Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

A list of priority areas P1 and P2 for gully cleansing is enclosed.  P1 are due to be cleansed annually and P2 are due to be cleansed every 18 months.

Minute 16.85 stated that the original request for a schedule of roadside gully emptying was requested by Gary Hall, Chief Executive, Chorley Council and not Charnock Richard Parish Council.

AGREED – That the minutes of the last meeting held on 20 July 2016 be confirmed as a correct record except for the above amendment.

This item was put forward by Adlington Town Council who requested an update on the progress of asset transfers from Lancashire County Council.

Members of the Liaison received a brief summary of the changes which had already occurred/ being consulted on/or were due for decisions.  This included

·         changes to library services

·         bus services / bus subsidies

·         LCC assets/property consultation

·         wellbeing, prevention and early help services

The council’s Performance and Partnerships Manager, Victoria Willett attended the meeting to respond to questions.

Although Chorley Council has come to agreement with the County Council to fund the continuation of both Adlington Library and Children’s Centre and specified bus routes; this would be for a specified time period only.  The continuation of the library and children’s centre services and specified bus routes had been agreed on the basis that it would allow a transition period for both services during which the sustainability of, and potential models for, future delivery would be assessed.

Chorley Council would be corresponding with Parish and Town Councils in the near future to discuss options for future service delivery in the hope that by working in partnership, a more sustainable source of funding could be sourced.

Members of the Liaison discussed various aspects of the report, raising concern about the lack of information being released by the County Council.

AGREED – That the report be noted and that a more detailed update to be provided at the next meeting.

Members of Chorley Liaison will welcome Kevin Stewart, Managing Director and European Regional Director of IRONMAN who will be attending the meeting.

The Chair welcomed Kevin Stewart, Managing Director and European Regional Director of IRONMAN who attended the meeting to respond to issues raised by Parish and Town Councils about the annual event. 

Tabled at the meeting was a list of responses to the questionnaire circulated by the borough council to parish and town councils within the Chorley boundary, to ascertain how parish and town councils had been affected by the event as agreed at the last Chorley Liaison meeting in July.

Members of the Liaison received a summary of the history of the event and improvements that had taken place since 2011, which included –

·         Employment of professional stewards and a traffic management company, which had resulted in the reduction in the number of police personnel used

·         Extending the course, while reducing the number of laps from 3 to 2.  The effect of this has resulted in increased time laps between athletes and less delay for road users

·         Benefits to the local economy and wider economy was far reaching

During debate, members of the Liaison discussed various issues which included –

·         Access to residents

·         Consultation 

·         Traffic management issues

·         Consideration of an alternative route for the event

·         Loss of revenue to businesses situated where access was restricted

·         Signage to state businesses were open as usual

·         Spectators

·         Positive feedback from residents and parish councils

In response, Kevin Stuart informed the meeting that consultation had taken place with various interested parties which included Lancashire County Council as the highways authority and a number of parish councils.  All stewards were given a briefing note that was reflective of the location they had been allocated to cover and the number of race control where they can contact the organisers to seek clarification on issues that occur.  Contact had also been made with a number of organisations which offered care providers to vulnerable residents and passes had been issued.  However, it was acknowledged that at the last event there were reports that care providers were refused admission by marshals, and organisers were considering ways in which this could be overcome in the future.

Although IRONMAN was unable to compensate those businesses adversely affected by the competition on race day, it was developing a foundation which was in the process of applying for charitable status.  The foundation would allow the organisation to raise funds and distribute them within the local communities. 

A Good Spectators’ guide had also been developed and would be distributed to those watching the event.  The guide would provide clear guidance on what behaviour was considered acceptable and what was unacceptable which included dropping litter and excess noise.  It also asked spectators to consider if their behaviour was acceptability in context to their surroundings.  

Kevin Stewart welcomed the opportunity to meet with parish and town councils to discuss any concerns and how those concerns could be overcome.  However, it was clarified that the route would not be altered as it was felt that the current route was the best option, and that other options had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.91

Members of Chorley Liaison will welcome Inspector Charlie Cox to the meeting.

The Chair welcomed Inspector Charlie Cox to the Liaison to answer members’ questions in regards to PACT meetings.

Inspector Cox gave an overview of how PACT meetings had worked previously.  The purpose of the meetings had been to encourage a two way information sharing event which brought residents and police closer together to work for the benefit of the community as a whole.  Initially the meetings were successful and very well attended.  However, over time (and as issues within communities were resolved) residents attendance at some PACT meetings had dwindled, with a handful of the same individuals meeting up each time discussing the same issues which did not necessarily reflect the feelings of the majority of the community in those areas.

In addition to this, Lancashire Constabulary had introduced austerity measure which resulted in a major review of the way in which the police worked.  The outcome of the review had resulted in a number of budget cuts which included a reduction in personnel.  This led to a change in the way the police carried out their business with the focus moving to managing ‘risk and threat’ situations.

Due to the change of focus and the issues around PACT meetings, Inspector Cox had asked his police officers to review PACT meetings they attended.  Once reviewed, if the police officer felt the PACT meetings were no longer fit for purpose they were tasked with finding alternative methods of keeping in touch with residents.  This took a variety of forms which included –

·         Other types of residents meetings (ie parish/town council/neighbourhood watch) 

·         Drop in sessions

·         On line discussion forums

These alternative forms of public engagement appear to have increased public engagement.

As the Police are being asked to do more work than ever before, police officers had been encouraged to use social media to keep residents updated on the work they had been undertaking within their community.  This would give the police a greater presence within communities without having to be physically visible walking the streets.

Members of the Liaison provided feedback on the success of some of the initiatives being carried out by the police to keep residents informed and made suggestions of alternative methods including regular contact with parish/town councils.

Although it was noted that a lot of the online discussion forums had proved successful Inspector Cox acknowledged that this method of communication was not fully inclusive and further work was required to engage with hard to reach residents. 

The Chair thanked Inspector Cox for attending the meetings and answering questions.

AGREED – The Inspector Cox be sent contact details of the clerks of the various parish/town councils in the borough.

The enclosed letter from BT provides details of a consultation it is carrying out on the removal of those public pay phone boxes that had been identified as having little use.

The Director of Early Intervention and Support will present this item.

The Liaison was informed that BT had commenced a formal consultation process regarding their programme of intended public payphone removals. 

30 payphones in the Chorley borough had been identified and proposed for removal by BT under the 90 day consultation process as detailed in the letter circulated with the agenda. 

The consultation process also gave local communities the opportunity to adopt a traditional red ‘heritage’ phone box and make them an asset for local people to enjoy at a cost of £1.

Members of the Liaison discussed the various benefits of adopting a phone box which some parish councils have used as a community library or somewhere to locate a defibrillator, and have proved a valuable asset to the community. 

However, members of the Liaison raised concern that by the removal of the public payphone boxes identified; would result in whole villages not having any operating public phone box at all.  It was felt that this was significant problem for some of the rural areas, especially where mobile phone single coverage was poor or limited and that it could have serious implications in an emergency situation.

The Director of Early Intervention and Support confirmed that Chorley Council would respond to the consultation, and encouraged all parish and town councils to take part in the consultation which was due to expire on 21 December 2016.

AGREED – That the letter be noted.    

The requests are enclosed.

Also enclosed, is an update on the progress of LCC Assets Transfer which was requested.  This item will be presented by a member of the Council’s Performance and Partnership Team.

Adlington Town Council submitted the following items for discussion –

·         poor conditions of footpaths across the borough

·         update on flooding issues from last winter

·         road Safety Issues

·         update on the lack of emergency provision in Chorley

Responses to all the issues raised can be found attached to the agenda.

AGREED – That the responses be noted.

In order to allow members of the Liaison 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 meeting, a record will be kept by officers supporting the meeting and it will be responded to via the appropriate mechanism.

Ann Peet (Croston) enquired about the use of a mini bus for community transport;   Terry Dickenson offered assistance.

A schedule setting out deadlines for items to be requested on the agenda for the Chorley Liaison is enclosed.

·         Digital Strategy

·         Boundary Changes

·         Superfast Broadband