Members of the public are welcome to raise questions or issues at the meeting or in advance to the Constituency Manager

(janemorgan@wirral.gov.uk)

The Chair invited questions from members of the public upon matters that were relevant to the Wirral West Constituency and he indicated that a number of questions had been submitted in advance of the meeting.

·  From Woodchurch TRUST – With regard to the Asset Transfer of Woodchurch Community Centre – Lease still not signed between Magenta and The Council. It will be interesting to see how quickly the asset transfer of The Pacific Road will take compared to ours, which from our understanding is still going to cost the Council money in the future. Whereas The Woodchurch Community Centre has money ring-fenced under the asset transfer scheme, and will save the Council money when the transfer finally goes through.

o  The Strategic Director – Regeneration and Environment commented that the matter was delayed as Magenta had refused to accept a licence for use of the car park. An alternative agreement was reached, which he understood had now been agreed in the lease documentation. The draft funding agreement was now with Magenta’s solicitor and was virtually in its final form. He anticipated being in a position to complete the agreement for lease in the near future. For information, he commented also that Pacific Road was first identified for potential transfer as part of the Strategic Asset Review in 2008.

·  From Woodchurch TRUST – With regard to Tranmere Rovers Football Club – Is there any feedback from the EU regarding their proposal? Has anyone spoken to TRFC regarding a further consultation?

o  The Strategic Director – Regeneration and Environment indicated that nothing had yet been heard back from the EU and there had been no movement on the Woodchurch scheme. All comments from previous consultation had been shared with TRFC and he confirmed that there had been initial discussions about an alternative site.

In response to a question from the Chair as to why officers had made contact with the EU, the Strategic Director stated that there had been a suggestion made to the EU that the Council had breached State Aid legislation. Officers did not believe this to be the case but had sought opinion from the EU for clarification.

·  From Woodchurch TRUST – With regard to Traffic Calming in Woodchurch – We have seen proposals for traffic calming in Houghton Road, and would question if this were necessary considering the amount of parked vehicles on that road. We suggest that Home Farm Road requires the traffic calming measures and a 20mph limit. When will the traffic review take place? Will the community be involved?

o  The Strategic Director – Regeneration and Environment indicated that Wirral’s Road Safety Team received comprehensive and confidential details of all injury related road crashes, which were analysed to see what measures were needed to improve road safety. The proposals for introducing traffic calming measures in Houghton Road were formed following an investigation into road crashes. There had been 7 injury crashes (with 13 casualties including serious injuries) over 5 years, of which the proposed speed reduction scheme could have prevented 5. The scheme had a good overall ‘rate of return’ and was to be funded from the Local Transport Plan programme. In comparison, analysis of Home Farm Road indicated that there had been 3 crashes involving personal injury, and would not be a priority at the present time.

·  From Woodchurch TRUST – With regard to the Youth Hub – We have been told that the proposed Youth Hub will be sited in Birkenhead and would like to ask the following questions –

(i)  Why will it be in Birkenhead when there are already youth facilities available there at the Birkenhead Boys Club? Duplication of services surely?

(ii)  How would the youth from other areas get there?

(iii)  Has the Woodchurch Leisure Centre been considered? Or The Upton Fire Station, which is due for closure.

(iv)  Will other Council run youth clubs, such as the Fender youth club be closed?

o  In response to (i) above, the Strategic Director – Regeneration and Environment commented, further to minute 141 (Cabinet – 29 November 2012), that the location was chosen, mainly due to the Fire Authority offering the land free of charge, it being on neutral land and in a prime location for transport links. Although more recently an extension to the Europa Pool had been considered, a major drawback was that the Onside model was to build on a neutral site to secure maximum private sector provider investment. None of the other Onside developments, both regionally and nationally, were adjacent to Council facilities and early indications suggested that it could deter private sector businesses, who would prefer to invest on neutral land.

o  With regard to (ii), officers were working with Merseytravel to ensure that public transport was accessible and affordable and outreach work would be undertaken with young people in other areas to support young people to access the facility.

Recent consultation carried out with young people in Woodchurch High School had concluded that young people were happy to travel if they wanted to do something enough, such as travelling to Birkenhead, New Brighton or Liverpool to the cinema.

o  Neither Woodchurch Leisure Centre nor Upton Fire Station were considered and the Strategic Director confirmed that the Fire Authority had not offered Upton Fire Station.

o  In respect of (iv) above, Councillor Tony Smith (Cabinet Member – Children and Family Services) indicated that the facility would not be Council owned. It would be operated by a charity ‘Wirral Youth Zone’, who would secure funding from public sources, the private sector and grants/trusts. The Council was an investor and provider of strategic guidance for the development and he confirmed that there were no plans to close existing youth provision to fund the Youth Zone.

At 8.00pm, the Chair agreed to a brief adjournment

The meeting reconvened at 8.10pm

·  A member of the public asked for an update with regard to ‘Love Wirral’ grant applications

o  The Constituency Manager advised that following the closing date for grant applications on 6 December 2013, 28 applications received for Wirral West had been assessed and were then subject to an online vote. A paper based vote had also been undertaken and steps had been taken to avoid duplication. She indicated that full details were now available for Members and that applicants would be notified within the next few days.

The Constituency Manager paid particular thanks to the Committee’s Community Representatives, who had been especially supportive during the funding process.

·  A Member of the public questioned why the Parks Consultation Strategy had not been placed on the agenda for the meeting.

o  The Constituency Manager indicated that in terms of the agenda, it was essentially a formal document to enable the business of the Committee to be conducted, rather than being an information forum. However, she suggested, with the agreement of the Chair, that an item could be placed on future agendas to highlight ongoing local consultations.

In response to further comments from Members that nothing in relation to the Parks consultation had appeared on the Council’s website and that active members of the community appeared not to be aware of it, the Strategic Director agreed to take the matter up with the appropriate Department and to give consideration as to whether it needed to be re-run.

The Chair thanked the public for their questions and requested officers take such action as was appropriate and report on progress where necessary.