§  opportunity to raise your issues & concerns

The Chair gave an update on the following:

• Liscard Hall – an update on this is due, will contact council officers and request that they write to community groups on what is happening on space in the park.

• Public Inquiry on library closures – this took place over last two days, and was run by Sue Charteris, who will send her recommendation to the Secretary of State for a decision. There will be a 14 day period for interested parties and the Council to make further representations and respond to these. The decision should be made within the next six months.

1.  Diane Ledder – when giving the council submission Alan Stennard said that the submission was to be taken to the area forums and created the impression that there had been ongoing discussions on this with the forums.

Chair added that he was probably referring to the special are forum meetings that took place in the parliamentary constituency areas, despite requests that these be taken to the local area forums. She added that on Friday she was informed of an audit of the Council’s assets had taken place, and that she was surprised that the councillors had not been involved in this.

Brian Kendall added that he felt that consultations should be more local than area forum level and that he wanted to get more people from the Seacombe area involved in the Wallasey Village Campaign.

2.  Dave Hanlon – there are few youth services in this end of the borough. Mosslands youth club was a thriving place 10-20 years ago but has declined in recent years, besides this there are only the Wallasey YMCA and the Allandale centre. There is no provision in Wallasey village and there should be more provision in the area for young people.

Chair – requested that the forum discuss youth provision and activities within the Wallasey and Egremont area, as there was not one answer to this, and the following discussion took place:

Joseph Lee – we are trying to tackle this problem in partnership, we need to break youth into younger and older sets, bring back role models, respect and give young people a focus. The Allandale centre is only looking at 8-13 year olds and has very limited resources.

Jo McCourt – the three main areas of youth provision (Wallasey YMCA, Allandale Centre and Mosslands Youth Club) used to be run with staff employed by the local authority. Changes in policies mean that they now have no staffing from the council and have to rely on external funding, so have reasonable youth provision buildings with no-one prepared to pay for the staffing of these, leading to an inability to provide adequate services for young people.  The YMCA building is owned by the council but the responsibility for all repairs lies with the YMCA.

Tony Mooney – the Fire Station Centre is still being developed. We have been working with partners, such as the Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Team to do outreach work with young people using the station and service vehicles, and NHS Wirral organising activities for young people. Young people are comfortable with the station environment. There was some consultation with the voluntary and community representatives on the use of existing provision.

3.  David Hale – partners are made up of Council, Police, Fire and Health services and voluntary sector representatives, and residents are not included in the partnership. Engagement needs to be made with residents to create a better spirit of community.

Jim Thompson – the Neighbourhood Action Group (NAG) meetings held at Manor Road are a key consultation element that is open to all members of the community that wish to be involved.

4.  Public (OPP) – what is happening to Woolworths in Liscard?

Chair confirmed that no planning permission had been applied for, nut consent would not be required if it was to remain as retail use. Carole Thomas added that she had heard that repairs were being made to damage on roof and that staff were being interviewed by Poundland.

5.  Brian Kendall – the public should have been consulted on the siting of the hub for Wallasey (Fire Station for the Youth Service and Liscard for all other departments) not just on how this is to be furnished.

Chair confirmed that there is to be one hub in Liscard, and that potential areas are being considered and will be consulted on before a final choice is made. The Fire Station provision is separate and not connected to the hub.

6.  Carole Thomas – the Central Park Partnership has discussed the Gateway Review on Parks, and raised concern that there are no Wallasey Councillors on the Cabinet to voice concerns for the area, and asked if anything could be done about this?

Public (deaf gentlemen) – added that the situation was the same for Moreton.

Chair – this was because no party has an overall majority on the Council.

Mark Smith – assured the forum that Gateway process is clearly reported and takes account of the views from partnerships on how the parks services are delivered in the future. As this is a key cabinet decision there will be an evidence trail on how the decision was made.

Diane Ledder added that she was a member of the Wallasey Central Park Forum who had not received any consultations on this.

Mark Smith agreed to notify any partnership groups wishing to be consulted on the review if they forward their details to him.

7.  Diane Ledder – raised the following question, on behalf of a local resident with an interest in amateur dramatics. Can the Council confirm that the Floral Pavilion will remain available for local groups and that the pavilion will remain within the public sector?

Mark Smith – this question would need to be answered by the Director of Regeneration, and agreed to raise this and report back.

8.  David Hale (CLARA) raised the following, on the Strategic Asset Review (SAR) as it affects East Wallasey, with Councillor Jones: I understand that you did not participate in the consultation exercise or the debates in Council, as you were the mayor at that time. As you are no longer the mayor, the consultation ended some time ago and the Charteris Review has concluded do you feel able to:

• Share your view of the SAR, specifically as it affects East Wallasey
• Tell us whether, as a Seacombe Councillor, you contributed to the Charteris Review?

Councillor Jones - In response to a question from Mr David Hale Cllr Adrian Jones agreed that during his term as Mayor it was not appropriate for him to become publicly involved in political controversy, including matters associated with the Strategic Asset Review, as the Mayor’s duty is to guide the process of Council decision making with demonstrable impartiality. 

He explained that as the Mayor has no public voice on controversial matters he instead wrote to the Leader of the Council, before the public consultation meetings took place, setting out his views.  He described to the Area Forum what his views were.  A copy of the letter had been given to the Charteris Inquiry. 

Fr. Leon Ostaszewski –added that Churches Together had submitted views to Sue Charteris. He added that the Peel Holding development on the dock estate will increase the need for a library in the area.

9.  Mr Forder – the youth service update did not include details of how many young people are being served and what is being achieved in the area. Could we have a presentation on the youth service at the next forum?

Chair informed the forum that the forum was considering inviting a young person from the youth parliament to the next meeting.

Christina Jones confirmed that she was now employed within the Regeneration department, and no longer has responsibility for or direct links with the youth service. She added that funding for youth activities projects was now available and that more information could be found at  the Council’s website (http://www.wirral.gov.uk/LGCL/100002/200095/828/content_0000847.html) or by telephoning the Children’s Contracts Team on 0151 666 5580 / 4307

 She added that a survey of young people through schools was taking place to find out what services young people want, and Seacombe was identified as a hot spot. Christina agreed to discuss this in more detail at the end of the meeting.

Jo McCourt – this is only short term funding, and there was still a need for someone to drive these forward.

Dave Hanlon added that the youth council used to meet at the town Hall once a month, and added that an invite to a member of the youth parliament to attend the next meeting would be welcomed. He also suggested that a senior officer from the Youth Service be requested to attend the meeting.

The Chair agreed to organise this.

10.Fr. Leon Ostaszewski – congratulated Streetscene on the start of road improvements in the Belvidere Road area which are due to be completed this year, and asked what was happening to the Capital / ABC site.

Chair – the owner has boarded up the site, but planning permission has not been applied for.

Minute Decision  Resolved that:

The Chair to invite a member of the youth parliament and a senior officer form the youth service to the next forum meeting