Agenda and draft minutes

6:30pm to 7pm – Drop In

·        Your ward councillors will be available for enquiries

·        Pick up local news and information

The public meeting was preceded from 6.30pm by a drop-in session with Councillor Craghill, Councillor Flinders, representatives from North Yorkshire Police and the Citizens’ Advice Bureau.  The Citizen’s Advice Bureau held a stall about reducing energy use.

7pm to 9pm – Main Public Meeting

·        Neighbourhood Working: an overview of the Ward Budget

·        Pride in York: changes to the maintenance of parks and green spaces

·        Community Care: how funding can be used to meet local needs

·        Highways Fund: consultation on local improvement schemes

·        Community Grants: recent examples andhow to apply for funding

·        Ward Priorities: have your say on what these should be

·        Guildhall Ward Planning Panel: selection of members for the year

·        Open Floor and Community News: raise issues of interest or concern

1.      Welcome and introductions

Cllr Craghill, as Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting on behalf of the ward Councillors, also introducing Joe Ashton.

2.      Neighbourhood working – presentation of new ward committee system and funding

Cllr Flinders said that since the election the new coalition executive for York has re-introduced the ward committee system, and that this comprises of the residents here tonight, who will feed into the work the councillors do by letting them know what issues are important and what the ward priorities are.

The monthly ward team meetings, comprising of local groups and the councillors will make decisions on the ward budgets and report these to ward committee meetings, as well as promoting joint working in the ward.

The ward committee will meet up to four times a year, and residents can also feed into councillors’ work through the regular ward surgeries, and by contacting ward councillors at any time.

The ward budget for 2015/16 is:

Ward grounds maintenance £107,996

Pride in York fund £13,895 + £42,431

Community care fund £5,211

Community grants £10,422

Highways £17,369

Ward grounds maintenance and Pride in York funds will decrease in the next three years.

The community care fund can be used to support the prevention or delay of people needing to access formal care packages, such as supporting social activities, support to address hazards in the home, accessible transport, support for carers, etc.

The highways maintenance fund is a small amount of funding for additional work such as lighting and road/pavement/cycleway repairs or improvements in the ward. This is over and above works done by the council city-wide. Residents are asked to use their local knowledge to identify these needs.

Cllr Craghill introduced the Pride in York (Grounds Maintenance) Funding. This includes a one-off fund which can be spent over the next 18 months, possibly longer. This enables wards to commission projects and initiatives that will help to make communities more self-sufficient and/or help to make the required levels of savings in the grounds maintenance budget for the ward over the next 2 – 3 years.

Q. What about people who do not have internet connection?

A. Councillors can also be contacted via phone or post. Contact details are on the agenda.

Q. is the entire council budget now devolved to wards?

A. No, just some small amounts as detailed tonight.

Q. how is the devolved budget linked to central decisions so that work isn’t duplicated?

A. We will be working with partner organisations so they shouldn’t be any duplication of work.

Q. regarding the grounds maintenance budget, are we to pick from the list available what we think is needed?

A. Yes, that is the aim.

Cllr Craghill said that the budgets are rather complex, particularly  the grounds maintenance budget and the next ward committee meeting will be a special meeting to look at this budget much more closely. Cuts need to be made, so residents’ views will be needed so that priorities are chosen.

Q. A lot of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.