Agenda and minutes

Drop in surgery 6.30pm.

The drop in surgery gives you the opportunity to talk to your Councillors, Street Environment Officer, Safer Neighbourhood Team, Neighbourhood Management Officer or visiting speakers informally. At this meeting there will be information on the A59 Park and Ride bus corridor.

Residents had been sent fliers letting them know that there would be an additional item before the meeting started. There had been many expressions of concern about the recycling and amended bin collection for the ward.

Geoff Derham( Head of Waste and Cleaning Services) and John Goodyear (Assistant Director Support Services) and other members of the team gave an overview of the situation and the changes and the reasoning behind them, including Council Policies and Government directives. There have been trials of different methods in the Groves area.

They said that the new waste and recycling collections had been consulted upon and agreed democratically and would be rolled out across the city. The consultation group included wheelchair users and partially sighted people.

There was strong feelings about this issue which were expressed by several residents. The objections included the possibility of the bags left at the front of the properties causing obstruction, that it may be dangerous if they are set alight by vandals over gas mains, having to take the bags of waste through the house and questions about what to do about garden waste.

The councillors assured residents that they were listening to residents concerns and that they would take the petition to full council.

Geoff Derham told residents that if individuals had particular concerns or problems he would visit them to talk about it and see if anything could be done.

There was a lot of discussion about alleygates in the area and how that would affect the collections.

Geoff Derham explained that the way the economic climate is going the service has to provide a better service for the same budget or the same service for less budget. The service has to be broadly consistent across the city.

He was asked who would be responsible for accidents involving rubbish bags. It was explained that if the bags were put out at appropriate times – after 7pm the evening before collection but before 7am the morning of collection – the council would be responsible. It was also added that any number of bags could be put out (within reason). Also that cleaning crews followed the waste collection.

Welcome and minutes.

The minutes of the previous meeting will be signed and there will be an update on any action points.

Before the meeting there was a silence for Jack Archer who was known to many people in the ward for his tireless voluntary work.

The minutes were agreed and signed.

Unfortunately Gary Limbert was unable to be at the meeting due to car problems. It was decided to ask him to come along to the meeting in July or in October.

Richard White and Stephen Moulds from Communities and Neighbourhoods gave a short presentation about Winter maintenance. They explained about the unprecedented cold spell we had and the problems it caused. He told the meeting that there was a review underway to look at how this would be approached in future and that one of the solutions being considered could be disposable salt bins. They are also looking into having a map on-line showing exactly where the salt bins are.

He also talked about pot-holes, the team have marked 7,000 and repaired 3,500 and extra gangs are working to repair them all as soon as possible. Sometimes the repairs are to make the hole safe and a permanent repair will be done later.

They are investigating how they can deal with cycle paths in the snow to make them useable.

Your opportunity to hear from your Safer Neighbourhood Policing Team and give them feedback about the issues in your neighbourhood.

PC John Bostwick updated the meeting on the crime statistics. For April 2008 to March 2009 there were 1,164 reported crimes. For April 2009 to March 2010 the figure was 775, a reduction of 389. Compared to other wards Holgate is doing very well.

The priorites for the Safer Neighbourhood Team are; Burglaries, Anti-social behaviour and Criminal Damage.

On burglaries the figure has gone down from 151 to 60. Burglary, dewellings has reduced from 117 to 101. There has been issues with burglaries from sheds etc but this is being looked at and there are operations in place to reduce them.

Anti-social behaviour has gone down from 2,543 to 1,857. This included incidents of littering etc as well as Anti-social behaviour. There are ‘hotspots’ which have been identified and visits have been conducted to the parents of children identified as causing anti-social behaviour as well as Acceptable Behaviour Contracts issued.

On criminal damage the number has reduced from282 to 172.

There are operations on-going and a joint action day planned to catch speeding, identify untaxed vehicles etc.

The team has a new Sgt starting in May, Sgt Pickersgill.

A member of a Neighbourhood Watch told the meeting about he benefits of joining a Neighbourhood Watch scheme. PCSO David Hale was also praised for his diligence.

The problem of dog fouling was mentioned. The resident was told that if they call 551551 the mess would be cleaned up. Signs could be put on lampposts and if a persistent offender is identified the police can speak to them without identifying the person who told them.

John Hilton, Chair, will talk about what the York Older People’s Assembly does and how to get involved.

John Hilton explained about the work of the York Older People’s Assembly.  That it was to give older people a voice in York. There was a fact sheet at the back of the venue which people could take away. He also asked residents to fill in a post card giving an example of something to improve the lives of older people in the ward and in the city. Several residents completed a card and gave it to John others took one away to complete and send back later.

Your chance to ask questions about local issues and concerns.

No-one had any issues to raise that hadn’t been covered by the meeting.