Agenda and minutes

The drop-in surgery gives you the opportunity to talk to your councillors, street environment officer, safer neighbourhood team, neighbourhood management officer and visiting speakers in an informal setting.

Residents had the opportunity to talk to Cllr Steward; Cllr Gillies; Mora Scaife, Neighbourhood Manager; Julie Hood, Neighbourhood Management Officer; Linda Tester, Older Peoples Advocacy York; John Kennedy, Fairness Commissioner; Nigel Colley, Safer Neighbourhood Team and Rachel Stewart, Street Environment Officer.

Find out about what the Fairness Commission is and how you can get involved.

John Kennedy presented information regarding the Fairness Commission and how residents can be involved. 

A Fairness Commission was first set up in Islington in March 2010, York Fairness Commission was set up in May 2011 and  took the following learning from Islington

To be independent, have a small number of commissioners, have a greater focus on inclusion, be more participative and less formal and to have a large menu of options for consultation e.g. website phone, postcards

The Fairness Commission aim to consult local people face to face and through other channels on their needs, concerns and priorities. To supplement the standard Council budget consultation with a wider debate about fairness and social justice.

They will provide an independent report to cabinet on matters of fairness to influence the spending and service provision decision in the 2012 – 14 budget by November 2011

They will make wider recommendations with longer tern policy outcomes regarding fairness in the city to be taken forward by the Council and its partners by Spring 2012.

The Fairness Commissioners are:

Ruth Redfern – Assistant Chief Executive, Yorkshire Forward

Richard Wilkinson  - Nottingham and York Universities

Kate Pickett - University of York

John Lister (deputy chair) - Finance Director Aviva

John Kennedy - Director of Care Services JRHT/JRF

The sponsor is the Archbishop of York John Sentamu

The next steps are:

•      The Council will respond to the Commission’s recommendations and take them into account in the budget decisions for 2012-2014

•      The Commission will have a 2^nd round of consultation and engagement with partners, stakeholders and residents in February and March 2012 to build on its initial report.

•      Spring 2012 - final report with community-wide focus

The following questions were raised

Q.      What has been the response to the consultation?

A.      Some sessions have been very well attended whilst others have not been so well attended.  The different mechanisms for feeding views into the process has given a variety of options.  Organisations as well as individuals have had the opportunity to be involved in the process.

Q.      Many people are not aware of the Fairness Commission

A.      There has not been an intensive advertising campaign as the budget is very small and the time period has been short.  The consultation sessions have been promoted on the radio and in the local Press.  It is hoped that the interim report will create some debate which will create interest in the spring report.

Q.      So far all the meetings have been in City, none of them have been in the Rural area

A.      The spread of meetings has not been perfect and we have held them to try to meet the needs of most people.

Groups who have applied for ward funding for next year will come along and let us know why they need the funding.

Additional information was given for the following improvement schemes by the groups who have applied for funding from the Ward Budget.

Askham Bryan Play Area Association

This is a community play area which constantly has holes dug by rabbits.  The annual Rospa inspection highlights the need to manage the holes.

Askham Richard Parish Council

The benches are very well used, unfortunately the ‘feet’ need replacing as they are rotting.

Green Energy Committee

The objective of this group is to raise awareness of energy issues. The group is focussing in Askham Bryan, Askham Richard and Copmanthorpe later spreading to the whole ward.   The challenge to households is to reduce their energy consumption.  The group is enthusiastic and passionate about energy conservation.

There is to be a public exhibition in Copmanthorpe in 2012 which will raise awareness about solar heat pumps, recycling, shared transport insulation amongst other issues. The funding is required for the exhibition and information production.  It is also hoped that consumption meters can be funded for residents.

Copmanthorpe Parish Council

Traffic issues continue to be a priority for the Parish Council.  If all the funding is not available the priority is as written, Manor Heath, Temple Avenue then Tadcaster Road.

Poppleton Community Trust

The heating system in the Community Centre is to be zoned to create different ambient temperatures.  The Community Trust will be funding some of the work from their own funds and have successfully reduced their energy consumption by 5%.

Poppleton Youth Action Group

There has been a Youth Club in Poppleton for 30 years, the past 6 years it has been provided through the Youth Action Group.  The main item of expenditure is staffing (£7,000 annually).  Funding has been received previously and is vital to the smotth running of the club.

Poppleton Community Railway Nursery

The ramps are needed to make sure the service is equitable for all.  They are a necessary access to the toilets and office.

Copmanthorpe Women’s Institute

The Women’s Institute are responsible for managing the WI hall which was built in 1929.  It is hired for community use and has two toilets one of them dating to 1929!  It is in need of refurbishment to attract more hirers and bring hte hall up to date.

Copmanthorpe Youth Club

This has been on site since 1929 although it was refurbished in 1996.  The youth club have not applied for ward funding previously and are competing with other community groups for funding.

Rachel Stewart will explain more about the Love Where You Live campaign.

Rachel Stewart, Street Environment Officer explained a new project which has recently been launched.

Love Where You Live (LWYL) was launched on September 19^th and is a three year national campaign.

City of York Council Street Environment Service are inviting employers, organisations, voluntary groups and individuals across the city to help mark the launch and kicked off what is hoped to be the biggest, longest environmental campaign in York.

LWYL is run by the Keep Britain Tidy group, recognising that it takes time to change the way people think and act, the campaign will run for three years allowing time to encourage as many people as possible to join them – and City of York Council - along the way.

The Street Environment team of eight officers visited every ward in York to carry out litter picks and cleaning to help promote and share the event with local residents and find out why they love York.

As part of Love Where You Live we are wanting local people to be inspired to ‘adopt’ an area that they care about and take action to keep it looking clean and tidy, whenever they can. 

It will be up to you as to how much they want to get involved – if you would like to become a street buddy, we can provide you with equipment such as litter pickers and/or paint for keeping utility boxes free from graffiti, provide training and we will keep in touch with you

If anyone would like more information or has a comment/issue to raise regarding environmental issues please contact Rachel on rachel.stewart@york.gov.uk

The following questions were raised:

Q.      Lorries carrying paper do not always have the paper tied down, paper was flying out of a lorry recently

A.      This is a problem and has been noted before, it will be reported.

Q.      Who is responsible for addressing unkempt properties?

A.      If the property is attracting vermin the Street Environment Officer can deal with it.

Q.      The litter bin which is to be re-sited and requested several weeks ago has not been moved yet.

A.      The cost implication of moving the bin has not yet been determined.  The funding will need to be found before the bin can be moved.

Community Payback

Community Payback undertake a large amount of work in York.  They spruce up areas by litter picking and getting rid of weeds and graffiti. They can’t always undertake work immediately but do an excellent piece of work. If an area is identified as needing some work please contact Rachel Stewart.

Your chance to ask questions about local issues and concerns not covered by the agenda.

It was noted that:

·         The consultation on the Local Delivery Framework finishes on 1^st November.  After this it will go the Government Inspector for decision and will form the basis for the next 20 years.  Residents were encouraged to input into the consultation process.

·         There is a possibility that evening busses may be reduced, in particularly in Copmanthorpe  and Poppleton, if the service is not economically viable.

·         Associated British Foods have proposed that  Millfield Lane may be an appropriate access route for the majority of the traffic.

There will be a consultation period with a meeting for residents of Knapton, Upper and Nether Poppleton.  There is also a Forum to be set up which will include residents from Acomb as well as the appropriate villages.