Agenda and minutes

Councillor Harris welcolmed everyone present to the meeting.

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 in relation to any item on the agenda.

It was agreed that the Minutes of the last meeting of the Township Forum  held on 7 July 2016 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Councillor Harris reported that the Highways Sub Group would be meeting in October.

Sergeant Aston attended the meeting to update those present on police issues across Bury West since the last meeting of the Forum in July.

It was reported that in Church Ward there had been 14 Traffic accidents reported, 26 reports of youths causing nuisance, no reports of theft of a motor vehicle but there had been 11 thefts from motor vehicles. There had been 5 reports of garage and shed break ins and 15 reports of burglar dwellings.

Sergeant Aston explained that there had been coordinated working and the use of ANPR which had led to 2 of the burglary teams being arrested.

In Elton Ward there had been 7 reported traffic accidents,1 theft of a motor vehicle, 12 thefts from motor vehicles, 10 garage and shed break ins and 20 burglar dwellings.

It was explained that empty properties had been targeted and when residents were on holiday. It was also reported that the majority of incidents had occurred very early in the morning.

Sergeant Aston reported that there had 2 incidents of sexual assault on ‘The Lines’ public footpath. The person responsible for these had been apprehended.

·         Hilary Marshall from Brandlesholme Residents Association asked what work was being undertaken by the police to keep Homewatch groups informed of incidents of crime in their areas.

Sergeant Aston explained that he didn’t deal with Homewatch groups himself but he would ask that the local Homewatch coordinator contacted Mrs Marshall to discuss this.

It was agreed:

That Sergeant Aston be thanked for his update.

A presentation will be given at the meeting

Dr Victoria Moyle and Margaret O’Dwyer from Bury CCG attended the meeting to report on the consultation that was currently being undertaken in relation to how urgent care was provided across the borough.

Urgent Care Services were described as those that are designed to assist patients with an illness or injury that does not appear to be an emergency, but is considered too urgent to wait for routine care

It was explained that there were a number of different options open to Bury residents from A & E to Out of Hours GP services and walk in Centres.

It was felt that there was currently a lot of duplication in services across the Bury area and patients were unsure of where to go to receive treatment. The Urgent Care System today has evolved over a number of years.  Many patients attending A&E who are considered to have a primary care level of need. (National and Local issue)

Walk-In Centre attendances are recurrently reducing.

There are System pressures nationally and locally

A number of meetings had been held with stakeholders and other groups to review what the current offer was and to discuss how this could be updated to provide a better service to residents.

The vision was explained :

To realise an Integrated Urgent Care System with better connecting health and social care services which delivers the following principles:

•      Delivers the best possible outcomes for the patients of Bury.

•      Promotes self- care for patients where appropriate.

•      Builds on NHS 111 as a single point of access.

•      Reduce duplication and confusion for patients.

•      Develops the concept of the clinical hub for Bury as described in recent guidance.

Patients would always be advised to telephone the NHS111 number in all instances except where an A & E visit was required. The 111 number gives access to appropriate advice and referral if necessary to one to one treatment.

The CCG would be looking to provide new services which would further extend the offer available to patients. These included:-

Vulnerable Patient Service

A & E Front End Model

Wound Care Service

Ambulatory Care

It was explained that Bury already provided GP extended working hours and additional GP appointments. Children aged 0 -12 were offered urgent appointments on the same day and there was an enhanced level of support elderly and frail patients.

Statistics had been reviewed from the patients attending the two walk in centres in Bury and it was reported that 41% had received self care advive, 29% were non Bury residents, 17% had received wound care and 4% had been directed to A & E. It was also explained that where walk in centre provision had been removed up to 25% of attendees had not presented elsewhere..

The consultation was running for 8 weeks and those present were asked to take part in the consultation which could be accessed online, via telephone or through the post.

Questions and comments were invited and the following points were raised:-

·         A local resident  ...  view the full minutes text for item BWTF.277

A presentation will be given at the meeting

Charli Headley from the Social Development Team at Bury Council attended the meeting to update those present on the Bury Directory. It was explained that the Directory was an online one stop information point that brings together a wide range of resources and holds many directories in one place.

Contents of the site could be shared on social media and was completely optimised for smart phones and tablets. There were drop down sections and a scrolling banner with information. There were apps to services such as living aid equipment, self care and dementia friendly businesses.

To be included on the directory, pages must answer ‘yes’ to one of the following questions:-

·         Is it a legal requirement?

·         Is it a specialist service or provision?

·         Does it support the local health and wellbeing, self care or prevention agendas?

·         Does it support Bury Council’s Corporate Debt Strategy?

It was explained that statistics were showing that hits to the directory were increasing with a projected forecast of 111,160 hits in 2016/2017.

It was explained that the next steps were going to be dedicated to support neighbourhoods and would include NHS Choices, consultation groups and You Tube ‘how to’ videos.

Community groups were welcome to join the directory and events being carried out locally could be promoted.

Charli stated that if anybody wanted to be included on the site, they could do this by contacting her or her colleagues within the Social Development Team.

It was agreed:

That Charli be thanked for her presentation

A representative from First Buses will be in attendance to give an update and answer questions in relation to the service they provide.

Dave Brotheridge, Dwayne Wells and Katrina Bradbury from First Bus Bury Depot attended the meeting to update those attending on issues relating to bus services provided by First Bus in Bury.

It was reported that the 98 service was currently running to the best punctuality recorded for some time at 94.1%. This would continue to be monitored now that the schools were back.

The 471 service which ran along the A58 corridor had had issues with pinch-points congestion along the route and recent motorway closures had an impact on congestion.

It was explained that a lot of joint working had been carried out with Council Highways departments in relation to planned works.

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

·         A local bus user explained that sometimes there was a big queue for the 471 at Bury Interchange and if 2 buses came in very close together one would often start their route without letting passengers on board. He asked whether this was a policy of First Buses.

It was explained that sometimes a driver would make the decision to set off straight away to clear the passengers waiting on route whilst the other bus picked up the waiting passengers at the interchange.

·         A local resident asked whether bus punctuality was monitored as he had been in a situation where a 472 hadn’t turned up and since the service had changed to every 15 minutes, one missing bus caused problems for a lot of passengers.

It was explained that there had been a few issues recently with this particular service as the buses had to be re-routed due to the closure of Bridge Street in Ramsbottom. There was an AVL system on every vehicle which mapped the vehicles using GPS.

It was also explained that First Buses were commercial operators so were unable to run services where buses were empty.

If a bus didn’t turn up this could be reported to the customer care line and would be reviewed.

·         A member of the public asked if the current fleet was in the process of being updated as some of the vehicles were quite old.

It was reported that national investment in the fleet was carried out annually and this was cascaded down locally and priority was given to those in most need of replacement. 20 of the older buses used in Bury had recently been decommissioned with a further 11 left to be considered.

·         Councillor Walker reported that on some of the 98 services there were queues of people waiting to get on the bus and then some passengers would have to stand once they had got on. He had made some suggestions in relation to the route of the 98 and asked if these had been considered.

It was explained that all suggestions would be considered and they could be sent to Dave or Dwayne at First Buses.

·         Councillor Walker also explained that he had recently been to London  ...  view the full minutes text for item BWTF.279

Reverend Kath Selby from Bolton Road Methodist Church reported that Bolton Methodist Church had carried out a door to door in Church Ward in partnership with the Children’s Centre. During the visits they had asked how the area could be improved and had received a number of comments and suggestions.

Issues raised had included ASB in the area, issues with the lighting at Connaught Street and a request for the small playground to be reinstated in Powell Street.

Councillor Southworth explained that she was a member of the Board of Six Town Housing and she would report the request at the next meeting.

The visits had also been used to promote a Community Fun Day at the Church. The event had been extremely successful and very well attended.

Mr Trevor Eastland thanked the Forum for the contribution that had been received by Brandlesholme Resident’s Association to support the scarecrow festival that had recently taken place.

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

·         A member of the public referred to the ongoing issue of vehicles parking dangerously at the junction of Elton Brook Close and Newbold Street. It was explained that this occurs every time there is football at Whitehead Park and also some of the local church congregation park there.

Residents were concerned that there would be an accident in the area due to this issue.

The Funding report was submitted for information

The next meeting of the Township Forum will be held on 17 January 2017 at 7pm at the Elton Centre.

It was reported that the next meeting of the Township Forum would be held on 17 January 2017 at the Elton Centre.