. However is there anyway of making the football cage 4 sided? If this happened there would be no need for the kids to go onto the railway tracks in the first place.

A. Ian Lowrie: The additional work by Network Rail should secure the area to stop that happening.

A. David Ball: We will liaise with Wirral Partnership Homes to look into the possibility of this.

Q. Philip Barton: Staff at Hamilton Square Train Station have informed me that they are unsure of the fire evacuation procedure for wheelchair users.

A: Billy Bradshaw (Merseytravel): I will take this away and contact Merseyrail about this issue.

Q: When will the extended platform at Birkenhead Central be finalised?

A: Billy Bradshaw: I will contact Merseyrail for the details.

Q. Is the CCTV camera working in Woodland Park as dog fouling is a big issue there?

A. Ian Lowrie: Yes the camera is working and we will make sure attention is given to try and address the problem.

Arrangements were made for Councillors to view the images. The dog fouling team are also aware of the issue of dog fouling and regularly patrol the area.

Q. Philip Barton: With the Older Peoples Parliament providing opportunities for people to effect policy and decisions that are made other people cannot get involved as they are not within the age needed to be a member of the OPP. In some ways this is age discrimination and means that some people’s voices, such as disabled people within a working age aren’t being heard. While there organisations such as WIRED I don’t know if these groups communicate with each other. Is it possible to explore the opportunity of establishing a forum for disabled people like the OPP?

A. David Ball: We will take this idea back to speak to the relevant groups and bring the information back to the next forum.

The Council has provided information to Andrew Taylor about the principles of establishing a Disabled People’s Forum if there is a demand for it from Disabled People. The Council’s Equality Officer will meet with Mr Taylor at some future date to discuss this matter further. The Forum will not be a Wirral Council Forum but one which is set up for Wirral by interested parties. A further update on this idea will be brought back to a future Forum.