Agenda item

To question the Leader and/or Executive Members in respect of any matter within their portfolio responsibility, in accordance with Standing Order B8.

Members were invited to question the Leader or Executive Members. Questions were received from the floor from the following Members, and replied to as indicated:

Questions to Cllr Douglas, Leader of the Council

From Cllr Widdowson: The Labour government has announced plans for a 15% head-count cut in civil service jobs. Can you explainwhether you believe this will support plans to locate a government hub on the York Central site which will help to create the high-skill, high-wage jobs that we all want to see in York? York Central is predicated on civil service jobs going there; what is your plan for ensuring we get those high-skill, high-wage jobs from the government onto York Central?

Response: I will tell you what I can and then perhaps Cllr Kilbane can answer some of it as the jobs aspect is his role too. We’re in constant conversation with the Government Property Agency with that tenancy on York Central, it is very much still a high priority. The developers, Homes England, Network Rail, the partnership are still working on that, so we’re expecting to get an update as the comprehensive spending review decisions are made, but at this point in time we’re still feeling very optimistic, and it will be great to see such an instrumental and impressive building over there. York Central is not predicated totally on government jobs, there’s a great deal of opportunity there around other forms of work; we’re looking at the innovation hub, which is really exciting, to bring scientific lab space in there and growth hub space for new and growing businesses, which is really important for our city, because there’s an absolute dearth of that availability. As you might imagine, the interest in the buildings on York Central is really high; we’ve just had the closing of the procurement for the hotel space there and the interest to take that up was really quite impressive, so to be quite honest we are very optimistic about what opportunities York Central can continue to bring into the city, and I’m no sure that we fully understand exactly what that will look like yet given that it is a long-term project. So, a huge opportunity, we’re open for business and are encouraging inward investment. Cllr Kilbane would you like to add anything?

Cllr Kilbane: Only if Cllr Widdowson wants me to because the question was to the Leader?

Cllr Widdowson: Thank you for the offer, but no.

Questions to Cllr Kent, Executive Member for Environment and Climate Change

From Cllr Widdowson: I was puzzled by the mention in your report of the number of missed waste collections having gone down, as the EPAT Scrutiny scoresheet presented this week suggested the opposite is true, with the direction of travel being red for both the number of missed collections and the number meeting criteria for recollection per 100,000 collections. Is the Executive Member correct, or is the scrutiny scorecard correct?

Response: Based on the information I had when the report was written, there were fewer reports of missed waste collections. I think there’s some digging behind the scenes to be done because whilst the same crews are collecting from all properties the green waste is also included in that so there is probably a higher propensity to report if you pay for something, and those figures are not separated out, but the crews are not reporting any increase in missed waste. The number of reports may be going up but I will delve into those figures and give you a written response.

Supplementary from Cllr Widdowson: Your report also mentions that fly-tipping is down, but official statistics from the Council show that the incidence of fly-tipping went from 2,368 cases in 2022-23, to 2,500 in 2023-24, and after eleven months this year is already at 2,675. Are you getting incorrect statistics given to you?

Response: Again, I’m going to delve into those figures and get back to you with a written response, but the figures I was given when I wrote the report suggested that the figures were down.

Questions to Cllr Kilbane, Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Economy and Culture

From Cllr Crawshaw: I’d be interested to know what conversations you’ve had around supporting the cultural sector in the city, thinking not only about the larger cultural organisations but in particular some of the smaller spaces in the city? This is with particular regard to the challenges that those small spaces face, often from somewhat predatory developers who perhaps seek to take them over, close them down and turn them into something that doesn’t speak to the cultural vibrancy of the city.

Response: I could talk on this subject for 35 minutes but will try to keep it a little briefer. Tonight while we sit here, people are assembling in Tempest Anderson Hall for Reignite VIII, a project the Council has been supporting through government UKSPF money. It brings together all the cultural and creative sectors and other businesses in the city, so that all businesses realise what an incredible creative sector we’ve got. The kinds of jobs people do in these sectors don’t require academic qualifications, but can earn around £50,000 a year on average, so we are looking for this sector to offer pathways for our residents, especially those without academic qualifications, into decent jobs, where they can afford to live in York and raise a family here, or whatever it is they want to do. That process has been so successful we are now looking for space in the city that sector can grow into; it’s also brought together all of the cultural institutions, so we are considering setting up a cultural advisory board along the same lines as the Tourism Advisory Board, because that’s been so successful, to bring all those organisations together and help it grow in the city. However, challenges do remain for the smaller venues; we are still in spite of all of our best efforts without a 500-capacity venue that the city so desperately needs, and we continue to explore opportunities for that. We are also still having to work to save our smaller venues – as you may be aware, in our ward we are currently campaigning to try and save the Victoria Vaults as a music venue. It has been a very successful venue over the last few years, a lot of up-and-coming bands and student bands played there. Unfortunately, it has been bought and I think the intention is for development rather than reopening, so we will continue to campaign for those venues because they are the lifeblood of culture in the city. I could go on!

Questions to Cllr Lomas, Executive Member for Finance, Performance, Major Projects, Human Rights, Equality, and Inclusion

From Cllr Fenton: Without wanting to pre-empt discussion coming later, in light of the announcements in relation to the government’s plans for long-term sickness benefits and other welfare reforms, can you set out what steps you’ve given initial thinking to in terms of how the Council can respond to the challenges these changes will present?

Response: I share your concern about the broader impact of changes to a system that was already creaking under the weight of demand on it. As you know, as a Council we cannot make direct changes to statutory benefits set at government level, but we can make sure the services we are able to provide directly can support people where other systems might have gaps. We’ve proven our ability to do this in response to the removal of winter fuel allowance from people who were not claiming pension credit; we started a campaign to directly target people who might be eligible for pension credit but were not claiming it, and we have gained over £10 million lifetime support for those people who we directly targeted and supported to claim pension credit which also allowed them to access winter fuel allowance. At the same time we were targeting people who might just miss out on the threshold for pension credit, using our household support funding and our York Financial Assistance Scheme (YFAS), and you’ll all know from sitting here discussing the budget last month that in the coming financial year we have put additional money into YFAS so that we can help those residents in York who need us most.

From Cllr Nelson: I would like to ask about the improvements that I have been very pleased to see on Acomb Front Street. I’m sure every councillor in the room has been to Acomb to look at our new mural, and it’s fantastic that such significant investment is being put into such an important area of our city in what I would call the ‘benches not bollards’ approach. I would like to ask how the UKSPF has played a part in the improvements and the reasons for it being targeted in the way it has been?

Response: We must thank the Lord Mayor for joining us to unveil the mural on Front Street last Saturday, she spoke very eloquently about the importance of place, and the importance of places like Acomb. As Cllr Nelson knows very well, I am very proud of Acomb, proud to be from Acomb, proud to live in Acomb, and proud to represent Acomb. During my almost six years as a councillor, I have done my best to share that pride with all of you; in almost every speech I made to Council as a backbencher I mentioned Acomb. The UKSPF funding was given for promoting pride in place, and that’s why I have just mentioned the word ‘proud’ about seventeen times, because I’m really happy to see so many people sharing that pride now in our space. We have thinned out the bollard forest that so many people found to be unwelcoming, harsh, not conducive to a shopping space where people wanted to linger. The improvements that we’ve made, thinning out that forest and replacing it with planters, green stuff, and benches, with some genuinely community-designed public realm, has really made it a welcoming place that people want to linger. They want to spend time there, they want to spend money there, they want to meet friends, use services and have fun. The banking hub is now open in its temporary home in the library, ousting local councillors for their surgery to a different room temporarily. I’m delighted to announce that the market provider has just announced a second market per month, Flourish and Feast, on the second Saturday of the month; I know Cllr Nelson knows about that as I spied a quote from her in the press release about it. I’ve always believed that Acomb had the potential to be the place to be for out-of-town shopping, and it’s great that we’re now seeing a bustling shopping high street. I’d like to thank all who contributed to the public engagement over the last year, as well as those who worked on it, including council officers and especially Art of Protest for the work they did, not only to engage the community in designing and delivering the removal, but also to work hard with young people from across Acomb, Westfield and surrounding areas to get involved in art and to truly believe that art is something for them, because we know how important that is in our young people’s futures.

Questions to Cllr Pavlovic, Executive Member for Housing,

Planning and Safer Communities

From Cllr Whitcroft: I’d like to ask about the new funding the government has just announced for affordable housing; £2 billion across the country – what does this mean for York, particularly for our affordable housing drive in replicating the successful work done, such as the Ordnance Lane development in my ward?

Response: York has benefitted from the Affordable Homes Programme in recent years; a number of projects including the James House hostel were delivered via the programme. This is very welcome news; there had been top-up money for the existing programme since Labour took power in July, but this new announcement of £2 billion to deliver up to 18,000 additional social homes is to be welcomed. I’m very much hopeful that York will be able to benefit, as you say we have a number of affordable housing projects, not just those being delivered by ourselves, but also those being delivered by registered providers and other housing associations also entitled to benefit from applying for this funding. In addition to the funding the Mayoral Combined Authority will have for brownfield affordable housing, we’re in a strong position to benefit, but we haven’t been allocated the funding, neither has the MCA, but we will be applying to Homes England for that funding as the projects go along.

Supplementary from Cllr Coles: I was in Chapelfields this morning talking to residents about the work taking place to improve the existing council housing stock, could you update us on the work taking place around improvements to our existing housing, particularly around damp which was an issue raised by a number of residents with me this morning. We had York Community Energy there this morning and they are also working with residents to try and reduce energy bills, but it was the improvements to housing which was the big issue people wanted to talk to us about.

Response: In addition to the housing delivery programme, £12 million is invested this year in capital works, including replacement bathrooms, kitchens, windows and doors, not just in Westfield and Dringhouses. Damp and mould is a really significant issue and since we took power in 2023, we have reduced the number of properties across the city that have damp and mould. Work is ongoing, there will be completion of work in Bell Farm, for example, specifically around damp and mould, and we will continue to focus on that, and as Awaab’s Law has identified, we will respond to notifications of damp and mould quickly and promptly. I’m pleased to hear from your residents that they have noticed the difference.

Questions to Cllr Ravilious, Executive Member for Transport

From Cllr Healey: Please can you explain why no apparent progress has been made in responding to the recommendations of the scrutiny task and finish group on Dial and Ride which was completed nine months ago?

Response: As you’ll know we put some money aside in our budget to start looking at the model we need to develop for a dial and ride service; officers are currently working on appointing consultants to develop that model. We are absolutely committed and realise it is a vital service, but we’re not going to rush into just doing what happened before; there were problems with the last model and we know we know we have to develop a different model. We’re also working with the Mayoral Combined Authority to look at working across boundaries to serve North Yorkshire and York at the same time. We’re committed to doing it, it’s underway, there will be a report coming forward, but we’re not ready to do that yet. We’re not going to rush into it, we’re going to get it right.

Supplementary from Cllr Healey: At Tuesday’s EPAT Scrutiny Committee we were told that the Park and Ride tender was not yet completed or on track due to lack of officer capacity, are you confident that there are enough members of staff in this area to complete the task you’ve just outlined in a reasonable amount of time?

Response: I am confident because officers briefed me this week on dial and ride that they are progressing to appoint a consultant to develop that model for us. So yes, I’m confident, yes, we have got a lack of capacity in some parts of Transport and Highways, but we are managing that; we will move forward with the priorities, and dial and ride is a priority.

From Cllr Mason: I believe that the dualling of the outer ring road is a vital part of our efforts to reduce city centre through-traffic, creating safer, more pleasant areas for cycling, wheeling and walking, and improving public transport reliability. Can you please confirm whether you remain committed to delivering in full the dualling scheme for which planning permission was granted and secured with cross-party support?

Response: Firstly, we are delighted that we now have a Local Plan, but we absolutely recognise that part of that Local Plan is to deliver the upgrades that are necessary for development around the city. We are absolutely committed to doing that, of course we are. At the moment we have consultants assessing the options for how work on the outer ring road can be phased so we can deliver it with the budget that we have. There will be a report coming forward soon to look at how we deliver the outer ring road, but in short, my answer is yes, we are committed to delivering those improvements to support our sustainable travel strategy and to enhance the city for everybody and allow our fantastic city to progress and achieve its full potential.

Supplementary from Cllr Mason: Can you confirm personally that you are committed to the full dualling scheme?

Response: What I said was that I am committed, obviously we can’t commit when we don’t know what the budget is for doing what was approved in the planning permission. What we have to look at is the budget that we have and how we can phase the works to deliver what is necessary to enable those developments first of all, and then bring about the improvements that we all want to see. So yes, I have a commitment, but I can’t possibly commit to something when we don’t know what the budget available is and how much that’s costing. The consultants are currently looking at the costing and how it can be phased.

Supplementary from Cllr Steward: When is your best guess for when spades will first be in the ground?

Response: Again, I can’t answer until I’ve had that report from the consultants – I haven’t seen it yet.

The Lord Mayor sought clarification whether it was the Executive Member’s intention to let Members know when she had received the report.

Response: Yes, as soon as I’ve had that report from the consultants, it will be brought to Executive and made public and we will all be able to scrutinise it and see what the recommendations are.

From Cllr Rose: The report references the public consultation on Park and Ride and we’ve heard about the re-tendering, I wanted to understand what you think we are able to achieve with that, particularly around accessibility?

Response: The Park and Ride is a really great opportunity because when we re-tender wecan think about how we can improve what’s already a fantastic service. I’m delighted to report that this morning I visited the production line at Castleford to look at how the buses are produced and what kind of options we could have to arrange interiors to be as accessible as possible. Our Access Officer came with me and we had a really interesting and productive visit. Our commitment now is to be engaging with the disabled community, to bring them on board to help us understand what kind of layout and features will make buses as accessible as possible, and I think there’s a real opportunity for us in that Park and Ride tender to bring forward a public transport system that is so much more accessible for everybody. There’s something exciting there, and in addition we’re going to be looking at other improvements we can bring about with the tender; we could be looking at cross-city services, better links to villages, evening services and greater integrated transport options with things like overnight parking. There are a lot of good things that will come, and some of that will come in combination with the development of the Park and Ride hubs, which is coming out to consultation soon. I think there’s a really bright future for our buses and a lot of positive things coming forward, which I’m looking forward to sharing with you all soon.                                  

Supplementary from Cllr Rose: Would you be able to confirm/promise that the public consultations will directly engage the disabled communities of York and ensure we’re referring to and talking about those aspects?

Response: I absolutely will confirm that, it’s really important to us to get this right and to make sure it is as accessible as possible in all of our public transport.

Questions to Cllr Steels-Walshaw, Executive Member for Health, Wellbeing and Adult Social Care

From Cllr Ayre: What conversations have you had with colleagues from the Integrated Care Board about the impact of the proposed 50% budget cuts that thy are facing in the third quarter?

Response: Those budget cuts are at the very beginning stages, and I have begun to speak to them, but at the moment there is nothing set in stone about what’s going to happen or what that’s going to look like, or indeed what changes are proposed.

Supplementary from Cllr Ayre: The ICB is entirely back-office, they will lose 50% of all of their staff, basically – what planning are you doing and what implications do you think that will have on our Adult Social Care services, losing that resource from the NHS at such a crucial point?

Response: It’s very early days; we are in conversation with the ICB and with Adult Social Care as to the effect it would have as there is potential for the whole restructure to work in a very different way, but at the moment we do not know what that looks like.

Questions to Cllr Webb, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education

From Cllr B Burton: The Public Health report that is coming to Council tonight highlights a number of challenges facing children, can you set out what we’re doing to respond to these in the city please?

Response: We’ll talk more about that report later; it is great to see a real focus on children but a real shame to see the challenges that children are facing in the country at the moment, and particularly in York. What are we doing, well we’re doing quite a bit actually. Firstly, the York Healthy Schools Award, a project working between York and North Yorkshire Public Health teams. It has three different levels, bronze, silver and gold, and they are very much focused not just on physical health but mental health within schools and indeed to get the higher awards you have to show support for staff wellbeing too, which has a huge impact on children’s wellbeing. So that is one avenue we are looking at, and I really want to thank the staff in schools who have taken the time to do what they can to gain that status, because it is an effort, and it does take time, but is certainly something that is welcome. As well as that, on the York Place Board, York Health and Care Partnership I have consistently advocated for children, and they have put me on the Board now to continue to advocate for children because I think that has been a focus that has probably been missed and I’m really glad that is something we can now move forward on. It’s worth saying that we also have a SEND Employment Forum; supported internships for children and young people with education, health and care plans, working in collaboration with Aviva, York College and the national charity Project Search. Those internships have started and are running this year which is fantastic for young people to access those projects, giving them a sense of achievement, a sense of what it’s like to be in work environments, which is a real positive for them and their families. The health and wellbeing surveys will continue in schools this year so we can continue to identify particular trends in York and then tackle those accordingly; as well as that recently schools have been working through the ADHD-friendly status and a number of schools have been successful in achieving that status, to support children around neurodiversity; we have a long way to go in the school system but I will always applaud any staff taking the time and commitment to supporting those young people, because school is a challenge and I’m sure as we all know has got more challenging, so I really welcome the focus on that. I could carry on but will stop there.

Supplementary from Cllr Ayre: Talking of challenges facing children, given the government’s own calculation says that the spring statement will put 50,000 children into poverty, what calculations have you done of the impact on York? How many children do you think will affected directly in York and put into poverty, and what steps are we taking quickly to be able to support them in future?

Response: A good question which is really nice to see from you. It is quite early stages on what the effects will be on children in York, we have to be clear that the number of children in poverty in this city has risen considerably over time, and if you look for example at figures around pupil premium percentages within schools, they have consistently risen over time. There is an awful lot of work going on already to combat the poverty that’s been created over the last few years, but that’s not to say that these cuts will not have an effect, and we should acknowledge that and prepare for what we can do moving forwards. For my part, I was in conversation with officers today about how we poverty-proof our classrooms, how we poverty-proof schools. There was also a headteachers termly briefing focused on how we poverty-proof schools, and the Council’s role in that is convening those schools from different trusts and from the maintained sector, bringing everyone together to make sure that whatever we do in one school in York we’re doing across all schools in York. There are things we can look at, uniform costs for example, obviously free school meals to look at what we can do to support there. We were an early adopter of supporting auto-enrolment within schools for pupil premium and free school meals, because that has a huge benefit for young people and their families. As well as that we can talk about the transition between primary and secondary school and the costs associated with that, going into specialist lessons for example, digital access – I’ve been working with IT ReUse and am trying to get to a point where we could do a mobile phone drive to get old mobile phones, clean up the technology, and redistribute those to young people who need them. So there are a variety of things that we are working on, a variety of things that we want to push forward, because as you well know, I am absolutely dedicated to doing what we can for young people in poverty in the city.