Agenda and minutes

            The Minutes of the meeting held on 18 November 2008 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

The Board considered any questions submitted by the Public in accordance with Standing Order 34(9).  It was confirmed that no public questions had been received.

The minutes from the last Safer Halton Partnership (SHP) meeting held on Tuesday 11 November 2008 were presented to the Board for information.

It was noted that if the SHP minutes were to be presented at future meetings of the Safer Halton PPB, then a relevant Officer should attend to present the report.

RESOLVED:  That the Minutes be noted.

            The Board received a report from the Strategic Director Environment, on road traffic casualty and collision reduction work in the Borough.

            In 2000 Halton’s casualty rates for people killed or seriously injured (KSI), children killed or seriously injured (CKSI) and slight casualty rates (SLI) were well above the national average, at 1.5, 2.3 and 1.2 respectively.  During Halton’s first five year Local Transport Plan (LTP1), 2001/2 to 2005/6, an extensive programme of work combining conventional traffic engineering solutions with educational, training and publicity measures was undertaken. 

            This programme had proved to be successful in reducing all casualty rates for KSI, CKSI and SLI rates to 1.2, 1.9 and 1.1 times the national average respectively.  It was noted that the more resilient problem areas would benefit more from education, training and publicity measures which address driver behaviour and attitude, rather than investing in further engineering interventions alone.

The Board then received a presentation from the Road Safety Officer on the work of the Road Safety Unit, which outlined the following:

·        a comparison of the casualty rates for Halton with national average;

·        estimated costs associated with an injury crash;

·        progress made through engineering;

·        local safety schemes undertaken, costs involved but savings achieved show a significant rate of return;

·        future plans of the Road Safety Unit;

·        introducing CSRP (Cheshire Safer Roads Partnership) partners; and

·        current initiatives: child car seat checking service, pedestrian training, the ‘Crucial Crew’ event, Bikeability cycle training for children and adults, Drive Alive, Roots, Crash Investigation Pack, Megadrive, Fitkit, Pass Plus, Red Routes in Halton and planned future initiatives.

RESOLVED:  That

1)                 the Strategic Director - Environment and his team be thanked and praised for their work on the Road Casualty Reduction Programme;

2)                 the current programme of road traffic casualty reduction work be endorsed by the Board; and

3)                 the Board be kept appraised of the work being undertaken on the Casualty Reduction Programme and the financial commitments to it.

The Board was advised that a matter had arisen which required immediate attention by the Board (Minute No 39 refers).  Therefore, pursuant to Section 100 B (4) and 100 E and due to resulting financial implications, the Chairman ruled that the item be considered as a matter or urgency.

Members were asked to consider replacing an existing topic area, specifically the ‘Containerisation of Waste’ with one that would include that and other existing topic areas, as well as capturing a wider report on waste collection policies for the 2009/10 period. 

RESOLVED:  That the Board agree to the above scrutiny topic for the year 2009/10.

            The Board considered a report from the Strategic Director, Environment advising members of the receipt of a petition containing 19 signatures, and the proposed course of action.

            The petition was first presented at the last Board meeting on 18 November 2008 by a local Councillor on behalf of the residents of Hale Road and immediate surrounding areas.  The petition was accompanied by a list of over 100 occurrences of crime and anti social behaviour incidents by youths.

            In an effort to document the incidents required to support the Gating Order, the residents had been issued with diary sheets to complete.  Out of these, only one set had been received back so far.  In response, it was commented that the residents had been too afraid to comment for fear of retribution from the youths.  They would however, be encouraged further to provide the information to strengthen the case.

            All Members were in support of the Gating Order option and agreed that this should be pursued.        

            RESOLVED:  That

1)                 the residents be encouraged to submit diary sheets so that the nature, details, dates and times of the listed incidents can be recorded in a manner suitable as supporting evidence for the consideration in the possible making of a Gating Order; and

2)                 the Operational Director (Highways, Transportation and Logistics) proceed with the advertising of a Gating Order in line with his delegated powers, subject to the consideration of the evidence submitted.

(NB. Councillor Lloyd Jones declared a personal interest in the following item due to her husband being a Non-Executive Director of Halton and St Helens PCT).

            The Board considered a report from the Strategic Director, Health and Community, advising the Members of the findings of the needs analysis that supported the drug treatment plan for 2009/10 and also advised the Board of the strategic priorities for the 2009/10 treatment plan.

            Members were advised that a multi-agency panel would review the plan and feedback would be provided to Partnerships in February.   The final plans were due to be submitted to the National Treatment Agency for approval and sign off by the end of March 2009.

            Members were provided with the Executive Summary for the Drugs Treatment Plan 2009/10 which set out how prevalent drug use was, the types of drugs used, the treatment system, equality and diversity issues and hospital episode statistics, along with the results of the work force skills audit, links with community safety, service user and carers satisfaction rates and instances of hidden harm.

            The Board praised the Officers on their efforts with the Drug Treatment Plan and offered their assistance where possible.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

            The Board considered a report from the Strategic Director Environment, to enable Members to consider the issues associated with incidents in the Borough involving objects being thrown from footbridges onto the live highway.

            Out of a total of 49 footbridges in the Borough, 29 spanned the public highway or busway network.  Out of these 29 only two have anti vandal enclosures fitted.  The majority of incidents were objects had been thrown from footbridges were on the Halton Brook, Halton Lodge (Central Expressway) and Asda area of Runcorn. 

            From the discussions it was noted that:-

• the cost for a standard enclosure would cost in the region of £40,000;

• with regards to the incident summary and frequency charts submitted with the report, these do not account for unreported incidents, which should be considered;

• caging the footbridges would instil public confidence when driving on the expressways;

RESOLVED:  That

1)                 the Officers be thanked for their detailed report, and

2)                 the Board supports the investigation of potential funding sources that would enable a proposed programme of works to enclose defined footbridges to be based on an agreed set of priorities endorsed by the Board.

            The Board considered a report from the Strategic Director Corporate and Policy, which reported on the progress towards meeting Local Area Agreement targets at the end of the first six months of the Agreement.

            As the Agreement was signed in June 2008, the report reflected very early stages in the Agreement’s life.  However, the report enabled members to review the current progress so far and check that appropriate delivery plans were in place.

            RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

(NB. Councillor Lloyd Jones declared a personal interest in the following item due to her husband being a Non-Executive Director of Halton and St Helens PCT).

            The Board considered a report from the Strategic Director, Health and Community, which presented a summary of the findings of the first JSNA Health, which identified the health and well being of residents in Halton.

            The report was a combined effort from the Directors of Adult Social Services, Public Health and Children and Young People’s Services in every Local Authority and Primary Care Trust (PCT).  They had focused on refining, improving and bringing together information from national and local sources that was already available, which highlight overall population needs.

            The JSNA is intended to identify a bigger picture in terms of the health and wellbeing needs and inequalities within the local population.  It was not intended to describe how we will address the needs, demonstrate outcomes or showcase our services.  The aim is that the information contained in the JSNA will encourage partner agencies to use the findings to inform a number of local authority and PCT strategies, Client Group commissioning Plans, Local Area Agreements etc.  The JSNA would continue to develop, as it was a working document gathering intelligence over time.

A Member requested that consideration be given to the enforcement aspect of the smoking ban and a report be submitted to a future meeting.

RESOLVED:  That

1)                 the Board endorse the report and make further recommendations where relevant;

2)                 the Strategic Director Health and Community be thanked for their report; and

3)                 a report be submitted to a future meeting on the enforcement of the smoking ban.

            The Board considered a report from the Strategic Director, Health and Community, initiating the first step in developing a work programme of Topics for the Board to examine in 2009/10. 

            Following discussions amongst Members the following topics were suggested:

• Waste Management Scrutiny Topics (as set out in minute No 8)
• Joint Strategic Needs Assessment  – panel to be set up
• Enclosure of Footbridges – Cllr Stockton to lead
• Community Safety – anti social behaviour
• Domestic abuse and violence relating to alcohol

RESOLVED: That

1)                 the initial suggestions for topics to be included in the Board’s 2009/10 work programme as mentioned above be noted; and

2)                 a decision be made at the next Board meeting on 17 March 2009 on a work programme of 2 or 3 topics to be examined in 2009/10.