New Course! Neighbourhoods on the move

Have a look at this from Steph Reid at Tranmere Alliance


Hello all. Have just received details of this course which seems to fit the bill in being useful to yourselves. Please let me know if you are interested and I can give them a call.

Steph Reid Tranmere Alliance 644 1100


-----Original Message-----
From: Site Administrator On behalf of b.watson@traffordhall.com
Sent: 05 December 2006 15:24
To: communitydevelopment@tranmerealliance.org.uk
Subject: New Course! Neighbourhoods on the move

Neighbourhoods on the move - "What's in the white paper?" 22-24 January 2007
Trainers Partners in Change

The Government has now published its plans to reshape local government. It says it amounts to 'a new settlement between central government, local government and citizens' with stronger council leadership and more say for communities. There are changes in how councils are run, and steps to strengthen citizen involvement in decisions, with new opportunities for empowered community bodies ' Tenant Management Organisations, parish councils and community groups'

So what are these changes and how can community and neighbourhood groups prepare to make the most of them?

This course will
· Explain all the changes promised in the white paper
· Give you a chance to ask questions, especially about neighbourhood and tenant management and how the changes might give new powers to these groups
· Consider how and why to set up or develop a front-line council often called a parish council but now to have an enhanced role to go with the new name
· Point you in the right direction to get more support in future. This is a big subject. The course will be tailored to meet the needs of participants. Make sure you tell us what you are looking for and we will try to give you the answers to your questions.

For more information or to request a booking form please contact Lesley Donovan on 01244 300 246 or amill.donovan@traffordhall.com

Fuel Poverty Newsletter

Thanks to Steph Reid from Tranmere Alliance for a copy of the Fuel Poverty newsletter which can be found at the following link. It might take a little while to download.

http://www.wirral.gov.uk/atoz/documents/Fuel%20Poverty%20Newsletter%20Dec06.pdf

I have reprinted below the local news from this newsletter.


Review The Strategy!
The fourth Wirral Fuel Poverty Forum will include a full review of the Wirral Affordable Warmth Strategy with the assistance of NEA (National Energy Action) and we would like your views on how the Strategy should be delivered over the next three years. This will take us up to the Government’s first fuel poverty eradication target of 2010 amongst vulnerable households and so it is a crucial time for everyone involved in affordable warmth.

Wirral have made great strides since the local Affordable Warmth Strategy was launched in 2004 and more households than ever are being assisted in making their energy bills more affordable. However, with the steep rise in average fuel bills over the past few years, it is estimated that a million extra households nationally are now in fuel poverty compared with 2003.

The Forum is taking place on Tuesday 5th December 2006, 9.30am – 12.30pm at Wallasey Town Hall. A complimentary buffet lunch will follow.

Rock Ferry - High Profile Take-up Campaign Begins
Rock Ferry is being targeted throughout November and December for a high profile energy efficiency take-up campaign. A Cosy Homes road show was held outside the One-Stop Shop on 22nd November where the Council’s insulation partner, APS Limited, and Merseyside Energy Efficiency Advice Centre were on hand to provide information and to book residents in for insulation surveys. The road show was preceded by a mail-shot of around 1700 Rock Ferry homes to promote Cosy Homes and will be followed with door-to-door visits to talk to residents about the initiative.

Rock Ferry was chosen for the campaign due to the low take-up of Cosy Homes grants compared to other areas and its high prevalence of fuel poverty. If you would like any further information or would like to assist in getting the message out to households in Rock Ferry, please telephone Kate Alcock at Energy Projects Plus on 0151 637 3674

Baskets and pots pinched

I have had a couple of comments about stolen hanging baskets and pots. Mine (that is the one pot that the council left for me) was stolen within about 5 days and so it seems were others. Anyone else had the same experience?

I caught someone last year trying to pinch a hanging basket from my front door. I chased him down the street and traded punches outside the post office before he ran off. I got the basket but I don't think he intended to use the basket for his own home.

He was just drunk and being stupid.

Wirral Waters - Peel Holdings

Peel Holdings have now established an amazing web site with tons of data on their proposed £4.5bn development in Birkenhead docks. The website shows they are serious about this development which they claim will create 27,000 jobs. Bring it on!

http://www.wirralwaters.com/

Here is a sample of the graphics on this site.

Housing sales in Wirral - graphs' source

I have had a couple of requests from blog readers to post the contact information for the source of the two housing sales graphs below. They came from the following paper.

A Market in Two Halves – Enhancing Housing Intelligence in Wirral - A paper presented to The Housing Studies Association Conference April 19th – 20th 2006

By Joe Bickerton, Chris Young and Michael Lloyd

http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/chp/hsa/spring06/pdf&ppt/bickerton.pdf

House prices and sales

Here are some interesting charts that I came across. Click on each to expand them and then use the back button on your browser to read the rest of this text.

One shows prices paid (red is high and blue is low) and the other is the numbers of house sales with red being very popular housing areas and blue being much slower sales. Both are for early 2005.

In summary the prices are lowest in East Wirral, particularly around Tranmere and Rock Ferry whilst the sales activity is also highest in the same areas.

By the same token you can see from these maps that the highest prices - West Wirral and in particular areas around Gayton and Caldy are also the places where the house sales are slowest.

Now call me a ninny if you like but isn't this what housing markets are supposed to do - encourage sales where prices are lowest and discourage sales where they are highest?

Nothing wrong with that you might think. But then you have the problem that we are in the midst of our HMRI which is supposed to be justified on the basis that the housing market has failed in Tranmere and Rock Ferry. Makes you think a bit.

Have a look at the graphs for yourselves. They are from a York University paper to a housing conference earlier this year.

Madness of King George 111rd

You can see a bigger version of this poster if you double click anywhere on the image.

This is the next play at the Gladstone Theatre with TRACE members in it. It is being rehearsed now at the Theatre in Port Sunlight and will be running at the end of February. For more information contact jameslkay@ntlworld.com

Mobile Phone Hoax

I got an email - sent in good faith - yesterday about an alleged risk to mobile phones. It is a hoax - there is no way that your SIM card be attacked in the way suggested in the email. Whoever started this off - 15 months ago according to Lancashire Police - obviously gets off on winding people up. - and the more get wound up - the better. So, score one for the sad guys!

However there are a lot of mobile phone scams at the moment - the most popular being calling your phone and ringing off after two rings. You get to your phone - and hit the call back button to find out who has missed you - only to discover that you have called a premium rate number and paid someone £1.50 a minute or more to listen to an automated message.

There are others but the general advice is don't respond to anything coming to you unless you know who it has come from.

The hoax email follows ...

Subject: Mobile phone fraud

Message from: Phil Corris, Police Constable/Crime Prevention Officer If you receive a phone call on your mobile from any person, saying that, he or she is a company engineer, or telling you that they're checking your mobile line, and you have to press #90 or #09 or any other number. End this call immediately without pressing any numbers. There is a fraud company using a device that once you press #90 or #09 they can access your "SIM"

A phone number for "Phil Corris" was then given ... I called it and spoke to a police officer who confirmed that it was a hoax.

HMRI Nov Residents Meeting

Church Road Residents Consultation Planning Meeting
Royal Standards House Wednesday 8TH November 2006 2.00pm

Present:

Hazel Roberts Tranmere Resident
John Steele Tranmere Resident
James Kay Tranmere Resident
Steph Reid Tranmere Allaince
Chris Bowen WMBC
Emma Foley WMBC

Apologies:

Bruce Lister, Lovell
James Hurley, WMBC


Minutes of last meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed

HMRI Programme Update
CB reported that Cabinet had agreed to bring forward £3 million from next years budget to help keep up the momentum of acquisitions that have already been agreed. A priority list has been drawn up, with preference being given to properties which are needed for the first development phase in Tranmere and Rock Ferry. Some owners with whom we have agreed a price will still have to wait until further funding comes through in April 2007.

Development Update
The outline planning application will be submitted towards the end of the month with four outline applications being submitted for the following schemes which make up the Church Road Development Area.

* Church Road (main development area)
* Whitford Road
* Hillside Road (former Hillside Court site)
* Pearson Road site

If the Scheme is submitted at the end of November, it is unlikely that it will get before a planning committee until February. A detailed planning application will then have to be submitted for the first development phase which includes the already cleared sites on Hillside Road and Whitford Road and the Abakhan site on the corner of Seymour Street and Church Road.


We also plan to have a further community consultation event before the detailed plans are submitted. It was therefore suggested that the summer would be a more realistic timetable for starting on site to allow for adequate consultation.

Project Update

CB said that Atmore had organised a first meeting with some of the traders on 15th November 2005

Venture and Family Housing Associations were in the process of agreeing a price with the Council to acquire the site on Leighton Road / Thompson Street which is now cleared. The agreed price will have to go to Cabinet in December for approval.

Work on the Homeswap properties is progressing well with completion due on most of them by the end of the month. There has been interest in a couple of them from residents in clearance areas, however if they are not all sold to residents in clearance areas, they will be offered for sale on the open market.

It was reported that 30/32 Seymour Street were open to access. This will be passed on the Environmental Wardens / Empty Property Team to action.

JS highlighted the problems with pigeons and rats around one of the large properties in Seymour Street which has scaffolding up but is in a serious state of disrepair. It was reported that Environmental Health weren’t prepared to serve a notice pending a decision of an outstanding grant application. EF to Check with Jim Ashley, Home Improvements Team manager to check the status of this application.

Youth Issues

Rob Walsh has been unable to broker a meeting between some of the providers of youth services in the area. He is about to go off on leave for several months so it will have to be picked up again in the New Year.

Art Regeneration Project Update

EF gave an update on the Art regeneration project which was launched successfully on 18th October. Since then it has been open on Tuesdays and Thursdays an has been working with residents from Prospect House, the Methodist Church Luncheon Club, Tranmere Alliance, a young mums group, excluded kids programme and Prenton High School. The artists will remain in residence at 35-37 Church Road until Christmas and will be displaying the work in an exhibition in January 2007.

AOB

Steph reported on a Biodiversity Forum she had attended on 3rd November, in particular a talk by Matthew Frith on Greening the Cities. She will try to get a copy of his presentation for the group.

EF said that the HMRI Team were making a film about how the HMR Programme is being delivered in Wirral. She asked for volunteers to talk about their experiences of HMRI. HR and JS kindly offered to participate.

Date of next meeting

Wednesday 10th January 2007 @ 2.00pm, Royal Standards House

UCG minutes Nov 06

Thanks to Steph Reid for these notes from the recent meeting. I have changed the layout a bit to fit the blog and taken out people's email addresses and phone numbers.

United Communities Group
Minutes Thurs 16th Nov 10.30am Prospect House

Present:
Hazel Roberts Chair, Tranmere Action Group
Steph Reid Tranmere Alliance Community Development Officer
Ann Adams TRAC 644-7002
John Steele Together NMP/ Wirral Federation of Tenants + Residents
Les Neish Clifton Park RA
James Kay TRACE
Graham Williamson Friends of the Parks/Tranmere Methodist Church
Terry Neill Whitfield St. RA
Andrew Wilson Whitfield St. RA
John Chesworth St. Paul’s + St. Luke’s Church
Colin Clayton WBC Environmental Health Officer

Apologies:
Malcolm Birchall (Lees Avenue RA), Hugh Langford (TRAP), Marilyn McDougall (The Meadows RA)

Last meeting minutes: 21st Sept. 06
Read and agreed

Matters arising:

SR. Health Walks in Parks will be every 2 weeks now, they will vary days to include more people, next one Friday 17th 11 am from Tranmere Alliance Community Hall Albany Rd.

Guest Speaker:
Colin Clayton – Environmental Health Officer WBC

Colin works as Section Manager on the Team dealing with Public Health Enforcement Services 691-8370/8344/8278– Pest Control 606-2020, Public Toilet maintenance + cleanliness, Disrepair in privately rented properties, Landlord harassment, Filthy and verminous premises.

Colin is happy to deal with referred complaints/issues made through Hazel as chair of UCG

20 Seymour St. Tranmere
Large opening in roof around 80 Pigeons have been accessing and breeding in side for years. Excrement inches deep in front of house. They are congregating on other properties causing problems and possible transference of viruses to children and elderly. HMRI Team aware that a grant application is being processed which includes the repair of the roof, but this has been the case for the last 9 months and the situation is detrimental to the area and neighbouring properties, the team have been asked to expedite matters.

Asked for a Case Study to be done to set a president for similar situations that blight neighbourhoods –This property is not scheduled for demolition. It is occupied. In Grant process. Vermin reports made, no action taken against cause of problem. Other properties have had numerous infestations.

Entry behind shops on Church Rd./Seymour St. Chip Shop 49,51,53
Rubbish up to top of wall level and needs removing.

53 Church Rd. Tranmere
Two premises owned by WBC (purchased by HMRI) have pigeon problem and should not be left to worsen and degrade the area until they are demolished, surely the council should put their own house in order.

57 Church Rd. Tranmere
Vandalised some time ago, window has not been made safe or repaired.

Railway Bridge St. Paul’s Rd Rock Ferry + Green Lane Bridge
Pigeon droppings are a concern, make pavement surface slippy/unsafe, obviously preventative measures are not effective enough to stop the pigeons landing Who is accountable? Wall of property at top of Bedford Drive not safe, bank of soil against it. Members of UCG are eloquent enough to complain but most residents don’t feel able and are unaware of the route to do so.

Hamilton Square has become a “no go” area since seemingly homeless people have been moved on from precinct shopping area. Muggings and verbal abuse from aggressive beggars, drug and alcohol users is occurring and the benched landscaped central part is littered with cans, bottles and rubbish.

Can anything be done to act against anti-sociable families who live a life of grime in our area in privately rented accommodation to help the landlord secure eviction quicker which is backed and supported by judges? Also that the families are tracked effectively to stop the cycle re-occurring with next landlord and neighbours going through same lengthy process and costs.We have had previous experiences with such families and presently one in Elmswood where it is not suitable for children living in the property.

Details handed over from Lees Avenue R A

[ends]

Santa Express - 16th December

Tranmere Alliance are now advertising their Santa Express. This is a day out for under 12s to Llangollen to meet up with Santa (although quite why Santa should be in Llangollen is not explained - but I suppose if I can believe in a guy with a red romper suit and a white beard on a sleigh pulled by magical flying reindeer - the idea that he might choose to hang out in North Wales is only a small additional bit of disbelief to suspend.) Either way Tranmere Alliance are running this day out on Saturday the 16th of December from 9.30 to 5.30.

They are also appealing for help from 'Grandparents for the day' who are asked to call Wendy on 0151 644 1100. I think Wendy will probably be able to explain to parents how they can get their little darlings booked onto the trip.

Another fine idea from Tranmere Alliance.

UCG minutes Sept 06

Thanks to Hazel Roberts for these

UNITED COMMUNITIES GROUP

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD IN PROSPECT HOUSE
21ST SEPTEMBER 2006

PRESENT:
Hazel Roberts T A G ( chair )
John Steele Hillside R G
Steph Reid Tranmere Alliance
Terry Neill W. A. M. A.
Ann Adams T. R. A. C.
Les Neish C. P.R. A.
James Kay T. R. A. C. E.
Malcolm Birchall L. R. A.
Marilyn McDougal M. R. A.

APOLOGIES:
Apologies were received from Victoria Campbell and Lorraine Norris.

MINUTES:
The minutes of the previous meeting held June 8th 2006 were approved as a correct record of the meeting.

MATTERS ARISING:
There were no matters arising from the minutes.

RESIDENT GROUPS REPORTS:
W.A.M.A. Terry reported that they are a new group and have only has two meetings. The local residents are having problems with the children and young people that are using the T. C. P. He is at present trying to arrange a meeting with Jill Quayle the project Manager. He is getting assistance from Rob Walsh ( Together )

T. A. G. Hazel reported that the Trampoline Club is still getting 35or so 8 to 12 year olds and have now extended the hours for the 12 to 16 years. New times are 8to 12 years 5:15pm to 7:15pm. 12 to 16 years 7:30pm to 9:30pm. All children and young people from the Tranmere and Rock Ferry area are welcome.

T. R. A. C.
a) Ann said that the Holistic Therapies continue to be successful and will be looking for funding to continue through next year.
b) The booking list for the trip to Botany Bay is now open.
c) Those that had attended the Healthy Walk around Victoria Park would like them to be more often. Every two weeks rather than once a month.” Hazel is to bring this up at the next Health meeting.” Next Walk is Friday 27th October 2006 from Albany Hall.

C. P. R. A.
Les said that he has been doing his best to form a new resident group committee, a meeting is planned for a couple of weeks time. Les has also been trying hard to get his Muslim neighbours involved in the resident group but with no success so far.

a) M. R. A. Marilyn reported that the Yellow House Drama and Art youth Club is running very well they hope to extend to 13 to 19 year olds on Friday Nights for Film Making.
b) The Council have funding to restore the Football Cage in St, Paul’s Road. They have a pot of money to clean up grot spots. They have also identified an area next to the Vikings Youth Club for funding.

L. R. A.
a) Malcolm said that Len has resigned as Vice chair so they are in the process of looking for his replacement
b) The housing development at the back of Bedford Road is causing concern Malcolm is hoping to be shown the plans.
c) The question was asked by several members as to what can be done about residents that own their properties and like to live a life of grime. Steph said that she would take this problem to the Living Environment Thematic group meeting and ask if we could have an Environmental health Officer can attend our next meeting as residents owners need to have accountability of keeping their house to a certain standard.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS:
1) Hazel asked for volunteers for the Bag a Bargain Terry said he thinks two from his resident group will help.
2) Ann Adams said that a complaint needs to go to the Together Office about sending out information and minutes of meetings. Residents are not getting the information in time for them to attend meetings.
3 ) W.V.C.S.N. Double Devolution Conference Friday 22nd September 2006.
Registration from 9:30 am. Conference closes at 3:30pm.


NEXT MEETING:
Thursday 16th November 2006 at 10:30am in Prospect House.

Living Environment Group Notes

These are the notes from this group which meets about once a month. These minutes are made maily for the use of those attending the meetings but they do contain important information of relevance to local resients.

TOGETHER Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder
Living Environment Thematic Group Meeting 18.9.06
Royal Standard House

Present
Alex Butler Kate Thomas Steve Eaves
Keith Farrell Hugh Owen John Ford Len McCormick Sheila Kirwan Steve Jackson

Apologies:
Emma Foley Tara Dumas, Fergus Adams


Actions/minutes


Previous minutes

Action - JF to request a formal update from JC re Tenancy reference scheme

Access to services

HO updated group on progress

Looking at housing services as first service to apply methodology which would be used to evaluate effectiveness of organisations approach to customer /resident access .
Three parts to model:

1 Self assessment
2 Reality checks
3 Focus groups

An action plan (toolkit) will be produced.

Action – JF to feedback to Jenny Naylor on access to services methodology

SK Stated that maritime are training trainers for mystery shopping.

Action - SK to pass on related information to HO and the access to services group


UGLI scheme

SE updated group on progress. Three sites identified for action in pathfinder area. Groundwork are the chosen contractor for improvement works.


Wardens report

Health walks – 17 people attended the first walk which the PCT said was a very good start.

Next walk is Fri 27th October 11am from Albany Hall

Resident group has been set up at Bedford/Haddon Rd as a response to ASB issues. Wardens resident survey and report has been passed to Mick Blease.


Mobile CCTV

Group discussed use of mobile CCTV as part of planned approach to environmental enforcement (and its potential re information relating to ASB)

Action - JF to inform group about status of mobile CCTV.


NET team

The group agreed that a steering group would be desirable, to meet as required to discuss the development of the NET team

NET steering group to consist of:

Include (NET) manager
Len McCormick
Streetscene representative
John Ford
Lowell Williams


Action - JF to present a progress report on the NET to the next meeting.

HO stressed the need to consider the long term approach which would need to involve Biffa.


Secondary fires/ Arson prevention

LW requested NET involvement in removal of combustibles on the lead in to to bonfire night. Steve Eaves also wished to include any void properties which present a fire hazard.

Action - JF to arrange meeting with LW and SE to develop an approach.


Performance management

HO stated that we need to fill gaps re the targets in the groups 06-08 action plan.

Action - JF to implement with Together information officer.


AOB

LM stated that the box recycling service continues to be ineffective. Streetscene rep would be asked to next residents together meeting.

Next meeting
13th November 10am Together NMP office.

Renaming Higher Tranmere?

I sent the following email last week to Emma Foley - the Housing Regeneration Manager for Wirral and she replied as follows.


Hi Emma
I have been asked by a few residents locally what is happening about the idea of renaming the area. I know that a suggestion had been made for Holt Hill Village but also that many - including myself - think that Higher Tranmere is fine and should continue to be the name for the area. Do you know any more about this?

James Kay

Chair - TRACE


Emma replied today - 31st October

Hi James,

I was hoping that Nicky Rigby our Communications and Marketing Manager would have been able to update you at the last residents meeting but unfortunately she was unable to attend. Nicky will be running a high profile street naming competition for some of the new streets and the new retail centre in Church Road which will be promoted by Radio City in February next year. This will be widely publicised and will give more people the chance to participate than we previously consulted.

I think Nicky, who is employed by Newheartlands rather than Wirral Council, will be offering some attractive prizes to encourage people to participate.

Hopefully we will have more information at the next Church Road Residents meeting on 8th November

Kind Regards

Emma

Housing Regeneration Manager
Department of Regeneration and Cultural Services
Wallasey Town Hall North Annex
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH44 8ED


Any thoughts on this ... ?

Recycling - a comment

Malcom Birchall comments on Biffa and recycling

Just a comment on recycling.
In our area (Lees Avenue), the collection on the whole has been pretty consistent. What I have noticed since the change over to Biffa is, they appear to put all items for recycling in the one recepticle, papers, glass and tins all get thrown into the one bin. When Onyx did it, the 3 items where placed in seperate compartments on the same wagon. I just wonder how Biffa seperate the 3 items when they have been squashed together in the one bin. Has anyone else noticed this happening.

regards

Malcolm

- response - from James

yes I have noticed this and I was told that Biffa were going to separate these items back at their depot and this meant that they needed less staff to conduct the collection and could therefor do it more reliably. Time will tell whether that turns out to be true but they seem to have started off at least better than the past.

Recycling update

Things are beginning to look up (I think) on the recycling front. For the first time that I can remember the black boxes have been collected on two occasions, on the due dates - every second Friday in Seymour Street - and moreover running at the appointed time.

The replacement boxes and blue bags have been left out for us to fill again. It's clear that there are many residents interested in recycling within Tranmere. Lets hope that this service is now going to become more reliable and settles down to become an important part of the recycling effort within our community.

Let us know if you have experience of this scheme - good or bad and we'll cover them in the blog.

Better news for some on hanging baskets

After a previous row over hanging baskets - see below - a new batch have been delivered to houses in Seymour Street and possibly others. After some good lobbying by Hazel Roberts a second tranch of pots have been created and delivered to residents on Seymour Street and possibly some others.

I have now received a pot which is nestling amongst the scaffolding outside my house on Seymour Street and others on the street have also been delivered such pots. It's a good idea to brighten up an area which is looking more than usually battered at the moment but I think a few people have been left outside the scheme and may still be cross about it.

What do you think?

James

TRACE member on local stage

Accrington Pals
at the Gladstone Theatre 7th to 11th November

In the next few weeks Caroline Sawley - who lives on Seymour Street - is to take the stage as May in Bebington Dramatic Society's production of Accrington Pals. For more go to
www.bebingtondramaticsociety.co.uk

HMRI Consultation Minutes

Church Road Residents Consultation Planning Meeting
Royal Standard House - Wednesday 4th October 2006

Present:

Hazel Roberts UCG / Together - Chair
James Kay TRACE
Ann Keggin Tranmere Community Project
Rob Walsh Together
Bruce Lister Lovell
Steph Reid Tranmere Alliance
James Hurley Wirral MBC
John Steele Together
Terry Neill Whitfield St Residents Association
Andrew Wilson Whitfield St Residents Association
Janet Monday Whitfield St Residents Association
Pat Hynes Whitfield St Residents Association
Cllr Phil Davies Wirral MBC
Chris Bowen Wirral MBC
Emma Foley Wirral MBC

Apologies:

Graham Williamson - Together



Matters Arising from previous minutes

JK asked if there was any further response to the CABE feedback. BL said it was the collective view of the project team that the proposals for Church Road were fairly robust and that there was no need to amend the plans significantly in light of the CABE feedback. He said that Lovell did not foresee any major problems with the planning application.

BL said that an outline planning application is likely to be submitted in October, with detailed planning applications likely to be determined by March. Lovell are still hoping to be on site in spring 2007.

SR asked whether the parking standards would be consistent with the emerging Local Development Framework (LDF). BL said that representatives from the planning department had been involved in the development of the design to ensure synergy with local and national planning guidance.

JK asked if there was any news on improvement grants for properties within the original NRA area which are now to be retained. EF said that the Grants team were finalising some of he detail of the grant scheme with the Council’s Legal Services, but if all went well, the Home Improvement Team would be looking to send out a letter and visit all potential applicants before Christmas 2006.

JH has drafted a letter advising all businesses in Church Road who had been affected by the traffic lights that they may have grounds to appeal. He will send the letter out shortly with the appropriate contact details.


Development Update

BL said that Lovell had now received an underwriting letter from the council, which gave them the necessary assurances to proceed while the legal agreement is being finalised.

BL said that a planning application is likely to be submitted at the end of October.

An important next step will be a scoping meeting between the retail developers Atmore and the Council which is BL will organise as soon as possible.

HMRI Programme

CB said that the acquisitions were progressing very quickly with many acquisitions already lined up for the new financial year in April 2007. In the meantime the Council have had to prioritise acquisitions to those, which are needed for the first phase of development in Fiveways and Church Road. This has meant that some owners may have to wait until 1st April to complete the sale of their property to the Council.

This slow down may be short term if the Council is able to find funding from other sources including the NWDA, NewHeartlands or the Council releasing some of next years funding early.

Wirral’s HMRI Team have a new Marketing and Communications Manager, Nicky Rigby who’s role is to publicise and promote NewHeartlands funded schemes in the Wirral and to make sure that Tranmere and Rock Ferry are marketed as places where people chose to come and live. Nicky will be invited to the next meeting to explain about her role further.

HR asked if there was any further news about what shops would be going into the new development. BL said that they would like to offer as many of the existing successful businesses a place the new development including the Co-op which would be an ideal anchor store. Detailed discussions with businesses are scheduled for the next few months.

TN asked if we have any idea of the cost of the new units. BL said that the design work needs to be progressed further before detailed figures can be worked out. There is the potential for some of the units to be customised for individual businesses so the individual cost of units may vary depending on requirements.

CB described the first phase of the new housing development, which would be on site in the Spring. This includes Lovell’s developments on the Whitford Road and Hillside Court sites which is all open market housing and a scheme by Venture and Family Housing on the now cleared Leighton Road / Thompson Street site which will include ten, three bedroom family houses and four two bedroom bungalows for rent.

Audit Inspection

CB reported on the recent Audit Commission Inspection of the HMRI Programme in Tranmere and thanked the residents who took part in the focus group with the inspector Tony Earnshaw.

The feedback was good with no recommendations, although there are comments in the report which will be taken on board with a view to continually improving the service offered to local residents.


30 – 32 Seymour Street

EF gave an update on the two properties, which are piloting the new Perspex boards after a resident request that the tin sheets were preventing him from selling his property.
Steve Eaves from the Empty Property Team will be looking after these properties in the short term.

Long term, it is proposed that a Housing Association renovates them to let as large family units. One housing association has expressed an interest in renovating them. EF to report back when there is further news.


Youth Provision

RW had expected discussions with local community groups and service providers to have been further progressed, but he offered to report back at the next meeting.

Together have recently appointed a Youth Co-ordinator, Margaret, to engage with young people.

RW reminded the group that the Youth Advocates were now in post for Tranmere. CB mentioned a successful schools project which he had been involved in at Wallasey High school for Girls which he would like to replicate in Tranmere / Rock Ferry. It would be an ideal project for the Youth Advocates to get involved with.

Tranmere Parks

PD reported on the recent meetings regarding the two Tranmere parks, which has focused on community safety and anti-social behaviour issues. Options currently include CCTV, an alcohol ban in the parks and a clamp down on local off-licences and a Section 30 Order. Residents have requested a further public meeting towards the end of the year. HR asked for invites to be extended to Seymour Street residents.

It is also hoped that long term improvements to the infrastructure of the parks will be brought forward subject to funding becoming available.

In the meantime the HMRI team have recently consulted residents on a lighting scheme for Mersey Park which will be installed by the Parks and Countryside Service in the new year.

It was agreed that parks improvements would complement the new housing in the Church Road Regeneration area.

AOB

JS asked if there was anything that could be done about the weeds in Seymour Street. EF to refer to the Environmental Wardens

JH gave an update on 42 Church Road. He explained that the hoardings had gone up because kids were climbing on the scaffolding. He was hopeful that building control powers could be used to repair the damage to the buildings so that the scaffolding could be taken down. JH to report the fault with the traffic lights and to circulate a direct number for reporting faults in future.


JK suggested that a notice board be provided for residents. EF said that NR was looking into it. He asked about advertising / displaying information via the hoardings around Tranmere. EF said that this had been explored by NR but it had proved to be too expensive.

PH said that a Council street cleanser was actually walking past dropped litter and failing to pick it up. PD to report to Streetscene.

RW requested articles for the next Together newsletter. The deadline will be 6-8 weeks.

RW reported that Together will be piloting the re-opening of the Together office on Church Road for limited times during the week (Wed, Thurs and Fri 1-4pm). A member of the HMRI Team will be available between 1-4pm every Wednesday until further notice.

The Bag a Bargain Scheme will start on Tuesday next week

BL said that site investigations will be starting on three sites in Tranmere next month.

The Art Regeneration Project will be launched at the former Hutton’s Off Licence at 35/37 Church Road on 19th October @ 6.15pm

Date of Next Meeting
2.00pm Wednesday 8th November 2006 - Royal Standard House

Workshops on land use in Wirral

Steph Reid from Tranmere Alliance has sent the following message around by email.

Hello All
Have just received notification of workshops being held for those people interested in WBC future approach to strategic priorities for allocating land use across the borough (green space/housing/business).

If you feel you would like to attend please contact myself or ring Hazel Edwards on 691 8225 to register by 8th Nov:-

[workshops on ...]
Friday 17th Nov 2pm
Wed 22nd Nov 6pm
Wallasey Town Hall, Committee room 2.

Thanks
Steph Reid
Community Development Officer
Tranmere Alliance
Tel:644 1100

Tranmere Alliance Night Out

I have got more information about Tranmere Alliance's Big Bash on November 2nd

Night of Live Entertainment

Tranmere Alliance and Alan Armstrong presents
Mark Lacey,
Just Graham,
Olivia Parry,
Jonthan Campbell,
Zero 8,
Georgie and the cast from the Royal Court's sell out Cavern tour.

Thursday 2nd November
7.30pm till midnight at St Annes Social Club, Highfield Road, Rock Ferry

Prizes to be won include:
1st Prize Pamper Hamper
LFC Stadium tour
Meal for 2
Cash
Theatre Tickets
and much more


Tickets £4 available from the Tranmere Alliance Advice centre or call 0151 644 1100

Church Road Arts project launch

A leaflet was emailed today about the Church Road Arts Project to be launched on Thursday the 19th of October 2006 at 6.15pm - 8.00pm in 35 - 37 Church Road, Tranmere. If you want to find out more about the consultancy running this project go to their website at
http://www.tic-uk.org.uk/html/home.htm

The leaflet said.

" We are pleased to invite you to the launch of the Solid Futures - Church Road Community Art project delivered by TiC Consultants, in partnership with Wirral Borough Council, NewHeartlands and Maritime Housing Association.

SOLID FUTURES is an award-winning initiative, which engages with local people in areas undergoing housing market renewal in Merseyside. The project will strongly focus on the process of involving local residents in reminiscence of their lives and their neighbourhoods, and will then encourage them to focus on the future of their neighbourhood.

A team of two artists, Alex Jackson and Vinnie Cleghorne have been appointed to work with local residents in the Church Road area of Tranmere, to develop ideas, designs or artwork that will reflect the neighbourhood identity, cultural diversity and local history of Tranmere. The artists will be based in an old shop unit at 35 - 37 Church Road and the project will finish at the end of December 2006.

This event is an opportunity to find out more about the project and its aims and objectives. It will also provide an opportunity to meet the people involved in the regeneration of your community.

We hope you can join us on the evening. "

Agenda
6.15pm - Arrival and Refreshments
6.30pm - Official Opening
6.35pm - An Introduction to the project
6.45pm - An Interactive drop in session
8.00pm - Close

For more information, please contact Craig Charles on 0151 691 8376 or e-mail
craigcharles@wirral.gov.uk

Comment on hanging baskets

See the item on hanging baskets below.

This comment came in from Terry Neill on 10/10/2006 at 02:41:24 PM

Whitfield Street and Mill Close residents were not told about these baskets officially, and we live in the street where they were given out!

Bargains bagged brilliantly

Thanks go to Hazel Roberts who sent me this information to go onto the blog - within a few hours of the scheme's first big success.

Have a look at the Lees Resident's Newsletter below and its description of the Bag a bargain scheme and then look at these numbers below. This is the fantastic start up to this scheme in Tranmere. Here are the orders for fruit and veg bags from the three sites. When I called in at Tranmere Community project today at about 2.00pm I was told that people had been queing for over an hour to be the first to get onto the scheme. What a brilliant start - well done to all involved.

Next week's orders are:

Tranmere Community Project Fruit 40 bags Veg bags 36
Albany Hall Fruit 50 bags Veg bags 49
Woodward Estate Fruit bags 39 Veg bags 34

Total ordered Fruit Bags 129 Veg Bags 119.

Total Cash banked £625 : 00

Who says that people aren't interested in healthy food?

Cash to fight crime in Tranmere?

This notice has done the rounds before but it is the last couple of weeks before the deadline and in case you haven't seen it.

Cash available to help community and voluntary groups fight crime

DO you have an idea that could help reduce crime or fear of crime? £34,000 is available through Wirral Joint Community Safety Team for community safety projects that:

• Reduce antisocial behaviour by young people
• Reduce criminal damage
• Reduces violence
• Reduces fear of crime

The funding is open to voluntary and community groups on an Area Forum basis, up to a value of £2,000 per application. The closing date for applications is Monday October 30.

Application packs and further information can be obtained by writing to
The Community Safety Team, Regeneration Department, Old Court Buildings, Manor Road, Wallasey, Wirral, CH44 1BU,
Tel: 0151 606 5443,
fax 0151 606 5454,
e-mail: jamesthompson@wirral.gov.uk

Lees Residents Ass. Newsletter

Thank you Malcom for sending the latest Newsletter from the Lees Residents Association. Given the formatting limitations of this blog I can't print out the newsletter exactly as it came to me - but this is the content in a series of articles from Vol. 5 No. 3 10th October 2006.

Bag a Bargain
Through Together and Health Links a scheme has been organised so all residents of Tranmere and Rock Ferry can obtain CHEAP, FRESH FRUIT and VEGETABLES. All you have to do is go along to one of 3 pick-up points on any Tuesday between 12pm and 3.00pm and pre-book your order. Each bag of fruit or veg will cost you £2.50, you simply go along the following week, pick up your order in the reusable bag and order again for the following week, simple. The pick up points are at Tranmere Alliance Community Hall, Albany Road. Tranmere Community Project, Whitfield Street and Woodward Estate Community House, Hassal Road.

This scheme has proved a great success in Liverpool because its cheap, you get great value for money and above all the fruit and veg are FRESH. So take advantage of it and get your 5 a day in, as fresh and cheap as is possible.

Children's Play Group
The childrens play group organised by Tranmere Alliance will start again on Monday 16th October at 6pm and will finish at 7.45pm PROMPT. Please bring your child to the sports barn, not let them come on their own and please be considerate of other people using the facility. If you do not pick your child up from the play group at the allotted time, unfortunately your child will be excluded from the group the following week. Please remember the key holder has to get home too.

Charity Night
Its Tranmere Alliance`s bi-annual charity night on Thursday 2nd November. This year its to be held at St Anne`s club Rock Ferry , so you haven’t got too far to get home. The evening starts at 7.30pm and carries on till midnight. As usual Alan Armstrong and his friends will provide great entertainment all night long. Tickets are £4 each and are available from Tranmere Alliance office on Church Road or see Malcolm at 36 Gothic Street. Be sure to get your tickets early it’s a great night and they will go very quickly.

Congratulations
Congratulations to Amy and John from Gothic Street on the birth of their beautiful baby girl Ashlin. She entered the world on the 17th of September weighing a very healthy 6lb 9oz. We all wish her a long a successful life and her parents long and peaceful nights…… eventually.

Next Meeting (of the Lees Residents Association)
The next meeting is at 7.30pm in the sports barn at the bottom of Ionic Street on THURSDAY 12th October. Please come along and tell us what is worrying you, what improvements you would like to see in the area and any problems you are having. You never know we may be able to help. Free tea, coffee and biscuits are available as usual.

Lees Newsletter ends ...

Temporary Traffic Lights

I have just received this email from James Hurley with advice on how to report faults on the temporary traffic lights in Church Road.


Dear all,
Do you remember at our last meeting the issue of the temporary traffic lights was raised and I promised to get a contact in order to make the reporting of faults easier? Hopefully you won't need to but if there are any problems with the lights you should contact my colleague Geoff Boden, Assistant Building Surveyor, on 606 2319.

Geoff can raise this with the leasing company and seek to have the problem rectified. Obviously if there is an immediate danger to the public (especially after hours) the Police should be informed.

As usual if you have any other issues to raise you can always speak directly to Chris, Emma or myself and we will do our best to help.


Regards James

Wirral Culture blog found

I spotted this one which seems very active and might be of interest to you.

James

Presentation on Biodiversity and Urban Regeneration

Invitation

Dear Colleague,
You are invited to a presentation by Mathew Frith of The Peabody Trust. His illustrated talk - 'Greening the Cities - The Challenges of Urban Regeneration' focuses on the challenges of incorporating and developing high quality natural environments into urban regeneration projects, with a particular focus on housing, illustrated by good practice examples from at home and abroad.

With nearly 150 years' experience of providing homes and delivering a broad remit of tackling poverty in London, and with a portfolio including nearly 6,000 Victorian homes and many estates in central London, the Peabody Trust is in a unique position within the social housing sector. They have long experience of providing affordable homes to some of London’s most deprived areas. Sustainability - environmental and social - is fundamental to their vision to fight poverty in the capital.

The Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) is the UK’s largest carbon-neutral eco-community - the first of its kind in this country. BedZED was developed by the Peabody Trust in partnership with Bill Dunster Architects and BioRegional Development Group, environmental consultants. This is a rare opportunity to hear their perspective on the challenges of securing a high quality and sustainable environment as part of urban regeneration and neighbourhood renewal.

The presentation is happening on Friday 3 November at 3pm at the newly opened Birkenhead Pavilion. Please feel free to circulate this e-mail and the attached flyer to anyone who may be interested. Places are free but capacity at the venue is limited so please let me know by e-mail if you would like to attend.


Christine Smyth Parks Development Officer (Biodiversity) Metropolitan Borough of Wirral Department of Education and Cultural Services Parks and Countryside Section Westminster House Hamilton Street Birkenhead Wirral CH41 5FN

Telephone:0151 666 4730

email to
communitydevelopment@tranmerealliance.org.uk

Update on recycling locally

I have had more information about the Box-it scheme from Wirral BC via our Councillor Phil Davies. Tara Dumas who is Environment and Waste Services Manager has written back to Phil as follows...

"I am now able to confirm that the collection of the box-it scheme on Seymore St is this Friday and every other Friday after this. Therefore Mr Kay can expect a collection today then: 20th October, 3rd November etc... His street is not included in the phase 1 Alternate weekly collection roll-out.

It is likely that he will receive his grey bin between May and October 2007. We will publish the area roll-out programmes in the newspapers once Biffa have firmed up the general areas for phases 2 -5. Mr Kay can expect a pre-leaflet 2-4 weeks before his grey bin is due to be delivered, so he will know when to look out for it. "

A new recycling scheme
You may have noticed from the recent Together news letter that the recycling plan for the future is to replace the black box scheme with a two bin (in some places three bin) scheme. The timing of that scheme is referred to in Tara's email above but what it seems to boil down to is that new grey wheelie bins will be issued to all residents for recycling - bottles, cans, paper. Other items which cannot be recycled will go in to the existing green wheelie bins.

The bins will be collected on alternate weeks and although it has not yet been spelled out - it seems likely that residents who put the wrong types of rubbish in the bins will be first of all warned and then penalised if they persist in doing so. There may also in the future be brown wheelie bins for garden refuse. These have already been issued in places such as Claughton although it is not clear to me yet if and when these might be issued in Tranmere and if they will go to all properties or just to those with visible gardens.

I know from discussions with relatives in Claughton that there are some difficulties in fitting these bins into the small front gardens of the terraced houses. Older residents also need smaller bins as they cannot manage the larger ones. I will ask Phil Davies if he can find out for our residents locally if there is to be the option of smaller bins for those who cannot physically manage the larger ones.

If you have any comments about this you might want to post a note here - click the comments box below this item.

Recycling scheme complaints

Some time ago I complained on behalf of TRACE about the collapse of the 'Box it' recycling scheme which as you will know is a complete mess. I called the Council offices, emailed the Council Offices, emailed again and all without the courtesy of a reply. Eventually I complained to Phil Davies our local Councillor about the scheme and also about the lack of a reply to my complaints. Phil told me that he had raised it with the head of the section concerned and he has now received an email back which he has passed on to me and I have reprinted below. You should know that BIFFA have taken over the waste managemenmt and recycling contract from the previous provider of these services. There will be other changes to the services in future which we will return to in the blog shortly. Watch this space.


Dear Councillor Davies

Please accept our apologies for not responding sooner to your enquiry about the quality of recycling collections in Seamore St.

Biffa have devised a quality monitoring procedure, where addresses and locations that have been repeatedly missed under the old Onyx contract will be monitored by Biffa supervisors. The system has been introduced only this week. Crews have to report back and sign completion sheets for list of properties on their daily round sheet which have experienced poor service. They do this for a period of 4 consecutive collections. If any further problems occur they are brought in for interview by the supervisor, and they must continue to report back on that property for an additional 13 collections.

I have asked that Seamore St be added to the monitoring list for the Tranmere Box Scheme.
I have every confidence that services will improve, but Biffa do need time to work on these crews to ensure they learn to perform to higher standards.

With regards to the leafleting - although I think the suggestion by Mr Kay is a very good one, in practice it is not always possible to leaflet the missed streets as resources may not be available.

Please inform Mr Kay that, under the terms of the new contract, if his whole street is reported missed on the scheduled collection day, then it should be emptied the following day. Failure to do so would result in the contractor facing default penalties.

Regards
Tara
Tara Dumas
Environment and Waste Services Manager
Technical Services
Wirral BC

Tranmere Rovers Fan's Blog

I found this blog today. Although not myself a Tranmere fan I thought it migfht be interesting to TRACE blog readers living locally.

http://tranmererovers.blogspot.com/

Tranmere Alliance Fundraiser!

Tranmere Alliance Fundraiser!

November 2nd 7.30 till Midnight - Tickets from 644 1100

Audit Commission visit to Tranmere

The Audit Commission recently visited the area to look at the Housing Market Renewal Initiative and have now produced a draft report. It runs to 28 pages and is still in draft form but if you wanted to have a look - email James Kay on jameslkay@ntlworld.com and he will send you copy. A couple of items caught the eye.

One was in the introduction and describes the area's economics. There have been reports in the past health trusts and from the local authority which have looked at the local economics and demographics of Tranmere.Multiple but this is fairly stark.

1 Tranmere exhibits a number of the classic characteristics of multiple deprivation. In the 2004 Index of Multiple Deprivation the super output area within which Church Road is located was ranked 101 out of 32,482 most deprived. In other words it was in the top 1% most deprived in the country. Nearly 60% of households do not own a car.

2 The population is mainly white with 96% of local people classing themselves as such. Household sizes are around the national average at 2.3 people. Rented housing accounts for over half of all housing with 20% being privately rented. Average household incomes are 68% of the overall figure for Wirral although it should be noted that Wirral as a whole contains some significantly affluent communities which will distort this comparison. Long term housing vacancies at less than 4% are low.

Another item from the draft report was the note on how much has already been spent in the area (which includes also the Fiveways development). Here is what it said.

1 Cumulative achievements on the ground in Tranmere since the start of the HMR programme in 2003-4 have been good. Since that time there has been a substantial public and private sector investment of over £30m in Tranmere. During the period up to June 2006 there had been £10.6m of HMR spent in the area. This had been matched with an estimated £11m of other public sector investment with the two largest individual contributions having been from Wirral Borough Council's housing capital programme and the Housing Corporation at £5m and £3.5m respectively. It had also been matched by an estimated £9.6m of private sector investment of which nearly 90% or £8.6m was housing association private finance.

2 Put simply, for every £1 of HMR invested in the area a further £1.03 of other public and 90 pence of private investment had been secured.

3 This investment had resulted in significant levels of housing market renewal activity over the same period since 2003-4. Nearly 160 properties had been acquired. Approximately 400 properties had been improved to Decent Homes Standard with a further 140 having been demolished. Just over 120 new properties had been built although only 10% of those are private sector, the vast bulk, approximately 110, being housing association properties.

4 The balance of activity contradicts a commonly held view of HMR as primarily being about demolition since in the case of Tranmere for every ten properties which have been demolished eight have been replaced and nearly thirty other properties improved to Decent Homes Standard.

5 On the ground there are a number of new housing developments either completed or underway. These include 12 flats for older people on Well Lane, 57 shared ownership properties on Green Lane and local private sector developer Roberts Estates' development of 70 units on Old Chester Road.

If you have any comments on these issues please use the comments box here.

Changes to parking in Birkenhead

Steph Reid from Tranmere Alliance has passed this email along to TRACE and other local resident groups.



from ...
Maxine Joynson Area Co-ordinator
Tel: 0151 691 8266 Fax: 0151 691 8159

Are you interested in changes to parking in Birkenhead? Wirral Council’s Streetscene and Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be listening to your views on the proposed Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) in Birkenhead.

If you’d like to hear what petitions have been made come along on Wednesday, October 4 at 6 pm. The meeting, held at Wallasey Town Hall, will hear public speakers presenting their petitions about the introduction of parking meters in the current disc zones in Birkenhead.
David Green, Director of Technical Services said,

“We are pleased that people are providing their views on this proposed change to parking in Birkenhead. If you are interested in this issue or just want to come and see how these meetings are held, please come along and listen.”

Unfortunately although this meeting is open to the public, it is not a public meeting where impromptu questions can be asked on the night.

The committee will then make a decision having considered these petitions and the report from the Director of Technical Services.

For more information on the scheme please call Streetscene on 0151 606 2004 or on the way meetings are held call Legal and Member Services on 0151 691 8491.

Seymour Street Hazard update

More information about the health hazard noted in the blog below.

Paul Bratley from the Environmental Health department has spoken to TRACE. He had visited the property previously after the issue had been raised by Together (see below). Seeing scaffolding outside the property at that time, he had assumed that work was being done to fix the problems which had been reported.

After the recent complaint from TRACE (last week) he has visited again, taken photographs and now is aware that far from improving, the situation has got worse. Although there are clearly problems with the roof space being open and pigeon infestation the approach in such situations is first of all to try to get the support of the home owner to fix the problems themselves without the need for action by the Council.

He has told TRACE that he has checked the ownership through the Land Registry and will be contacting the owners within the next few days. After discussions with TRACE he is aware of the HMRI and that there are opportunities for owners to get help from the local authority to make necessary improve to their homes.

If this contact from Paul Bratley deals with the problem then local residents will be happy. However if despite the intervention from the local authority the owner does not take prompt action but continues to allow the property to deteriorate then TRACE will expect the Environmental Health Department to refer the matter to Wirral's Planning team. This team has the necessary powers under the Town and Country Planning Act to require the owner to make the improvements failing which the improvements could be made by the local authority themselves who would then be able to charge the owner the full cost of the necessary improvement works.

Of course it may be that the reported serious illness to the owner has so far prevented intervention to improve the property but this has now gone on for a very long time. It is surely right for support to be offered in the first instance but if the offer of support does not lead to a prompt response - then enforcement action may be necessary before what is already a health hazard becomes an even more serious threat to local health and quality of life.

TRACE will continue to monitor and report on the situation.

Seymour Street Health Hazard

Residents in Seymour Street have been demanding action on a local property which has beome a source of local health problems. The roof of No 22 Seymour Street is open and infested with pigeons which are causing health hazards. It has been the subject of a complaint to the Environmental Health Department and has also been raised at a Residents Together partnership meeting.

A copy of the complaint to the Environmental Health department is given below and further updates on this matter will posted as they happen. Let us know by sending in a comment to this blog if you know any more about this property.

The following email was sent to the Environmental Health department last week.

I have been spoken to by local residents and have myself observed a health hazard from a property on Seymour Street. No 22 Seymour Street is a large semi-detached house in a very poor state of repair and in particular the roof is in a very bad state. There are visible openings into the roof void and there are pigeons flying in and out of and possibly nesting in the roof void. I don't know who owns the property but it is not being adequately maintained to prevent this developing hazard.

I have observed pigeons flying from inside the roof void and then settling on the local houses including my own and then causing fouling hazards from their droppings. On occasions we have had to bring in washing from the washing lines to avoid soiling by these pigeons. Children locally have also told me that they have seen rats running along the side of this property. First can I ask if you are aware of this problem and secondly is there anything that you can do to encourage the owner to take a more responsible approach to managing the property so that it is not a source of both nuisance and health hazard? You can contact me at the address below or by phone or email. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

James Kay Chair - TRACE

Trouble about hanging baskets

There have been some complaints about hanging baskets which were supposed to be given out to residents living in the HMRI area. The idea it seems is that these baskets would brighten up the area and make it more cheerful for those of us having to put up with the mess and the grime of the demolition and house clearing.

Leaving aside for a moment the fact that some of us would rather see the money spent on employing more street cleaners and cleaning up the widespread grafitti - it seems the distribution of these baskets was bungled.

I have had reports from several people that there were youngsters seen carrying off baskets down Church Street to who knows where - whilst those of us on Seymour Street and some other local streets knew nothing at all about the availability of free hanging baskets.

Did you know? Have you got one? Have we got it wrong? Was this a great idea carried out properly or a big cock up?

Leave a comment.

Rumours about the Co-op closing not true

There have been rumours recently that the Co-op on Church Road is to close at the end of March 2007 - before the replacement is built on the new site near what used to be Abakan.

These rumours are wrong. There are no plans to close the Co-op until the new shop is ready. I know this because I have today (21st of September) spoken to the Manager and she was very clear that there are no such plans. As far as she is aware the discussions between the Co-op and the Council are continuing and the Co-op want to be part of the new development. She is also clear that this is a successful shop which has a lot of good customers and makes a profit.

Please tell your friends that this rumour is untrue.

Meetings notes 6th September

These are the minutes of the Church Road Residents Consultation Planning Meeting held at Royal Standard House on Wednesday 6th September 2006. They have been circulated by Caroline Hemingway of the HMRI Policy Team who is on 0151 691 8249 or email at carolinehemingway@wirral.gov.uk

Carol emailed these minutes to the people present and I have posted them straight into the blog without comment. The only difference from these and those circulated is that the originals have been presented in a table with item numbers which the blog does not cope with as well so I have cut out the numbers but the wording is exactly the same.

I made some notes a week ago straight after coming back from the meeting and you can find them further down the blog.

=================================================

Present:

Hazel Roberts UCG / Together - Chair
James Kay TRACE
Ann Keggin Tranmere Community Project
Rob Walsh Together
Bruce Lister Lovell
Steph Reid Tranmere Alliance
James Hurley Wirral MBC

Apologies
John Steele Together
Graham Williamson Together
Chris Bowen Wirral MBC
Emma Foley Wirral MBC


Matters Arising

AK circulated a leaflet detailing the Tranmere Community Project programmes as promised at the last meeting.

RW informed the meeting that Together would be leading on a consultation exercise into the subject of community facilities. This was to start next month. RW to provide an update at the next meeting.

Project Update

JH outlined progress and informed the meeting of the news that Lovell’s retail partner, Atmore, have now committed to engaging with the retailers on Church Road. This is a significant step towards establishing who will eventually occupy the new retail development.

BL confirmed that discussions were still ongoing with regard to the Financial Agreement with the Council but that good progress is being made. This is a very complex and time-consuming process but it is essential for programme delivery that both parties are satisfied with the outcome. In the meantime BL assured the meeting that development work was proceeding as quickly as possible and that these discussions have not delayed preparations.

With regard to the involvement of Atmore, BL confirmed that it was necessary to agree the best way forward. An introductory session could be arranged although it is acknowledged that some retailers would prefer private one to one meetings. This issue will be discussed at a HMRI partnership meeting on Friday.

HR reported that there was serious concern locally about the loss of profits and the continued problem of the collapsed building and associated traffic lights on Church Road. The example of the charity shop was given. JH explained the difficulties regarding the discussions with the two neighbouring owners and their respective solicitors, insurance companies and loss adjusters. This has proven to be very complex but the over-riding consideration is to ensure public safety. The Council are working hard to resolve the issue and to have the traffic lights removed at the earliest opportunity. JK inquired whether businesses could be given business rate relief in recognition and part compensation for the loss of trade. JH to raise the question with the Finance Department.

HR added that there remains a perception that locally that the Council was seeking to get rid of local traders in favour of businesses from outside the area. Both JH and BL refuted this claim stating that Atmore will be seeking to retain as many of the local businesses as possible. Obviously these businesses will have to be viable and able to take advantage of the new opportunities and improved facilities.

JH took this opportunity to inform the meeting of his discussions with retailers. A summary table was circulated. Following the last meeting JH either telephoned or met in person each commercial freeholder and business tenant to discuss his or her concerns. Each contact was subsequently followed up with individual letters. A range of views were expressed but it was made clear to everyone that there was no policy of ignoring people and that if anyone had concerns they were very much encouraged to raise these with the Council at the earliest possible opportunity.

In terms of progress BL added that CABE have now provided feedback on the Masterplan scheme and this will be discussed amongst partners on Friday. BL circulated copies of CABE’s letter and highlighted the car parking strategy issue and the different approach taken towards residential and commercial parking. This is such a fundamental issue that serious consideration will have to be given to the response of the partnership. JK initial response was that of surprise, having knowledge of this concept and the approach of Urban Splash in Manchester. He also expressed concern, if for example; public car parking was to be located to the rear of the retail development due to the impact on surrounding residential area. HR’s view was that time was needed to digest the contents and perhaps it was more appropriate to discuss this in more depth at the next meeting. This was agreed.

BL reported that given the CABE issue the submission of the planning permission has been delayed by about a month. He is now aiming to submit the application in October.

30 – 32 Seymour Street

JK requested an update on the plans for 30-32 Seymour Street at the next meeting. HR reported that the garden was still untidy. It was agreed to add this to the agenda for the next meeting.

Youth Provision

The TCP leaflet circulated by AK was discussed. HR added that there was a need to clarify what nights would be available for local people and groups to use. RW suggested a separate meeting to discuss this further. RW to contact AK to arrange and report back progress to the next meeting.


AOB

HR raised the issue of project naming and branding. Many people were very angry with the Birkenhead History Society suggestion of “Holt Hill.” Many people would prefer the name “Higher Tranmere”. It was agreed that this issue needs much more thought and proper consultation.


HR referred to a meeting about a new apartment development on Holt Hill. There was concern that the residents group was not consulted particularly as there is likely to be impact on the Church Road proposals. JH to investigate as a matter of urgency and seek to set up a meeting with the relevant Planning Officer. HR to co-ordinate once JH has made inquiries and established the current application status. As a supplementary comment JK suggested the group be informed of any other similar developments.

JK asked about progress with issuing letters concerning the 50/50 renovation grant. This was referred to at the last meeting. JH to raise with CB/EF.

RW suggested that thought is given to the membership of the meeting and that this should be an agenda item at the next meeting. RW pointed to the need to have a representative from Whitfield Street present and possibly Councillor representation.

Date of Next Meeting

2.00pm Wednesday 4th October 2006 - Royal Standard House

Audit Commission and Church Road Masterplan

The Audit Commission are visiting Wirral to have a look at how the HMRI programme is being managed. They are an independent public body responsible for ensuring that public money is spent economically, efficiently, and effectively in the areas of local government, housing, health, criminal justice and fire and rescue services.

Here is what they describe as their Mission

Our mission is to be a driving force in the improvement of public services. We promote good practice and help those responsible for public services to achieve better outcomes for citizens, with a focus on those people who need public services most.

This is from their web page - to see more go to:
http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/

A series of meetings have been held - at one of which TRACE was represented. Wirral Council prepared some papers for the those meetings one of which was on community consultation. It has been copied in below. It described from Wirral Council's perspective, the community consultation that has taken place. There are two papers to read. The first answers the question:

How are the key stakeholders including local communities being engaged?

Neighbourhood Renewal assessment (NRA)

· A Neighbourhood Renewal Assessment of 119 properties was carried out by the Council which ran concurrently with the Masterplan.
· The NRA indicated that on average, the cost per dwelling of renovation work to bring the properties up to Decent Homes Standard was £29,140.
· In the current market the repairs were unlikely to significantly increase the rental/capital value of the properties.
· Also it was uncertain whether landlords and/or owner occupiers who did not qualify for grant assistance would carry out any repairs to their properties above the minimum required.

Church Road Masterplan

· As part of the Church Road Masterplan the Council has conducted extensive community consultation:

· 1st Resident Consultation Event, 4th November 2004, Tranmere Methodist Hall. The purpose of this event was to find out people's opinions about their area in order to formulate a range of options for restructuring the housing, retail and commercial markets in the area.
· At this first event, 77 questionnaires were completed by local residents. Of these, 70% stated that the quality of the existing housing was not sufficient to attract new households into the area.
· Owner-occupiers completed 81% of the questionnaires.

· 2nd Resident Consultation Event, 2nd December 2004, Tranmere Methodist Hall presented a range of options to people showing different levels of intervention through clearance and rebuilding of housing, retail and commercial businesses.
· Option 1 presented the option of building only on vacant sites
· Option 2 presented the option of some selective clearance and rebuilding on these and the existing vacant sites.
· Option 3 presented the largest scale of clearance and rebuilding.
· At this second event, 55 questionnaires were completed by local residents, of these 73% were in favour of Option 3.
· Owner-occupiers completed 63% of the questionnaires.

· Further dialogue with residents through TRACE (Tranmere Residents Association - Church Road East) and home visits were carried out with people living within the Neighbourhood Renewal Assessment area.
· Of the people affected by the proposals who were visited, 21 residents were fully supportive of the plans while 9 residents were supportive with some reservation. A further 9 residents opposed the plans.

· As a result of further consultation, a ‘Preferred Option’ was developed which was a refined version of the Option3 involving a scaling back of proposals to reflect community views.

· 3rd Consultation Event, 14th July 2005, Tranmere Methodist Hall.
· 318 people attended the event and 291 voted on whether they agreed with or opposed the revised proposals. The results of this vote were:

190 Yes, in favour of the proposals
74 - Yes, with some reservations
26 - no, opposed proposals
1 unable to say at this time

· 35 votes were received from residents whose homes were in the proposed clearance area of which 16 were in favour, 14 were in favour with some reservations and 5 opposed proposals.

Of the, 19 traders who voted, 11 voted in favour, 4 voted in favour with some reservations and 4 voted against.

· Following on from this event, the Masterplan was approved by the Council's Cabinet on 8th September 2005.

· Letters also were also sent to all households in and around the Church Road area following the approval of the Masterplan and a public meeting was held on 30th September 2005 at Tranmere Methodist Hall. This meeting was attended by 59 people:

- 26 from within the proposed clearance area comprising 22 owner-occupiers, 2 tenants and business owners
- 21 from the wider Church Road area
- 2 from outside of Tranmere
- 5 from the Council or other organisation
- 5 who did not give their address


· Community consultation continued through requested meetings with TRACE. It was established that the meetings needed to be opened to the rest of the Church Road community, as a result general monthly meetings with residents commenced in early 2006.

Public Meeting

· In March 2006 a Public Meeting was held at the request of residents. The meeting was attended by Frank Field MP and Senior Council Staff and sought to address issues and concerns of local residents and traders. Some issues were predominantly of an individual nature and have subsequently been addressed through one to one discussion. Other more general issues are being addressed through the monthly residents meetings.

Community Planning Event

· On the 12th April 2006 A Community Planning Event was held at Tranmere Methodist Church Hall. This was an opportunity for residents to comment on the developing plans and comment on the proposed shopping area, mix of housing types, public open spaces and parking. The event was attended by approximately 100 people, with around 71 completing questionnaires. Feedback was subsequently given via the newsletter and residents were given further opportunities to contribute via surgeries, the Tranmere Show and questionnaires distributed at a number of community buildings.
· Overall the response was good with only two people rating the proposals as very poor/poor and the majority rating them as good.
· Further one to one consultation has been undertaken with residents in Caerwys Grove and Hampden Grove where plans for the site backing onto their properties have subsequently been amended. Residents are now happy with revised proposals.

Monthly drop in surgeries

· Surgeries offer an opportunity for residents to express any concerns or ask questions regarding the developments in the area. While they have not seen huge attendance they are another form of consultation which suit some people and the Council is keen to continue providing them on a regular basis.

Newsletters

· Transform is a quarterly publication distributed to over 1000 households, local agencies and community organisations.
· The newsletter provides updates on progress, feedback on consultation and surveys and aims to address issues raised by residents. It also provides details of future consultation and the contact details for relevant officers.

Exhibitions at Tranmere and Wirral Shows, Summer 2006

· Both shows were used as a means of consulting on plans with a wider audience.

Show Case visits

· Residents from the area were given the opportunity to visit previous Lovell developments in the NorthWest. Residents were taken on a study tour to view these developments to give an idea of what Church Road could look like.

Home Ownership Advisory Officers

· These officers provide home visits, one to one point of contact for residents. Each resident was allocated an officer to help them through the relocation process.
· This includes property valuation, accessing independent financial advice, finding alternative accommodation.

Community Regeneration Training

· The Council set out to comprise a structured training course to deliver a three session “Introduction to Regeneration” course.
· The aim of the course was to provide information and insight to a group of young people residing in the regeneration area.
· The aim was to help them understand the problems faced when dealing with regeneration issues whilst also helping to develop personal skills such as group work, presentation skills and basic problem solving.
· The group we worked with were a group of ten teenagers of working age who were currently attending an access to employment course at Church Road Methodist Church in Tranmere.
· The group was fairly evenly split between boys and girls and the Introduction to Regeneration Course was to be included as part of the access to employment programme.

Art Regeneration Project

· TiC Consultants, in partnership with Wirral Borough Council; Newheartlands and Maritime Housing Association have appointed a team of two artists to work on the second phase of the Solid Futures project with local residents in the Church Road area in Tranmere. Solid Futures uses creative approaches to explore complex and sometimes controversial issues.

· Artists will work in a participatory setting to support people living through change due to Housing Market Renewal (HMR) and ideas, designs or artwork developed will reflect the neighbourhood identity, cultural diversity and local history of Tranmere.

· Phase one of the project took place in Summer/Autumn 2005 and used local groups from the Tranmere area to produce artwork. Three themes, Tranmere, past, present and future, were used by various groups to develop artwork which was displayed on banners along Old Chester Road.

· Phase two of Solid Futures will strongly focus on the process of involving local residents in reminiscence of their lives and their neighbourhoods, and will then encourage them to focus on the future of their neighbourhood.
· The project will start in September 2006 and finish at the end of December 2006.

School Art Competition

· In conjunction with the Solid Futures art project we invited local schools to the exhibition of artwork produced in the first phase. As part of this exhibition children were then asked to produce artwork with the theme “A Christmas wish for Tranmere” Children’s wishes included Zoo’s, Leisure Centres and Youth Clubs and the winning entries were shown in the Newsletter.

Front Line Staff Briefings

· Regular briefings are held for front line staff including One-Stop Shops and Wardens.
· This service is soon to be extended to the PCT to widen the understanding of front-line staff from the PCT in the area about the delivery of HMRI.


Looking Ahead – Plans for future engagement

Wirral will continue to engage residents through the various mechanisms already mentioned and will continue to strive to ensure that consultation is as inclusive as possible.

As delivery steps up a pace over the next six months, there will be a need for more of a regular presence in Church Road of Council and Developer representatives, and the use of the Together Office as a base for weekly drop in sessions is being planned with Together.

As plans are developed later in the autumn / winter, residents will have a key role in determining the detail design of the scheme through further Community Planning Events

In addition, the following areas have been identified for development:

Improvement of Website and links to other Websites

Wirral are conscious of the need to improve the accessibility of a wide range of information via the website. This will be one of the priorities over the next few months.

Radio City and Wirral Globe

Wirral have recruited a dedicated Marketing and Communication Manager who will work closely with Radio City and the Wirral Globe to ensure information is up to date and relevant. Additional projects with these partners include:

Front page wrap in Wirral Globe and negotiation of circulation of the Wirral Globe in Tranmere

Street / Shopping Centre Naming Competition

Press release schedule

‘Live Merseyside’ Roadshow – Summer 2007
Tranmere Show – June 2007

Ongoing quartery newsletters

Church Road fact sheet

Feasibility of a Regeneration Notice Board on Church Road

Signage on development sites

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The second paper is based on an Audit Commission series of questions with somne suggestions from the council officers.

Briefing Note for Audit Commission Visit, 18th September 2006

The Audit Commission has given Wirral Council an outline of the areas which they would like to explore. The following questions represent an idea of what may come up during the discussion and the responses are meant as an aide memoir.


- What challenges have been faced & how have these been overcome?

Community unease/ opposition to Masterplan has been overcome with further debate and consultation using an options based approach. The Church Road Masterplan has seen further refinement/scaling down of proposals in response to resident concerns to ensure there was a large mandate for the agreed ‘Preferred Option’ of the Masterplan.

Further issues have arisen as the Council has started to deliver the Masterplan, particularly regarding the following issues which are addressed through ongoing discussion and consultation:

§ Security of areas
§ Environmental impact of clearance and empty properties
§ Perception of low valuations
§ Aspendale Rd CPO
§ CABE
§ Relocating businesses and financial assistance
§ Bridging gaps
§ Social housing shortage
§ Improvement Grants

Some of the issues relate to individual circumstances and are being addressed through negotiation and discussion with nominated officers introduced to improve day to day liaison with the residents and businesses.

A number of concerns are ongoing, particularly concerns relating to the relocation of the businesses. Although as individuals they have all been contacted, delays with the legal agreements have prevented the Commercial Developer Atmore from entering into negotiations with retailers



- How are key stakeholders including local communities being engaged?

§ NRA’s
§ Masterplans
§ Newsletters
§ Public Meetings
§ Monthly Residents Meetings
§ Surgeries
§ Community Planning Days
§ Briefing Sessions
§ HOAOs
§ Study Trips

- Is there clear accountability to partners & local communities?

Monthly residents meetings attended by Chairs of local residents groups including Chair of United Communities Group, Vice Chair of Together Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder, Chair of TRACE, representatives from the Tranmere Community Project, Neighbourhood Wardens and Methodist Church.

Future meetings will also be attended by local Members

The HMRI Manager, Church Road Project Manager, Principal Implementation Manager also regularly attends these meetings with the Developer to provide updates and respond to issues raised by the local community.

- To what extent are local authorities providing effective leadership within their own local areas?


Members support? Senior Management Support?

The Church Road intervention area has a dedicated Project Manager, Implementation Officer responsible for liaising with the business interests, Urban Renewal Officer responsible for the day to day management of the housing acquisitions.


- How are the Pathfinder/ local authority encouraging innovation?

§ Empty Homes
§ Licensing
§ Home Swap
§ Hillside Court
§ HOAO’s

Minutes: Together Environment Group July

These are the minutes of one of the three Together theme groups. They are written for those who attend the meetings as a record of the decisions taken - so they don't always spell out much background on each of the programmes to which they refer but they still provide some useful information about things happening 'behind the scenes'.

If you want to know more about any of these issues contact James Kay at jameslkay@ntlworld.com and I will try to get more details for you. I will post minutes of these as they arrive from now on.


TOGETHER
Living Environment Thematic Group Meeting
Royal Standard House 18.7.06


Present Alex Butler Kate Thomas Emma Foley Steve Eaves Jan Colgan
Angela Don Steph Reid Keith Farrell Lesley Gibbons Hugh Owen John Ford

Apologies Steve Jackson Simon Petris Tara Dumas, Fergus Adams


Actions/minutes

Wardens report/Resident issues

LG gave information to the group about forthcoming Health Walks in the pathfinder area. AB stated that walks should be advertised elsewhere. Group agreed. Publicity to be extended beyond pathfinder.

Wardens had recently completed a graffiti audit detailing 73 graffiti instances in the area.

Action – JF to approach HMRI team and streetscene to discuss possibility of Graffiti clean up blitz. JF to also discuss Wirral MBC graffiti target (local area agreement)

Wardens were to shortly begin involvement with the youth federation programme.

Other issues raised:

Rodney Street - action had begun re addressing environmental and ASB problems.

Meadow close – action started to deal with safety problems associated with grassed hill.

Action - Wardens to report to next meeting on progress.


Parks development:

JF informed the group that David Ball and Jim Lester had agreed a multi agency approach to enhance the existing parks strategies. JF was to arrange first meeting shortly

It was suggested that Martin McCoy should be involved in the parks group.

Action – JF to update the group on terms of reference and scope of the work of the parks group

ACTION PLAN

NET
JF briefed the group on progress of the NET. JF will be meeting Include NM organisation this afternoon to seek agreement to employ/manage the team with the LE Group providing steer.

The group discussed the environmental element of the NET approach. It was thought that the best way to approach this was to combine the NET educational element with Gardens for school programme, the junior wardens’ scheme and any environmental projects. This involves Beanbag, Groundwork, NET, Margaret Caldwell (Youth coordinator) and schools.

Action – JF to compile a project brief and draft scope for next meeting

TENANCY REFERENCE SCHEME

JC briefed the group on progress – little take up to date by landlords

Action - JC to compile article advertising credit rating checks for landlords – in order to provide incentive - to be returned to Rob Walsh at Together by thurs 27th. JC to consider additional incentives for landlords.

Action – Emma to Liaise with Jan and inform group of progress against TRS.
HMRI

Action – EF to invite JF to attend clearance steering group.


ACCESS TO SERVICES

HO informed the group that Housing would be the first service to investigate/review public access issues. The first meeting to progress will take place on Friday (19th July).

The group were very keen to progress the review of services as quickly as possible to planning and environmental services. HO agreed that they were priority services but that three large RSL’s going under scrutiny first would provide a positive example to others.

WCVS are currently looking at access to services

Action - Steph Reid to contact WCVS to inform group re scope and progress to date

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

The next meeting would look at the status of chosen LE indicators and targets to evaluate any work/changes required to establish firm baselines and also to identify how data collection will take place throughout the term of the action plan.

Action - JF to expand the PM table to show current status re indicators/targets.

AOB

Steven Eaves gave an introduction into the work of the Empty Property Team and to the UGLI programme.

Ongoing maintenance of identified land would be an issue for future consideration with potential for involvement of the NET.(UGLI)

Action AD to forward potential ugly locations identified by Environmental wardens in Birkenhead to JF who will combine with NW’s locations and forward to SE.

Several members of the group identified potential benefits of linking the UGLI scheme with the NET, Groundwork, Beanbag and the Schools gardening programme in a strategic approach to use of resources for improving/using open land and linking this to schools engagement as a positive approach to environmental education (NET) and project involvement for schools.

Action – JF to talk to interested groups re scoping this approach


Date of next meeting 18th Sept 10am Royal Standard House