TRACE

Housing Market Update

2011-07-14T10:19:00.000Z

We had a meeting of the Tranmere and Rock Ferry Residents group on Monday and received some updates from the Wirral Council representative. Here are the headlines:

- There is an £8 million budget needed to complete the HMR projects in Tranmere and Rock Ferry. Nearly £2million is still needed to complete the clearances in Tranmere. Bids have been put in and we should know how much if any money will be forthcoming by "end of July"

- The latest date notified for action on connection of the substation to the former Abakan site is September. This will involve running a power line from Leighton Road. We were previuously told that this may take three months to completion so the earliest date for any building on the site must now be in 2012. I will be surprised if there is any visible action within 12 months from today.

Grass cutting on the derelict sites is being addressed in discussions between the Council and Lairdside Together. Meanwhile - a small guerilla gardening project has been started by yours truly along the side of the green fencing on the side of 19 Seymour Street. If anyone wants to help me extend this to other places on the same site or other sites - let me know. The council's speed is glacial so if we want these sites improved we are probably going to have to do it ourselves.

We were told that there will be no more major "improvement" (sic) projects by the Council. They have dropped back 10 years in their approach to concentrate on the the protection of the quality of the existing housing stock. If only HMRI had never been pursued and we had put a tiny proportion of the almost £50million wasted on it, into improvements - how great would Tranmere be now?

In Tranmere and Rock Ferry we were told that the new target is for 700 new homes to be built (by the private sector) and this will take another 7 to 10 years.

From Rock Ferry residents we heard about problems of abandoned build projects with half built houses and fears about the project at Rock Ferry High School which some felt would create a vandalism hotspot for local youth.

Williamson Gallery - new exhibitions

2010-07-25T12:29:00.001Z

There are two new exhibitions definitely worth a visit at the Williamson gallery on Slatey Road/Balls Road in Birkenhead. http://tinyurl.com/38aal5p The web link I have just given you is a bit rubbish - it just gives background about the gallery. For some reason Wirral Borough Council can find the money to provide three staff on their reception desk all day but no live web page to promote their exhibitions.
When I visited on two days last week -Thursday and Saturday - I was the only visitor for an hour or so. This is hardly surprising if the exhibitions aren't promoted.

The first exhibition is "Forced journeys: Artists in Exile 1933-1945" . The exhibition celebrates the work of artists fleeing from Nazi tyranny in Austria and Germany in the 1930s. These artists arrived in Britain and when hostilities started they were interned - many on the Isle of Man - for the duration of the war. There are over 100 works and other items including paintings some ceramics, letters and other artefacts.

A better link with some of the artworks shown is here to the Ben Uri Gallery in London which previously hosted the exhibition and which is also co-organising the visit to the Williamson. http://www.benuri.org.uk/ForcedJourneys09.htm

A second exhibition is of "Stick and Cane". This is a great little exhibition - also terribly underpromoted - of sticks and canes used by important people throughout the ages. It sounds a bit dull - actually I thought it fascinating.

When primitive man first stood erect it was probably with the aid of a stick which might also have become a cudgel. It was the first weapon to fight off animals and no doubt the strongest, most virile man had the biggest, best or fanciest stick. Soon the stick itself became the symbol of power or badge of office. This exhibition has a few hundred examples from a very small and elegant 'stiletto' sword stick to one made from a shark's backbone.

There are ebony, glass, jade and many metal clad sticks with more or less ornate handles. It is well worth an hour of your time. Sad that the Council can put on these little exhibitions but then doesn't tell us about them. Tell your friends - it is worth a visit.

FREE Performing Arts project - Liverpool

2010-07-13T08:40:00.000Z

FREE Performing Arts project - The Liverpool Institute for Performing arts - running for young people aged 16- 25 who are not in employment, education or training.
"Where we want to find local disengaged talent and start them on a project with us. If you know of any young people leaving school or college this summer who are talented or interested in performing arts but have no plans for their future we could help them with this new project.

We are running a pilot in July from Tuesday 20th to Thursday 22nd July at LIPA in the city centre, it is free and food and drink will be provided. If the project works well we hope to continue on to a 6 month project which could see the young people perform in Liverpool! Attached is the information on the project, please feel free to pass this on to your contacts and refer young people."
Michelle Gammo-Felton - Widening Participation Manager
Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts
Mount Street L1 9HF
0151 330 3010
07779274642
m.gammo-felton@lipa.ac.uk
http://www.lipa.ac.uk/

Church Road Development "Abakan site" - when will it start?

2010-07-07T08:11:00.000Z

The latest news from the developers is that they are close to completion of their "three-way legal agreements between Lovell, our retail partner Henry Davidson Developments Limited, and the Council" which they say can be completed within a 2/3 week period from the beginning of July.
As soon as that happens, they say "HDDL will be signing up their retail tenants and when 50% of the scheme has been let, the construction work will commence. It is impossible to say how quickly the 50% mark will be achieved although a number of key tenants are already lined up and waiting to sign."
Lovell's current internal programme assumes a late August start but the date will move (either way) depending on the speed of lettings. Meanwhile, they said in a recent email to local residents on the HMRI working group they are "expecting that a pre-contract order will soon be placed with our subcontractor, PN Daly, to bring in electrical supplies to the proposed new substation. If this happens, this will ultimately speed up the delivery of the retail scheme, when building works commence in earnest."
Bruce Lister from Lovell's also said "Please don’t take these comments as ‘promises’ – they represent my best view as things currently stand but are still subject to external factors. Nonetheless, I wanted to share with you where I think we are and where we are going."
Hmmmm.
Well - we'll see.
Let us know what you think.

Seymour Street - what a mess!

2010-07-07T08:03:00.000Z

The recently cleared area on Seymour Street is a mess! Its like a jungle out there. It seems that the Council and the developers and the demolition people all thought it was someone else's job to keep the area tidy. They have been reminded by local residents that the area should be managed. They have promised to have the wardens cut the weeds back and keep the area tidy.

Keep watching that space and we'll see if they get on with it. Keep watching this space for updates and let us know if you have other issues that you would like to raise.

Tranmere Residents blog now promoted in local newsletter

2010-07-07T07:57:00.000Z

Now that all local residents have been mailed with news of the Tranmere Resident's blog and our Twitter page from the Neighbourhood Resource Centre - why not use them to find out what is happening in your community.

All questions and complaints or comments about life in Tranmere will be followed up and posted on the blog. Just hit the comments button here or go to the Twitter page churchroadnrc

Wirral TV to make programme(s) about St Cath's Development

2010-04-29T14:37:00.000Z

A working group of local residents in Tranmere and Rock Ferry together with staff from NHS Wirral are working with Wirral TV to commission a series of short films about the redevelopment of St Catherine's Hospital site. Plans are still developing but at the moment the current thinking is to have short films produced – maybe in 3 parts - to cover the demolition phase; the interim phase and the completed project. This would enable the public to see each element at specific times throughout the development period. All 3 parts can then go onto a dvd at the end. Here are some of the first thoughts on content for these ideas but the working group members would love to hear from local residents and NHS users with other ideas.

First stage/pre and post demolition phase
St Catherine’s as it is now and to capture the start of the building process, to introduce the public to the contractors, the apprentices, design team etc. Wirral TV will interview members of:

Birkenhead History Society,
Chair & members of St Catherine’s Resident working group,
PCT pre-selected interviewees (limited to 2/3 people)
a rep from NHS Wirral who can explain the plans for redevelopment and the patient need for the redevelopment (Dr Mantgani).

The objective is to clearly demonstrate to everyone how the project is developing as well as why.

Second stage
Capturing particular stages in the development and initiatives such as Tranmere Show, snippets of arts/photography/history initiatives (to be confirmed).

Final stage
On completion of the build, Wirral TV will capture the new facilities, carry out some vox pops with local residents, interview those interviewed in the first film (see above).

So, what do you think?
You can make comments here or email responses to jameslkay@ntlworld.com who will pass them on.

Wirral MIND have an article with memories of St Caths at http://wmindarticles.blogspot.com/2007/06/memories-of-st-catherines-hospital.html

New draft terms for Together Living Environmnet Group

2010-04-23T10:54:00.000Z

These draft terms of reference will be considered by this together group at their next meeting.

Draft terms of reference – Living Environment Thematic Group

Background
The group has been operating for over four years and has some notable achievements:

Introduction of the NET team and sustaining environmental improvement in the area
Reconfiguring the Wardens Service
Sustaining resident involvement within the group
Parks improvement and development
Securing the Green Together lottery programme
Delivering the Graffiti service across Wirral

With the recent merger of LCT, next year’s closure of Neighbourhood Management Funding and in view of the work already carried out the focus of the group and future role needs to be clarified. In addition the development of Environmental Services as part of the business stream within the current plans for LCT removes some of the emphasis on previous key work areas from the group (this is now business development rather than ‘Neighbourhood Management’ ). The group have expressed the view that there remains a fundamental need to provide a level of input of environmental services in the area in order to sustain or respond to local needs. This has also been expressed at board level and has been factored into Environmental Services plans for LCT.

Terms of reference – items/role: The following items have been proposed as key terms of reference for the group.

A resident and partner forum monitoring ‘the state of the environment’ and so informing and referring wider issues affecting Tranmere and Rock Ferry to service providers, the board and others
To continue as a partnership which includes all relevant service providers (chiefly social landlords and Streetscene service)
To act as a supporter and critical friend to mainstream services regarding service delivery, performance and future plans
The group will report to the LCT board as required to do so, and also advise the board on any emerging or significant environmental issues.
The group should identify and pursue opportunities for funding where they may benefit either the company and/or the quality of the local environment.
The group may be tasked to investigate and /or develop ideas or initiatives by the LCT board or its executives.

Following discussion, amendment and comment by the group, a complete terms of reference will be drawn up and circulated for agreement by the ahead of the next LETG meeting

Check out Church Road NRC on Twitter

2010-04-20T13:08:00.000Z

Tranmere's Neighbourhood Resource Centre on Church Road now has its own Twitter account. Find it at http://twitter.com/churchroadnrc

You can tweet to the NRC, check out its tweets and see who it is following (other Twitter sites) on the Wirral.

The next edition of the Together News

2010-04-20T13:00:00.000Z

Can you please send any articles for the next edition of the Together News. The deadline for submission of articles is Friday May 7th.
Many Thanks,
Kim Harvey
Neighbourhood Information Officer
Lairdside Communities Together (LCT)
Royal Standard House,

334 New Chester Road,
Birkenhead,
Wirral,
CH42 1LE
Tel: 0151 644 4830
Fax: 0151 643 9445

The International Journal of Neighbourhood Renewal

2010-04-20T12:55:00.000Z

May and June Training Sessions in London / Belfast and Manchester

Holden Publishing publish the Journals of Neighbourhood Renewal and Culture & Urban Development and we are launching a dedicated training programme for practitioners in these fields. Training sessions in 2010 are to be held across a range of UK locations on the following topics:

(a) How to effectively evaluate neighbourhood renewal and sustainable communities projects and programmes – please visit http://www.neighbourhoodjournal.com/page_1255424228058.html
for further details.

(b) How to appraise neighbourhood and sustainable communities projects – please visit http://www.neighbourhoodjournal.com/page_1255424240689.html
for further details.

(c) How to develop effective programme management systems for neighbourhood renewal and sustainable communities programmes – please visit http://www.neighbourhoodjournal.com/page_1255424252071.html
for further details.

At these day long events a range of practitioners and trainers will give useful advice on the subject at hand. The day will start at 9.15 and finish at 16.15. Lunch will be provided to all attendees. In order to ensure that the events are not too crowded the sessions are limited to the first 50 people.

The cost per person for sessions is £150 plus VAT. All attendees receive a full training pack to support the training provided on the day. If you wish to attend any of these events, please just email neighbourhoodjournal@googlemail.com and we will make the necessary arrangements.

HMR update

2010-04-08T14:16:00.003Z

Just (1.00 pm on Thursday 8th April 2010) been to a meeting of the group that brings together resident's representatives and Wirral Council employees around the Housing Market Renewal (HMR) programme in Tranmere. Minutes will follow - here are some of the key points raised.

Shops
The commercial development on the former Abakan site is now underway. All the legal agreements have been signed and the developer (Lovell) are now clearing the Japanese Knotweed infestation on the site before laying power cables to and from the substation they will arrange to be built on the site.

They will then need the next nine months to complete this site. At the end of this process there will be one biggish local supermarket - about the size of the Co-op now on Church Road - probably it wuill be the Co-op -and another six or seven smaller shop units. There are detailed plans for this on view at the Tranmere Neighbourhood Resource Centre.

St Cath's Car Park Extension
Titan's Gym - former site - will now be used as part of the development of the St Cath's site by their site developers. The site will be handed over by the Council for the works to get the car park established on the 19th of April 2010. The wall between the existing St Cath's car park and the former Gym site will be opened up so that there should be no new traffic on Church Road because of this use.

Local jobs for local workers
After interventions by local residents there is to be a meeting on the 20th of April at Royal Standard House for over 100 local builders to explore opportunities for local workers to be involved in the HMR and St Cath's site developments.

Whitford Road
56 two or three bedroomed houses to be built by Lovell for private owners - 32 are direct sale in the open market and the other 24 will have a 30% investment using Government Homebuy Direct funds meaning owners only need to find the other 70%. These houses should be completed by December 2010.

It is likely that Lovell will monitor sales of these and if they go well - use this as evidence to justify building the later phases of the Church Road developments.

Demolitions
The block of 21, 23, 28, 36 Church Road (with "Yvonnes" - the former pound shop) is to come down next as will Merrimans at the back of Seymour Street. The disconnection of power and water services will come first then demolition - probably over the next three months.

More minutes to follow later.

Timetables in bus stop - Church Road

2007-12-27T09:37:00.000Z

I spoke some time ago to Phil Davies - our local councillor - about missing bus timetables in the bus shelter opposite the Co-op on Church Road. I had previously raised this at a Tranmere Together meeting. For a couple of months there had been no current timetable in the shelter and for quite a long time there was just a notice saying that there couldn't be an updated timetable because the bus times were changing so often. I took the veiw that this just wasn't good enough after talking to local residents who told me that they were all at sixes and sevens about when the buses were due.

To cut a long story short Phil chased up Merseytravel by writing to their Chief Executive -Neil Scales. The end result is that we now have an updated timetable in the shelter - so thanks to Phil for that.

Phil sent me a copy of the letter that he had received from Neil Scales which is a classic peice of civil service fudge which manages to face two ways at once - obviously a well-trained civil servant. Mr Scales also fails to apologise for the failure of his organisation to maintain current information at our bus stops - which I think is the least that he could have done.

He says in his letter to Phil that they have 'a commitment to maintaining current information' on bus service timetables at bus stops but that they 'don't have the resources' to keep the updated information "from the date of the change". This seems to mean that they have the commitment only for public relations purposes - they won't actually be delivering on that commitment. This is pretty poor stuff from a Chief Exec whose job it is to allocate resources to achieve their commitments.

Have a look for yourself - it is attached below.

Church Road HMRI Dec 07 meeting

2007-12-20T16:45:00.000Z

Notes from Church Road feedback meeting 12th December 2007

These notes were taken by me (James Kay) and have been written up in note format. They will be replaced on this blog in due course by formal minutes from the meeting. There are some key points that you might want to note.

Progress report
As at 12th December the developers were still waiting for outline planning permission on the whole development. This hasd been submitted back in April 2007. They could not go ahead with a detailed application until this was given. The obstacle seems to be the legal team at the council who are holding this up. The end result of our discussions was that Phil Davies – our ward Councillor and a Wirral MBC Cabinet member, promised to chase this up and try to get all the key players in one room to resolve it quickly. Phil is clearly committed to resolving this as soon as possible but he is up against a local council bureaucracy whose track record on doing anything on time is abysmal. Don’t hold your breath.

IF Phil is successful in his attempts to speed up the bureaucrats (by no means a certainty) the best timetable from now on looks like this:

* Outline planning permission in place by mid January
* Detailed planning permission to be submitted – end February 08
* Detailed planning permission granted – June 08 (at the best – the outline permission has taken them 9 months already instead of the promised 3 months)
* Earliest start date therefore on Abakan site for commercial development is about 12 weeks later – that is Sep 08
* To finish Phase 1 (mainly the shops on the Abakan site) will take about 9 months from start of work to doors opening for business – May/June 09.

This is (in my opinion JK) the earliest likely completion date for phase 1. It is quite possible that we might not see this first phase completed until the end of 2009.

The next meeting will be February 13th at Royal Standard House at 2.00pm

HMRI Fun Day

2007-09-20T10:39:00.000Z

Date: Saturday 29th September 2007
Event times: 11 – 4pm
Venue: Former Hillside Court site on Hillside Road, (off Church Road) Tranmere.

Main Stage Area
12noon John Harding – Magic Show
12.30pm Talent Show entries invited by John Harding
12.30-1.00pm Live Entertainment – Marc Kenny
1.00-4.00pm Talent Show – MC – John Harding

Information Marquee
Organisations will be allocated a table and chair within the marquee.
1. Live Wirral
2. Tranmere Alliance
3. Tranmere Together
4. Lovell
5. Energy Efficiency
6. Wardens
7. Tranmere Community Project
8. Landlord Accreditation Team
9. Handyperson
10. DK Architects
11. Home Improvement
12. Venture Housing
13. Living Through Change

Activities include:

Bouncy Castle
Beat the Goalie
Face Painting
Children’s Artist
Jacket Potatoes
Tuck Shop

Please can all exhibitors ensure that their stand/table is set up by 10.45am at the latest.

Young males attempting break in to cars at St Caths

2007-08-02T14:12:00.000Z

At 14:20 on Tuesday a member of staff spotted two young males trying a number of car doors in St Catherine’s Hospital Car Park near to the church. One of these youths when challenged said he was from Liverpool and just cutting through. It appears that nothing has been stolen but they may return. The local police have been alerted.

They are described as about 5’10ins tall and 19 years of age. One had distinctive ginger hair and was wearing a blue cotton ‘golf’ type jacket. The other had a white T shirt and was wearing a cloth cap.

The local police said that there has been a recent increase in the number of thefts from cars and they request to be informed immediately of any further incidents

Wirral Citizen's Panel Report

2007-06-04T10:56:00.000Z

I (James Kay) am an individual member of the Wirral Citizens Panel. This means that once every few months I complete a questionnaire which - together with the responses of many hundreds of local citizens in Wirral - goes off to the local authority, health bodiesand others planning local services.

This quarter I have received back a newsletter which tells me what results have come recently from this community consultation and how they have been used. Here is what was said.

"In recent questionnaires, we have asked for your views on a range of topics. These are influencing the planning and delivery of Council services in a number of important areas.

Previous results are being used by the Council as follows:

Local Transport Plan
The Local Transport Plan (LTP) is the joint strategy of the Merseyside Local Authorities and Merseytravel working together to improve transport and encourage the use of sustainable transport options within the area and to support regeneration.

The questions in the 2006 survey were to obtain information on how the LTP initiatives are working and ascertain panel members’ views of them. Respondents were asked what type of transport they generally used and how often. Responses show that 67% travel by private car to work, 71% travel by private car to do grocery shopping, 43% stated that the youngest child walked to school. Respondents were asked about various services provided by public transport and whether they had improved or worsened. The top three areas showing improvement were cleanliness of trains (64%), rail punctuality (49%) and rail reliability (45%). The top three areas of dissatisfaction were value for money in using the bus service (50%), frequency of evening/ weekend buses (40%) and frequency of daytime buses (33%).

The Citizens Panel has helped inform the development of the transport strategy and priorities for LTP2. Citizens Panel information has been used alongside other consultation event feedback and alongside Government guidance to shape the transport strategy and priorities contained within the plan.

Wirral Library Service:
The Panel was asked about how often they visit libraries in Wirral. Almost a third (30%) of panel members said that they visit libraries once a month or more. Almost a third (32%) of panel members said that they visit a public library in Wirral less than once a year.

The Panel results will be compared with results from Wirral Library Service’s own "non user survey" carried out in March 2006. Some of the same questions were used in both surveys, helping to build a picture of barriers to library. The top 3 most commonly stated reasons for not accessing the library more often were ‘lack of time’, ‘buy own books’ and ‘access the internet at home’.

The findings have been used by Wirral Library Service to help focus marketing more closely on particular groups.

Local Heritage:
These questions were prompted by the suggestions of a panel member who contacted us. Panellists were asked about how satisfied they were with heritage attractions in the area and how often they visited them. The top three most visited attractions were Lady Lever Art Gallery (75% visited at least once), Williamson Art Gallery & Museum (71%) and Fort Perch Rock (58%). The top three attractions in terms of overall satisfaction with the experience were Lady Lever Art Gallery (92% satisfied), Williamson Art Gallery & Museum (88%) and Shore Road Pumping Station (86%).

Plans are currently underway to develop a regular programme of customer consultation on local heritage. The Panel results will act as a starting point to build a picture of the place of local heritage in the public mind and find out the popularity and attractiveness of Wirral’s local heritage attractions compared to attractions in neighbouring areas.

The information gathered will be shared with the other attractions named in the survey. The comments, both positive and negative, will be used to help make decisions about future programming and marketing for the section.

Streetscene and Recycling:
Panellists were asked how satisfied they are with various aspects of the Council’s Streetscene service, in particular the design and appearance of street furniture and the maintenance and cleanliness of Wirral’s roads, pavements and verges.

Some of the results are used to measure public satisfaction with the condition/state of repair and the design of various items of ‘street furniture’ (seats, signs, communal bins and bollards) and about overall satisfaction with the design and appearance of Streetscene generally. For each of the particular ‘street furniture’ items, satisfaction in 2006 was lower than in 2004. However, overall satisfaction with “the design and appearance of Streetscene generally” increased slightly since 2004 (52.6%, 53.0%, 56.7%).

The survey has confirmed that one of the priority areas, in terms of low levels of satisfaction, is litter. This has resulted in publicity over the use of fixed penalty notices for littering. A series of education and enforcement programs has been targeted at shopping areas and the routes from these to schools, with the aim of preventing people from dropping litter. New litter bins have also been installed in some areas of the borough.

Community Involvement:
Panel members were asked about whether they are actively involved in their local community. One quarter (25%) stated that they had participated in voluntary and/or community work in the past 12 months. This compares with a slightly higher percentage (28%) in 2005. 70% ‘strongly agreed’ (18%) or ‘agreed’ (52%) that active involvement in the local community can have an influence on decisions affecting their local area. 91% of Panel members thought the range of community activities had got better or stayed the same. 75% of respondents thought support for community activities had got better or stayed the same.

More information about what the Council has achieved, and about what it plans to do next can be found in the Council’s Performance Plan. This is available on the Council’s website and in libraries and One Stop Shops.

www.wirral.gov.uk

.

Church Road Residents Meeting Minutes 25th April 2007

2007-06-04T09:23:00.000Z

I now have copies of the minutes from the last meeting in April. The next meeting is on the 6th of June - Wednesday - at Royal Standard House - at 2pm

James Kay

Were you married at St Paul’s or at St Luke’s?

2007-06-04T09:16:00.000Z

As part of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the parish which serves Lower Tranmere and parts of Rock Ferry, we are holding an event for those who have been married at one of our churches over the years.

It will be on Saturday 23rd June at 2.30 pm and will consist of a short service of thanksgiving to be followed by refreshments in the church hall and an opportunity for people to catch up with old friends.

If you would like to receive an invitation please contact the vicar, John Chesworth, either by phone on (0151) 645 3547 or by email at
paul_luke@englandmail.com

(Thanks to Jihn Chesworth for this post)

Community Funding Scheme - deadline 15th June

2007-06-04T09:13:00.000Z

Nearly £200k available for local groups
Voluntary and community groups in Wirral are being invited to apply for £193,000 to fund local projects. Funding is allocated on an annual basis to groups in the 11 areas covered by the Council’s Area Forums.
The deadline for applications is June 15.
For 2007/08 the amounts allocated to each Area Forum are:
• £11,000 from the Council’s Community Initiatives Fund - funding for Voluntary and Community organisations in Wirral for proposals that fit the specific criteria set by each of the Area Forums.
• £3,000 from the community safety Fund - funding for Community Safety projects.
£1,500 from the Local Agenda 21 Fund - funding for environmental /sustainable Projects.
The proposals are assessed by a panel selected by the Area Forum from its members. The panel makes recommendations to the Council's Executive Board where the final decision on the funding is made.
Projects that have recently benefited from grants include:
Groundwork Wirral, who were awarded £1,000 from the Community Initiatives Fund to help towards the cost of engaging an artist to work on Brassey Gardens, a new and exciting recreational space for children to play in. The funding enabled the appointment of an artist, Rebecca Ball-Bryson, to carry out the artwork consisting of six panels, viewed from two windows, thus screening an otherwise unattractive view.
The Tall Ships Youth Trust also benefited. The trust received a total of £1,186.95 across a number of forums to send younger people on voyages. The Trust, which owns two 60-metre training brigs, each capable of taking 48 young people to sea, is dedicated to personal development of young people through sail training experiences. They particularly welcome working with younger people from socially deprived and disadvantaged backgrounds. The trust have used their allocation of funding to send a number of young people from the Oxton, Prenton, Birkenhead, Tranmere, Rock Ferry and West Wirral wards on the life changing voyages, with plans to send even more in the future.
Community Groups wishing to submit an application for funding can get an
application pack by writing to the Community Engagement Team, Corporate Services Department, Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Wallasey CH44 8ED or by phoning 0151 691 8650.
They can also request a pack by emailing engage@wirral.gov.uk

Tranmere Show 24th June

2007-06-04T08:21:00.000Z

The Tranmere Show goes from Strength to strength. Click on the image below to see the full size poster.

Wirral Carers' Week 11-17 June

2007-06-04T08:09:00.000Z

People in Wirral who care for a relative or friend will be able to get support, information and advice at events around the borough during Carers’ Week. This year, Carers’ Week will run from Monday, June 11 to Sunday, June 17. In Wirral, the week’s events are being organised by Wirral’s Department of Adult Social Services in partnership with other organisations such as WIRED, the independent organisation which supports carers.

Carers’ Week will get underway on the 11th with an information and advice stand hosted by WIRED in the foyer of Morrison’s supermarket on Dee Lane in West Kirby.
During the rest of the week, there will be information and advice stands in other parts of Wirral including in Liscard on the 12th, Bebington on the 13th and in the Pyramids Centre in Birkenhead on the 14th, 15th and 16th.

The Director of Wirral’s Department of Adult Social Services, Kevin Miller said: “I’m very much hoping that people visiting the information and advice stands will find the help and support available to be genuinely useful. Visitors will be able to ask questions about a wide range of issues that affect carers including direct payments, welfare benefit entitlement, carers assessments and employment issues for carers.”

Linda Roberts, Chief Executive of WIRED added: “We are proud to be working in partnership with the Local Authority and other organisations during Carers week. By providing information points and other events throughout the week, we hope to identify and offer support to people who have caring responsibilities.”

Anyone needing more information about these events or for advice and support about caring for another person can contact the Carers’ Helpline on 670 0777.

Open email to the regeneration team

2007-04-19T10:04:00.000Z

This is the text of an email I sent to the regeneration team at Wirral MBC to accompany my apologies for the next community consultation meeting - which I can't make.

Please accept my apologies for the next meeting which I won’t be able to make.
Good news since the last meeting is the exemplary response of the wardens and clean up team who have been on the ball when it comes to cleaning up behind the fly tippers and window smashers. The last resident on Seymour Street (No 17) moved out this morning the 19th April so I expect that the vandals will move in some time later today and strip off the gutters, lead, copper, coping stones and anything else they can lay their hands on. If these houses can now be pulled down ASAP that will be a great help.

Bad news has also been the continued activities of local violent gangs who have been very active locally intimidating people – launching a series of raids on the Co-op, breaking their windows, assaulting staff, security guards and on one occasion a police car that was called to attend a disturbance at the Co-op. We have also had a spate of incidents on Liversidge Road, Church Road and Seymour Street with cars vandalised and people – including me – intimidated and threatened.

Against this background the recent claims by the police in the local press that Birkenhead is now much safer than Heswall - don’t go down very well in Tranmere. The police have been more active and have had an impact that local residents notice and are grateful for - but much, much more remains to be done. The police need to further raise their profile and CCTV is a real must-do for us in the regeneration process. We definitely need to make community safety in the new Tranmere a central component in the regeneration strategy for the area. Failure to do so will condemn the area to continue the decline – albeit with newer houses.

How about this for a specific target – make Higher Tranmere so safe that the shops don’t need security guards? That would be the sort of area that people will want to live in. I think we need specific plans on lighting, on CCTV, on policing, and on youth facilities – alongside our housing plans.

Have a good meeting folks.

Sorry I can’t be with you.

James

The minutes of the last residents meeting now follow this blog.

Church Road Residents Meeting March Minutes

2007-04-19T09:31:00.000Z

Church Road Residents Meeting
Royal Standard House, 7th March 2007 at 2:00pm

Present
Hazel Roberts Resident
Steph Reid Tranmere Alliance
Graham Williams
James Kay Resident
Cllr Phil Davies Wirral Council
Rob Walsh Together
Bruce Lister Lovell
Chris Bowen Wirral Council
Nicola Rigby Newheartlands
Emma Foley Wirral Council

Apologies
John Steele Together
James Hurley Wirral Council

Matters Arising from Previous Minutes

JK asked if item 5.4 from the previous minutes could be re-worded to read.

HR and JK both stressed the importance of providing CCTV in the new retail development, particularly in light of the recent increase in anti-social behaviour by large groups of youths on Church Road. GW said that a recent Church Road Meeting had to be relocated from the Methodist Church due to intimidation by the youths. Cllr Davies said he would speak to Mick Blease to request a greater police presence in the area. The issue will also be taken up by HR at the next JAG.

Cllr Davies said he was pleased that the signage had been installed within agreed timescales.

HMRI Update
CB sported that HMRI funding for Wirral would be around £10 million with an additional £6million of Council resources. A signified amount of this funding will be directed at Tranmere and Rock Ferry. In the last few months the Council has brought in £0.5million from the North West Development Agency and £1million from English Partnerships. It is hoped that a large proportion of the properties in the Church Road Clearance Area will have been brought in by March 2008.

Newheartlands will be bidding for the next round of funding in Autumn 2007.

Development Update
CB said that although the Planning Application had not been submitted, the issues that are outstanding are close to being resolved, hopefully so that the application can be submitted before the end of the month.
It was recognised that the relocation of some businesses was less straight forward than others; however the Council was prepared to go the extra mile to help businesses through this process as far as practicable.
BL said that as far as Lovell were concerned the main Church Road site must be exclusively residential, with the neighbourhood shopping centre on the Abakhan Site.

HR said that she had been to see Frank Field who had said he saw no reason why the outline planning application couldn’t be submitted whilst relocation options were being considered by businesses in the area.

BL said that he had revised the Development Programme based on the outline planning application being submitted at the end of the month. This showed a projected start date at the end of 2007. BL said that rather than start just before Christmas, Lovell would prefer to work to a start date of January 2008.

All sites for Phase 1 of the scheme are vacant with the exception of Waterloo Bathrooms who have now moved down to New Chester Road. Their lease doesn’t expire until April after which time plans will be put in place to demolish the building as soon as possible.

BL is about to commission work on the detailed design in advance of a decision on the outline planning application to speed up the design process – residents will be kept in the loop.

BL asked for views on whether there should be accommodation over the shops. There arguments for building flats included better policing of the shops at night and a better urban form if we build to 2 stories; however, there are concerns about potential management problems of the flats.

SR has been speaking to a couple who run a post office and convenience store in Beechwood and asked if it was likely that they could occupy the large ‘anchor store’ in the new retail development. BL said that it is more likely that the anchor store will be one of the national multiples, but no decisions have yet been made on who this would be.

Marketing & Communications
Newheartlands are organising a Launch Event for the ‘Live Wirral’ branding on 17th May 2007 at Tranmere Rovers Football Club. NR is hoping to get a high profile figure to speak at the event and some suggestions were made.

GW and JK agreed that marketing needs to be aimed at different levels, place marketing to attract new residents into the area, and more localised Marketing Strategy aimed at developing a sense of community and belonging for existing residents.

A.O.B
EF mentioned that Compass Regeneration Academy had a sponsored (free) place available on the next course in April for a resident or member of a community group. The course would be one day a week (Thurs) for 12 weeks and anyone interested needs to be available for all sessions. Anyone interested in learning more about regeneration should contact EF.

RW was asked if he could resurrect the Youth Group which he attempted to facilitate last year. Cllr Davies said the Council are currently reviewing their youth provision. It was agreed that this issue needed further discussions outside the Church Road Residents Group.

Date of Next Meeting

Wednesday 25th April 2006 at 2:00pm, at Royal Standard House, Tranmere.

Even more violence at the Co-op

2007-04-05T08:21:00.000Z

The cycle of violence at the Co-op seems to go on and on. I went in again yesterday to be told that there had been yet a further outbreak of violence with the same group of young thieves grabbing beer and running out - beating anyone who gets in their way. On this occasion I am told a young female staff member was injured. I am surprised that the Co-op can get staff to work there given the number of violent incidents there have been recently in and around the shop.

I then go home and read in the Wirral News that violence is going down in Birkenhead. Not in the Tranmere bit of Birkenhead it isn't!

We need more assertive policing of this area and a CCTV installation would make us feel more secure. TRACE has called repeatedly over the last two years for CCTV to be part of the security system in the 'new Higher Tranmere'. Now would be a good time!

More violence at Tranmere Co-op

2007-04-01T16:52:00.000Z

Going past the Co-op on Sunday (1st of April) at about 5pm I noticed the security guard being helped into an ambulance. He had a neck brace on and looked groggy. I went into the shop about ten minutes later and was told that "the same group of lads who had been trying to steal beer and food last week" had been back in with some girls and had tried to steal beer and readymeals. The security guard chased them out and was set upon by thugs wielding wooden staves. The police were called. The staff told me that they know the names of the people concerned and these have been passed on to the police.

I have also been told by other people locally (not Co-op staff) that those who were arrested a few weeks ago - for smashing in the windows at the shop -[the same ones again?] had been released because they were too young to be charged. They had allegedly come back into the Co-op to brag about getting away with it. This may just be a rumour but if it is true it is just not acceptable. If they are old enough to destroy property and hurt people - then they are old enough to bear the consequences. More importantly even than that people in Tranmere need to be protected from these thugs.

What is going on in Tranmere? It feels like the area is sliding into lawlessness. A previous report on this blog (see 1st March below) has talked about violent youth gangs in the area. The Police, local Magistrates and the local media should be working together to make this a no-go area for these types of thugs.

What do you think?

Plans for Leighton Road - footpath to be closed or not?

2007-03-30T12:49:00.001Z

There has been much talk locally of the plans currently being considered to close the footpath through from Leighton Road and down the hill towards the railway station at Green Lane. If this path is closed it will cut off from Higher Tranmere and its shops all those on the other side of Leighton Road. It will also remove the most direct route to the station from Higher Tranmere. Many of the residents that I have spoken to are cross about this and think that the pathway should be kept open. I am one of those who uses this pathway whenever I go into Liverpool city centre - indeed I will be using it later today.

I have also received complaints from other local residents who have told me that when they moved into their properties adjacent to Leighton Road they were told "... by Riverside Housing that the plan for Leighton Road was to build bungalows for older people." They tell me that they would not have moved into their existing bungalows if they had thought that Leighton Road was to be used for family housing.

Seen the plans?
The new plans - of which I have a full sized copy - call me on 07976 839054 if you want to have a look - show that 16 properties in all are proposed. Four of these are to be two bedroomed bungalows, seven are to be three-bedroomed houses over two floors and five are to be four-bedroomed, over three floors. The plans have been drawn up the Family and Venture Housing Association and were dated on December 14th 2006

I have been sent a copy of these plans by Sue Hooper of the Wirral Council - for which thanks - and she tells me that revised plans are currently being drawn up to include keeping the footpath open.

I am told by one of the local residents - that this change of plan follows complaints to Frank Field MP and to Phil Davies - one of our our local Councillors.

This proposed change will be greeted by many as good news providing that the revised plan is the one eventually adopted.

More Seymour St mess

2007-03-30T11:59:00.000Z

Readers of this blog and others living in Seymour Street will know that we have been having repeated problems with both vandals and 'do-it-yourself recyclers' - (or thieves depending on your point if view).

These people have been making free with the front walls, guttering, coping stones, railings and any other parts of the now empty homes that can be knocked down, pushed out, pulled over or broken down. The end result for us has been continuous mess with bricks and debris littering the pavement. See this link for a previous story on this matter.

http://tranmereresidents.blogspot.com/2007/02/seymour-street-gets-worse-and-worse.html

(to come back to this story after viewing this link - just hit the back key on your browser)

Last evening - Thursday the 29th of March - at above 7.45 my partner was driving off down the road when she saw a man busy at the back of his van loading coping stones into it . On the pavement was a mess of broken wall, bricks and mortar. Above is a picture of the van and the mess on the pavement, which had not been there 3 hours before.

She came back home - we got out the camera - and I had 'a few words' with the gentleman concerned - who was at the back of his van - as you can also see in the attached photograph. He was most incensed when I suggested that he was causing a nuisance and creating a mess for the rest of us.

He claimed that he was outraged to be accused of this when in fact he was a responsible citizen who had stopped to tidy up the mess, which had been created by others. He had noticed this mess when going past and had gone to get his van and was now busy tidying the street. Now that he had been accused of a crime - that he vehemently denied - he thought he might as well leave - because obviously his best efforts were not being appreciated! He did have several of the cleanest coping stones in the back of his van at the time.

I told him that as I now had a photograph of him at his work he had better tidy up before he left. This he did but when I went past again the following day more rubble had been created and more coping stones had been taken.

I wondered what readers of the blog might think about this.

Responsible citizen, DIY recycler, or ??? what? Leave comments if you like

Local Anti-Bullying Campaign

2007-03-29T08:07:00.000Z

Schoolchildren from Woodchurch in Wirral have designed their own anti-bullying slogans as part of a campaign to help keep them safe at school and on the streets.

The winning designs have been turned into large A3 posters and these will be put up in GP surgeries, schools, youth clubs, supermarkets. Prizes were presented to seven pupils who designed the winning posters, which have now been professionally printed ready to go on display in the area.

Trish Barnes, Wirral Healthy Schools Co-ordinator, said the children themselves had decided upon the key messages, working with their school councils. “It’s very important that children have their say on something that can affect their lives both in and out of school. “The children made it clear that they wanted to feel safe in school but also out of school when they’re moving around their estate. The posters reflect what the children feel about their need and their right to feel and be safe wherever they happen to be.”

The Mayor Cllr Peter Johnson is pictured with competition winners.

TRACE COMMENT: This looks like a great initiative which should be extended to schools in Tranmere and Rock Ferry. We know from recent surveys that local children have complained of feeling unsafe in the local area because of bullying by local gangs. (look down the blog for this news item or just click on the following link http://tranmereresidents.blogspot.com/2007/02/what-young-people-think-about-tranmere.html

Now you can contact TRACE through this blog

2007-03-29T08:02:00.000Z

Following a request from a reader I have now included a 'How to contact TRACE' section at the top of the blog - in short just email me at jameslkay@ntlworld.com This panel (on the right here) will stay at the top of the blog. I have also included some local links.

If you can think of any more links we should include - such as your own local organisation - just let me know and I will include it.

James Kay

HMRI briefing leaflet

2007-03-26T18:51:00.000Z

I don't know if this has been around for a while but my Google alert system has just thrown up this link to a leaflet to give information on the HMRI to local residents. I have not seen this leaflet before.

http://www.wirral.gov.uk/atoz/documents/HMRI.pdf

Role of Registered Social Landlords in HMRI

2007-03-26T18:42:00.000Z

If you are interested in the role that RSLs are to play in the HMRI in our`area you might find this paper presented by Alan Stennard to the February Wirral Cabinet meeting.

The purpose of this report was to ask Members to approve an approach to engaging Registered Social Landlords (RSL’s) via the establishment of a new Partnership for the delivery of the Regeneration Strategy for Inner Wirral in line with housing market restructuring through the Housing Market Renewal Initiative.

http://www.wirral.gov.uk/minute/public/cabhep040204rep2_11824.pdf

M.O.T. FOR WIRRAL MEN AT TRANMERE ROVERS

2007-03-23T18:18:00.000Z

Men’s health will be under the spotlight in Wirral in April – and organisers are using football as the carrot to tempt them into taking part.

A free football-themed health event – for men who don’t want to be left on the subs bench – will kick off at Tranmere Rovers at 2.30 p.m. on Thursday, 26th April. The programme includes:

An opportunity to meet Eric Nixon
Football skills competitions
Display of superbikes and cruisers (courtesy of Marriott Motorcycles)
A close-up of the Vauxhall VXR range (courtesy of Lookers, Wirral)
Live broadcast from the radio Merseyside BBC bus
A win-a-new-bike competition
A roller cycling challenge
A display of army vehicles
Giant Genga
Plus a team of health professionals offering free health assessments and general advice on men’s health issues

The event – aimed at all ages - is being organised by Wirral Primary Care Trust’s Health and Wellbeing Team to encourage local men and youths to be more pro-active about their health.

Said Joint Director of Public Health, Jane Harvey, “We wanted to offer something a little bit different to get them through the door so that we can help them see what they could be doing to improve their self-care”.

According to the Men’s Health Forum, which exists to improve men’s health in England and Wales, 1 in 3 people in the UK live with a long-term medical condition and a significant proportion of this number will be men.

However, health promotion campaigns often fail to take account of the need for 'gender-sensitivity' in reaching male audiences. Men may be unaware that they are living with a chronic condition. For example, an estimated 3% of men aged 35 and over have undiagnosed diabetes and many men also live with long-term mental health problems such as anxiety or depression

And more than 30,000 men in the UK are diagnosed each year with prostate cancer, many of whom live with it for many years with or without treatment.

For more information please contact Carol Howard, Health Improvement Projects Manager, Health and Wellbeing Team, Wirral Primary Care NHS Trust on 0151 630 8383.

Wirral Weight Wise - new classes

2007-03-09T10:17:00.000Z

More exercise sessions coming soon for people who are seriously overweight

A dedicated exercise programme for people who are seriously overweight is introducing two additional weekly classes in Wirral to meet the growing demand.

Wirral Weight Wise will offer the new low impact exercise sessions in Wirral Tennis and Sports Centre, Valley Road, Bidston every week starting:
Tuesday, 20th March: 9.30 -10.30 a.m.
Wednesday, 21st March: 5.45 - 6.45 p.m.

Weight Wise has proved very popular in *Guinea Gap Recreation Centre (Riverview Road, Wallasey) since being launched last September. The programme offers structured, low impact exercise with qualified instructors who have had special training to deliver the most appropriate type of exercise.

The latest additions to the Weight Wise programme coincide with National Obesity Awareness Week (from 12th March). Recent data from GP practices shows that just over a quarter of Wirral adults are clinically obese.

Said Marie Armitage, Joint Director of Public Health with Wirral PCT: “Weight Wise exercise sessions are designed to get overweight people, who may not have exercised for some time, back into being active without embarrassment.

“Ideally people with serious weight problems should aim to exercise for at least forty-five minutes on five days a week, but lack of motivation and limited ‘gentle’ exercise provision can make it a difficult goal to achieve, which is why these dedicated sessions are proving so popular and why we are extending them.”

Participants can just turnn up and GPs, practice nurses and other will point suitable candidates in the direction of the centres. There is a charge for each session and new participants are advised to turn up ten minutes beforehand to complete a health questionnaire. To find out more about Weight Wise please call 0151 606 2244.

People who are really concerned about their weight should ask their GP or practice nurse if they can also access the free NHS weight management programme, the Lifestyle and Weight Management Service.

*Existing Guinea Gap sessions are held every Tuesday from 2 – 3 p.m. and every Sunday from 10.30 – 11.30a.m.

Thanks to Lin Danher at Wirral PCT

Demolition on Thompson Street

2007-03-08T12:40:00.000Z

The process of demolition on parts of Frodsham Street has started with the rooftops. This must be very unpleasant for those still living there as is the process as it unfolds on Seymour Street and no doubt elsewhere in the HMRI area.

These are a couple of shots taken at rooftop level - from my attic in Seymour Street looking across towards Frodsham St and Liverpool beyond. It looks a bit dangerous to me but we must hope that the demolition people know what they are doing.

Minutes of United Communities Group Jan 07

2007-03-08T10:30:00.000Z

MINUTES 25TH JANUARY 2007

PRESENT: Hazel Roberts Chair, T A G, Ann Adams T R A C, Marilyn McDougall MRA, Terry Neill WAMA, Andrew Wilson WAMA, James Kay TRACE, Les Neish CPRA, John Steele UCG

APOLOGIES: Malcolm Birchall, Rev. John Chesworth, Steph Reid.

MINUTES : The minutes of the previous meeting held 16th November 2006 were
approved as a correct record of the meeting.

MATTERS ARISING :

The meeting would like to thank Colin Clayton for all he has done and would like to invite him to the next meeting to follow up the issues that he had passed on to other departments.

James reported that most people in the H M R I assessment area have accepted the 50/50 grant.(up to £30,000 00 is available), the work must be started after April 2007 and the money spent before March 2008.
It is understood that 20 Seymour Street, if they accept the grant, will be fast tracked through the system.

RESIDENT GROUP REPORTS :

Terry Neill (W A M A) said that they have had a better response from T C P. the children are behaving better. Meetings are being arranged for every two months between the W A M A and T C P. Terry thanked all that had been helping with their problems.

T R A C E James would like the U C G to write to the Post Office and complain about deliveries. H e said that the postman is frequently putting letters in the wrong houses. He has recently had a letter returned to the sender saying that he had left the property. John said he is often taking letters that have been put through his door by mistake and posting them in the right address.

M R A Marilyn was welcomed back after a period of illness. She reported that all was going well with the play area in St, Paul’s Road, they now have two investors and it should be ready in April.
The young people from Yellow House are making a film about themselves. They have 24 8-12 year olds on a Monday night but have not been successful in getting the next age group off the ground.
James invited Marilyn to get in touch with him if any of the young people would be interested in acting in a live show he said that there are many opportunities for young people in the Drama Groups.

C P R A Les reported on a meeting that had been held with three Birkenhead Councillors and the residents about the Mosque at Beechcroft.
The main issues were Parking and Security. It was a very good meeting with an agreement made between the residents and the Moslem Council to have monthly meetings and an invitation to look over the building when it has been refurbished.

T R A C Ann said that they will be looking for more funding from the Discretionary Fund next year for chiropody service, as they will need to put on another session to cope with the amount of people that want to use the service. At present it is booked up for 3 months in advance.

T A G The Trampoline club continues to be popular with up to 40, 8 to 12 year olds from 5:15pm to 7:15pm and an average of 18, 12 to 16 year olds from 7:30pm to 9:30pm, we now have nearly 40, 12 to 16 year olds registered.

Bag a Bargain is running well, we do have a problem with the quality of the veg it is not always as fresh as it should be. We have another supplier coming to see if he can provide better quality fresh fruit and veg for the same price.

HMRI James gave an update on the Church Road Developments. More delays in the start of the redevelopments they are now looking at September or October before anything will start to be built.
Hazel said that T A G is looking to contact Frank Field and will be having an open meeting in the near future.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS :

Tranmere Alliance Charity Night Friday 23rd February at Gladstone Liberal Club tickets £4:00 each.

Courses at Trafford Hall. Marilyn said that there is another 2day course. Make Yourself Heard on the 12th to 14th of February that she is going on.
John and Hazel would like to go on the Neighbourhood Regeneration on the 26th to 28th March.

NEXT MEETING :

Thursday 5th April 10:30am at Prospect House .

ACTIONS
Ring Colin Clayton to attend next meeting

Contact Royal Mail residents problems

Violent youth gang in Tranmere

2007-03-01T17:22:00.000Z

I have had a series of reports from local residents about a violent youth gang in the area. There have been reports of intimidation, violence and vandalism. If you have seen or experienced any of this at the hands of these youths please contact TRACE as soon as you can with as much detail as you have. We have already passed on names and reports of events to the local police and will be doing our best to make sure this horrible experience is nipped in the bud.

If you have any information or have witnessed any intimidation, threatening or anti-social behaviour, vandalism or violence - please contact TRACE by phone or email or phone the police locally on

Lets come together and stop this nonsense before it gets seriously out of hand.

Birkenhead/Tranmere Forum Report

2007-03-01T17:10:00.000Z

This report was posted onto the web a couple of days ago. It is a detailed report from the last Area Forum meeting. There are 92 pages in all - so it is quite a big report but it has a lot of information about policy and events in the recent past and planned for 2007 - in and around Birkenhead, Tranmere and Rock Ferry.

Some of you will have this information already, indeed some of you were at the meeting - but most were not - so these notes might be interesting to you.

Click below

http://www.wirral.gov.uk/minute/public/area%20co%20report%206%20feb_23086.pdf

Seymour Street tidier now

2007-02-27T10:03:00.000Z

10 out of 10 for quick action on the Seymour Street mess shown below.

I don't know by whom or exactly when but the gardens wall debris shown below was moved very quickly and this part of the street is now safer than it was.

I assume that the Wardens or Street Scene maybe working together cleared this away - but who ever it was - well done and thank you.

Seymour Street - gets worse and worse

2007-02-24T16:43:00.000Z

The vandals have moved in to start the process of demolishing the fronts of empty houses on Seymour Street. Within days of the residents in number 1 moving out the garden walls were being demolished and it is only a matter of time before these bricks become missiles.

You cannot leave a place like this as an open invitation to the more intellectually challenged to start wrecking things. I have complained to the HMRI team and the Housing Wardens and it will be interesting to see how long it takes to get the walls removed.

The top picture is number one and the second view is looking down the street away from Church Road.

Tranmere Alliance Bash - sold out!

2007-02-19T14:51:00.000Z

Steph' Reid has left a comment below on the post "Tranmere Alliance February Bash":

Just in case it is missed by some - I have pasted it in again here at the top of the blog.

She said ...
This event is now sold out but look out for our next night of entertainment. The next community extravaganza will be the Tranmere Show in Victoria Park on Sunday 24th June 11am-6pm free to all.

Our thanks to all who have bought tickets.

Stephanie Reid
Community Development Officer
Tranmere Alliance
Tel:644 1100

So - Well done Tranmere Alliance!

University paper on Merseyside's HMRIs

2007-02-19T09:50:00.000Z

Here's a paper I saw today published by Liverpool University. It is on the themes of regeneration, community engagement and social exlcusion and here is what it says about itself in the introduction ...

Merseyside Social Inclusion Observatory (MSIO) has produced a research report that offers a detailed insight into the extent to which ‘socially excluded’ communities, including Black and Racial Minority (BRM) communities, are able to engage with the development and regeneration policy initiatives at local area / neighbourhood level.

It is an 8 page report in .pdf format. It is written reasonably clearly although there is a mixture of bureaucrat speak and plain English. The plain English comes in the quotes from residents and the bureaucrat speak comes whenever the researchers are 'analysing' what the residents have said. Here's an example of both, which as far as I can see means exactly the same; it's just that the bureaucrat needed twice as many words to 'explain' what the resident had said.

Resident said ...

‘If they’d start from the point of view of saying ‘We want to… what do YOU think?’ and take it from there, we’d have better outcomes. They’d be upfront about their intentions and we’d know from the start what we were dealing with.’

Bureaucrat's analysis of the above ...

(v) Defining the parameters of community engagement
A further joint message to emerge was a need for local delivery agents to be clear as to the parameters of community engagement in respect of policy development and implementation and for this to be communicated at the earliest opportunity to individuals and communities being targeted in order to help define realistic expectations of the outcomes of consultation and participation.

Oh dear!

Anyhow if you want to see the whole report it is the following URL
http://www.liv.ac.uk/civdes/msio/Briefing_Papers/Briefing_Paper_7_-_HMRI.pdf

Health issues - breast screening

2007-02-16T10:03:00.000Z

This is the first of a series of posts to the blog about health issues which affect people in Tranmere - thanks to Lin Danher at the NHS Primary Care Trust. (PCT)

Breast screening provides an opportunity for women to be assured that they do not have any of the early signs and symptoms of breast cancer. Every year some women find that they have small lumps that they would not have noticed if they had not attended for their breast screening appointment. This then allows them to get prompt treatment and have excellent chances of a full recovery.

The PCT recently carried out a project to try to increase breast screening uptake in areas of Wirral where it was low. Women who had not taken up the offer of attending for breast screening were sent a questionnaire. The womens feedback was used to design new posters and promotional materials, new invitation letters and various small changes were made to the way the service was provided. Interviews on radio were also given and PCT staff visited womens groups to try to explain the process for breast screening, answer any questions and motivate as many women as possible to attend when they received their appointment.

Evaluation of the project found that so much was already being done to encourage women to attend (such as provision of public transport information, ability to claim back travel expenses, ability to change appointments to any time to suit) that the most likely reason for women to have not attended was a fatalistic attitude to developing cancer.

A lot of women felt that getting cancer was down to chance and therefore, they would rather not know. Of course this is not true as some people are more likely to develop cancer than others and screening aims to pick up very early signs and symptoms which could not be detected just through self examination. Once detected early, the chances of treatment leading to a full recovery are very high whereas the longer breast cancer is left untreated, the poorer the outcome is likely to be.

The survey found out that women were embarrassed about taking off their clothes in front of others. Now invitation letters sent to women explain that they will be dealt with by female staff and their dignity and confidentiality is respected.

If you would like more information about breast screening, how it works in your area and how to examine yourself - go to talk to your GP.

A Great Night Out - Gladstone Theatre

2007-02-11T22:13:00.000Z

Lees Residents Newsletter Feb 07

2007-02-06T10:00:00.000Z

Volume 5 No 7 February 2007

Thanks to Malcolm for sending this out.

No 37 and 39 Howson Street

At long last, after 5 years of letter writing and a lot of help from your M.P. Frank Field and your local councillors, work has finally begun on renovating the two eyesores in Howson Street. When the work has been completed, the properties will be sold, hopefully to owner occupiers who will maintain them in the condition they will be brought to by the contractors carrying out the work.

Funding Success

We have successfully applied to The Neighbourhood Renewal Fund for funding to carry on the Kangoo exercise classes on a Monday and Wednesday evenings for a further twelve months. The total sum awarded was £4,320.

We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the staff of Tranmere Alliance for their assistance in completing the application forms. Without their help the application may not have succeeded. Thank you all at Tranmere Alliance, in particular Stephanie Reid.

The kangoo classes are proving to be a great success, they are good fun, an excellent form of low impact exercise and ideal for weight loss. So why not come along and have a go? You never know you may like it. The classes are held on Monday nights from 7pm until 8pm and Wednesday nights from 6.30pm until 7.30pm.

If you are interested in having a go, please call 07977 111 697 to pre book your boots and avoid disappointment.

BBQ - last chance to book

Every property in the area received a flyer advertising the planned Association barbecue for the May Bank Holiday Sunday. You were asked to fill in the tear off strip at the bottom of the flyer and push it through No19 Lees Avenue if you wanted to attend. Regrettably, the response has been somewhat disappointing. So I have been asked to re-advertise the event in this newsletter. If you want to go to the barbecue, please write down your name, address, the ages and the numbers wishing to attend and push it through the door of 19 Lees Avenue. If there are insufficient numbers wishing to attend then unfortunately we will have to cancel the event. You have until Monday to do this, the event will not be re advertised.

Next Meeting.
The next meeting will be held in the school sports barn on Thursday 8th February at 7.30pm. Please come along and tell us what you want for your area. We need your input to improve things, so come along and have your say.

As usual there will be free tea, coffee and biscuits available to anyone who wants to have them.contractors carrying out the work.

New Housing signs to go up in Tranmere

2007-02-02T18:57:00.000Z

This is an example of signs that are to go up in Tranmere over the next few weeks.

There are two very similar designs. This one will be used near Holt Hill and on the Abakan site.

A similar one which just says "New Housing Development" will go up at Hillside Court and Whitford Road. The artwork has now been approved by the various partners - see the HMRI notes below for a note of our grumbling about these delays a few weeks ago.

I am told that the signs are 4ft x 3ft and along Church Road these will be placed as chevrons (2 signs together at an angle so that pedestrians and traffic in both directions can see them clearly.

What do you think?

Bebington Dramatic Shortlisted for Award

2007-02-02T17:01:00.000Z

Bebington Dramatic Society have been shortlisted for the 'Best Play' award at the forthcoming annual National Association of Drama Associations (NODA) award dinner at Blackpool's Hilton Hotel. Many of the cast and backstage team will be at the award ceremony in May to cheer on their Director Nick Sample for his great work with the play Accrington Pals.

If you want to see some still photographs of the play and read some of the great reviews it got - go to http://www.bebingtondramaticsociety.co.uk/Accrington%20pals%202006.htm

Or you might want to have a look at the next BDS production at the Gladstone Theatre in the first week of March. It is Alan Bennett's The Madness of King George the 111rd and it's going to be excellent - which I know of course because I am in it!

Seriously it is well worth a trip to the Gladstone. Go to
http://www.bebingtondramaticsociety.co.uk/Madness%20of%20King%20George.htm
for more information about the play dates and tickets.

Is this a typo - or did she really mean it?

2007-02-02T16:56:00.000Z

The award for most entertaining typo goes to Lorraine at Together who sent out the recent report on Children and Young People in Tranmere and Rock Ferry (see below) in an email which said ...

Dear Colleagues
>
> Apologise for any incontinence I may have caused but the Children and
> Young Peoples plan that I sent to you on 1st Feb was not complete. I
> have attached the relevant one for the Children and Young Peoples
> Thematic Group meeting on Tuesday 6th Feb 3pm, Lairdside room, Royal
> Standard House.

Some of these documents are quite distrubing but I was surprised to see that they had that sort of impact!

Thanks to John Chesworth for pointing this out.

What young people think about Tranmere

2007-02-02T16:43:00.000Z

This a quote from a new strategy document from Together. It is from the proposed CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S PLAN FOR TRANMERE AND ROCK FERRY 2007 - 2011.

If you want the full document - 18 pages long but actually quite interesting - email me on jameslkay@ntlworld.com and I will send it to you. After some chilling statistics about the high levels of deprivation that affect the 5,500 children and young people aged between 0-19 who live in the Tranmere/Rock Ferry area, the report goes on to document what some of these children have themselves told the researchers.

" Children have told us that they like living in the area and generally find people in the area friendly. They like being near the shops in Birkenhead and they use the local facilities, especially the swimming pools and the football cages. Children in the Bedford Drive area appreciated the local parks (Victoria and Mersey) and are aware of attractions further afield, eg the museums in Wirral and Liverpool. Many of them used local clubs and activities. They feel safe in the area during the day and when they are with their parents but they do not feel safe in the evenings.

Most of their immediate concerns revolve around not feeling safe in the evenings and about the rubbish including broken glass left lying in public places and the parks; about drug dealing in the area (primary age children reported that they had seen this happening); about being bullied; and about teenagers being drunk and behaving in a threatening manner. Young Moslem children felt particularly intimidated by young men who called them names and threw stones. In a survey of young people in Victoria and Mersey parks in 2006, two-thirds said that the streets are dangerous and 7 out of 10 felt that young people hanging around drinking alcohol is a serious problem in Tranmere. They are also concerned about cars speeding on the main roads although they appreciated the traffic calming measures in the side roads. Teenagers are concerned that the police are interpreting their Section 30 powers too rigidly and breaking up small groups of young people who are doing no harm.

They are aware of what is meant by a healthy lifestyle and healthy food. They are concerned that healthy food often appears to be more expensive than less healthy alternatives. They enjoy games and sports and would like more opportunities to play football, netball, badminton, skateboarding and so on, and to take part in dance and drama activities. They asked for toilets in Mersey and Victoria Parks.

They would like to see the area cleaner with fewer outlets for the sale of alcohol; more security (specifically more police and CCTV) and better lighting; and more sports facilities close to the area. Teenagers asked for an attractive and stylish coffee shop preferably with internet facilities."

quote ends ...

Minutes of January HMRI meeting

2007-02-01T11:30:00.000Z

These are the minutes from the latest meeting of the HMRI consultation meeting held in the Together offices on the 10th January 2007. The most disappointing part of these mintes - see highlights below - is that there are again delays. This means that the earliest projected date for starting building on the Abakan site is now September 07 and it could well be later than that.

In the minutes below I have deleted the numbering from the original minutes but left the text intact. Where I have added a comment I have highlighted my comment in bold - like this.

Present

Hazel Roberts Together
James Kay TRACE
John Steele Together
Bruce Lister Lovell
Steph Reid Tranmere Alliance
Lesley Gibbons Together
Cllr Phil Davies Wirral Council
James Hurley Wirral Council
Emma Foley Wirral Council

Apologies

Chris Bowen Wirral Council
Jill Quayle TCP
Anne Keggin TCP

Minutes of Last Meeting

Agreed. There were no matters arising.

HMRI Programme Update

JH advised that due to additional funding received by the North West Development Agency (NWDA), further acquisitions on Church Road have been able to be agreed including the gym and SRT Motorcycles premises.

Development Update

BL reported on the development timetable. It is hoped that the outline planning application will be submitted next week. This has been delayed from just before Christmas due to the need for further clarification from the planning department about the procedure for making working amendments to the application once it has been submitted. It has also been delayed to continue negotiations with local property owners.

JK asked how long it would take to make a decision once the application has gone in. JH said that 13 weeks is the usual timescale for applications of this scale. Cllr. Davies suggested speaking to the Planning Department to see if it was possible to fast-track the application. EF commented that the amount of documentation supporting the application is considerably higher than for most planning applications, and would consequently take longer to process.

JK was keen to influence the time frame and asked if there was any other ways of speeding up the process. BL said that once the outline application has been submitted, if early feedback is positive, then it may be possible to start work on the detailed design for the scheme – even before a formal decision has been reached on the outline planning application. BL said the revised start date was now looking like September. (Highlighted in this blog only)

Project Update

JH said there have been a number of meetings on 15th November 2006, with surveyors from Legat Owen acting on behalf of Atmore, with Hursts, the Chemist, Hairdresser and Post Office. Further meetings would be beneficial with a couple of other retailers.

It was agreed that Atmore appeared to be cautious in their approach to the Co-op and it was difficult to open negotiations at this early stage in the development process. JK said that if it is likely to take 6 months to negotiate an agreement, we should be opening negotiations now.

JS said that he and HR were planning to visit a convenience store in the Beechwood Estate which he believed to be considerably cheaper than the Co-op.

JH reported that at the meeting on 15th November all the retailers in attendance seemed to indicate that the rental figures suggested were reasonable.

JK asked when the Waterloo Bathrooms building would be coming down. JH confirmed that their lease was due to expire on 31st March, but they may move sooner, subject to fitting out their new premises. EF said that service disconnections couldn’t be organised until we have vacant possession of the building, [JK comment - So we could be looking at May/June before the buildings are demolished. [this blog added the comment]

EF reported that demolition contractor is currently on site in Thompson Street and that the vacant properties would be coming down over the next 4 weeks.

It was reported that some old furniture had been dumped in the front of a property in Seymour Street. EF said that the Environmental Warden Scheme has been set up to provide a fast response to such issues in the Church Road area; while their number has been widely published it would be useful to remind residents. Their phone number is 638 5888 and residents are urged to use the service. If problems persist EF will invite Dave Morrell, the Wardens Manager, to the next meeting.

JS said he had seen pigeons flying into 30/32 Seymour Street. EF said she would follow it up with the Empty Property Team.

EF said that letters had been sent out to all eligible properties who were eligible for a 50/50 improvement grant. Out of almost 50 properties, 30 possible responses have been received. Dave Newman will be visiting people in their homes over the coming weeks to get a more accurate picture of the likely grant take-up for budget planning purposes.

It was agreed by all that site signage would improve local morale and confidence in the scheme and needed to be actioned as a priority. Cllr. Davies suggested a target to get them erected before the next meeting. EF will do everything possible to organise this.

A.O.B

HR asked EF to find out in time for the next meeting what has happened to the CCTV which used to be on the Post Office.

EF mentioned the Strictly Regeneration Awards for successful regeneration projects, and asked if anyone would like to be on the Judging Panel to represent Wirral, to let her know.

The Art Regeneration Project has been a great success with over 400 local residents getting involved. An Exhibition to view the work will be held at 35-37 Church Road from 1st-3rd February, but all present were invited to a private viewing on Thursday 25th January, 6:15-8pm.

Cllr. Davies asked if progress had been made finding alternative premises for AJ Motors. HR said there have been problems with AJ Motors causing a nuisance to adjacent residents for years. All residents present agreed that the proximity of a garage business to houses and shops must not be replicated in the new scheme, especially not the Abakhan Site where the new retail units and bungalows are to be sited. JH said that the Council would be undertaking an Options Appraisal process to try to resolve the issue of relocating AJ Motors as soon as possible.

Date and Time of Next Meeting

Wednesday 7th March at 2pm.

Tranmere Alliance February Bash

2007-02-01T11:20:00.000Z

Friday 23rd February 2007

7.30pm until midnight The Gladstone Liberal Club Church Road, Tranmere

Tickets £4 each from:

Tranmere Alliance Advice Centre,225 Church Road, Tranmere 0151 644 1100
Credit Union, 172 Bedford Road, Rock Ferry 0151 645 2111
Prospect House, 175 Church Road, Tranmere 0151 644 7002
Prenton Residents Partnership, Dickens Avenue,off Prenton Dell Road, Prenton 0151 608 0077

New Course! Neighbourhoods on the move

2006-12-06T11:33:00.000Z

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

2006-12-06T09:30:00.000Z

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

2006-11-30T17:33:00.000Z

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

2006-11-30T16:32:00.000Z

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

2006-11-30T16:09:00.000Z

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

2006-11-30T10:39:00.000Z

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

2006-11-29T10:25:00.000Z

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

2006-11-29T10:16:00.000Z

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

2006-11-28T11:02:00.000Z

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

2006-11-23T16:28:00.000Z

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

2006-11-17T13:56:00.000Z

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

2006-11-10T17:09:00.000Z

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

2006-11-09T14:28:00.000Z

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?

2006-10-31T13:14:00.000Z

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

2006-10-29T23:04:00.000Z

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

2006-10-28T10:14:00.000Z

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

2006-10-28T10:08:00.000Z

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

2006-10-27T15:04:00.000Z

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

2006-10-27T15:00:00.000Z

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

2006-10-24T08:02:00.000Z

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

2006-10-24T07:56:00.000Z

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

2006-10-12T08:32:00.000Z

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

2006-10-10T20:09:00.000Z

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

2006-10-10T19:42:00.000Z

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?

2006-10-10T13:02:00.000Z

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

2006-10-10T11:19:00.000Z

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

2006-10-10T10:15:00.000Z

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

2006-10-10T09:57:00.000Z

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

James

Presentation on Biodiversity and Urban Regeneration

2006-10-09T13:41:00.000Z

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

2006-10-07T10:17:00.000Z

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

2006-10-05T09:21:00.000Z

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

2006-10-05T09:19:00.000Z

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!

2006-10-04T19:45:00.000Z

Tranmere Alliance Fundraiser!

November 2nd 7.30 till Midnight - Tickets from 644 1100

Audit Commission visit to Tranmere

2006-10-03T09:50:00.000Z

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

2006-09-27T17:00:00.001Z

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

2006-09-25T13:01:00.000Z

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

2006-09-25T09:08:00.000Z

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

2006-09-21T17:05:00.000Z

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

2006-09-21T16:45:00.000Z

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

2006-09-21T16:34:00.000Z

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

2006-09-18T08:27:00.000Z

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

2006-09-14T19:22:00.000Z

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

Trouble on Thompson St

2006-09-12T08:09:00.000Z

We have had some feedback on an incident on Thompson Street.

It seems that on the 11th of September the police went to an empty property on Thompson Street and there was a bit of a commotion - sirens going etc. as they arrested someone trying to steal the copper piping out of 34 Thompson Street.

A number of residents including some in Thompson Street have said that they now want the empty properties in Thompson Street ‘tinning up’. The Council have tried to avoid doing this as it looks very stark for those residents who remain in the area, so they are planning just tinning up 4 properties for now, 28-34 Thompson Street as they are the ones causing most of the problems at present. They have previously agreed not to use this approach to security unless really necessary, but unfortunately they now believe that the level of break-ins in these properties has escalated to an extent that there is no other option.

Emma Foley tells me that they will shortly be issuing the tender documents so that they can bring these properties down by the end of the year and will keep us informed of progress in this area.

Notes from Church Road consultation September 06

2006-09-08T15:18:00.000Z

I (James Kay) attended a consultation meeting on the Church Road master plan a couple of days ago. When the minutes for the meeting are posted around I will paste them into the blog but meanwhile here are some of the issues raised or reported upon.

At the meeting were Hazel Roberts from the United Communities Group, Steph Reid from Tranmere Alliance (http://www.tranmerealliance.org.uk/) , Ann Keggin from the Tranmere Community Project (http://www.tcp.org.uk/) Bruce Lister from Lovell and Rob Walsh from Together.

CABE report
The development proposal from Lovell for the Church Road area had been submitted to CABE http://www.cabe.org.uk/ as part of the requirement to consult with them for an application for HMRI funding support. The proposal had been submitted in writing but no one from Lovell had been invitedto attend the CABE meeting in London and no-one from CABE seems to have visited the area. Although CABE were generally supportive they made some specific criticisms of the proposed development. In particular they wanted car parking for residents on Church Road to be brought onto the roadside and out from the rear parking arrangements which had been proposed by Lovell. They took the opposite position when it came to the retail area and wanted the shops to front straight onto the street with public parking at the back together with service parking.

There was some discussion in the meeting about this and I argued that residents in Seymour Street had previously said that they would be happier with the public parking being in front of the shop rather than backing onto our homes. Lovell were meeting with local planners to discuss their response. It is not clear whether a planning application will fail unless it conforms to CABE views or whether this might introduce considerable further delays.

Holt Hill development
Hazel and I said that we were surprised that the Holt Hill development seemed to be going through ‘on the nod’ whilst the HMRI proposal required a lengthy consultation process. We asked for a meeting with the planning department to discuss how they were to ensure that this development is in sympathy with the HMRI development to which it will a gateway. A summary from the planning department is below together with some graphics from the planners.

Location: 111-113 Holt Hill, Tranmere, Wirral, CH41 9DU
Proposal: Erection of 32 x 2 bed apartments and 4 x 3 bed town houses with associated car parking
Date Received: 18/August/2006
At Stage: with planning officer
Validation/Registration Date: 18/August/2006
Comments wanted by: 5/October/2006
Start of Public Consultation: 30/August/2006
End of Public Consultation: 5/October/2006
Application Type: Full Planning Permission
Target Committee: 5/October/2006
Development Type: Redevelopment
Contact: Nightingale Associates The Observatory, Old Haymarket, Liverpool, L1 6LA
Decision: No decision
Officer: Mr N Culkin
Decision Date: No data
Tel Num: 0151 606 2182

Timetable from now on
Bruce Lister explained that there had been some slippage and that the proposed April 07 start date on the retail development on the old Abakan site would probably have to drop back by one or two months.

Rebranding Tranmere as ‘Holt Hill Village’
This proposal had been floated in the Transform regeneration newsletter and had provoked quite a lot of opposition. Many people had contact James and Hazel to complain and they wanted to know what was wrong with the ‘Higher Tranmere’ name. There was specific criticism that the Birkenhead Historical Society who have very few members in the area, had been asked to propose a name whilst local residents had not been asked for their opinion. Emma Foley (691 8155) at Wirral MBC had asked in the newsletter for other ideas on this and during the meeting sticking with the traditional name of Higher Tranmere was proposed. It was also suggested that the issue be raised with other groups locally for feedback – names matter a lot!

Local ‘Surgeries’ on the HMRI plan
We were reminded that there are further surgeries for all householders on the 26th of October at 46 Church Road between 4pm and 7 pm and for retailers between 4pm and 6.30pm on the 28th of September.

Traffic lights losing business for local traders
It was reported that local traders are losing business both because of the long drawn out HMRI but also because of the impact of the temporary traffic lights on Church Road - after the structural damage caused by arson and vandalism. Some local business have reported losing amounts of sales varying between £30 and £100 a day since the traffic lights were installed. Others have been less affected by the traffic lights but are having their businesses eroded on a day to day basis as individual properties are boarded up and people move away. This makes the timetable delays even more worrying.

Together to lead a survey on services for youth in the area
Rob explained that the Council have asked Together to lead an investigation into the need for services for young people in the area and they will be setting up consultations. Contact Rob at 644 4836 or email rob.walsh@riverside.org.uk

This blog is for you - re4sidents of Higher Tranmere. If you want to post to here either click on the comments button or email your thoughts to me - James Kay - at jameslkay@ntlworld.com and I will post them into the blog. If you want to know when there are updates to blog let me know I will put you on an update list or just keep checking the blog address.

Notes from Church Road Consultation July 06

2006-07-20T13:57:00.000Z

These are the minutes from the latest consultation meeting about the Church Road Development. It was held on the Tuesday 11th July 2006

Present were:
Hazel Roberts UCG / Together
John Steele Together
Steph Reid Tranmere Alliance
James Kay TRACE
Ann Keggin Tranmere Community Project
Rob Walsh Together
Chris Bowen Wirral MBC
James Hurley Wirral MBC
Caroline Platt Wirral MBC
Emma Foley Wirral MBC
Bruce Lister Lovell

HMRI Update

CB advised that the Financial Agreement which has taken a long time to be negotiated will be signed shortly. The Council has agreed to fund the programme in the meantime and there is no threat to the programme.

The recent press coverage concerning the retail units on Church Road was discussed. The Council has been assisting the retailers described in the article in the Echo. They are also looking into the possibility of providing financial assistance to Businesses and providing more of a comprehensive ‘Homemovers’ type service to businesses in the area.

Lovell are now keen to bring Atmore in to talk to businesses in detail about the new development.

The Council have now agreed their Financial Assistance Policy which includes:

Art Loans for households in clearance areas, where they are recommended by an independent financial advisor, up to a value of £35,000 or £45,000 in exceptional circumstances. This loan will be placed as a charge on the property and no re-payments will be due until the householder sells the property.

Financial Assistance for renovation comprising of a 50% Grant and 50% Equity Renewal Loan which will not be means tested but will be limited to households within the original NRA boundary. As with the Art Loan, a charge will be placed against the property if households are unable to raise 50% of the cost of works themselves, therefore no re-payments will be due until the property is sold. The Council’s Home Improvement Team will be sending out letters to all eligible households in the next couple of months.

Development Programme

BL tabled a revised programme. He said that Lovell were still on track for an April 07 start on Church Road, despite a four week delay with the planning application due to the need to submit the scheme to the CABE Design Review Panel at the end of July.

Lovell Study Tour

BL gave a summary of the recent study tour on June 9th which invited local residents to look round a number of their recent developments. Schemes visited included an estate of family houses in Netherlee in Liverpool, Knightsbridge Park in Stockport, and The Way in Beswick, Manchester. The first two schemes were fairly traditional while The Way, close to the centre of Manchester has a much more contemporary feel and used modern methods of construction.

A detailed summary of resident’s views was tabled showing favourable reactions to all the schemes, but with a clear preference for the traditional style. BL said that the detail design for the scheme has yet to be developed, but the design for Church Road will be bespoke rather than imitating any of the schemes viewed on the study tour. JK said that many of the people moving in to the new housing will have their own aesthetics and the scheme will have to appeal to them. The scheme design will have to be market driven.

30 – 32 Seymour Street

EF outlined four different options for dealing with these properties, i.e. Refurbishing
them and selling them on, demolishing them and leaving them as an open space, demolishing them and rebuilding a couple of new housing units or converting them into four flats. The costs for all these options was discussed and it was agreed that the properties would be renovated and used as Homeswap properties if any families came forward from the clearance area.

Progress with Acquisitions

The housing acquisitions are moving ahead steadily with only ten properties yet to reach an agreement with the Council.

It was reported that the closure of half of the carriageway on Church Road in front of the fire-damaged shop at 40 Church Road was affecting trade on Church Road. JH said that the facade would be re-built as soon as possible to allow the scaffolding to be taken down and the highway to be reopened. JH is hoping that negotiations to acquire the properties in this block may be accelerated in the circumstances.

HR would like to see more communication with the retailers. It was suggested that JH contacts them all again individually, and a retail specific newsletter of fact sheet could be sent out to them to confirm timescales for the new development.

Demolitions / management of Empty Properties

It was reported that the area could do with another clean-up day as there was fly tipping in the alley behind Seymour Street and many of the gardens of the empty properties were again becoming overgrown. EF to liase with Dave Morrel, manager of the Environmental Wardens to organise a Clean-Up day and ensure effective day to day management is in place.

The demolition contractors are on site in Harland Road demolishing 1-7, which is due to be completed in the next couple of weeks.

Youth Provision

JK said he was grateful for AK attending and said that there had been previous discussions regarding youth provision in the area and there was a need for a mapping exercise to record what activities were being provided by the various organisations in the area. He said that the TCP had a valuable physical resource and the group was keen to find out more about what youth facilities were provided there.

AK said that there is a Youth Club two evenings a week (one for juniors and one for seniors), Women’s Group, daily playgroup, luncheon club and an occasional trampoline club all of which were well attended. HR said she had heard from residents that these facilities were not always open. RW said that the Young peoples Thematic Group which meets monthly would be a better Forum to consider youth issues. It was agreed that a separate meeting could be arranged by RW to look at resources available in Tranmere for the provision of youth services.

AOB

RW suggested that an open meeting should be called for the retailers. It was agreed that businesses will probably prefer to discuss personal issues on an individual basis rather than at an open forum. It was agreed that JH will revisit all of the remaining businesses and a newsletter will be sent out in the next month or so confirming timescales for the new retail development.

Date of Next Meeting

3.00pm on Tuesday 15th August 2006 at Royal Standards House

letter to Frank Field MP

2005-08-25T08:09:00.000Z

The following letter is self explanatory. It follows a visit by Frank Field MP to James Kay to discuss next steps in the TRACE campaign to persuade Wirral Council not to make demolition the only option in the Chiurch Road Masterplan.

Frank Field MP
The Houses of Parliament
25th August

Dear Mr Field

Thank you for calling by this week and for your support in TRACE's campaign.

In advance of our meeting tonight with Cllr Phil Davies and colleagues to discuss renovation alternatives to demolition in Tranmere, I am writing to tell you about an incident which happened last night which you might like to share with the Minister when she visits you to discuss HMRI in Tranmere.

At 11.35 last night (the 24th of August) my telephone rang. It was my neighbour across the road who told me that he had just witnessed a young man steal one of the hanging baskets from outside my front door. I went outside and was told by the neighbour that the thief had gone onto Church Road with the basket in his hand. I jumped into my car with my partner and we went down onto Church Road. 100 yards away was a young man in his twenties walking along with my hanging basket in his hand. I drove down, jumped out and grabbed the basket from him. We exchanged some heated words and he punched me on the jaw and ran off. I went straight home and called 999. I told them that I had been assaulted and that the assailant was last seen running down out of Tranmere and gave a good description. The person who took the call said that she would do her best to get a squad car to deal with this but that they were very busy.

One hour later at 12.35 I was called back by the police control room and told that it would be several hours before an officer could attend. We arranged that an officer would come to see me this morning and take a statement from me. I was given a log number for the incident - 1529 on 24/08/05 - and she rang off.

My point is not to criticise the police. No doubt they were unable to attend because of more serious criminal activity at the time. My point is that this incident is typical of what happens in Tranmere and it is what leads people to want to leave the area. If Tranmere is to be revived as a happy and healthy community we have to feel confident that when we make even such minor improvements as putting up a hanging basket it will not be ruined by some barbarian deciding late at night that he can steal it and assault anyone who tries to stop him - with impunity.

We need a lot more money spent on policing in this area so that when a citizen calls 999 they get a response, reliably within minutes of the call coming in and not be told that because of lack of resources the police will not be able to come "for hours". Instead of our taxes being spent on this critical service we find that millions of pounds are to be spent in Tranmere (£52 millions according to the Echo recently) - on knocking down perfectly good houses against the wishes of those living in them - and then building newer houses which are no better than the ones they are pulling down. They are doing this in the belief that it will improve the area.

This is very disheartening.

Yours sincerely

James Kay
cc. TRACE Ctte members, local Councillors, Tranmere Together and the TRACE 'blog

United Communities Group July 05

2005-08-12T12:21:00.000Z

These are the minutes of the Tranmere and Rock Ferry United Communities Group. This brings together all the community groups in the area.

Minutes of Meeting
Thursday 21-7-05
10am Prospect House

Present: Hazel Roberts, Len McCormack, John Steele, Steph Reid, Steve Lally, Simon Petris, Ann Adams, Mr Bentzen, John Chesworth, Lorraine Norris, Pat Haynes
Apologies: John Davies, Mary Petris, Pat Tyson

Guest Speaker: Jean McIntosh – B&NBEAG
Lowell Williams – Fire + Rescue Service
Jean talked all through her presentation on the B&NBEAG project (see attached). She is happy to liase with those interested in how it was brought together and invited all to attend their next meeting at the Gautby Rd Community Centre on Friday 14th Sept 1pm-3pm. Contact Jean on 201 8610.

Lowell gave out Home Safety Check leaflets, last year there had been 30-40 deaths this has been reduced to an average of 10 per year now (contact 0800 731 5958). He then talked about the moves to make Wheelie bins fire-proof over next 10 years (advised not to put wheelie bin fires out with water unless at a safe distance of 20yds). If you want to report dumping of abandoned cars or fly-tipping contact him at office on 606 5499 (07970661443) lowellwilliams@wirral.gov.uk

Minutes of meeting 12-05-05: Read and agreed

Matters Arising from last meeting:
Church Rd Regeneration –

TRACE (James Kay) will be submitting a resident’s petition to the Select Committee end of July regarding the proposed plans.

TAG (Hazel Roberts) has liased with Frank Field to set up an open meeting between residents and relevant Council representatives to discuss concerns, date and venue to be decided. If you have questions to put to them please contact Hazel or Steph Reid on 644 1100,these can then be brought together for the meeting. SR to inform Andy Beech –5 Ways RA.
Rock Park Esplanade – Peter Riley looking into funding possibilities

General:
Together Update - The Health Impact Assessment held on 30th June at Tranmere Alliance Community Hall substituted the last UCG meeting, Karen Stratford has completed a report on the views given about the key themes discussed from the Together Delivery Plan, if you want any further information contact Together on 649 1690. The new Community Engagement Officer is starting on 5th Sept. Next Together Residents Group meeting will be held in October at Tranmere Alliance Community Hall, date to be confirmed.

Resident Group Reports

Lees Ave - Sure Start are moving into Rock Ferry Primary
School this month. This is going to put an extra
strain on the parking in the area especially at school
drop off and pick up times. Council have not taken
any of their solutions on board to date, Ian
Ramsden (Technical Services) has visited but not at
peak time.

116 properties - 89 can park – 27 can not
Primary School 15 spaces – 6 for Sure Start -51 will not have spaces to park
Whitfield Street RG They have a similar parking problem with
visitors/staff of Tranmere Community Project

Neighbourhood Wardens - Reports of bogus ‘Tree Surgeons’ coning money from people (white van red lettering) - police need their descriptions.

Alleygates for Between the Parks area will start in August.

Any Other Business
Expert Patient Programme – The NHS are running courses to help long term patients manage living with their illness’ more effectively. The first of these will start on 7th Sept. at Tranmere Alliance Community Hall, if you or anyone you know is interested in taking part contact Lisa on 651 3865
Streetcage Soccer – New activity being offered for local young people during the Summer Holidays by Together and Tranmere Alliance, contact Wendy Hartley on 644 1100.

Date of next meeting:

Thursday 9th Sept 2005 10.30am Prospect House

Liverpool Echo Story Aug 5th 2005

2005-08-09T08:50:00.000Z

The following story was run in the Liverpool Echo on the 5th of August after Echo journalist Sam Lister visited the area with a photographer. It is reprinted without amendment.

Homes to be razed in £52m facelift

Aug 5 2005

By Sam Lister, Liverpool Echo

HOUSES in a run-down community will be wiped out after two thirds were condemned unfit for habitation. Around 50 homes in Tranmere have been earmarked for demolition. Many have not been occupied for more than a decade and have major structural problems. They will be cleared, along with shops, as part of the £52m Housing Market Renewal Initiative. Planners then want to turn the area into an "urban village". Although residents are behind the plans they have objected to some of the homes being bulldozed.

James Kay, chairman of Tranmere Residents Association Church Road East, (Trace) said:

"Some of the homes don't need demolishing. They've had thousands spent on them and many of the owners have lived there for years. We're all for the Church Road front being pulled down but in some of the other areas it's totally unnecessary.

They'll have to spend around £100,000 of taxpayers' money on buying each of them, then rebuild them when all they have to do is spend a little money on renovations. The system is also unfairly skewed against older people. Many of the couples have paid off their mortgages and are too old to get a new one so it will be difficult for them to move into somewhere as nice as the homes they've spent years doing up."

The plan would also see 35 shops pulled down along with six other business units. A new town centre would then be built with 4,600sq m of retail and office space and 133 new homes.

Ward Cllr Phil Davies said:
"The transformation will be tremendous. Everybody is agreed on the fact regeneration is needed, some of the buildings are in a terrible state. "We've agreed to meet the residents to listen to their concerns and will try to reach a conclusion where everyone is happy. "The problem is, much of the money to finance this depends on clearance and redevelopment."

samlister@liverpoolecho.co.uk 0151 472 2488

TRACE submission to Housing Select Ctte

2005-08-04T11:48:00.000Z

This is an excerpt from a submission from TRACE to the Housing and Community Safety Select Committee 26th July Wallasey Town Hall

The submission reflects the views of local residents directly affected by the HMRI and living as it were under its shadow. A petition signed by local residents will be presented at the Select Committee meeting which will confirm their support for the position it advances.

What do local residents in the Church Road Masterplan area think of the proposals?Almost all of the residents consulted by TRACE were in support of the regeneration of Church Road. Many residents took the view that it was long overdue and must go ahead now without any further unnecessary delay. Several of those speaking at our meetings said that they had been involved over many years with previous attempts to establish a “Tranmere Urban Village” and had been greatly disappointed when this did not go ahead in the past. They were very keen that regeneration go ahead this time. This is why the supporting petition calls upon Wirral Council to “continue with their improvement planning” for the Church Road Masterplan.

Does support from local residents for Church Road improvement include support for demolition of homes in the areas behind Church Road against the wishes of those living in them?
No it does not. That is why the petition presented tonight will call on Wirral Council “not to make demolition the only option” for those in the target property zone. Amongst those consulted by TRACE the overwhelming majority were opposed to anyone’s home being demolished against their wishes. Several residents who had been in the previous options one to three at the first stage of consultation, spoke of their relief that their properties were no longer targeted for demolition and of their support for those who were now under the threat. Other residents whose properties are in the targeted 52 properties also spoke eloquently at the meeting.

One resident in Seymour Street explained that she had lived there for many years and had seen the area deteriorate. To be under threat of demolition now just as the area is finally looking like it might be on the way back - was described by her as “cruel”.

Another resident in Thompson Street described the many improvements to her home that had been made over many years. She talked of her home with pride and that it had no need of any further work of improvements. It seems her home was now just in the wrong place. She had got a valuation of her home from a local estate agent that was in the region of £130,000. She had been visited by Council officers who had offered her considerably less than this but still a large amount of public money. She did not understand how it could make any sense to spend public money in this way to buy up and then demolish an attractive sound home and then plan to build a new house to a lower specification and with a smaller garden on the same site.

Another resident higher up in Thompson Street in the target zone described how he moved to the area with his seriously ill wife because he could afford the house, which also had a garden even though it needed quite a lot of renovation work. He has been doing that work at his own expense over the last two years and in the midst of this was visited as part of the NRA.

He and his wife have now been told that their property failed the NRA assessment for the 1985 Housing Act and has been therefore deemed unfit for human habitation. This is despite the fact that he was only part way through renovations when the assessment was made and the work now complete makes the house perfect for his needs and fully compliant with the 30 year standard. He and his wife are very determined not to leave a home they have worked very hard to make their perfect. A picture of their home is given at the top of this article.

James Kay the Chairman of TRACE who lives in 21 Seymour Street recorded an identical experience. A council officer failed this property on the grounds that the internal decorations were substandard after visiting it in the midst of the renovation process. Renovations have now been completed fully at the owner’s expense. This property was scheduled for demolition under the previous options but is now not in the target zone. The new demarcation line for demolition has now been redrawn to end at the edge of number 19 - one property short of number 21.

A resident in Warrington Street spoke at the meeting and explained that he had received conflicting reports on whether his property had need of any structural work. As far as he was concerned it did not need that work. In a previous visit by council officials he had been told that minor settlement had occurred many years previously. Now it seems he has been told that his property needs major structural work. He refutes this but in any case cannot understand how it makes more sense to spend a lot more money knocking down rather than supporting him to improve his home if it does need any more work.

Many others spoke at the meeting against compulsory demolition and could not understand why it was necessary to knock down all these homes in the streets behind the main development area.

What do local residents think should happen instead of compulsory demolition?Local residents believe that people living in the streets behind Church Road shopping area who wish to stay in their homes, should be supported to do so and helped to improve their homes if they are in need of further work to achieve the 1985 Housing Act standard. That is why the petition calls upon Wirral Council to “support residents who want to stay in their own homes and improve them.”

Why should Wirral Council support local residents who want to stay in their homes rather than see them demolished?

§ Because no one should be forced from their homes against their wishes unless the only alternative is a very real community harm. Such harm has not yet even been adequately defined let alone proven.
§ Because the case has not been made yet that the improvements on Church Road depend on the wholesale clearance of streets behind. The developer (Lovell) who is being considered for this work has not been briefed yet to explore a renovation option for these streets. A Lovell senior representative told James Kay during the consultation process that demolition is the only option that the council is considering for the target areas.
§ Because even where structural problems exist they can be dealt with for much less than the cost of demolition. Most houses have received only a cursory examination and before a case is made - for example that they are structurally irreparable - more work should be done involving the residents concerned in making this assessment and considering the various options.
§ Because the Human Rights Act (s8) protects citizens to live peacefully in their homes and protected from arbitrary authority. This right can be overwhelmed under s1 of the Act if there is a compelling public interest in doing so. That ‘public interest’ case should be made and debated before the decision to demolish has to be confronted. Failure to do so before the renovation option is abandoned will leave the authority vulnerable to a successful challenge to the Inspector at the CPO stage and possibly to a legal challenge later.
§ Because demolition is not the only option. Demolition should only be used as a very last resort when all other alternatives have been exhausted. In most cases these alternatives have not even been tried. In other areas affected by HMRIs renovation has now been brought back on the agenda. This has now been done in Liverpool after resident reaction to demolition plans. In Preston imaginative renovations and redesigns have been implemented for much smaller and older terraced blocks than are evident in Tranmere. There is a practical alternative to demolition.
§ Because forcing residents out of their homes will damage community cohesion. Those who most want to stay include many of those who are most active in local community spirit and activity. They have demonstrated already by their campaigning how lively and constructive is the Tranmere community. This spirit should be nourished and encouraged but it is at risk of being soured and demoralised if the Council demonstrates that it is not prepared to keep the renovation option alive.
§ Because forcing owner-occupiers out of their home will worsen the ratio of owned to rented properties. The Council has committed itself to improve the tenure ratios in favour of more owner-occupiers. The current ration percentage is 62:38. After compulsory demolition that ratio will worsen.
§ Because it will effectively discriminate against the elderly. The people most cruelly affected by the plan to demolish properties are those over the age of 55 who even if they wished to do so, cannot take out another mortgage. Many of them will be forced either back into the rented sector or into substandard housing in other low value areas not in the NRA area. This is because they will not be able buy another property in the same condition as their own for the ‘market’ price that Wirral Council will be able to offer them. This older group of people are the backbone of the Tranmere Community and vital to its continuing identity and future cohesion. They are the ones who hold the community memories and will be a very important conduit to the past when the new urban village community takes shape.
§ Because it will worsen inequalities. Those least able to afford the new housing in Tranmere will include those owner-occupiers of all ages whose houses are demolished. They will also be pushed further down the housing ladder. They will be in a similar position to older residents. They will be replaced in Tranmere by those who can afford the entry-level costs – predicted by Lovell to be in the region of £135,000 for the 3 bedroomed properties they are planning for Church Road. Tranmere is at the moment one of the few areas on the Wirral where starter homes exist at prices that people can afford. The net effect of this change will be to widen and not narrow housing inequality in Tranmere.
§ Because it will be a great deal more expensive. Even if the existing owners were to get substantial grants and/or equity loans to make improvements it would still only cost a small portion of the demolition alternative. It is not at all certain that much will need to be spent on the properties where the owners want to stay. Most are adamant that they do not require much improvement and have not had other than cursory examinations by council officers.

This financial imbalance and lack of value for money is worth an extra paragraph. Even according to the papers submitted by the Housing and Regeneration department, the average spend needed to reach the 1985 standard on the target properties is under £30,000 per unit. This is about a third of the cost of demolition and rebuild. TRACE is now asking you “How can the renovation option be swept away at this stage in the face of such obvious cost improvements from a viable alternative?”

§ Because it is the right thing to do at this stage. It will bring local residents and Council officers together into a creative team committed to making a practical success of the improvement plan that the community wants and the area desperately needs.

What action is needed by Wirral Councillors?

You have the overwhelming support of the local residents for the suggested improvements on Church Road but not for compulsory demolition of resident’s homes in the area behind Church Road.

We urge you on behalf of residents in the Church Road Masterplan Area, to keep alive the renovation option where residents wish to stay. This will need a clear message from the Select Committee to the Council’s officers to work with the developers and with local residents to work out how that can be achieved on a block-by-block basis.

TRACE will continue to work with local Council officers and with staff from Tranmere Together to support and represent the views of local residents and to advocate their continued involvement in decisions about their properties

For more information on any of the above please contact

James Kay
TRACE
21 Seymour Street
Tranmere
0151 647 1903
07976 839 054

jameslkay@ntlworld.com
www.tranmereresidents.blogspot.com