Agenda Item: 6 Report of the Proceedings of the Fifth Meeting of the Council As an Assembly – 31 January 2007 1. Introductions
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AGENDA ITEM: 6 REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIFTH MEETING OF THE COUNCIL AS AN ASSEMBLY – 31 JANUARY 2007 1. INTRODUCTIONS AND WELCOME The Town Crier (Mr. D. Evans) opened the fifth meeting of the Council Meeting as an Assembly and was thanked by the Chairman of the Council, Councillor Mrs. May Blake. The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Members of the Cabinet, together with Officers of the Council and representatives of the Council’s Key Partners. Finally, she welcomed Dave Guest, the BBC North West Chief Correspondent, who would be leading on the debates and discussions to follow. She advised that this meeting was an initiative to involve people in constructive debates about issues of importance to the whole community. Details of those present were recorded and are shown in the Appendix to this report. She went on to indicate that after each presentation Dave Guest would be inviting speakers from the floor and in this respect asked that speakers limit their comments and/or observations to two minutes, so as to afford others the opportunity to speak. Finally, she gave details of a Declaration of a Personal Interest received from Councillor Mrs Evans in relation to item 3 (New Health Bodies for West Lancashire) and the subsequent debate, as is employed in the National Health Service. 2. APOLOGIES Apologies for absence were submitted for the meeting on behalf of: District Councillors Mrs Baldock, Carson, Collinson, Dereli, Hanlon, Lea, Maguire, Meadows, Nolan, M Pendleton, Pope, Mrs. Taylor, Swiffen Thompson, Mrs. Westley Mrs S.E. Dunn (West Lancashire Civic Trust); Mr D.B. Dunn (Conservation Areas Advisory Panel); Ms M Nind (Chair), (Digmoor EMB); Mr G Haywood (Chief Executive, Sefton MBC): Mr R Carder (Business Link Lancashire); Mr P Doyle (Up Holland High School); Mr P Scott (Learning & Skills Council for Lancashire); R.A. Flood (Glenburn Sports College); Mr N Clarke (Senior Regeneration Manager, English Partnerships); Mr D Seddon (St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Aughton); Mr R Small (West Lancs Environment Network); Mr L. Williams (Southport County Court); Mr W Threlfall (Lancashire Crimestoppers); Mr M Thomas (Audit Commission); Mr A Martin (Lancashire County Council, Welfare Rights Services); Mrs. G. Ormsby (West Lancs Archaeological Social); C. Ingham (Youth and Community Services); David Borrow MP (Member of Parliament South Ribble Constituency); Mr. R Sears (Clerk, North Meols Parish Council); County Councillor Martin (Cabinet Member for Sustainable Development); Rosie Cooper MP (West Lancs Constituency); Kate Cox (Environmental Agency); Mrs. C A Cross (Parish Clerk, Wrightington Parish Council); Ms M Wiltshire (CPRE West Lancs District Group); Ms J Moss (Unison); Executive Manager Housing and Property Maintenance Services; Councillor M Doherty (Chairman – Lancashire Police Authority); Interim Manager Regeneration and Estates; Mrs G Stanley (Lancashire Policy Authority); Mrs L Johnstone (Assistant District Partnership Officer – Lancashire County Council) 3. WELCOME FROM THE LEADER OF THE COUNCIL At the invitation of the Chairman, Councillor Geoff M Roberts, the Leader of the Council, welcomed all present to the meeting and then addressed the Assembly on the significant developments over the last year, particularly in relation to the following: x Audit Commission statistics published in the autumn of 2006 showing the Council to be the most improved District Council in the North West and one of the most improved in the country. In relation to this aspect, the Leader advised that the Council was preparing for a further CPA inspection by the Audit Commission in March 2007, when it was hoped that the Council would move from the “good” to “excellent”; x The ‘excellent’ grading for ‘Customer Focus and Access’ – essentially, the performance of the Council’s Contact Centres; x The Council’s short-listing for the title of 'Most Improved Council of the Year' in the Local Government Chronicle Awards; x The Council’s five-year strategy for reviewing its “core” services, with a view to delivering financial savings (to be invested into front line services), whilst simultaneously enabling the Council to provide more streamlined, convenient and effective services; x The Council’s commitment to Community Safety and tackling Crime and Disorder as a major priority, as evidenced by the Council’s role as the lead agency for the West Lancashire Community Safety Partnership and its significant investment in improving community safety activities, including: x the management of community safety generally, x the Anti-Social Behaviour Team, x additional Community Support Officers, x CCTV coverage in many parts of the District, and x with the assistance of the Primary Care Trust, the funding of a Domestic Violence Co-ordinator for the District; x The successful application for government funding to establish a neighbourhood management project in the Digmoor, Tanhouse and Moorside Wards of Skelmersdale involving a total of £3.7 million over 4 years to tackle deprivation, reduce crime and disorder, improve the physical environment and, perhaps most importantly, to empower local communities to become involved in deciding where and how this money should be spent; x The Council’s success in securing external funding to help stimulate business growth and job creation in the District, most notably, as one of only four North West organisations to succeed in attracting UK Business Incubation monies, which, together with European Regional Development Funds, are financing a new £300,000 business support project; x The Council’s work with the private, other public and voluntary sector partners, to establish a new project, ‘Enterprising West Lancashire’, to help support individuals wanting to start-up in business and to provide assistance for existing small and medium sized businesses and support the development of social enterprises; x The Council’s success in launching “WEB” (“Women Excelling in Business”) at an enterprise event held at the Investment Centre, following which a significant number of women expressed interest in joining a West Lancashire Women’s network, the first group of its kind in West Lancashire, where women from a wide range of backgrounds will come together in a friendly environment to help them develop and grow in today's competitive economy; x The Council’s continued leading role in the regeneration of Skelmersdale Town Centre, having forged an effective partnership with English Partnerships, and with the support of NWDA leading to the appointment of a Development Partner, St. Modwens – a company of international reputation – to help realise a £100m+ transformation of the town centre over the next 10-15 years; x The Council’s continuing role in the regeneration of Burscough town centre, leading to proposals for £1m of improvements to the street scene along the A59 through Burscough centre, with additional proposals in the pipeline for: x the regeneration at Burscough Wharf; and x a new Burscough FC stadium and community sports provision; x The Council’s work to help resolve longstanding issues in the Northern Parishes in relation to: x derelict and underused sites; x bringing forward improvements in residents’ amenity; x creating appropriate employment opportunities; and x improving social housing provision, thereby enabling more young people to get their foot on the first rung of the housing ladder in the village where they were born or brought up; x Detailed discussions with landowners and developers in relation to sites such as Greaves Hall in Banks and Alty's in Tarleton, which, it was hoped, would shortly bring forward proposals that will meet with the approval of local people; x The Council’s work with farmers, growers, the local community and a range of agencies to respond positively to the issues raised by the influx of migrant workers to meet the needs of the District’s horticultural industry; x The continuing progress in the improvement of the environment across the District including work with external consultants to design improvements to the street cleansing service with a view to making West Lancashire a cleaner, safer and greener place to live and work; x The further improvements to the refuse and recycling collection service, resulting in the Council exceeding a recycling rate of 37% across the District with card and textiles collections beginning shortly, which should see West Lancashire top of the Recycling League in the North West; x The continuing programme at the Chapel Gallery of a succession of wonderful and intriguing exhibitions, culminating, in December 2006, in a new addition to the gallery programme of the junior open exhibition following on from the success of the annual adult exhibition, over the last 5 years; x The provision of new changing facilities for football teams at Blaguegate playing fields, Skelmersdale, improvements to the drainage system at Abbey Lane, Burscough and the receipt of a grant from the Football Foundation for a new £½ m development for changing facilities at Liverpool Road playing fields, to serve the growth in junior football at this site. x The acquisition of a new countryside site at Hunters Hill, increasing the availability of access to the countryside. x The continuing Investment in the Council's parks, such as at Coronation Park in Ormskirk, including the addition of a new bandstand, footpaths, shrubs and planting together with an extension of the public park into a landscaped woodland walk on the old nursery site. x The increased number of visitors to events at Beacon Country Park; as evidenced by the Green Fayre and Kite Festival attracting over 16,000 visitors during two weekends last summer. x Recognition for the work with our partners DCT in the golf course has seen a National Golf Magazine and a report in the Independent newspaper, place the Beacon Park Golf course as one of the ‘Ten Best’ golf courses in the UK, emphasising the warm welcome and family feel which the site and management provide.