Agenda and minutes

Venue: Rawcliffe Recreation Hall, St Marks Grove

Contact: Michael Hawtin 

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome and minutes of last meeting

Minutes:

Cllr. Irene Waudby welcomed people to the meeting. The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed and she introduced the other councillors, Ian Richardson from North Yorkshire Police, Sharron Hutchinson from Youth Services, and told the meeting that Andrew Williams was standing in for Iain Dunn, the Street Environment Officer. Because Ian Richardson was talking to members of the public the Street Environment Update was the first item.

3.

Street Environment Update

Minutes:

Andrew Williams mentioned the survey the Street Environment Services team are carrying out. Responses to the survey indicate what people think of the service, and their ideas on improving the environment.

 

He went over the different ways to contact the team, which are calling 551551, going on the Council’s web site or by e-mailing ypal@york.gov.uk.

 

He was asked about clearing up glass and clearing up dog-mess particularly around Lakeside School. He explained that during working hours the response can be within 2 hours if it is dangerous. In the case of graffiti it is  offensive it should be cleared within 2 days, if not within 5 days. At weekends it takes longer as the team aren’t at work so problems have to wait until Monday for the team to action them. He did explain, however, that the dog warden has been working out-of-hours to deal with problems.

 

It was mentioned that the target is actually for inspection within 2 hours. One resident did want to make the point that every time he reported anything it has always been resolved very quickly. Cllr. Joe Watt mentioned that occasionally he saw problems in the underpass at Rawcliffe Roundabout and that was usually resolved quickly too.

 

Andrew told the meeting that the team relied on the public telling them if there is a problem so that they can deal with it.

2.

Neighbourhood Police Update

The Neighbourhood Police Team will be available to talk about the issues in your area.

Minutes:

The Safer Neighbourhood Team includes an Area Inspector, an Area Sergeant, a Ward Manager, another Police Constable a team of 6 PCSOs.

 

Over the last three months the figures were as follows;

Violent crime – 15% decrease

Burglary – 63% down on the same time last year

Theft – 6% down

Auto crime – 2% down

Criminal damage – 26% down.

 

A problem solving panel has been set up to address anti-social behaviour issues in Rawcliffe. Members of the panel are Rawcliffe Parish Council, the city of York Council and Safer York Partnership. The action plan proposals include concentrated patrols in problem areas with up to 75% of the team walking through it regularly. Unfortunately when the team is not on duty response times may be longer due to the fact that officers have to come form Fulford. Calls about anti-social behaviour have gone down from 25 to 18 in Rawcliffe Grange. Over the whole ward calls have gone to 90. Levels of anti-social behaviour in certain areas is weather-related.

 

Commercial burglary is happening on Clifton Moor. There are a few strategies to reduce crime, these include, Operation Abyss to reduce burglary, Clifton Moor Business Watch, and Smart Water schemes in certain areas and for repeat victims.

 

There is a new piece of legislation – Section 27 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006. This means an officer can issue a direction to leave an area to anyone over 16 if the officer believes there is a risk of anti-social behaviour. This can last up to 48 hours. If the person returns to the area they can get a fine of up to £2,000.

 

The times are changing and the way policing is organised is also changing. The Safer Neighbourhood Team wants to find out from residents what they think the police priorities should be. The following were mentioned during consultation along with the votes they got from residents;

  1. Domestic burglary                                                                      1
  2. Use of mobiles phones whilst driving                        0
  3. Speeding                                                                               2
  4. Push bikes with no lights                                                   0
  5. Push bikes on pavements                                                     0
  6. Anti-social behaviour                                                       9
  7. A quicker response to calls                                                    3
  8. Under-age drinking – public places/nuisance                  3
  9. Illegal vehicles –no tax/no insurance/no licence                      0
  10. Drugs – using/dealing                                                          1

 

This information is going to be taken away to produce the priorities for the area concentrating on anti-social behaviour, a quicker response and under-age drinking.

A question was raised about a report in Parliament about the number of forms completed every time stop and search was used. The answer was that there was quite a lot of paperwork and that if an officer stopped a group of 30 children they would have to complete 30 forms.

 

A question about the response time was asked. The police would love to have the resources to respond rapidly to everything but Skelton, Rawcliffe and Clifton Without is a large ward. Also there are 15 officers each shift to cover the whole city – if there is a major incident the whole shift might have to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

4.

Youth Work Update

Minutes:

Sharron Hutchinson introduced herself and explained that she is the Area Team Leader for York North. It has been a good time for young people going to Skelton Village Hall, with about 15-20 young people each session. However they are mostly young men and the team is keen to get more young women to go too. The young people are doing arts and crafts, cooking and running a young people’s forum.

 

In Rawcliffe there were good numbers with 20-25 a session. They were working with the Youth Service and Network 2 to run football sessions and to put together a programme of activities that they want. They are looking for effective ways of tackling specific issues.

 

The Youth Service is continuing to run drop-in sessions at Canon Lee School and to promote what goes on in the area – part of the action plan is to tackle Anti-social behaviour.

 

Sharron then opened the floor up to questions

 

Q. When you go out to ask the young people what do they say they want in the area?

 

A. Somewhere safe and sheltered to chill out with their friends. They did ask for a skateboard park and for somewhere to go. We can’t force them to come to sessions that we run – only try to make sure that the sessions are what they want.

 

Q. Youths are happy to go anywhere – no-one listens to what they want – I have asked them and they want a hut or shelter in the park-and-ride area. A shelter in an isolated area.

 

A. We had a hut in Skelton but it got burned down.

 

A. We have tried to meet what the young people want by using detached outreach workers.

 

A. Haxby was gifted money for a shelter but they are still trying to find out what the youth want and where it should be. The safety of the young people also has to be considered.

 

A. Sometimes we’re all guilty of wanting things like this somewhere else. There is anecdotal evidence from some young people that shelters can sometimes be used by drug-takers or drug-dealers.

 

There was some discussion about the skate park near Village Street. Residents feel that they can’t open their windows, due to noise, and that if they do phone the Police nothing happens about it. They feel that the skate park has a lot of anti-social behaviour. They were told by the Police that there was a project called ‘Operation Consequence’. Its main aim is to improve the area and reduce incidents of anti-social behaviour. They asked that everyone persevere and give it time to work.

5.

Ward Committee Budget

A brief discussion of the 08/09 local scheme suggestions for the Neighbourhood Action Plan that were submitted and voted on by you.

Minutes:

There was a discussion about several of the proposed schemes. People were asked to have a say in support of the schemes in their area.

 

The meeting was told that there had been no discernable tactical voting in this round.

 

It was suggested that people only be allowed to vote in favour of schemes not against them. Also a resident urged the Ward Committee to ensure that the distribution of funds was fair and equitable across the parishes of the ward.

6.

Break for tea and coffee

7.

The Ward Committee Budget Decision

Councillors will announce the decision on how we will use the Ward Committee Budget for 2008/09.

Minutes:

The councillors announced the Budget decision is as follows;

 

Capital

 

Schemes 11, 12, 15, 16 all approved. There is more funding available for capital schemes only (street lights, benches etc) and there was an invitation for Parish Councils and residents to send in ideas for schemes.

 

Revenue

 

Schemes 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 17 all approved.

8.

ECO Town

Minutes:

The issue of the potential Eco-town was raised at the Full Council. Central Government invited submissions from developers, to build new Eco-towns.  Fifty-seven submissions were received, of which ten schemes will go forward. The proposed Eco-town for York is for 5,500 homes from the Shipton Road roundabout to Wigginton Road and up to within 250 yards of Skelton.  The scheme submission is quite far advanced.

Both Cllr. Moore and Cllr. Watt opposed the Eco-town. Some of the reasons are that it will cause more traffic congestion, gridlocking the ring road; that the greenbelt should be preserved; there are several brownfield sites (including British Sugar Site & York Central) and that York doesn’t have immediate housing shortages.

 

A letter will be sent from the Council to the Local Government Minister. A petition of more than 400 signatures has been raised and will be sent with the letter. It is expected that a decision will be made perhaps next month but both Cllr. Moore and Cllr. Watt are confident that it won’t happen.

 

The floor was opened up for questions and comments.

 

One resident asked that the Council should push for a Public Enquiry to make sure of the probity of the development.

 

It was stated that there is no intention to allow residential development in the greenbelt in the Local Development Framework. This is out for consultation in March. The ward committee urged those present to make a formal response in support of the greenbelt.

 

The Government has not consulted the council or anyone locally. The city council has written to local constituency Members of Parliament.  Anne McIntosh MP was invited to a photo-call but wasn’t able to attend, but she did write to the minister to ask what was happening. She has expressed her opposition to the Eco-town.

9.

Have your say

Minutes:

One resident said that at a generous assessment 6% of the people eligible voted. The way the budget was allocated meant that Clifton Without only got the benefit of £1,500. He also suggested that the proposal to fund Community Rangers was at number 3 on the voting but because Clifton Without doesn’t have a councillor they were not represented.

 

In response it was pointed out that two approved schemes that Clifton Without have submitted come ot £4,400. The overall budget split is;

£13,470 to Clifton Without                       40.92%

£10,476 to Rawcliffe                    31.83%

£8,969 to Skelton                                   27.25%

 

It was also considered that the role of the Community Ranger Service is now covered by the Safer Neighbourhood Team.

 

The matter of standing water at the entrance to the park and ride site was mentioned. It was suggested that it be reported to York Pride on 551551.

 

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