Agenda and minutes

Councillor Cullens welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced the co-opted members and officers from Chorley Borough and Lancashire County Council.

Councillor Cullens explained that this was the third and final Area Forums pilot meeting in this area.  There would be an opportunity for feedback on the pilot scheme at the end of the meeting.  

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Lindsay Hoyle (MP), Roy Ormston (Parish Councillor), Anne Smith (Parish Councillor), Eileen Whiteford (Parish Council Clerk), Inspector Jo South (Lancashire Constabulary), Teresa Spears (Age Concern) and John Lechmere, (Director of Streetscene, Neighbourhoods and Environment). 

Minutes of meeting Wednesday, 21st June 2006 of Clayton-Le-Woods North Area Forum

The minutes of the meeting of the Clayton-Le-Woods North Area Forum held on 21June 2006 were confirmed as a correct record.

An update to the schedule of the responses to the question cards received at the last Forum meeting is attached. 

Councillor Cullens updated the meeting on three queries relating to public transport where further information had been received since the agenda was published. 

A query was raised in respect of the 126 bus.  The bus could be overcrowded with school children, to the extent of children having to sit on the stairs. 

Councillor Cullens read a brief statement from John Lechmere, Director of Streetscene, Neighbourhoods and Environment, about Chorley Council’s intention to support the appointment of additional Police Community Support Officers for deployment in Chorley.  An extract from the statement is enclosed below. 

“The Council has had initial discussions with Lancashire Police about supporting up to 22 Police Community Support Officersin Chorley, 6 of which will be new recruits and up to 16 recruited from the Councils existing Neighbourhood Warden service.

There have been initial discussions on the organisation of this scheme and the Council’s Executive Cabinet will make any decisions about the future of these services when discussions are completed and following consultation.

The Police Community Support Officerssupported by Chorley will be deployed and tasked jointly by the Police and the Council and will target the priority crime and nuisance problems agreed by the community in the Community Safety Strategy”. 

It was noted that the Junior Neighbourhood Wardens Scheme would continue and the importance of maintaining the excellent relationship built up between the Wardens and the children in the area. 

A period of 30 minutes will be allocated to allow members of the public to raise questions and express views on any matters relating to the provision of local services in the Clayton-Le-Woods North area.

Representatives of Chorley Borough Council, Lancashire County Council, Clayton-Le-Woods Parish Council, Lancashire Police, Chorley and South Ribble Primary Care NHS Trust and Lindsay Hoyle MP will be present.

The Chair explained that a period of 30 minutes had been allocated to allow local residents to raise questions and express views on any matters relating to the provision of local services. Question cards were available to enable residents to document their questions and views.

Officers and Partner representatives responded directly to queries and issues where possible. Where this was not possible the details were noted and a written response was be sent to the resident.

The following list summarises the issues and questions that were raised directly or via question cards at the meeting:

• Targeting hotspots by the Police
• Police visiting schools and youth centres
• Positioning of the bus stop and shelter on Great Greens Lane
• Selfish parking
• Litter and monitoring of CCTV
• Local NHS dentists
• Bin cleaning

No issues were raised by the Borough Council. 

County Councillor Livesey highlighted a Youth Opportunity Fund.  Young people could apply for funding for various activities.  Contact details for further information were………….  A figure of ………… was available for the Lancashire area.  (Cindy – have you got the details for this – I didn’t get them all down)

No issues were raised by the Parish Council. 

The Police representative will provide an update on policing and PACT issues relating to the Clayton-Le-Woods North area.

PS Christina Shorrock advised that Police and Communities Together meetings (PACT), were held every month in every area of the County.  Police attended Parish Council meetings on a regular basis.

The aim of the PACT meetings was to enable local residents to drive policing priorities in their area.  The PACT Panel decided after each meeting which would be the 3 policing priorities that month and report back the following month.

There was a need to identify any groups of people who PACT did not currently reach and take PACT to them.  There were examples of successful Junior PACT.

There were a number of initiatives in the area, including Operation Control targeting violent, anti-social behaviour and criminal damage.  The Fire service and local Councillors were involved in the initiative.

Operation Cable targeted violent, anti-social behaviour and criminal damage.  Hotspots were targeted and underage persons would be sent into off licenses.

Operation Bright Sparks was a multi-agency operation related to firework nuisance, criminal damage, Halloween and bonfire night.

The Forum noted the success of the operations and thanked the Police for their work.

Jean Cronshaw reported that the Borough now had an Older Peoples Forum.  The Forum would be launched on 28 November in the Lancastrian Room, Town Hall commencing at 1.00 pm.  The first issue to be discussed would be transport.  The meetings would be held every two months.

The Chair congratulated the people involved in this initiative.

Members of the Public will be invited to express their views on the format and arrangements for the three Forum meetings which have been held in Clayton North during the Area Forum Pilot Scheme.

The Chair thanked everyone for their attendance at the meeting and explained that the Council would write to all the attendees of the three pilot scheme areas to ask for feedback on the scheme. 

The Council’s Area Forum Working Group would meet to discuss the feedback in November and to make a recommendation to the Executive Cabinet and Council on the way forward for Area Forums in Chorley.