Agenda and minutes

Councillor Hankey welcomed all those present to Bolton Road Methodist Church and thanked everybody for their attendance.

Members are asked to consider whether they have an interest in any item on the agenda and if so to formally declare that interest.

There were no interests declared at the meeting.

The Minutes of the last meeting held on 2 June 2015 are attached.

It was agreed:

That the Minutes of the last meeting held on 2 June 2015 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Further to Minute BWTF.9 of the last meeting - Matters arising, Councillor Walker reported that the newsagents and Post Office on Mile Lane was now fully open.

PCSO Shelley Flitcroft reported that the Police would be looking to hold half hour drop in sessions in local Post Offices to allow residents the opportunity to call in and speak to their local policing teams. Shelley explained that she would be contacting the Mile Lane Post Office to see if this was a possibility.

Councillor Southworth referred to Minute BWTF.14 of the last meeting – Advisory Group Update and reported that the dividend from Manchester Airport would be pledged to update play areas across Bury. Councillor Southworth also reported that £5000 had been identified towards the Purbeck Drive project.

A verbal update of local Police issues will be given at the meeting - subject to the availability of Police Officers on the evening.

Constable Trevor Peachey introduced Sergeant Matt Doyle to the Forum. It was explained that Sergeant Doyle was the new Sergeant covering the Bury West area.

Constable Peachey updated the Forum on issues relating to crime in the two Bury West wards;

There had been lots of reports regarding a young man with a horse pulling a cart or a Romany type caravan near to the Whitehead Park area of the town. It was explained that the Police had made contact with the person in question and he was not breaking any laws. The RSPCA had visited the horse and given it a health check and the horse was in good health.

There had been an increase in the number of fraudulent telephone calls made. Microsoft and TalkTalk were two of the companies that were mentioned. It was explained that if a person telephoned asking for bank account details or computer passwords they should not be believed and the recipient should put the phone down. Constable Peachey advised that if a telephone number showed up that wasn’t recognised it could be a scam number – if you responded by text to that number you could be charged a lot of money for the text and even more if you called the number back.

Constable Peachey explained that there was a telephone number search available on the internet where you could type a telephone number in and it would search for any known record of the phone number.

·         Councillor Kerrison reported that she had received complaints about cyclists riding on the pavements and almost knocking people over. Councillor Kerrison asked what could be done about this?

It was explained that this would be covered in a byelaw and would be a Council enforceable issue.

·         A member of the public referred to travellers turning up and setting up camp and asked what could be done about this.

It was explained that there was a difference between public land and private land. If travellers were on private land they could be told to leave straight away. If it was public land they would be able to stay until a 7 day order had been issued. It was the responsibility of the Council to obtain the order.

It was agreed:

That the Police be thanked for their attendance at the meeting.

Tom Gleaves, I Will if You Will Localities Officer will give a presentation at the meeting.  

Tom Gleaves, I Will if You Will Locality Officer attended the meeting to report on phase two of the I Will if You Will initiative.

I Will if You Will was aimed at getting more women and girls active and into sports and was funded by the National Lottery and Sport England. The second phase had been awarded funding which would allow community groups to bid for up to £4000 in each locality network.

It was explained that the second phase of the initiative was looking to work with community groups to help establish activities with a start – up grant. The team would help the groups with the initial start up which would cover costs for the first six weeks to help the group become self funding. It was anticipated that by offering this help there would be a wider range of activities available across the borough for as many people as possible to participate in sports and exercise.

As well as funding and activity support it was explained that I Will if You Will would promote all funded activities by providing advertising such as banners and leaflets and include the event on their website.

The I Will if You Will website had been updated to include all activities. There is a search facility which allows you to look for activities, days of the week and locations.

All households across the borough had been sent a leaflet explaining the next phase of the initiative, advertising the website and asking for groups to come forward to apply for funding.

It was agreed:

That Tom be thanked for his attendance at the meeting.

An update will be given at the meeting.

The Township Co-ordinator, Christine Maksymowski, presented the Forum with the Township Area Plan 2015 – 2018 which had been produced following the round table discussions at the last meeting.

The Area Plan included a 12 month Action Plan which gave details of the priorities and projects that will be the focus for the next twelve months. 

Christine explained that work had already started on a number of the key issues;

The ROC centre was hoping to set up a new youth club in Church Ward which would help to cut back on ASB through early intervention and prevention. 

The new Chief Inspector at Bury had confirmed that the Police would, where available attend the Township Forum meetings half an hour before the meetings started to allow for private conversations outside of the meetings.

First Buses would be invited to a future meeting of the Forum to discuss improved road safety and transport.

Talks were ongoing with Elton High School to set up a intergenerational project where Elton students would be teaching IT and technology skills to those that needed it.

Christine referred to the Community Pride and Belonging outcome and stated that the Township Forum was more than happy to promote any community projects.

·         Councillor Walker referred to the Community Pride and Belonging Outcome with the plan and raised the following issues:-

Ø  The Jolly Carters pub on Bolton Road which was becoming derelict. The car park was overgrown with weeds and there was a big green metal container on the site.  Councillor Walker stated that he had received a number of complaints from local residents as the site was an eyesore at the entrance to the Seddons Farm Estate.

Ø  Councillor Walker had asked for a map of where dog waste bins were located in the ward but had received no response.

Ø  He had also asked for dates of weed control spraying but had not received any information.

Councilllor Kerrison stated that she had been at a meeting where weed spraying had been discussed and it had been reported that the whole of the borough should be completed by the end of July.

It was agreed:

1.     That the contents of the report be noted.

2.     That any comments in relation to the Township Area Plan or the Action Plan be forwarded to Christine.

An update will be given at the meeting.

The Township Co-ordinator, Christine Maksymowski, reported that each Township Forum would be required to establish a sub group of the Forum to form a Funding Panel.

The Panel would be made up of Councillors and Advisory Group Members and would decide whether applications for funding be approved.

It was explained that it would all be carried out electronically with the decisions being reported back to the Township Forum meetings.

The Members of the Funding Panel were reported as:-

Councillor Hankey

Councillor Harris

Councillor Kerrison

Councillor Southworth, and;

Mr Jones

It was agreed:

That the contents of the report be noted.

The Funding report is attached.

Christine Maksymowski, the Township Co-ordinator presented the Funding Report for Bury West.

Each Township Forum had £8000 to be allocated through the funding Panel with a maximum grant of £250 per group.

Appended to the report was a list of the applications that had been received and if successful how much grant they received.

It was also explained that the Panel would allow only one successful application per organisation per year.

It was explained that the Small Grants Panel had decided on the June applications as there had not been enough time to confirm the membership of the Funding Panel.

An update will be given at the meeting

Mr Jones from Brandlesholme Residents’ Association reported that the applications for the Draw it, Paint it, Click it competition were now available.

Christine stated that any constituted groups within the two Township Forum wards could apply to have a member on the Township Forum Advisory Group. Applications were available.

It was agreed:

That the update be noted.

Those present are asked if they wish to ask questions or raise issues of concern relating to the provision of local services.

The Chair, Councillor Hankey 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 Co-ordinator undertook to obtain a reply to matters which could not be dealt with at the meeting.

·         A member of the public referred to the old Police Station building in Bury Town Centre and asked when it would be demolished.

·         A member of the public reported that there had been recent activity at the site of the  ‘Old Dukes’ on Brandlesholme Road and the site was up for sale. Was there any news on what was happening?

It was explained that the site had been approved in the past for residential development but this has lapsed. It would be up to the seller/purchaser to re-apply.

·         A member of the public asked who to contact in relation to speeding cars on residential streets.

It was suggested that this issue be forwarded to the Highways Officer responsible.

·         A resident asked if Councillor Harris would be able to chase up the street sign for Kensington Drive where it meets with Henley Close.

·          

The next meeting of the Township Forum will be held on Thursday 10 September at 7pm at All Saints Church, Hebburn Drive, Bury.

It was reported that the next meeting of the Township Forum would be held on Thursday 10 September at All Saints Church, Hebburn Drive, Brandlesholme.