The following questions / issues were raised:

The Community Engagement Co-ordinator gave details of a question raised prior to forum.

1.  What is the situation re: car parking at Arrowe Park Hospital (we have been there three times recently, the first time we collected a ticket on entering the car park and paid £2 only to find this wasn't necessary; we did the same the second time, thinking it was a one-off; however we were wiser the third time.  The pay machines are not blocked off; in fact one had an apology notice on it stating that it was out of order. I asked the question at the Help Desk, only to be met with a giggle and 'Oh, I didn't know.')?

 A. The charge to park for patients and visitors is £2.00 per visit. Due to equipment failure there are occasions when the fee cannot be taken and we raise the barrier and allow free exit from the relevant car park. The Trust is upgrading the car park equipment and work should be completed by March 2009. The new pay stations will be located at Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge Hospitals.

2.  Philip Barton - what has happened at Byrne Avenue Baths (though it was run by the Trust the Council objective was to work with communities to keep facilities open)? The closure means residents and groups (such as the Birkenhead Swimming Club having to travel further to facilities).

A.  David Ball – Byrne Avenue Baths was run by the Trust and was supported by the Council. The Trust made the decision to go into voluntary liquidation, over cash flow issue, and called in the receivers. This should have been run as a business, but overt he years the cost of maintenance has increased and the Trust were unable to keep up with this. The Council does work with Trusts, but it is not always possible to keep things going if they are not sustainable. 

Peter Exley added that despite the grants and dealing with the health and safety issues, the running costs for the baths were too high (particularly the cost of fuel to maintain the pool temperature.

3.  Hugh Langford – closures such as this end up depriving the community twice, but we need to look to the future. Other council facilities that are closing may be able to be taken over, and the Council should ensure that thrust get support to run the business in an effective way.

A.  David Ball – Community asset transfers won’t take place until the Council has looked at issues such as business plans / viability / sustainability / external support. We are working with various organisations to support local groups looking to do asset transfer.

Councillor Davies added that advice needs to be provided on large scale asset transfers, and that an extra £50,000 has been allocated in the Council’s budget next year. This could be used for consultancy / support staff to help communities.

Myrtle Lacey added that community groups wanting to take on a building can work with the Local Authority and the Voluntary and Community Sector Network to ensure that any transfer is done in a safe way and the right thinking is done to avoid the re-occurrence of situations such as the closure of Byrne Avenue Baths.

4.  Peter Exley – how many people attended the special area forums re: the strategic asset review and what percentage was in favour of the proposals? If the feedback was 99% against the proposals what were the point of the special area forums?

A.  Councillor McLaughlin – the overall attendance was about 3,000, and several hundred forms were completed. A large number of people were very vocal, but not everyone spoke at the meetings.

David Ball added that many people attended to protest about specific proposals, and the attendance level was not high in proportion to the number of residents.

Councillor Kenny added that he had received from someone who had wanted to put forward a constructive idea but had felt intimidated. The Chair confirmed that the atmosphere of the meetings made people reluctant to offer constructive ideas.

Councillor Davies added that changes were made to the proposals, following the meeting, including Woodchurch, Upton and Pensby libraries being saved.

5.  Philip Barton – the suddenness of the process was disturbing, and it was difficult for disabled users to make comments. Nothing was said at the Lauries about Social Services, even though the Director was there. The proposals do not seem to be evidence based. The management at Highcroft are already taking about taking over the facility and managing the building themselves. This should not be excluded from public debate.

A.  Councillor McLaughlin – there is a huge piece of work in Social Services, and I will ask someone from Social Services to give a presentation on how the delivery will change with the introduction of personalised budgets. We are not that far along the process to compare this with the strategic asset review, and can’t anticipate changes to clinics at this stage. The handing over of facilities, such as Highcroft, can’t be ruled out, but we are nowhere near that stage and lots of investigation would need to take place before any decisions are made.

6.  Hugh Langford – there are problems re: parking for development opposite Green Lane station and a residents parking scheme was requested, but the Council said that this was too expensive.

A.  Mark Smith – a report was taken to Cabinet about 18 months ago and the proposal was considered against a clear council policy on residents parking schemes, which includes that if the Council receives no direct funding for the scheme it will need to be self-funded by the residents or a local developer.

7.  Philip Barton - why wasn’t a section 106 agreement set up with the developer?

A.  Mark Smith - a section 106 agreement can only be set where a clear link with traffic problems are proven under highway traffic grounds. Mark agreed to discuss this in more detail at the end of the meeting.

8.  Hugh Langford – the development site was formerly a car park, so there was bound to be residual parking problems. The site was needed as a park and ride facility and this was a short sighted move, he expressed regret at not objecting to the proposal.

A.  Councillor Meaden – the site was formerly shops (Bills cafe – triangle), Green Lane still has two car parks.

The Chair agreed to look into this issue.

Resolved that: 

(i)  Councillor McLaughlin to arrange for a presentation by Social Services on the introduction of personalised budgets

(ii)  Streetscene Manager / Technical Services to look into parking issue at Green Lane