Agenda and minutes

Members of the Bury West 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

Minutes attached.

It was agreed.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Bury West Township Forum held on
14 July 2104 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

A representative from Greater Manchester Police will be in attendance.

Christine Maksymowski explained that the Police representative had been invited to attend and had accepted the invitation subject to their availability on the day. No representative was available to attend this meeting.

It was agreed:

A police update would be given at the next meeting of the Bury West Township Forum due to be held on the 19 November at Bolton Road Methodist Church.

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 and Talat Afzal, Recycling and Waste Awareness Officer. 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  ...  view the full minutes text for item BWTF.309

Representatives from Bury Clinical Commissioning Group will give a presentation at the meeting.

Dr Kiran Patel, Chair at Bury CCG and Catherine Jackson, Nurse Clinician at the 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)

Dr Patel explained that there was currently a scheme running in Radcliffe where GPs 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.

Dr Patel 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.  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:

·         A member of the public explained that he had experienced extremely poor organisation in the Pennine Acute hospitals. He had been invited to attend an appointment at one hospital only to be asked to attend an alternative site upon arrival as no one was available to treat him.

Dr Patel explained that situations like that would  ...  view the full minutes text for item BWTF.310

Councillor Walker will report at the meeting.

Further to Minute BWTF.115 of the previous meeting of the Township Forum, Councillor Walker provided members of the Bury West Township Forum with a verbal update informing those present of the situation at Mile Lane shops.

Councillor Walker explained that he had contacted a number of people with regards to the various issues and he could now report the following issues:-

He confirmed that the shops would not be demolished and the flats located above the shops were in the process of being refurbished.

The butcher shop was due to re-open and a new lease had been confirmed.

The newsagent and the Post Office would be closing as the newsagent would be relocating to another site. The Post Office had refused an application for the Post Office facilities to relocate with the newsagents.

The land at the side of the site was privately owned  and,  as there were no hazards on the site and it was just overgrown there was no requirement for the owner to tidy it up. The owner had stated that he would not be adverse to a community clean up of the site or community payback project.

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

·         The Council used to cut back and tidy the land and had stopped.

It was explained that the Council had to review the work it carried out and would now only undertake jobs that it was obliged to.

·         It was asked whether the Co-op would be able to sell newspapers.

It was reported that the Co-op would be approached with this request if nobody opened a new newsagent shop .

·         It was asked whether the Post Office would be approached about the possibility of allowing somebody else to provide the service on Mile Lane.

It was suggested that the Post Office should be invited to attend a special meeting of the Township Forum to discuss the options available. 

It was agreed:

1.   The Township Co-ordinator would liaise with the Post Office and invite them to a special meeting of the Township Forum.

2.   That options for clearing the land at the side of the site be explored.

Councillor Walker will report at the meeting.  Minutes attached.

Councillor Walker gave a verbal update on the work that had been carried out by the Highways Sub Group.

Those in attendance suggested that the bend on Mile Lane should be reviewed as this was a blind bend and dangerous.

A period of thirty minutes has been set aside for members of the public to ask questions or raise issues of concern relating to the provision of local services.

The Chair, Councillor S. Nuttall, invited questions, comments and representations from members of the public present at the meeting.  Questions were asked and comments made on the issues detailed below.  The Township Forum Co-ordinator undertook to obtain a reply to matters which could not be dealt with at the meeting.

In response to a question from a member of the public Councillor Southworth reported that Wood Street was currently in the process of being resurfaced.

A member of the public asked if the double yellow lines which had been painted on the road outside Greenhill Primary School would be removed.

It was reported that the lines would remain on the site and were only enforceable for half an hour in the morning and half an hour in the evening.

The Township Co-ordinator will report at the meeting.

Christine Maksymowski, Township Co-ordinator, presented the updated Township Plan which had been discussed at the last meeting.

It was agreed:

That the Township Plan be accepted

A report from the Programme Support Officer is attached for information.

The Township Co-ordinator reported that funding was still available in Elton and Church Wards.

                   It was agreed:

                   The report be noted.

The next meeting of the Bury West Township Forum will be held on Wednesday 19^th November 2014, commencing at 7pm at Bolton Road Methodist Church.

It was agreed:

The next meeting of the Township Forum will be held on 19 November 2014 at Bolton Road Methodist Church.