Category: Area Forum

West Wirral Area Forum 6/10/2011, Neighbourhood Plans, United Utilities roadworks (Hoylake) Part 3

Cllr Jeff Green started talking, but someone from the audience said they couldn’t hear him, so the wireless microphone was passed to him. He continued by thanking Tracey Smith and her team for the opportunities that local residents had been given to feed into Neighbourhood Plans. He wanted to make a point about the number … Continue reading “West Wirral Area Forum 6/10/2011, Neighbourhood Plans, United Utilities roadworks (Hoylake) Part 3”

Cllr Jeff Green started talking, but someone from the audience said they couldn’t hear him, so the wireless microphone was passed to him. He continued by thanking Tracey Smith and her team for the opportunities that local residents had been given to feed into Neighbourhood Plans. He wanted to make a point about the number of responses and the quality of responses. He said if you went to West Kirby Primary School, it would not be surprising if road safety especially speeding around schools was brought up. If they chatted to youngsters it was not suprising, however he was interested in the broader picture and not taking things for granted.

Resources were following the Neighbourhood Plans, which Cllr Green said were “only as good as the people who contributed” to them. He didn’t want a small number of people to set the agenda, as most people [present at the Area Forum] came to every one of the meetings. He asked Tracey if she agreed?

Tracey Smith, Senior Community Engagement Co-ordinator replied in the affirmative.

Deputy Mayor Cllr Gerry Ellis said that they should “take the opportunity” and that “the council would take some notice”. He said the “main attraction of the evening is Dave Green”. He also mentioned the display and that from Monday United Utilities would be digging up the road in Market Street and Birkenhead Road. There would be disruption to traffic.

Peter Cummings from United Utilities said the display illustrated the areas affected, but they would be working with Wirral Council’s Head of Traffic.

Deputy Mayor Cllr Gerry Ellis mentioned the work on the railway. Peter Cummings said the United Utilities work had been delayed. Deputy Mayor Gerry Ellis opened it up to the floor for questions.

West Wirral Area Forum 6/10/2011, Melrose Hall, Introductions, Minutes, Bridge Court Part 1

Present:
Cllr Gerry Ellis (Chair)
Cllr David Elderton
Cllr Geoffrey Watt
Cllr Eddie Boult
Cllr John Hale

Officers:
Dave Green (Director of Technical Services)
David Ball instead of Kevin Adderley (Lead Officer)
Tracey Smith (Area Forum co-ordinator)

Partners:
Merseyside Police (Sgt Andy Carter)
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (Paul Murphy)

On a very windy night, about fifty members of the public were present at the start of the meeting. Cllr Ellis said the attendance at the Leasowe, Moreton and Saughall Massie Area Forum the previous evening had only been two, so he thanked people for coming despite the bad weather. He said there were some interesting questions. He introduced himself as Gerry Ellis, councillor for Hoylake and Meols ward. He then asked those present to introduce themselves. They introduced themselves as listed above except for Paul Murphy who said he had taken over from Myles Platt.

Cllr Ellis gave an apology for Cllr Green who had told him he was on his way but not wearing a suit. He handed over to Tracey Smith for the minutes and then asked if there were any matters arising.

Bridget asked about Bridge Court on page 5 which had been demolished and asked if it was possible it would become a new health centre? Cllr Ellis said there was nobody from the Primary Care Trust, Wirral Partnership Homes had cleared the site as it was not to required standards. The GPs were looking for an alternative site.

Cllr Jeff Green arrived.

Cllr Ellis said he had talked to Patrick, who was deputy head of Wirral Partnership Homes who had told him they were at an advanced stage over negotiations about letting, however they still had a way to go. If it works it would be wonderful as the surgery at the Concourse was not up to modern standards.

West Wirral Area Forum – 29th June 2011 – Part 14 – Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, Older Peoples Parliament

Myles Platt also said they had started a scheme at Wallasey Fire Station. In open spaces it was down to the public to advise them of accumulated rubbish in areas such as Bidston Hill, Caldy and Heswall. Accidental dwelling fires were down on this side of the Wirral which he attributed to the partnership. They had a target of 22,500 Home Fire Safety Checks for this year which they were on target to achieve. They were going to vulnerable people, doing a risk assessment and if they saw any health related issues were referring these on. They did this using special teams and fitted free smoke detectors.

A member of the public said he had had a fire in his home for an unusual reason. A concave mirror had been placed near a window, sunlight had concentrated on one point and burnt a hole in nylon curtains. When they returned they smelt smoke so he warned people to be careful of putting mirrors near windows. Myles said it was great advice, but a smoke detector also detects the invisible products of combustion. Not only did they prevent damage to property but also damage to people.

Sandra Wall of the Older People’s Parliament said they had 1,200 members. It was free to join for the older half of the population. Some had suggested they don’t have a lower limit of fifty. They had been working with the hospital with regular meetings and lobbied the hospital and Merseytravel for a better bus shelter at Arrowe Park hospital. It was not good that people had to wait in freezing conditions. There was also work on nutrition and they had asked the hospital to let family members help at meal times.

West Wirral Area Forum – 29th June 2011 – Part 13 Merseyside Police, Community Safety, dog fouling, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service

Cllr Ellis said he thought the PCSOs were great and moved to Jim Thompson of the Community Safety Team.

He said it was always difficult when the police stole his thunder and he didn’t have much to add. They had seen a 60-65% reduction in crime. The more deprived areas had seen crime fall at the same rate. There had however been a slight upward trend. Wirral was a safe place, he repeated the advice about uPVC doors. He also asked people not to leave their car keys visible to criminals. Only six crime partnerships were better than Wirral which were the Eden Valley, Ribble Valley and Fylde where there was no deprivation. Antisocial behaviour was tackled with the police service, fire service and youth service.

The Paclite packs were being used to put out small fires. However as things were tinder dry even a discarded bottle could cause a fire. The mobile police station was being moved. Mike Collins responsible for dog fouling said they had brought three offenders to court and issued fixed penalty notices. Two people had been prosecuted in Thingwall, another in Tranmere had given the wrong name and received a fine of £500. The PCSOs and police were also trained in giving out fixed penalty notices to offenders.

Myles Platt said the report was outlined in page 15-17 with page 16 covering the key areas. The District Manager was using intelligence to prioritise resources with an emphasis on partnerships being the golden thread due to financial pressures. They had had success in reducing secondary fires, engaging with young people and taking the fire engines to community events.

West Wirral Area Forum – 29th June 2011 – Part 12 Merseyside Police

There was a plan to deal with sunny weather in West Kirby and Hoylake. They wanted people to come and behave and to keep antisocial behaviour down. The Have Your Say meeting only were attracting one or two, but now got a lot more. The Hoylake and West Kirby meeting had been merged, they were now held in the evening and they had got rid of the paperwork replacing it with a presentation. He asked if any members of the public had questions?

A member of the public asked how Hilbre Island was being handled? Inspector Blease said they had two quad bikes and a Land Rover, however there was no ranger. They were going on the land and it had been ok. It was a fantastic piece of heritage. Cllr Ellis said it hadn’t been manned for one or two years. Cllr Ellis joked they should brick up the Mersey Tunnel to reduce crime.

The Inspector said they would be getting British Transport Police officers on the trains. Leonora Brace said she was glad about this following an incident on a train on her birthday. Inspector Blease said there was CCTV on the trains of a high quality.

A member of the public asked if the police were able to go to groups using foul language in public places? The police said they could but it wasn’t a criminal offence to be abusive to the police. He said if it was done in a member of the public’s sight or hearing they could do something about it. He joked and said he was used to abuse from his wife.