Agenda and minutes

The drop-in surgery gives residents the opportunity to talk to councillors, council officers, the safer neighbourhood team and visiting speakers informally.

1.1    Residents had the opportunity to talk to Cllr. Linsay   Cunningham-Cross, Cllr. Neil McIlveen, Cllr. Joe Watt, Kristina Davey from Neighbourhood Management Unit, PCSO Danny Stannard, Michelle Watling from Street Environment Team, Vicky Harland from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Graham Titchener from Intelligent Travel York.

Officers from your local Safer Neighbourhood Team will give an update on the work they’ve been doing in the ward and take your questions.

2.1    PCSO Danny Stannard reported a sharp rise in thefts from vehicles. He advised that the best way to avoid is to remove all items from the car, especially those that can be seen.

2.2    How to avoid burglary advice leaflet was presented to the meeting.

2.3    Operations Secure and Image  are currently taking place in the area. Under OP Secure residents are asked to provide information that could help to root out criminals. Cycle safety Operation Image is there to promote use of bike lights and general cycle safety amongst children and adults.

Residents were given opportunity to raise questions.

Q       It should be illegal not to have a cycle bell.

A       It is not enforceable, however all new and recycled bikes now have to have a bell.

Q       Do cyclists have right of way on cycle paths?

A       Yes, but due to human nature pedestrians tend to use it, so please be careful.

Q       An instance of bikes being sold last year without bells was highlighted.

A       Graham Kitchener will investigate and approach the retailer.

At this point the minutes from October meeting were agreed.

Vicky Harland from Yorkshire Wildlife Trust will share about their lottery funded ‘Dig In!’ community gardening project, and the work they are doing in Rawcliffe Country Park.

3.1    The Dig-In project is about creating community food growing spaces which are not allotments.  The project will introduce a new way of working with children and communities to enhance the wildlife.

3.2    10 sites will be created over the next 3 years in partnership with City of York Council Parks and Open Spaces. Currently we are looking at Brailsford Crescent site in this ward.

3.3    Events will be held to build community cohesion. Weekly clubs and visits to local forums will be taking place to build up the capacity and enable residents to take ownership of the sites. Residents will be offered training opportunities on vegetable growing.

3.4    The lottery fund was granted to create food growing spaces and offer training opportunities to residents.

3.5    12 people attended the initial consultation event and 4 families booked on to first gathering on 11^th February.

3.6    Residents were referred to a leaflet that could provide information and contact details for those interested in getting involved.

The LSTF is a £4.6m pot of money awarded to City of York Council to improve sustainable transport in the city, and particularly the northern quadrant, over the next four years. Graham Titchener will be present to explain it in more detail.

4.1    Graham Titchener, spoke about Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF). The LSTF will focus on more than just cycling and allow individuals to choose how to plan their journey in a more sustainable way (i-plan, i-walk, i-cycle, i-bus, i-share).

          The LSTF will focus on all methods of travel in the Northern Quadrant of the city.

We hope to learn from this project, so that this intelligence can be used in the future in other areas, when other funds become available.

The Northern Quadrant has a good mixture of residential and business estates. The hospital and part of the city centre are within the boundaries of the Northern Quadrant.

4.2    The project will involve marketing and campaigns to encourage and make it easier to travel more sustainably, improve the local economy and reduce air pollution.

          Real time information applications will be available on the buses, at local schools and businesses to enable good sustainable choices on any particular day. 

          A targeted door knocking exercise will be carried out to promote personalised travel and help residents make sustainable choices.

          All residents, elected members and businesses will have to work together to make improvements.

4.3    The next step is to allocate funds to organisations that are able to deliver projects that fit within overall plan.

·        We have approached managers of Tesco’s and Dunelm and hope to work with them.

·        Clifton Backies Management Board was approached in relation to improvements to walking and cycling routes across the area.

4.4    More information about the project can be found on the City of York Council website http://www.york.gov.uk/transport/lstf/

Residents were given opportunity to raise questions.

Q       Residents raised concerns regarding the bus services running in the ward. The main concerns are that the current service is only hourly and does not run in the evenings. The Park & Ride service does not operate on new year’s day. The routes that receive subsidies appear to target shopping areas but not other, more mundane activities that residents need to carry out.

A       LSTF funding will not fund bus services, it costs a lot to subsidise.

A       Cllr. Merrett and ward councillors are putting a pressure on bus companies to improve their services to residents.

Q       Buses are a long standing issues and residents views don’t seem to be heard. Who is responsible for the Quality Bus Partnership?

A       Andrew Bradley, Principal Transport Planner is the responsible officer.

Q       Is there a consultation coming? If so, Parish Councils should be consulted as well as ward councillors.

A       Neighbourhood Management Unit have mechanisms to ensure this happens.

Q       Could that funding be used to improve gaps in cycle routes between Poppleton and Rawcliffe?

A       Cllr. Merrett is looking at how to address gaps. Some resurfacing improvements are taking place at Wetherby Road.

Q       Have any recommendations from the Fairness Commission report been used to target resources to enable all residents to access the arts etc.?

A       All service deliverers are making hard decisions on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The ward committee will provide an update on its budgets for 2011-12.

5.1    Kristina Davey provided an update on the current year local improvement schemes progress.

5.2    Cllr. Cunningham-Cross read out proposed schemes in order accordingly with the outcome of the ballot consultation.

The following questions were raised.

Q       City of York Council are encouraging people to run street parties, but not helping to fund any.

A       In the past Ward Committees were able to help funding street parties, but due to the expected budget savings that may not be possible anymore.

The Skelton Parish Council street party scheme suggestion was raised. Cllr. Watt declared his interest, as deputy chair of Skelton Parish Council and stated that he would advocate supporting this scheme.

Q       I think that only those schemes that benefit the ward should be funded.

A       Kristina Davey indicated that the criteria for funding schemes stipulate that only schemes that benefit the ward can be funded.

Q       How will elected members respond to the Fairness Commission recommendations to cut ward budgets?

A       We have to await the outcome of the cabinet meeting.

Your chance to raise any issues not covered in the agenda.

Residents were given opportunity to ask questions.

Q       Light columns were recently removed from the area around the lake. Can the Ward Committee ensure this will be rectified?

A       The cabinet member is looking to secure the funding for that.

          Cllr. Watt declared that he will convey this matter to the cabinet member.

Q       Light columns were removed from Oaklands Walk and other areas across the city as well.

A       Light columns that were removed were identified as unsafe.

Q       In future are planning applications going to be sent to Parish Councils electronically?

A       This is going to happen. The Planning Department want to assist Parish Councils to help them get the equipment they need in order to look at the applications electronically.

Cllr Cunningham-Cross, Chair

[The meeting started at 7.00pm and finished at 9.05pm].