Notes from Church Road Consultation July 06

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