Agenda and minutes

Your chance to meet

Cllr Janet Looker

Cllr Brian Watson

Matthew Ward, Neighbourhood Management Officer

Members of the Street Environment Team

Your Safer Neighbourhoods Team

1.1  Local residents had the opportunity to speak to Cllr Janet Looker, Matthew Ward, Neighbourhood Management Officer, Iain Dunn and Suzanne Prance from Street Environment.

1.2  Residents also had the opportunity to find out information from

·Ed Gray, Community Payback

·Jason Wallis, President of the York St John Student Union

·Adam Bailey, Waste Strategy

·Inspector Mark Henderson and Sgt Jon Asvadi.

1.3 At this point Cllr Looker took the opportunity to introduce Suzanne Prance, the new Street Environment Officer for the ward.

2.1       Cllr Looker welcomed residents to the meeting.

Sgt Jon Asvadi will present the police priorities for the new year and update on what’s happening in the ward

3.                  Sgt Jon Asvadi updated the residents on the latest policing priorities and work been done in the ward.

3.1   Crime figures to date are much reduced, the figures were displayed for the meeting and were recorded as below

3.2   The figure for thefts is high in the Guildhall ward as there are lots of retail premises

3.3   Cycle theft is being targeted in the ward, operation spoke is running which provides security measures for cycle owners. Cycles are marked and recorded on the immobilise website.

3.4   A question was asked - how police select people to stop on cycles? This is largely down to intuition and recognising people known to the police.

3.5    The operation has been publicised on the Safer York Partnership website, the police website and through The Press.

3.6   The aim for the operation is to get 10,000 bikes marked and registered.

3.7   PCSO have the power to stop cycles and carry out the checks.

3.8   Cyclists riding without lights and riding on footpaths have been targeted recently, this has resulted in fifty tickets and fifty verbal warnings issued. Patrols are continuing in the ward to help target these issues.

3.9   Shop theft is a serious issue in the ward, operation discount is aimed at reducing incidents.

3.10         Beggers are to be individually focused on as previous methods have not worked. ASBO’s will be applied for so orders ban beggers from locating in certain areas.

3.11         Graffiti in Walmgate is to be targeted, using the Taggi website identifying tags will hopefully lead to more prosecutions. Clean ups will be run using Community Payback.

3.12         PC Richard Gatecliffe has recently joined the team and will be working in the Walmgate area of the ward.

Residents were given the opportunity to raise questions and concerns, the following were raised.

a)                 Why do business owners in Patrick Pool get away with parking illegally when there is enough pay parking for everyone in York?

-Sgt Asvadi took details and explained he would deal with the matter outside of the meeting.

b)                 My bike was registered using the operation spoke but I have not received the email from immobilise yet, is there a problem?

-There have been teething problems with some of the registrations getting onto the immobilise site but they are all registered with the police and will eventually make it onto the immobilise site.

Jason Wallis was given the opportunity to outline measures put in place by the university to try and reduce issue of noise and nuisance related to the university. The following was mentioned.

3.13        Night marshals have been trialled to target issues related to the university.

3.14        The feedback from residents has been encouraging.

3.15        The are proposals to roll  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Malcolm Smith, will inform you about the Magistrates Community Engagement and provide an insight into magistrates powers

4.      Magistrates

Malcolm Smith, the co-ordinator for the magistrates in the Community and Community Engagement Project explained about what magistrates do, their powers and how they decide on sentences.

4.1 Malcolm Smith outlined the day to day workings of the magistrates court.

4.2 There are four courts operating five days a week and Saturday mornings.

4.3 All criminal offences start proceedings in the magistrate court

4.4 97% of offences are dealt with by magistrate, only 3% ever go to Crown Court.

4.5       Offences dealt with range across motoring, thefts, dishonest, RSPCA, Council cases so there is a broad spectrum.

4.6       Magistrates are not lawyers, they are members of the community who receive regular training, are decision maker and are volunteers.

4.7      Ages of magistrate range from 18 to 70 years old so there is representation across generations and the community.

4.8Twenty six days a week is the minimum expectation, but most manage to dedicate 1 day a week. 100 days is the maximum.

4.9     3 magistrates sit on the bench, so there is always a fair decision

4.10 Not all rulings are punishment, some are referrals for rehabilitation.

Erica Taylor outlined the sentencing powers available to magistrates.

4.11                     The verdicts that can be passed are

·        ·        Discharge – guilty but no action

·        ·        Conditional discharge – no immediate action but carried for a period of time.

·        ·        Fine – up to £5000

·        ·        Compensation – the victim is reimbursed

·        ·        Community Orders – rehab order make the offender aware of impact of their crime

·        ·        Unpaid Work – community payback scheme

·        ·        Prison sentence – maximum 6 months or 12 months for 2 offences

·        ·        Suspended sentence – not immediately enforced but conditions applied

4.12                     Magistrates guidelines come from the ministry of justice, although they can act outside of the guidelines if justified.

4.13                     If an offender pleads guilty at the first opportunity the 30% can be reduced from their sentence. If they plead guilty later on 10% is the largest reduction possible.

Residents were given the opportunity to ask related questions, the follow was asked.

a)     How does the child prosecution differ from adult proceedings? The youth offending team are present and give their advice and administer the sentences for the young offenders.

b)     As magistrates aren’t qualified lawyers how do they act legally? Legal advisors are present in the court at all times to make sure that all actions are legal.

c)      Do pressures from above mean you don’t send people to prision? Magistrates are under oath and act as seen fit so prison number don’t affect the decisions.

d)     Are family situations taken in to consideration? Yes, when sentencing consideration is given to the offenders family situation.

5. Ed Gray, Community Payback manager informed the meeting on the project and how it can be used in the ward.

5.1 There had been concern from some people about the orange vests issued to community payback workers but there has never been any concern from the workers.

5.2Community payback have 3500-4000 man hours per month to allocate to schemes.

5.3Work must be appropriate and for the benefit of the city.

5.4There is no average age of offender, range from 16 upwards, covering all aspects of life. Business men, unemployed, fathers and mothers.

5.5A contract is supplied to each offender which they are required to sign.

5.6Supervision is supplied by the Probation Supervisors.

5.7Work carried out is mainly litter picking, graffiti removal, painting fences but all projects will be considered.

5.8Lots of projects are carried out in conjunction with the city of york council where numbers for staffing isn’t possible, but supplies of paint is.

5.9Chewing gum removal is not possible as machinery is needed and it is very expensive.

5.10         Litter picks can be carried out, and people were encouraged to get in touch with ideas.

5.11         25 people are usually available on Sundays.

5.12         Cleaning of void properties is carried out for City of York Council, this saves thousands of pounds each time,

5.13         A workshop in Selby is used to renovate park benches etc.

5.14         Graffiti removal from bus stops is possible.

5.15         An idea from a worker was to allow marking of their work once it is complete this is being looked into.

5.16         Connections with York College have meant that workers have re-entered the education system, completing computer courses and improving numeracy and literacy skills.

5.17         The scheme is well established and will continue to run, any ideas are welcome.

Your chance to comment on the provisional schemes list and find out

the final budget decisions for the next financial year.

6.                  Cllr Looker invited residents to raise queries on the list of proposals for the 2010-’11 ward committee funding.

6.1             The budget was outlined as £21,320 for the ward.

6.2             Navigation Road was raised as a possible location for bird boxes, if Lord Major’s walk not deemed suitable.

6.3             The funding for OCAY was called ‘fantastic’ by a resident and their previous work was praised.

6.4             The funding for an investigation at Monk Gate roundabout was raised as a priority to see what can be done. Many residents raised concerns about the traffic flow at the roundabout and gave examples of issues.

6.5             Funding for benches received the following suggestions for locations.Penly Grove Street, Near the garage on Lord Majors Walk, replacement of a bench at the Library.

6.6             A contingency fund of £3,720 will also exist for unforeseen schemes which arise in the year. An idea for this was suggested as more cycle stands in Parliament Street.

6.7             Ed Gray offered manpower to carryout the schemes from Community Payback to help lower costs.

Your chance to ask questions about local issues and concerns.

7.                  Residents were giving the opportunity to raise issues and concerns about the ward.

Q – Is the funding for ward schemes safe@

Yes, as councillors see the whole process as very important, the funding is safe.

Q – The ‘gardening’ on Lard Mayors Walk has been savage in past years, will it be cut the same this year?

The maintenance of the bushes is done on a rota so hopefully it won’t be done this year although it is cut back so it doesn’t need doing as often too lower costs.

Q – Is the £3,000 contingency fund, use it our lose it?

Yes if there is under spend, then the funding will be returned to the central pot.

7.1             The planning panel were given time to briefly explain about their function.

7.1.1       The panel are always looking for new members.

7.1.2       Next meeting will be on 16^th February in the Guildhall.

7.1.3       Election of members will take place at the next ward committee meeting.