Agenda and minutes

Members of the Township Forum are asked to consider whether they have an interest in any of the matters on the Agenda and if so, to formally declare that interest.

        There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

Nominations for the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Forum are invited at this meeting.

Any person nominated needs to be present and seconded in order for the nomination to stand.

If there is more than one nomination then the matter will be determined by vote.

The positions of Chair and Vice-Chair may be filled by either a core member or an Advisory Group Member.

If the position of Chair is taken by an Advisory Group Member, the position of Vice-Chair must be taken by a core member.

A core member may take the position of Chair or Vice-Chair.

Nominations for Chair and Vice Chair of the Ramsbottom, Tottington and North Manor Township Forum for the 2014/2015 Municipal year were requested.

          It was agreed:

1.   That Councillor Yvonne Wright be appointed as Chair of the Township Forum.

2. That Councillor Robert Hodkinson be appointed as Vice Chair of the Township Forum.

Councillor Wright thanked all those present for attending and welcomed them to the meeting.

Councillor Wright also congratulated Councillors Bevan, Daly and Gartside on their recent re-election at the local elections which had been held in May.

The Minutes of the Last Meeting held on 27 March 2014 are attached.

It was agreed:

That the last Meeting of the Township Forum held on 27 March 2014 be approved as a correct record.

Further to Minute RTNM.930, Public Question Time, Alistair Waddell asked if there was any information available regarding the 20mph zone that he had referred to at the last meeting.

Dave Thomas stated that he would follow this up and contact Mr Waddell outside of the meeting.

An update will be given at the meeting.

Dave Thomas, Township co-ordinator explained the role of the Advisory Group Members and asked that if anybody present at the meeting was interested in becoming a member they contact him for more information and an application form.

Representatives from Transport for Greater Manchester and Rosso Bus have been invited to attend to answer questions in relation to this issue.

All comments will be recorded and forwarded to the relevant organisations.

Councillor Noel Bayley, the Council's elected representative for transport issues attended the meeting with representatives from Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) to answer questions in relation to the 480 bus service which was in the process of having its route altered. Councillor Bayley explained that the bus service was currenty subsidised by TfGM to service the village of Affetside. Rosso Buses had informed TfGM that they would no longer be providing the service to Affetside and this would commence at the end of July 2014.

Sam Taysoe and James Lewis from TfGM explained that they had been working with Rosso Busues and their providers to try to come up with a solution to the issue as they were aware that by changing the route this would mean that some areas including Tottington Road and Affetside would have no bus service available to them.

TfGM had approached First Bus to ask if they could find a solution by looking at their current bus provision in the area and maybe altering a current service route but they had not been able to come up with a viable solution.

It was explained that the subsidy was £16,500 per year to cover the Affetside route and there were no commercial operators willing to provide the service for this amount.

It was also explained that TfGM were not in a position to force a provider to cover any route, all they could do was ask if an operator was interested. The money available to subsidise the route would not be increased due to budget restrictions within TfGM

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

·              A local resident explained that not all residents af the areas affected had access to transport and asked what their options were once the service stopped.

It was explained that there would still be the Ring and Ride service as well as the local link service.

·               An Affetside resident explained that they relied on the service to commute to work in Bolton and they would have no other way of getting their once the service ceased to run.

·               A member of the public stated that there were a number of young people who relied on the service to get to and from their jobs at local pubs and restaurants.

·              College students would need a service to get to and from Bury in order for them to attend college.

It was explained that there would still be the school services into Bury which would not be affected and college students would be able to use these buses to get into Bury.

·              A member of the public made reference to the Local Link service and stated that the service was not a reliable one and would not be a good alternative.

It was explained that TfGM would look at ways of making the local link more robust to become a service that local people did want to use.

·              Councillor  ...  view the full minutes text for item RTNM.83

A presentation will be given at the meeting followed by round table discussions.

Those present are also ask to discuss if the Township Forum should establish Sub Groups and if so what topics/issues they should review.

Sergeant Terry Dunning introduced himself and thanked the Forum for the invitation to attend.                                     

Sergeant Dunning explained that this was the first Township Forum he had attended.    

It was reported that the Police had been contacted regarding concerns of residents in relation to the speed of vehicles driving along Turton Road. Sergeant Dunning explained that this was an ongoing issue that Inspector Eddison was reviewing.

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

·                    A member of the public stated that he was concerned about the traffic speeds on Holcombe Road between the Bulls Head and the T Junction in Holcombe Brook. It was explained that he had witnessed vehicles travelling up to 60mph on a 30mph road.

Sergeant Dunning stated that he would take this matter back to Inspector Eddison and request that it be reviewed for possible solutions.

·                    A resident of Turton Road referred to the statement that had been made in respect of the speed limit on Turton Road and asked that all those present support the campaign to have it reduced. She explained that the Council and the Police were aware of the issues and a visit by a highways officer had taken place. A petition had been produced and those present were invited to sign it if they hadn't already done so.   

Councillor Gartside stated that as long as the petition had more than 50 signatures it would be presented to the Mayor at the next Council meeting.

·                    Councillor Bevan referred to the recent spate of thefts from sheds and asked whether the number had reduced.

It was explained that there had been a number of thefts from sheds around Ramsbottom and work had been carried out by the police to tackle this issue. Residents were being asked to more aware of the risks and some undercover work had taken place. The number of thefts of that type was reducing.

Sergeant Dunning was thanked for his attendance at the meeting.

David Thomas, Township Forum Manager, gave a presentation setting out the 2013/104 Township Plan and how work had been carried across Ramsbottom, Tottington and North Manor to meet the ambitions within the Plan. 

The Plan contained the following key themes :-

·           Employment / Worklessness / Training

·           Crime & Perceptions of Crime

·           Health & Wellbeing

·           Rural Issues / Promoting Outlying Areas

·           Community Cohesion & Integration

·           New Priorities

Current issues relating to each theme were highlighted and those present were asked to split into groups to discuss further work required to achieve the ambitions set out and any other areas of concern that should be included within the Plan.

Dave explained that he would take away the information that was gathered from the discussions to assess the data. The previous years' action plan would be reviewed and any outstanding priorities would be carried forward. New priorities from the session will be identified and Members of the Township Forum will meet to discuss those priorities and identify key themes.

The 2014/2015 Plan will be presented to the Forum at its next meeting in September.

The Chair, Councillor Wright invited those present to ask questions or raise issues of concern relating to the provision of local services:-

·                       Mr Ronald Schwarz explained that at the beginning of June he had reported a large pot hole in the road in Greenmount outside the Bulls Head and the pharmacy. Mr Schwarz explained that the hole was still there and was dangerous. He was aware of at least one person that had fallen into it.

·                       A member of the public asked if it would be possible to give an indication of the estimated timing of agenda items on the papers for the meeting. This practice had been done at the area board meetings and had worked well.

·                      Mr Green referred to the recent announcement that Bury Met had been awarded a £3m grant to refurbish the building and facilities and asked if this money was ring-fenced.

·                      Mr Green also referred to the recent closure of Castle Leisure centre to re-carpet certain areas and repaint some of the walls. Mr Green asked why this was deemed necessary as the carpet and walls could just have been cleaned at much less cost.

Mr Green asked that the responses to these questions be forwarded to Councillor Daly in writing.

·                      Mr Booth explained that had recently been in inpatient at Fairfield Hospital. Following this he had major concerns as to the future of the A & E Department at the hospital and the hospital as a whole. Mr Booth explained that he had been told that a number of wards had closed and services relocated to North Manchester General Hospital.

·                    Mr Booth asked what the future was for Fairfield General Hospital.

Councillor Wright explained that the Healthier Together review of Health and Care in Greater Manchester was due to start a 90 day consultation on 9th July 2014. Councillor Wright asked that all areas of concern in relation to the future of services across Greater Manchester are submitted to the consultation.

Councillor Gunther reported that the next Councillors surgery and Coffee Morning for North Manor was due to be held on 12 July at Hawkshaw Methodist Church from 10am.

Councillor Wright stated that she and Councillor Gartside were contactable via e-mail and telephone and would visit as soon as was possible after a resident contacted them.

Councillor Bevan stated that this was the same for Ramsbottom Councillors.

It was reported that the next meeting of the Ramsbottom, Tottington and North Manor Township Forum would be held on 17 September 2014 at Ramsbottom Civic Hall.