You Decide Funding

Ø  Introduction to You Decide/Winter Resilience Funding

Ø  Q&A Session

Ø  Resident Participation & Involvement in allocating this money

Ø  End of session & feedback

Ø  What next?

Ø  Winter resilience & Integrated Transport Block Funding/Road Safety

You Decide Scheme

Mark Smith informed the forum that the scheme gave local people the opportunity to make a difference in how council funding was spent in this area. Each area forum has £20,000 to spend on additional wide-ranging council services that could be delivered in it’s own area, from a list handed out at the meeting.

The members of the public at the meeting were invited to vote for their top 5 choices from the list of activities available and preferred locations.

The results were collected at the end of the meeting to be collated so that the most popular activities can be considered for funding. The results of the vote will be given to the relevant council departments who will look at the information they already have to assess where the biggest priority is for a particular activity in the ward area.

The results from the evening will be published on the internet for each area forum and feedback on progress will be presented at the next round of area forums in October 2010. Anyone who would like to be kept up to date on this should pass their contact details to Michelle Gray at the end of the meeting.

Dianne Ledder informed the forum that funding had been secured, through Your Wirral, for notice boards at Wallasey Central Park and requested that this not be included as one of the choices.

Mark Smith added that the requests were for additional Council activity / service and that mainstream funding / programmes would be checked before any allocations.

David Hale asked who would be making the decision and if cards would be issued more widely and what was the closing date for returns.

Mark Smith confirmed that cards had been placed in lots of community sites and that cards could be taken on the evening to be distributed within the local area, to be returned by the end of June for collation during the first week in July.

Stan Thompson asked if the fund had been advertised in the local media.

Michelle Gray confirmed that the fund had been advertised on the Internet, Seven Waves Radio and in the Wirral Globe.

A Member of the Public asked if this was a one-off grant or if the funding would be available each year, as maintenance of the schemes could be an issue or was there other funding available for maintenance.

Mark Smith confirmed that there was no guarantee that the funding would be available in future years, as this would be dependant on the new budgets set, but added that this was a well liked programme. He added that the Council would advise on maintenance issues, as part of the detail of proposed schemes, to ensure that they were viable.

Councillor James Keeley added that a clean up project that was funded through this programme last year led to the on-going maintenance problem being raised with Jim Lester to see if there was funding available to continue with maintenance.

Mark Smith confirmed that council officers would be working with the area forums to make the projects chosen a success.

Mark Smith also informed the forum of the following:

·  Winter Resilience – following the severe winter weather the Cabinet passed a resolution to give an additional £5,000 per forum area fro winter resilience measures, such as grit bins. Details of the locations of the grit bins were available at the meeting, and suggestions for locations for further bins were requested.

·  Integrated Transport Block Funding / Road Safety – for the last 2/3 years funding has been allocated to the area forums (£18,200 per forum per financial year) for road improvement, such as dropped kerbs, cycle stands, and road safety schemes. Details of problem areas and possible schemes were requested so that these could be accommodated.

Mark received a round of applause. 

Allandale Youth Works – Joseph Lee thanked both parties for supporting the management committee with the work required to keep the centre open; David Ball for advice and attendance at meetings; Mike Raworth from Wirral Biz for assistance with drawing up a business plan; Adam Woodcock from Wirral CVS; the Volunteers who have worked hard to secure funding; and the CSOs. He informed the forum that it cost £4,000 to keep the club open, with £1,500 running costs per month - that were presently covered through rental paid to the centre from Centrum Training. £7,000 of funding was secured from Horizons for music projects for young people (such as DJ’ing). The centre also hosts computer courses, through St James’s Centre in Birkenhead and was planning to run ECDL courses but that funding was still awaited for this. He also confirmed that the centre was only open on Monday / Wednesday / Friday and that holding the area forum meeting here did not take away provision for the young people.

Dave Hanlon – asked what was available for 14-16 year olds.

Joseph Lee – we want these young people to use the club, but can’t maintain the damage they cause (£200 per week). Now that the fire Station has opened this will relieve a lot of the pressure on the streets and provide more activities for 14-16 year olds.

Sarah, a volunteer at the Allandale, asked what initiatives were being planned for the centre and about its long-term plan.

Joseph Lee – the funds raised through training has helped to keep the centre open and the management committee and volunteers continue to work on raising funds to increase the activities available at the centre. 

John Drew, Seacombe Area Partnership representative, confirmed that he had been invited to the first meeting of the management committee, but was concerned that no further invites had been extended to meetings / committees that were agreed to be set up to apply for additional funding.

Chair – added that he had also not been invited to any meetings after the meeting he had initiated in January, and he urged the management committee to hold regular meetings. He said that the January meeting had agreed to establish a working party, together with Council Officers and Wirral Biz, to produce a business plan.  He asked for a report on its progress.

Joseph Lee – confirmed that council officers did attend the initial meeting and helped to put plans into place, and he agreed that he would take the comments raised on board.

Members of the Public – added that:

·  The centre would close down without the hard work of the volunteers, such as Shirley and Tracey.

·  Community groups have to actively search for funding to deliver projects – which was difficult and tireless work.

The Chair added that the volunteers at the centre which had existed since 1953 only through the hard work of volunteers, were doing a marvellous job.

John Drew added that the Allandale “Youth” Works should be changed to “Youth and Community” so that it can attract more of the community and open it up for older people to use.

The Chair thanked Joseph Lee for the update and the public for their comments.

Father Leon Ostaszewski reminded the forum that the plaque to celebrate the centenary of the borough will be unveiled at the site of the original town hall and that there will be a presentation at Wallasey Town Hall on 21^st July 2010 for invited people. There will also be a film from the 1960s showing at Wallasey Town Hall in the afternoon. Further details on this will be advertised in the local press.

The formal section of the meeting closed at 8.40pm.