The Chair, Councillor Gerry Ellis, opened the meeting and welcomed approximately 70 members of the public to the meeting in West Kirby. He invited members of the forum to introduce themselves. He informed the forum that the meeting was scheduled to finish around 8pm as there had been a drop in session from 2pm, and apologised if the posters advertising this were confusing.

The Chair welcomed two young people, Sophie and Chloe, from the Year 6 School Council of West Kirby Primary School to the meeting, to raise the pupil’s concerns and request information, as detailed below, over the proposed Aldi development at the bottom of Bridge Road.

• The school has 300 pupils, resulting in 500 people, including parents, using this busy junction, along with additional traffic created by the new store.
• Was a zebra crossing planned for the junction of Bridge Road and Orrysdale Road and if not, why not?
• How much traffic uses the junction at present and what impact will the Aldi development have on this?
• Was there a need for another supermarket in the area?

They added that many visitors avoid using this junction, such as families in Westbourne Road walking up to Darmand’s Green. They confirmed that these issues had been outlined in a letter to David Green and that they were still waiting for a reply.

The Chairman thanked Sophie and Chloe and asked David Green to respond. The forum and audience gave Sophie and Chloe a round of applause.

David Green thanked Sophie and Chloe for taking the time to come along to the meeting and admired their bravery at coming along and standing up at the meeting. He added that he had not responded to the letter as he knew that they would be raising the issue at this meeting. He confirmed that he was aware of the problems around the junction, and that there had been six accidents in three years up to 1997. Measures were put in place and since then there had been no further accidents, and last year yellow lines were put in to slow traffic down. David agreed to arrange for traffic engineers to carry out counts of children / parents / cars in the area, as the placing of crossings are based on number of vehicles / people using an area. This would be followed up with a meeting at the school to discuss the issues, possible solutions and places for crossings to be sited, probably in about one month. He also agreed to revisit the area after the Aldi has opened to monitor traffic levels and the need for possible need for new measures.

The Chairman added that there had been many calls re: why work had been stopped on the Aldi development.

Jim Wilkie confirmed that there had been a minor issue over the ownership of a small piece of the land, but that he was aiming to get all of the parties together to resolve this.

Minute decision

Resolved:  That –

i.  Sophie and Chloe be thanked for attending the meeting

ii.  David Green to arrange for traffic surveys to be carried out at junction of Orrysdale Road and Bridge Road area and to arrange a meeting with the pupils at West Kirby Primary School to discuss issues and possible solutions