General Meeting - 11 April 2026
Notice is hereby given that a General Meeting of the Hoylake Conservation Areas Association will be held in St Lukes Church Market Street Hoylake at 1030 on Saturday 11 April 2026.
Enclosed are a digest of the Minutes of the last General Meeting held on 5 April 2025 together with the Chairman’s Report and Statement on the HCA accounts for the year ended 31 December 2025.
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Welcome and Apologies for absence.
To approve the Minutes of the previous General Meeting.
To receive the Chairman’s Annual Report and accept the Statement of Accounts to 31 December 2025.
To elect Ms Jane Pickering to serve on the Committee.
To re-elect Mr Christopher Moore, Mrs Sue Evans, Mrs Pamela Meredith Jones, Mr Andrew Pickering, Ms Katie du Plessis, Mrs Liz Webster and Mr David Webster who offer themselves for re-election to serve on the committee.
Other Business.
C T Moore 25 March 2026
HCA Chairman -
Minutes of the HCA Annual General Meeting, Saturday 5 April 2025, St Luke’s Church
[A full copy of the minutes are posted on www.hoylakeconservation.org.uk]Attendees:
Christopher Moore (Chairman), Councillor Max Booth, Ms Agustina Solassi (WMBC Principal Heritage Officer), 37 residents. Apologies were noted.
The Chairman highlighted HCA’s statutory role in reviewing planning applications for The Kings Gap and Meols Drive conservation areas. HCA aims to ensure developments respect local heritage.
Notice of Meeting & Approval of Previous Minutes
Meeting notice had been distributed via email, website, and social media. Minutes from February 2023 were accepted.Chairman’s Report
Despite no AGM for two years, HCA remained active. In 2023, £10,000+ was raised for re-appraisal for both conservation areas, resulting in updated independent reports now adopted by the Council. These show extended boundaries, identify key features, and introduce much needed Management Plans.HCA played a vital role in opposing certain development proposals and continues to consult on all applications within its remit. Current focus includes monitoring applications at 53 Meols Drive and 62 Stanley Road. Updated CA documents aim to ensure sympathetic development.
Other activities include feedback on tree works, promoting informal consultations before formal applications, new boundary signage, and an updated resident leaflet. The HCA website now offers enhanced information and subscription management.
HCA collaborates with other local groups and supports Council initiatives on Local Listing.
The Chairman expressed optimism about future conservation efforts, citing new appraisals and ongoing community involvement, while noting pending impacts from the Local Plan and changes to national policy.
In discussion, concerns were raised over limited public consultation about the extended boundaries; some residents felt insufficiently informed and worried about added restrictions. It was clarified that only appearance-related changes would require approval. A conservation workshop for affected homeowners was agreed and scheduled.
Financial Statements
The I&E account showed £10,580 raised for re-appraisals, currently held with Barclays Bank. Future fund allocation is pending and will be publicised. Thanks were given to Treasurer Pam Meredith Jones.
Committee Elections
Ms Katie du Plessis was elected unanimously, along with existing committee members who offered themselves for re-election.
Other Business
The Chairman encouraged continued civic pride and community-led tidiness efforts, suggesting greater involvement by residents and local businesses who might sponsor and maintain public areas.
At the meeting's close, Ms Solassi presented Wirral Council’s revised Heritage Strategy, addressing further CA updates, local asset listing, and potential use of Article 4 directions.
C T MOORE,
Chairman March 2025 -
Hoylake Conservation Areas Association Report & Financial Statements for the period 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025
Main address
The Association has no official address but, for banking purposes, the home address of the Treasurer has been used:Seaward
8 The Royal
Hoylake CH47 1HSOfficers and committee members
Christopher Moore – Chairman
Pam Meredith Jones - Treasurer
Sue Evans
Andrew Pickering
Liz Webster
David Webster
Katie du PlessisBankers
Barclays Bank UK PLC
Governance and management
The Group is governed by the “Hoylake Conservation Areas Association Constitution” as amended from time to time by a majority decision at an AGM.
Main aims and objectives
a) To act as a statutory consultee for all planning applications within the two designated conservation areas of the Kings Gap and Meols Drive.
b) To ensure, through objective assessment against national and local plans, that building design, size, aspect and materials are sympathetic and appropriate to the heritage and distinctive features of the Hoylake area. -
The past year has been one of consolidation under the umbrella of the updated Appraisals for The Kings Gap and Meols Drive Conservation Areas. These are available for scrutiny and reference on the Council as well as on the Hoylake Conservation Areas Association websites.
The appraisals, together with the related Management Plans and Gazetteer of Properties, were officially adopted prior to last year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). This marked a significant step in establishing a robust and authoritative framework for conservation protections throughout Hoylake. These documents now serve as the cornerstone for guiding conservation efforts and ensuring the appropriate management within our area.
Despite the positive impact of these appraisals, concerns were raised regarding the adequacy of the public consultation process surrounding the proposed Conservation Area (CA) boundary extensions. Many householders reported being unaware of the proposed changes or how these might affect their properties, leading to uncertainty and apprehension within the community.
In response to these concerns, a workshop was organised shortly after the 2025 AGM, which took place on 12 May. The purpose of this event was to provide clear explanations about the rationale and advantages of extending the Conservation Areas to include notable properties, as well as to address previous inconsistencies and clarify the implications for those affected. The workshop succeeded in reassuring the majority of attendees and played a key role in alleviating most of the apprehensions expressed by householders.
Last year, I reported our intention to reposition and install new Conservation Area (CA) signs to accurately reflect the recently updated boundaries. Although we were awarded a grant from our Ward Councillors to cover the associated costs, to date, we have found it difficult to navigate the complexities of Council bureaucracy which has prevented completion. However, from renewed efforts over the past month we are hopeful that the new signs will be installed in the near future to give better indication of the extended Conservation Area boundaries.
Elsewhere, your committee has monitored all planning applications as notified for compliance with the new set of planning guidelines from the NPPF, the updated Wirral Local Plan and the specific appraisals for our areas. We only object to proposals which we believe would cause harm to or compromise those guidelines.
We are pleased that the updated appraisals have triggered greater awareness of conservation and the need to protect our area from poor design and over development or intensification. We are pleased to report that the views of HCA are often sought in the early stages of submitting an application which is beneficial to both parties.
We supported the Council’s initiative to establish a Local List of valued properties and features across the Wirral. Inclusion on the List confers an additional level of protection for planning purposes but we have yet to see how effective such listing is through the planning cycle.
We remain disappointed at the scale, style and intensification of the Links Apartments at 100/102 Meols Drive. Planning approval was gained before the latest appraisals had been adopted. A similar test of the efficacy of protections is now posed by APP/25/1927 at Clavis 96 Meols Drive which, despite some welcome visual benefit to its prominent frontage, proposes extensions and two new properties to the rear which we regard as over development and intensification. We, and other parties, have formally objected to this application as submitted and there is a public petition against the project currently signed by over 440 concerned residents. We hope for some reductions in the scale of the project on sound conservation principles.
HCA is closely monitoring the Peak Cluster proposal to pump CO2 through a 200km pipeline from cement factories in Derbyshire through the Wirral to undersea chambers in Morecambe Bay. As presently proposed, this is a technically and politically risky project but has no direct implications for our two CAs.
Last year, faced with litter strewn, overgrown and untidy public places across the Wirral, I encouraged our community to participate in clean-up efforts to better present our key features and buildings in the best possible light. Council resources are limited so the responsibility for pride in our unique landscape must fall to local residents and businesses. Since this is a Wirral wide issue, HCA has engaged widely with elected Councillors and sister organisations who care about our peninsula to augment the excellent work done by the ‘In Bloom’ and ‘Wirral Womble Litter Pickers’ and other volunteer groups. We have suggested through our Ward Councillors that shops (particularly convenience stores and fast-food outlets), businesses and schools should take a greater interest in their immediate vicinity as it is surely in their best interests to present a neat, tidy and attractive site to their customers and clients. We hope too that residents’ groups will adopt responsibility for their roads to report problems and deal with minor issues themselves. Collective effort like this is bound to be worthwhile.
I would like to extend my gratitude to committee members and all those householders and individuals who support and take an interest in the aims of the Association. This extends to the Wirral Heritage team, our Ward Councillors, the Wirral Society and Conservation Areas Wirral with whom we are aligned.
Looking ahead, we remain committed to upholding HCA aims and objectives to the best of our ability. Thank you for your continued trust and support.
Signed on behalf of the committee:
Signed Christopher T. Moore, ChairmanDate 25 March 2026
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Income and Expenditure Account
for the period 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025
Income
Subscriptions - £55.00
Wirral Communities Grant - £651.93Total income - £706.93
Expenditure
Web Services - £416.80
Room Hire AGM & Workshop - £91.20
Wirral Council (Contribution to Reappraisals) - £10,000.00
Printing - £226.00Total Expenditure - £10,734.00
Net Income/(Expenditure)
£(10,027.07)
Statement of assets and liabilities
at 31 December 2025
Represented by
Reserves b/f from 31-12-2024 - £11,139.97
Surplus/(Deficit) for the period 01-01-25 to 31-12-25 - £(10,027.07)£1,122.90
These financial statements are accepted on behalf of the Association by:
Signed Pamela Meredith Jones, Treasurer
Dated 24 March 2026
2025 Cash assets
Current account - £1,122.90
Total cash assets - £1,122.90Notes to the accounts
for the period 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025
Income and expenditure accounts
Receipts and payments accounts are statements that summarise the movement of cash into and out of the Association funds during the financial period. In this context “cash” includes cash equivalents, for example, bank accounts where cash can be readily withdrawn to pay for debts as they become due.Membership annual subscription
The subscription rate remained the same as previous years at £5.00 per household but the 2025 response from members and donors was low.Committee members’ remuneration
During this period, committee members received no remuneration.
