Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. 

Please note the information requested at the last meeting was emailed out in November.

The information can be accessed here: https://democracy.chorley.gov.uk/documents/s48730/Actions%20arising%20from%20Chorley%203%20Tier%20Liaison%20meeting.pdf and here: https://democracy.chorley.gov.uk/documents/s49064/Further%20actions%20arising%20from%203%20Tier%20Liaison%20in%20September.pdf

The minutes were confirmed as a correct record.

The feedback received is enclosed for information.

The meeting noted the feedback received. 

Dave Laithwaite from Lancashire Fayre, Chorley Council’s contracted provider of hot meal delivery throughout the borough, will give a short presentation. 

Dave Laithwaite from Lancashire Fayre, Chorley Council’s contracted provider of hot meal delivery throughout the borough, gave a short presentation.  The presentation can be accessed here: https://democracy.chorley.gov.uk/documents/s50990/Presentation.pdf

Dave Laithwaite explained that new service users were visited at home to discuss their dietary requirement/needs and preferences. The customer could choose what they wanted, the time it would be delivered and the number of meals supplied each week. The meals would be delivered by the same member of staff, as much as possible, which helped build confidence and trust between the customer and member of staff.

In addition Lancashire Fayre also provided additional support (ie emptying bins or posting letters) and a ‘safe and sound’ check.  This meant the member of staff would contact relatives to update them on the welfare of the customer and alert them to any changes in behaviour or notify relevant services if required.  The additional services gave the customer, and their relatives,’ peace of mind that someone was looking out for them.

The majority of customers qualified for three meals and desserts per week at a cost of £3.65 which was subsidised by Chorley Council.  Extra meals could be purchased at £4.25 for a main meal and dessert.

The service was available across the borough and parishes were asked to promote it, including the offer of “taster sessions” at community centres etc. 

For further information contact Dave Laithwaite on 01257 367630 or email info@lancashirefayre.co.uk

Lancashire County Council

During November and December 2014 LCC invited members of the public and other interested parties to comment on the options that had been presented to the Cabinet. Thank you to everyone who shared their views.

The feedback we received has now been reported to Cabinet members, who considered it before presenting their budget proposals on Thursday 8 January, 2015.

There will then be a further period of consultation before final proposals are put to the Full Council in February.  For more information click here: http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/council/finance/budget/budget-have-your-say.aspx

Chorley Council

Gary Hall will present the report for Chorley Council.  The papers can be found here: https://democracy.chorley.gov.uk/mgIssueHistoryHome.aspx?IId=38517

Lancashire County Council

The Chair reported that during November and December 2014 LCC had invited members of the public and other interested parties to comment on the options that had been presented to the Cabinet.

The feedback received had been reported to Cabinet members, who considered it before presenting their budget proposals on Thursday, 8 January 2015.

There was now a further period of consultation to give residents the chance to comment on the Cabinet's budget proposals, up until 4 February 2015.  Members of the Cabinet would review any further feedback before recommending their final budget proposals, which all county councillors would be asked to consider at a meeting of the Full Council on 12 February 2015.

For further information click here: http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/council/finance/budget/budget-have-your-say.aspx

Chorley Council

Gary Hall presented the budget for Chorley Council.  He advised that the budget would be agreed for consultation the following evening. 

It was proposed that Council Tax be frozen for 2015/16 and that funding for PCSO’s would continue.  The proposed budget was balanced, and this was possible largely due to income generated through Market Walk and the insourcing of Property Services by the Council.  There had also been an increase in the Council Tax base. 

Gary explained that, although the Council had seen a reduction in grant from the Government, it did benefit from receipt of the New Homes Bonus.  This had enabled investment projects to be proposed, including community events, digital access and inclusion and the development and delivery of community action plans.  There were capital schemes proposed, including the delivery of CCTV provision, car park at Yarrow Valley and the Youth Zone. 

There was no change in the proposal for the top up grant to Parish Councils and clerks would have had a letter from Julie Riding, Business Development Manager, about this.  Any queries could be directed to Julie on julie.riding@chorley.gov.uk . 

Gary encouraged Parishes to take part in the consultation.  To have your say on the Council’s budget please follow this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/chorleybudget201516

The Chair thanked Gary for his presentation. 

Could we have a briefing on unify the credit union.  A couple of people have raised with me that some parishes councils have put funding in and some are cautious to do so.  It may be worth discussing what they do etc. 

Unify Credit Union

Gary Hall, Chorley Council Chief Executive, is a member of the Unify Credit Union Board and will give a short presentation on the services provided. 

For further information click here http://www.unifycu.org/index.php

Gary Hall explained that he was a non-executive Director of Unify, which was a member owned financial co-operative. 

The purpose of the organisation was to give people access to affordable finance and it was a not for profit company.  The organization was community orientated and aimed to help with the levels of debt in society.  Loans were offered at competitive rates and savers benefitted from the payment of a dividend. 

The Chorley branch of the Credit Union had opened in August 2013 and had given three quarters of a million pounds in loans.  There were very low rates of people defaulting on loans and the Credit Union was authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. 

It was noted that some Parish Councils had deposited money in the Credit Union, although current accounts were not available.  There were currently collection points in the community and the Credit Union were looking to expand this service.

It was AGREED that information be supplied to the Parish Councils to feature in Parish newsletters. 

Further information could be found on the web at http://www.unifycu.org/index.php

The Chair thanked Gary for his presentation. 

Notification of planning decision. The Parish Council is disappointed that the system of notifying PCs by email has been discontinued.

Response from Chorley Council:

A response will be presented at the meeting. 

The following response was provided by Asim Khan, Head of Customer and ICT Services at Chorley Council.  The information previously sent by email is readily available online through the use of Public Access and further information can be provided on this and training arranged if necessary.  These changes are in line with the council’s digital strategy, however we will explore whether the email notification can be automated.   

The Council will consider providing desktops (such as a Wyse laptop) to parish councils that do not have equipment but have broadband access or have plans to have this installed.

Improvements will also be made to the online consultee module which will be rolled out as part of the single front office project.  This will enable parish councils to directly comment on planning applications and readily view information online.

John Pigott, Bretherton Parish Council, noted that this meant having to repeatedly look on the web, as it was not known when applications would be determined.  The details of a particular application would be discussed following the meeting with Jamie Carson. 

John Taylor, Charnock Richard Parish Council, noted that consultation responses could only be viewed online if they had been submitted online.  Dan Croft, Adlington Parish Council, noted an instance of this.  Jamie Carson undertook to investigate this as all consultation responses should be available online. 

In order to allow members of the Forum and members of the public to raise issues of local concern, a period of 20 minutes has been set aside.

A member of the public may speak for no more than 3 minutes.  Members of the public are not required to give notice of the issue they intend to raise, although it is expected in the case of service issues that the appropriate mechanisms for resolving the issue have been explored. 

Where a question is raised which cannot be answered at the Forum, a record will be kept by officers supporting the Forum and it will be responded to via the appropriate mechanism.

Alan Whittaker, Southern Parishes, advised that there were issues with changes to the number 7 bus service in Charnock Richard, Heskin, Eccleston and Croston.  It was thought that a miscommunication had occurred resulting in the bus route being diverted unnecessarily.  Laura Lennox, Astley Village Parish Council, advised that a subsidised evening bus had been changed due to the rail works and queried when this would return to normal.  June Molyneaux, South Eastern Parishes, advised that the bus timetables for the rail works in Adlington had not yet been released.  These issues would be investigated by Lancashire County Council. 

Dan Croft, Adlington Town Council, raised the issue of works to the railway in Adlington.  A number of bridges would be closed at the same time.  He requested that Lancashire County Council enforce traffic regulations and listen to businesses about double yellow lines.  This would be investigated by Lancashire County Council. 

Dan Croft, Adlington Town Council, requested that some training be arranged for Parishes in relation to planning policy.  Jamie Carson undertook to investigate this. 

Ian Horsfield, Anderton Parish Council, queried the nature of pre-application advice.  Jamie Carson advised that pre-application advice was confidential, but undertook to take details of the particular application and investigate.  Ian noted that people had to register as a user on the web to be able to submit a comment.  Jamie explained this was to enable a history to be kept and to enable the person to receive email updates. 

An update is enclosed for information.  This may be an agenda item for the next meeting. 

An update on “Living Well, Living Better” was enclosed with the agenda.  Gary Hall advised that there had been a successful joint bid between Lancashire County Council, Chorley and Rossendale for a share in national funding.  The aim of the bid was to save money long-term by working together and intervening early by improving residents' health, education and job prospects and reduce the demands on services.

A meeting was scheduled for the following day and further information would be available at the next meeting.  There would be an important role in the project for Parishes in utilising local knowledge. 

It was noted that Age UK were involved and that any current provision in this area needed to be considered, including Children’s Centres and Chorley Best Start.  Alistair Bradley requested that any ideas from members of the Liaison be fed into the project. 

The Chair thanks Gary for the update and it was AGREED that an item be placed on the next agenda. 

A schedule setting out deadlines for items to be requested on the agenda for the Chorley 3 Tier Liaison is enclosed.  The next meeting will be held on 15 April. 

The proposed dates for the next round of meetings are:

·         15 July

·         21 October

·         20 January

·         20 April

The Chair noted the schedule which set out the items for the next meeting, which was scheduled to take place on 15 April.  It was noted that the deadline to request items was 20 March. 

The queries and the responses can be found on the attached document.   

The responses to the queries were noted.

This document details agreed actions and responses from Lancashire County Council and Chorley Council.