Agenda and minutes

At this point, Members are asked to declare:

·        any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        any prejudicial interests or

·        any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on this agenda

Members were asked to declare, at this point in the meeting, any personal interest not included on the Register of Interests or any prejudicial or discloseable pecuniary interests that he might have in respect of the business on the agenda. Cllr Lomas advised that she held a blue badge and that she had spoken on access to the city centre on behalf of people with disabilities. The FSB Regional Chair noted that as well as being on the FSB he ran a courier company. The Chair declared a personal non prejudicial interest as his mother sat on the steering group of the York Human Rights City Network and the steering group of the York Disability Rights Forum.  She was also a member of the Human Rights Equalities Board. There were no further declarations of interest.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered to speak can do so.  Please note that our registration deadlines have changed to 2 working days before the meeting, in order to facilitate the management of public participation at our meetings. The deadline for registering is 5.00pm on Thursday 21 October 2021.  Members of the public can speak on agenda items or matters within the remit of the committee.

To register to speak please visit www.york.gov.uk/AttendCouncilMeetings to fill out an online registration form. If you have any questions about the registration form or the meeting please contact the Democracy Officer for the meeting whose details can be found at the foot of the agenda.

Webcasting of Public Meetings

Please note that, subject to available resources, this public meeting will be webcast including any registered public speakers who have given their permission. The public meeting can be viewed on demand at www.york.gov.uk/webcasts.

During coronavirus, we've made some changes to how we're running council meetings. See our coronavirus updates (www.york.gov.uk/COVIDDemocracy) for more information on meetings and decisions.

It was reports that there were no registered speakers under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Committee Members are asked to specifically consider the recommendations in their area of expertise to Executive.

At their meeting on November 18 2021, the Executive were to consider a number of reports covering the future vision of the city centre and ongoing accessibility and regulation of vehicles for the city centre. In relation to this, Members considered a report that informed them of:

·          The Council’s emergency response to Covid

·          The Council’s Equality Duties

·          The context of the four reports that Executive are going to consider,

·          The structure of the work and consultations undertaken to date

·          Emerging recommendations

·          Emerging content of reports

·          The latest context as to the city centre recovery

·          The work undertaken to review Hostile Vehicle Mitigation measures

The Head of Regeneration Programmes gave a presentation on the four decisions in relation to City Centre, Vision, Accessibility and Traffic Regulation that were to be made by the Executive on 18 November. The Chair thanked him for the presentation and invited external attendees to give an overview of their organisations.  The Executive Director York (BID), Chief Executive Officer York Civic Trust, and FSB Regional Chair explained the role and work of their organisations. Members were then invited to ask questions of officers and external participants, who responded as follows:

·        The Head of Regeneration Programmes noted that there was a mixture of businesses, cafes and restaurants in the city centre doing food deliveries. The Executive Director York BID noted that the picture was complicated and depended on the future of businesses as some independent retailers may look at online retail and deliveries versus the costs of running city centre premises. The FSB Regional Chair suggested that regarding the food hubs, it was only large national businesses that would be able to afford electric vehicles and not small independent businesses. A member noted that moving food hubs to more residential areas in Wards may create different problems.

·        The Head of Regeneration Programmes was asked if York Couriers Union had been approached during consultation and the Head of Regeneration Programmes noted that there had been a number of workshops with couriers.

·        Regarding the competing interests of road users, the Director of Environment, Transport and Planning noted that cyclists could not cycle on foot streets and added that cyclists could not be licenced in the way that vehicles were. The Corporate Director of Place noted the challenge around making the city centre accessible for all. A member noted that cycles were the chosen mode of transport for some people for mobility reasons.

·        The Executive Director York BID noted that York BID had spoken to delivery companies and one company had reported that 60% of their deliveries were made by car. He suggested that the council approach delivery companies to make an informed discussion on delivery modes.

·        A member noted that a number of blue badge holders were unhappy with the 8pm foot streets extension and he noted the debate around the early evening economy in the city centre/

[Cllr K Taylor left the meeting at 6.32pm]

·        The Corporate Director of Place reported that York was moving towards an early evening  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.