Agenda and minutes

Residents were invited to talk to various services in the half hour prior to the meeting including Kay Bailey Neighbourhood Manager, Rachel Stewart Street Environment Officer, PCSO, Library Services, and information was made available including money advice booklets and a range of other services.

Cllr Steward (CS)welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained that it was a ward committee meeting. As the majority of residents had come to the meeting regarding the proposals in the Local Plan it was agreed to take this as the first item on the agenda under Have Your Say.

CS explained the background to the Local Plan which included a proposed traveller site in Knapton.

That it was a requirement for City of York to produce a Local Plan. That there would be an 8 week citywide consultation for residents to find out more and submit their views. The details of the consultation are still to be confirmed. Following consultation period a decision would be made at full council followed by a final decision from the Planning Inspector. CS announced that it was the ward councillors intention to hold a single issue ward committee meeting on the Local Plan in June.

Questions were invited from the floor:

One resident had prepared a list of questions which he read out.

Q1  Who are show people?

Response:   They were people involved with the travelling fayres, but the explicit difference between a traveller and showperson was unclear.

Q2 Can the council provide references sites of other show people sites?

Response: It was assumed the answer would be no

Q3  What is the reason for placing the show people next to Knapton?

Response:    CS and IG said they agreed with the question’s sentiments and did not think it made sense. They highlighted that they worked on behalf of residents and were not the authors of the Local Plan or proposals for Knapton and not in the case of the latter did they agree with them.

Q4 What does the council think the expected benefit will be to Knapton of having the show people placed next?

Response:   Essentially as for Q3, the councillors thought there would be many disadvantages and few if any benefits.

Q5 What does the council think the expected disadvantages of having the show people placed next to Knapton will be?

Response:   Numerous and as for Q3, highlighting the councillors did not speak for the council and the proposals.

Q6 Why is the Greenbelt being eroded?

Response:   CS: the Councillors don't want to see erosion, they want building on brownfield sites and they dispute the extent to which the Local Plan seeks to build on greenbelt

Q7 What Brownfield sites has the council considered instead of this Greenbelt site?

Response:    The Local Plan contains many brownfield sites and CS and IG said they believed the focus should be on brownfield rather than Greenfield.

Q8 If this permanent plot is to allow the show people to overwinter and repair their vehicles why is it not close to an industrial area which would be better suited to their requirements where there would be mechanics, heavy engineering works, spray paint shops, scrap metal merchants/replacement parts, places to dispose of toxic chemicals such as used engine oil etc

Response:  As for Q3, the location makes  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

Minutes of the last meeting on 20 June 2012 were approved as a true record.

A reduction across the ward of 16 % was reported. Current hotspots are anti social behaviour in Copmanthorpe.

Steve Grieve (Managing Director of Yorwaste) was invited to give updates on a number of issues:

i)HGVs

ii)Odour

iii)Planning application

Q Tim Haward (Rufforth with Knapton PC) said that the number of HGVs coming through Rufforth are a contravention of the S106 agreement.

Response: we have made significant reduction of vehicles, our vehicles are not allowed to go thro the village unless absolutely essential. Preferred routes are ring road and B124. The contractors we use don't go through Rufforth.

TH asked if modification could be made to the entrance of the tip site so they are forced to turn left to ring road.

Response:  we don't feel that's necessary and we are liaising with the Parish Council.

TH suggests a clause is written into the contractors’contracts.

Steve Grieve said they'd had traffic enforcement officers out to run tests and monitor traffic flows.

Steve Grieve updated on the landfill gas odour that has been reported. He apologised for the odour. He felt the mitigating factor had been the heavy and prolonged rain. We are measuring the number of complaints and hope that because there has been less complaints the odour has decreased.so he is here tonight to ask if that is the case?

Questions were taken from the floor:

Q we are still getting odours, can't open the windows at Knapton

Q I felt sick walking along new cycle route.

Q the odour has improved.

Response: we haven't finished trying to sort it, we hope to finally sort in the next 2 weeks.

Q told we could re-log a complaint from the same address by the Yorwaste hotline.

Q can we make sure your EIAs are robust?

Q it's much worse when it's wet.

Planning Application:

The planning application was submitted at the end of January/February. Its now been out to consultation.

There were no objections apart from the Parish Council.

However there are issues that the Planning Officer has asked us to review. Harewood Whinn seems to be the best site but we have been asked to look again by the planning officer and resubmit our proposals. The Hessay site will still operate if the PA for HW is accepted then the one at Hessay will close down.

Q is there now a massive over capacity in incineration?

A locally there's nowhere else as an alternative.

Incineration is a declining business.

Harewood Whinn has a limit to what it can take.

Cllr Gillies thanked Yorwaste and Rufforth PC for their work developing the new cycle path, hope it will be open in June.

Q where is domestic waste coming from?

In response: Yorkshire

Q what's coming in from outside the county?

In response: commercial waste is less than 10%

Gary Frost from City of York Council gave an update on the Park and Ride. He's appointed to run the construction phase of the scheme. They tendered the scheme late Autumn, appointed a contractor and completed a vegetation clearance.

Appointed Balfour Beatty, start date will be week commencing     10 June at Poppleton and Askham Bar 20 May.

They will be consulting with local communities, doing safety talks in schools. A liaison officer within Balfour Beatty has been appointed. The Council has agreed to attempt to try and restrict traffic through Poppleton, implement traffic calming measures on Longridge Lane, implement a traffic order on Black Dyke Lane and implement a gateway feature on Hodgson Lane.

Q what is the finish date?

Response: 29 May 2014

Q what about the potential for rat runs?

Response: no measures drawn up at the moment.

Q at Askham Bar are there any ideas re the pedestrian crossing?

Response:  not part of the approved plan too costly.

The Chair announced the final list of schemes funded in 2012-13.  The budget was spent on the following grants:

o   Poppleton Luncheon Club, grant of £400 to contribute towards the cost of delivering the service.

o   Rufforth Methodist Church, £500 grant towards continuing the provision of the outreach Post Office

o   Poppleton Youth Action Group, grant of £2,560 contribution towards the provision of a youth club in Poppleton

o   RufforthKidzone, grant of £400 towards the provision of after school activities

o   Copmanthorpe Early Years Partnership, grant of £400 towards an event to develop communications skills in parents and their preschool children.

Final reports on these project are due at the end of June 2013 and this information will be shared at the next informal ward meeting.

Ward Committee Budget 2013-14

The Chair announced that the ward budget for this year is £4,260 to be spent in line with the following 3 ward priorities: 

o   Make the lives of older people better

o   Improve the environment

o   To improve the lives of children and young people

The ward fund will be allocated grant applications to local community organisations and direct commissioning of projects. The chair encouraged groups to pick up grant applications packs at the meeting and  encouraged groups to submit applications as soon as possible.

Q why is the ward committee giving money to older people groups?

In response: there's lots of elderly people who live in the ward on their own or are isolated due to lack of transport.