Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 14 November 2013 are attached.

It was agreed:

That the Minutes of the last Meeting of the Township Forum held on 14 November 2013 be approved as a correct record.

It was agreed:

Councillor Bevan referred to Minute RTNM.520 - Matters Arising and explained that response he had received from Chief Superintendent Forber at Bury Division of GMP had been circulated at the meeting this evening.

Dave Thomas referred to RTNM.524 - Public Question Time and the question that had been raised by Mr Booth regarding the future of the Council's sponsorship of Bury Football Club.

Dave explained that he had raised this question with Council Officers and had been told that the sponsorship was currently in the final season and to date, no decision had been made on whether sponsorship would continue going forward.

An update will be given at the meeting.

It was reported that since the last Township Forum Meeting in November 2013, there had been an application made to become a member of the Advisory Group from Reverend Steve Openshaw.

It was explained that the application form had been circulated to all councillors and the application had been approved.

Reverend Openshaw introduced himself to the forum and explained that he was representing Ramsbottom & Edenfield Team Ministry and Churches together in Ramsbottom.

It was agreed:

That Reverend Openshaw be welcomed as a member of the Township Forum Advisory Group.

Scott Alker from the Carers Centre will give a presentation.

Scott Alker from Bury Carers Centre attended the meeting to introduce the work of the Carers Centre to the Forum.

Scott explained that the centre worked with unpaid carers who were described as a family member, friend or neighbour who offered support to somebody that needed it. It could be a husband caring for a wife 24 hours a day or a neighbour who visits to help with getting up and bathing etc.

Many unpaid carers didn't identify with the fact that they were carers as they felt that was something that they would just do.

It was explained that there were currently an estimated 7 million unpaid carers in the UK saving the country an estimated £87 billion in caring costs.

In Bury, the 2011 census showed that there were just under 20 000 unpaid carers but of this figure just 2950 were registered with the Carers Centre.

The Carers Centre is a charity which is funded by Bury Council, the Clinical Commissioning Group and from regular fundraising and the purpose of the centre was to offer support to carers across the borough.

The centre provides activities, advice, support networks, training courses, help with benefit forms and legal advice, days away and more and carries out work both at the Centre in Bury Town Centre and in locations across the borough so that the work undertaken can be accessed easily. It was also explained that they had recently started providing support at Fairfield General Hospital so that carers who were visiting the people they cared for could be introduced to the Carers Centre.

Scott asked that all those present at the meeting took away a leaflet so that they could pass on the details of the Carers Centre to anybody who may benefit from it and also to promote the services as widely as possible. The Centre was looking for any opportunity to raise its profile in order that as many people as possible were aware of the support and services provided.

Those present were given the opportunity to ask questions or make comments and the following points were raised:-

·                     Councillor Daly explained that he was the Chairman of the Bury Relief and Sickness Fund who provided donations to carers to assist them to take much needed breaks and stated that he should meet with Scott to discuss how they could work together in this area.

·                     A Member of the public present asked how people would find out about the Centre and the services it provides.

Scott explained that here were a number of ways that a person would be referred through Adult Care Services, other carers, other agencies, from leaflets in public places, website and word of mouth.

·                     Judith Kelly asked whether the cared for could access the service.

Scott explained that the Carers Centre role was to support carers but, there were a few events where carers could attend with the people they cared for such as coffee mornings.

·                     Councillor Fitzwalter asked whether the centre worked with  ...  view the full minutes text for item RTNM.680

A representative from Greater Manchester Police will give an update at the meeting.

Inspector Lorraine Crossman attended the meeting to introduce herself to the Forum and to answer any questions that those present may have.

Lorraine explained that she had taken over from Inspector Williams and had been in post for a month. Prior to this position Lorraine had worked in other areas of Bury and also in Manchester City Centre and areas around there such as Gorton and Blackley.

Those present were given the opportunity to ask questions and make comments and the following points were raised:-

·                     Mr Booth, a resident from Ramsbottom explained that there had been ongoing issues with vandalism of local properties and anti social behaviour by some of the pupils at Summerseat Pupil Learning Centre. Mr Booth asked that the police carry out some work in this area.

Inspector Crossman explained that she would gather more information from Mr Booth on the incidents he was referring to and then decide how to move forward. There would be a number of options that could be considered and these would be reviewed.

Councillor Daly reported that he had visited the school with Councillor Hussain to discuss areas of concern. One of the issues discussed was the behaviour of some of the pupils when accessing and leaving the premises and the possibility of a teacher chaperoning them to and from the bus stop.

·                     Councillor Fitzwalter explained that she had attended the Ramsbottom Business Group meeting prior to the Township Forum and one of the areas of concern raised had been the question of who was policing Ramsbottom Centre.

Inspector Crossman explained that one of her first jobs once in post had been to review policing of all areas and make any changes that were required. A PCSO had been identified for the area and was due to commence working in Ramsbottom in mid February and beat officers would have a weekend presence in Ramsbottom at weekend evening through to 3am.

·                     Councillor Fitzwalter also referred to the lack of any PACT meetings for the previous 6 months and asked that this be rectified as soon as possible.

·                     Councillor Gunther explained that she had been informed that there was an issue with people dealing drugs from the Waterside car park in Summerseat and asked that this be investigated.

Inspector Crossman asked that any incidents such as these are reported to the local police and that she would take this information back with her.

·                     Dr Binns explained that there were ongoing issues in both Affetside and Holcombe Villages with speeding vehicles. There had been the promise of a speeding exercise being carried out by the police in both villages but this hadn't happened as yet. Dr Binns asked if this could be done soon.

·                     Mr Graham, a resident of Tottington explained that he had attended the meeting specifically to ask that the practice of vehicles parking on the double white lines on the bend of Chapel Street in Tottington is stopped. This was a danger to other road users and had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item RTNM.681

A presentation will be given at the meeting.

Dave Thomas, the Township Co-ordinator gave an update on the work that had been carried out and the achievements made since the round table event that had been undertaken by the Township Forum at its first meeting of the Municipal Year in June 2013.

The priorities that the plan had focussed on were set out and Dave explained what had been carried out within each of these.

There had been a number of apprentices taken on within the Council, two of which were from the Township Forum areas and there were due to be another cohort starting within the next few weeks, Interviews were due to be held within the next few weeks and Dave was aware that 6 of the applicants were from the Township areas.

The Bury North Partnership Action Group had been launched alongside the Council and the Police as well as other organisations. This had now been established for 6 months and had been very successful to date.

The Be Safe, Be Cool campaign that visited schools to talk about the impact of anti social behaviour was due to start visiting schools again soon due to the success of the previous campaign. 

A mapping exercise was in the process of being produced by the community learning partnership to identify learning needs across the townships.

Dave explained that he would be setting up some task and finish groups in the near future to expand on the work already undertaken and he would be in touch with the advisory group members about this.

It was agreed:-

That Dave be thanked for his update

Members of the public present are invited to ask questions or raise issues of concern relating to the provision of local services.

·                     Dr Binns explained that Holcombe Village had requested installation of a mirror at the top of The Rake in the Village. Highways had been to inspect the area but had explained that it would need to be installed ion private land and they would not be able to fund this. Dr Binns asked if Holcombe Society could apply for funding.

Dave stated that he would take this request back to the relevant officer.

·                     Outside of the meeting, a member of the public asked that the double yellow lines on School Lane in Walmersley be reinstated as they had worn away and the vehicles parking on the lane were causing difficulties to local residents and issues with traffic entering the lane from the main road.

Any other business which by reason of circumstances the Chair agrees may be considered as a matter of urgency.

Councillor Bevan referred to the Core Strategy that had recently been produced and consulted on. There was a public meeting due to be with the Planning Inspectorate on 25 February in the Elizabethan Suite at Bury Town Hall. Councillor Bevan asked that if anybody was interested in attending this meeting he would be able to provide them with the details.

 (Note: This item which did not appear on the agenda was allowed by the Chair to be considered as a matter of urgency in order to make people aware of the public meeting with the Planning Inspectorate at the earliest opportunity)