Management Group Meeting minutes 13.07.22

Call to order

A meeting of the Management Group of Hoylake Vision Community Planning Forum was held at Bank Café on 13.07.22.

Attendees

Attendees: Nigel Blacow (NB), Mark Howard (MHo), Alex Woods (AW), Maureen Hanson (MHa), Tom Hutchinson (TH), Philip Barton (PB, guest), Tom Hunter (THu, host)

Members not in attendance

Jade Wright (JW), Bryony Parsons (BP), Jon Caswell (Jon C), Jon Morgan (Jon M)

Approval of minutes

The minutes of the June meeting were approved.

Management Group Meeting Reports

• Welcome to guests
  The group welcomed planning adviser Philip Barton (PB) and Tom Hunter (THu), owner of Bank Café and host for the meeting.
  Philip Barton introduced himself as a longstanding consultant to Hoylake Vision, who had been involved since around 2015 and had helped us get the extant NDP through to referendum.
• Update on conversation with Chris Moore, Conservation Areas
  TH had met with Chris Moore, Secretary of the Conservation Areas Association and had subsequently explored funding opportunities for a much needed Appraisal which would inform a new management plan for the CA. Donald Insall Associates, who are highly respected in this area, had quoted £22,500 for this work. TH hoped this could be reduced to £20k with some fine tuning. He had spoken to Heritage Lottery Fund (project value range £10,000 to £250,000) which encourages projects that draw in local people to engage with heritage. There is an emphasis on inclusion and diversity, showing that the project will achieve local capacity-building, public participation and inclusion. We should draft a proposal that meets their criteria and link with our currently emerging plans for engagement with young people and submit an Expression of Interest at any time. A further, shorter term opportunity exists via Historic England grants for Conservation Area Regeneration Plans. However this requires expect the Local Authority to be a partner and matchfund by at least 50%. Expression of interest is also required by 29 July. TH had spoken with senior officers and had a positive response in principle. As the council don’t have Conservation Officers in post at the moment this might open a door for the LA to get this much needed work undertaken at minimal cost (£10,000) and with no drain on officer time. It was suggested that Conservation Areas Wirral might also part fund the project which would reduce WMBCs contribution. TH would explore these opportunities further and report back.
  
• Proposals for response to WMBC Local Plan
  TH would draft a corporate representation on behalf of Hoylake Vision and circulate so that a representation can be submitted by the deadline of 29 July. PB suggested the representation includes a concern about proposals to reduce the area of land currently covered by UDP policy LA4 (land in need of landscape renewal) as this policy could potentially adversely impact any future proposals for a wildfowl and wetlands that are emerging via the Masterplan and Design Guide and Codes.
  
• Update on Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre
  MHo had heard that a proposal to conduct a feasibility study for this was to be presented to a forthcoming Environment Committee and that it was gaining broad political and officer support. This was welcomed as it is clearly supported within the emerging Design Guide and Codes and the Masterplan and had clear public support four years ago when the council were proposing their ‘five star’ gold resort.
  
• Update on engagement strategy with young people
  Jon C and AW had met with MHo and discussed ideas. A Film competition, a Holy Trinity Primary Creative project (“My Hoylake” or something similar) and a Secondary Schools extra curricular (primarily Geography) project were settled upon. Jon C would lead on the film project which would be open to children and young people in groups eg 5-8; 9-11; 12-15; 16-18. MHo would connect Jon C with his contact Annelise Nordaas regarding IntoFilm, a national charity that works on these types of project and has some local presence. AW would lead on the Holy Trinity project which would include writing, art and poetry, culminating in an event after school or open day when parents can meet us, see panels, read Masterplan, Design Guide etc. as well as displaying work in the windows of local businesses. MHa had been in touch with Jess Trigg who was also keen to be involved. AW and MHa would meet with her. AW and JC would jointly lead on the geography project whose objective would be to encourage students to lead their own consultation with family, friends, etc and feed back collated and analysed results to Vision Management Group for incorporation into Consultation Statement as evidence base. This could potentially influence Objectives, Priorities and Policies in the NDP. In the first instance West Kirby Grammar School for Girls, Calday Grammar School for Boys and Hilbre School would be contacted.
• LOCALITY funding update
  MHo reported that the  most recent funding application (£4,400) had been successful. This would include funding for the forthcoming Workshop Day on 24th September. Any unspent fund after 31 March 2023 would need to be returned to Locality. In Jon M’s absence, NB would monitor the bank account and let MHo know when the funds are received.
  
• Update on September workshops at St Luke’s
  MHo would continue to liaiase with PLACED to agree a schedule and objectives for the workshops.
  
• Ideas for next public meeting
  Ideas included the Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre; the Golf Open 2023 and opportunities for a market in Hoylake. Venue to be decided.
• Update on additional management group member strategy
  Jess Trigg would be invited to the next meeting in September as she has a special interest in engagement with young people. This has been a notable gap in the experience and skillsets of the management group. It was also noted that we need to follow up with others who had recently expressed an interest in being more involved. AW and MHo would pursue.
• Update on Census data analysis
  MHo reported that while the Census 2021 had been published there is not yet and Lower Super Output data available. This is the sub ward level data that we need to be able to update the 2013 analysis of the 2011 census. That had shown an emerging trend that Hoylake was becoming more of a family town since the 2001 census, with higher than average number of teenagers, and a lowering in the number of retired aged people. This flew in the face of widely circulated anecdotal evidence that Hoylake was an ‘ageing town’ and, more worryingly had been used by consultants commissioned by WMBC to justify the notion that Hoylake was “in ongoing decline with no visible signs of recovery”; a conclusion that could have affected policy making for the town. We need to ensure that all Objectives, Priorities and Policies in the Local Plan and the NDP are based on up to date evidence and an analysis of LSOA data in the 2021 census will be vital.
• AOB
  Thu had suggested the idea of holding a regular market in Hoylake at The Row. MHo had explored this idea with the council some years ago. At the time, Birkenhead Markets Limited were the operators of Birkenhead Market and WMBC were responsible for enforcing an ancient market charter which precluded any market being operated within 6 2/3 miles commonlaw distance (as the crow flies) from the centre of Birkenhead Market. This effectively impacts the whole of Wirral and includes Hoylake at its periphery. Following the return of control of Birkenhead Market back to WMBC the council had stated that they would still enforce the charter. MHo agreed to arrange a meeting with the council to meet with THu and any other local businesses who were interested in trying to make this a reality. All agreed it would be excellent for Hoylake. MHO would investigate the current situation; it might now be a licensable activity with more flexibility possible.
  THu was thanked for his generous hospitality and the meeting ended.
  

Date of next meeting Weds 14 September 2022