Why are we so apathetic about our Wirral area forums?

Aug 19 2009 by Lorna Hughes, Birkenhead News

Why are we so apathetic about Wirral Council’s area forums? Lorna Hughes investigates

COUNCIL leader Steve Foulkes has called them a “fantastic opportunity for people to get involved in decision making” – so why are so many Wirralians shunning area forums?

The twice-yearly public meetings were established by Wirral Council in 2001 with the aim of bringing together residents, politicians, health bosses and the police.

In 2008, the council launched You Decide, giving each area forum £20,000 to spend on extra council services like more bins, graffiti removal and street lighting.

But figures show apathy seems to have set in, with just 234 out of the borough’s electorate of 248,043 turning up to the 11 meetings held across Wirral in June.

The lowest attendance was in Bebington and Clatterbridge, where only 8 residents were present to quiz their councillors.

It wasn’t much better at the Bromborough/Eastham and New Brighton/Wallasey forums, which saw attendances of 10 and 12 respectively.

All area forums have seen a slump in numbers in 2009 – in October last year a total of 461 people attended but at February’s meetings, this fell to 294.

In the same month, just four people turned out for the Liscard/Seacombe meeting.

The only area forum with consistently high attendance is Wirral West. 70 people were there in June, 120 in February and 220 last October – possibly prompted by interest in the controversial Sail project being planned for West Kirby.

Councillor Stuart Kelly, cabinet member for community engagement, pointed to “seasonal fluctuations” but acknowledged area forums had to move with the times to keep people interested.