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.

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

Councillor Hodkinson explained that as Vice Chair he would be chairing the meeting as Councillor Wright was away.

It was agreed:

     That subject to the removal of Councillor Fitzwalter in the attendance record and Min RTNM.86, Open Forum (point 5) being changed to read 'one service had been relocated to North Manchester General Hospital', the minutes of last Meeting of the Township Forum held on 17 July 2014 be approved as a correct record.

The Action Checklist from the last meeting is attached.

Further to Minute RTNM.83 Future of the 480 bus service to Affetside, it was reported that Rosso Buses had agreed to continue with the service.

A presentation will be given at the meeting.

Councillor Susan Southworth, Deputy Cabinet Member, Sustainable

Borough attended the meeting. She was accompanied by Glenn Stuart, Head of Waste Management. Councillor Southworth reported that she was at the meeting to explain the changes to the ways that bins would be collected across the borough and why the changes were necessary.

It was explained that the Council had to find savings of £16m for the 2015/2016 financial year and many options were being considered. The recycling figures had risen from 27% in 2011 to 47% currently but it was hoped that by encouraging more residents to recycle their waste more efficiently the percentage could be raised to 60% or more. This would then help to achieve a saving of over £1m and also help the borough to become greener.

The Council was paid £25 per tonne for green bin waste (paper and card) and £25 per tonne for blue bin waste (glass, plastics and metal) it also raised income by producing compost from the brown bin waste (garden and food waste).

The new collection rounds would commence in the second week of October and all residents would see a change to their current service.

Brown bins would be emptied every two weeks, blue and green bins would be emptied every three weeks as would the grey bin. The days on which the bins were emptied would also change for some residents.

It was explained that all of the information relating to the days on which the bins would be emptied was currently being delivered to every household in the borough along with information on what to put in each bin.

Currently a lot of what was put into the grey bins could be recycled but wasn’t being. Councillor Southworth explained what materials should go in which bins.

If residents were unsure how they could recycle more, or were concerned about waste such as nappies and other similar products they could ask for a waste audit to be carried out. This would involve a member of the waste management team visiting them to talk through their needs and advise on the scheme.

It was also explained that extra blue and green bins could be requested and would be provided free of charge. Extra grey bins were also available but would incur a £30 administration and delivery charge and the householder would be assessed for need before one was supplied.

If a household had downsized to one of the smaller capacity bins they could request going back to a larger size grey bin and this would be free.

It was asked that all residents tried to recycle as much as possible before requesting a change of bin or extra bin as they may find that by following the scheme, they wouldn't actually require one.

Councillor Southworth also explained that all of the information was available on the Council website and the new collection day information was also available on line. There would also soon be the option to receive e-mail reminders of  ...  view the full minutes text for item RTNM.255

Representatives from the Healthier Together review and Bury CCG will report at the meeting.

Sharon Martin, Director of Commissioning and Deputy Chief Officer at Bury CCG attended the meeting to explain the current Healthier Together consultation and to ask those present for their comments and feedback on the proposals.

It was explained that the way in which healthcare was provided across Greater Manchester was undergoing change. The three areas that were affected were:-

         GP services

         Health and Social Care

         Specialist Surgery (Abdomen and Bowel)

Sharon explained that there was currently a scheme running in Radcliffe where GP were offering their patients appointments 7 days a week and this was due to be rolled out across Bury from December.

Work was taking place looking at how services between health and social care could be integrated and some schemes were already in place that were bridging the gaps in these areas. This ongoing work was bringing together lots of different organisations to provide joined up services across health and social care and bring more community based services to people outside of a hospital based setting.

The current consultation was asking all Greater Manchester residents to look at the different options for specialist hospital services (relating to abdomen and bowel surgery) across the conurbation and give feedback on them.

Sharon explained that there were 12 hospitals across Greater Manchester all providing different levels of care in relation to specialist surgery. Following a lot of work with clinicians working in these hospitals the eight Healthier Together options had been proposed.

It was explained that there were currently hospitals providing specialisms in areas such as stroke and heart surgery and these would not change. All hospitals that currently had an Accident and Emergency department would continue to have one and the changes being consulted on would effect a very small number of patients but would improve the service they received and help save lives.

The options were set out as there being seven or eight local general hospitals and four or five specialist hospitals.

Two hospitals would not be affected by the consultation; Trafford General and Rochdale Infirmary. Three hospitals had already been designated as Specialist; Manchester Royal Infirmary, Salford Royal Hospital and Royal Oldham Hospital. Three had already been designated as Local General Hospitals; Fairfield General Hospital, Tameside General Hospital and North Manchester General Hospital. This leaves four hospitals to consider; Royal Albert Edward Infirmary (Wigan) Royal Bolton Hospital, Wythenshawe Hospital and Stepping Hill Hospital.

Fairfield General Hospital would remain a local general hospital.

The consultation was asking for views on which of the eight options set out was preferred.

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

·            Mr Booth stated that he had recently signed a petition set up to stop the closure of the A & E department at Bolton Royal Infirmary.

Sharon explained that there were no plans to close any A & E and that any suggestion that this would happen was rumour.

·             A member of the public asked if information was available relating to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item RTNM.256

Councillor Shori, Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing and Kat Sowden will report at the Meeting.

Kat Sowden, Head of Workforce Modernisation, Communities and Wellbeing attended the meeting to report on the current consultation that was being carried out in relation to the services provided to older, disabled adults and learning disabled adults across the borough.

Kat explained that these services included day care, social day care, shared lives services, short stay and floating support.

The consultation was asking customers, service users and their carers how these services could be delivered differently.

3 options were being considered:-

·         Close some services and find alternative provision.

·         Privatise services

·         Alternative Delivery Model (Social Enterprise/Local Authority Traded Company)

Kat explained the different options available and how these would be implemented and explained that the findings from the consultation events would be reported to the Cabinet on 1st October where they would be discussed and the preferred option chosen.

Once a preferred option had been identified a business plan would be drawn up and engagement with service users and their carers would commence.

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

·    Councillor Gunther asked if the services were transferred to a Local Authority Traded Company would this mean that the current service was inefficient.

Kat explained that this would allow for different income streams to be established which the Council could not currently undertake.

·        Councillor Hussain asked what would happen if staff did not want to move to another employer.

          Kat stated that all staff would be consulted on whichever option was chosen and TUPE would protect staff if they were to move to an alternative delivery model. The Council could not force staff to move over and if they did not want to they would effectively be resigning their position.

·       Councillor Fitzwalter stated that the elderly and vulnerable have to be looked after by law and this was a top priority for the borough therefore a new model and way of working had to be looked at to ensure smarter working and more sustainable services.

It was agreed:

That Kat be thanked for attending.

Mr Booth explained that he had been in contact with Councillor Fitzwalter about the lights at Peel Tower. It had been a few months and nothing had been done to fix them.

Councillor Fitzwalter explained that she had contacted the relevant officers and they had been to inspect them. The issue should be rectified soon.

Dr Binns explained that Alan Walkden had raised issues about the junction at Factory Street and Ramsbottom Lane and problems caused there. She asked whether this could looked.

Dr Binns also explained that there were three features in the centre of Ramsbottom in Market Square; the tipped urn, the stone and the sign. All of these needed repairing and they were making the centre of Ramsbottom look shabby.

Mr Green reported that the trees on Palatine Drive and Walmersley Old Road needed cutting back as they were very overgrown.

Members are asked to consider the Township Plan.

The report is attached.

David Thomas, Township co-ordinator submitted the draft Township Plan.

David explained that he had taken away all of the comments submitted at the last meeting and had fed these into the Plan.

It was agreed:

That the Plan be accepted.

Sean and Dawn from the I Will if You Will programme introduced themselves to the Forum and explained what the I Will if You Will programme was.

Dawn explained that the current funding was due to come to an end but further funding was being sought to enable the activities to continue. Some of the more popular activities would continue to be provided so residents were encouraged to take part in these as the ones with higher attendances were more likely to be rolled out and retained.

It was reported that the next meeting of the Ramsbottom, Tottington and North Manor Township Forum would be held on 13 November 2014 at Tottington Methodist Church.