Agenda and draft minutes

Acomb Ward Committee - Thursday, 14 June 2018 7.30 pm

Venue: Lidgett Grove Methodist Church, Wheatlands Grove, YO26 5NH

Contact: Michal Czekajlo Community Involvement Officer

Items

No.

Item

York Central development and traffic impact approach - York Central Partnership team PDF 16 MB

Additional documents:

York Central traffic modelling slide , item 1. PDF 71 KB

Minutes:

David Warburton from York Central Partnership gave a presentation on the future development of the York Central site and in particular, the assessment methodology for predicting the impact of increased traffic in the Ward.

There had been a six-week exhibition on the project held at the National Railway Museum between March and April this year. A report on the proposed master plan goes to Executive next week when it would hopefully be passed for final approval. This is a huge development and it is planned that it will be a mixture of commercial property and housing. Information on the project is available online http://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=733&MId=10469&Ver=4

In terms of car parking, there were currently around 2000 car parking spaces on the site and it is envisaged that as the development progresses there could be up to 400 more car spaces needed.

The planned numbers of housing and commercial properties and car parking spaces will be fed into a traffic model to identify the impact of traffic in the area. Initial results of the traffic impact produced from the model will be available by mid-July.

He said it was worth noting that these figures represented the development of the project over the next 10,15 and 20 years.

Cllr Barnes noted that the York Central Project would not be happening in isolation and that the British Sugar site was also being developed leading to a cumulative impact on the traffic on Boroughbridge Road. He asked whether it would be possible to think “more ambitiously”, for example Park and Ride.

David replied that in November last year it had been resolved that traffic would be taken off by the link road which would become an alternative route for other traffic as well. Also that the proposals were ambitions in terms of promoting low car use with low levels of provision in car parking standards. He said his understanding was that all these options (other developments) would be fed into the model but that he would seek confirmation that they would be included in the model including the other development.

A resident queried whether people would be able to have a parking space even if the car was only used for leisure purposes. David said that hopefully, yes that would be the case. Cllr Myers thanked him for his presentation.

Local Area Coordination, how to find support in your community - Penny Hutchinson

Minutes:

Penny Hutchinson talked to residents about the Local Area Co-ordinator scheme. She said she had worked as a Local Area Co-ordinator (LAC) for the Westfield Ward and that the Council were now in the process of recruiting a Local Co-ordinator for the Acomb Ward who would work in the same way as the work being carried out in the Westfield Ward.

There were two LAC’s apart from herself who were currently working in two other parts of the city and it was planned that eventually there would be seven areas of the city covered by the scheme.

The purpose of the LAC was to seek early interventions and prevention by working alongside individuals who may be isolated or vulnerable for a number of reasons, and hopefully reduce the demand on formal services such as the NHS, Social Services, Fire and Police. Their aim was to help individuals connect with support that was available in their local communities.

When she started in her role she said she has spent two months going out to see what was available in the Westfield Ward in terms of local resources and activities such as children’s groups, churches, schools and cafes and recognise the wealth of resources within the community.

She had started to take introductions from people such as GPs, schools, police and community groups and also from family members to meet with individuals. She would meet up with them and talk to them about what their life was like at the moment, what was important to them, and what were the challenges they faced to see how their lives could be improved. She gave advice, information and simple sign-posting to services or groups. Alternatively, she was able to work with an individual on a long-term basis to help improve their life.

Cllr Barnes raised the work being carried out on Social Prescribing and whether she worked alongside this team. Penny confirmed that she did network with this and other teams working in Adult Social Care.

Finally, she said that the recruitment of a LAC for the Acomb Ward would be done by August but that the newly appointed LAC would need two months familiarising themselves with the Ward and they would probably be fully functioning in their post by early October.

Ward budget - short presentations from groups awarded with a grant in 2017-18, plus plans for the year 2018-19 PDF 564 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

WARD BUDGET PRESENTATION FROM GROUPS AWARDED GRANTS IN 2017/18

The Island

Nigel Poulton, Mentoring Co-ordinator at the Island explained that they were a mentoring organisation working with vulnerable children. The grants they received helped the young people who were referred to them and the money made a real difference to their lives by improving their confidence and self-esteem.

He provided some examples of the work that had been carried out with a number of young people facing extremely difficult times. Children were usually mentored for a year but did not necessarily end at this point dependent upon need. The Island currently had 50 mentoring relationships and there were another 60 children who were waiting to be mentored. There was a need for more volunteers.

Citizens Advice York (CAY)

Tom Adamski, Outreach Co-ordinator for CAY talked to residents about his work as an outreach co-ordinator. He had been in post for two months and delivered advice to 16 communities across the city. CAY is a totally independent organisation providing impartial and confidential advice. They helped people to resolve issues such as benefits, debt, housing, relationships, employment amongst other issues. CAY also campaigned for changes in the law where legislation is unfair or discriminatory. He said they were very appreciative of the ward funding to help them develop outreach sessions including the ones held at Lidgett Grove every Wednesday morning where people could engage in conversation with people in the Ward and discuss the issues that they were facing, providing advice and helping people resolve issues. They were also working with local groups to build awareness of the sessions and involve local people in the community café.

A resident asked where the funding came from to run CAY. Tom said that as a charity they bid for funding from lots of different sources. In terms of sustainability, funding from local Wards is more about set up costs. We have lots of volunteers who are trained to help people.

Older Citizens Advocacy York

Ruth Potter talked to residents about the work of Older Citizen’s Advocacy (OCAY) in York and about the way the Ward funding had been put to good use.

She said they had received Ward funding in the last financial year. They were an Advocacy organisation working for people 50+ in the City of York. They were committed to providing an advocacy services which is free, independent and confidential and which put people first promoting equality, diversity and human rights.

The organisation had recently been delivering cards though people’s door saying that they would be in the area and had delivered over 1000 leaflets in the past 12 months.

They were currently working with 47 individuals, 7 of which were open cases. They also held 4.00pm teas. They held a regular drop in session at Acomb Library. A person with an issue would be matched to an advocate with the skills to help advice/resolve the issue. They worked on an 1-1 basis. Some issues could be solved quickly whilst ... view the full minutes text for item 3.

Update from Talk Talk about roll out of Ultra Fibre Optic in the area

Minutes:

Paul Crane, Head Of Ultrafast Engagement/Rollout at Talk Talk gave a presentation on the upcoming roll out of Ultrafast Broadband in the area. He said that they were in partnership with City of York Council and they were transforming the broadband coverage in York. People were streaming more and more and broadband speeds needed to keep pace with this. They had started their work on a trial basis to 1300 properties in Rawcliffe to ensure that the service could be provided financially and how many people would take it up. This trial proved to be very successful and it has now been rolled out in Huntingdon, New Earswick, Rawcliffe and Clifton Without, Clifton and The Groves (North).

Since the end of May 2018 20K homes passed and 14K live. There was a further 34K homes where building was in progress. They had received excellent feedback on their product, services and process with 100% uptime since the launch.

He said that they were trying different methods of installing the broadband, as an alternative to digging up verges for example using poles

They put leaflets through doors two weeks before work was due to start and again 48 hours before so that residents would be aware of the work starting. The leaflet explains what they were planning to do and what could be expected when they start working in the area. They also had a shop at York Railway Station.

In July a further 5K homes will be going live in Dringhouses, Woodthorpe and Foxwood. Acomb was currently under construction. Engineering trials will be starting in early July. Talk Talk could be contacted on 0800 542 8073 from 8am to 8pm or ufo-help@talktalkplc.com.

They would be available to speak to residents at Talking Point from 9.30 to 11.30 at Lidgett Grove.

Have your say

Minutes:

A resident raised the issue of the bus gate on Lower Poppleton Lane. The sign says “bus lane in 200 yards” but it is not clear where the bus lane starts. This is causing uncertainty and was there anything that could be done to make this clearer.

Cllr Myers said he would look into this matter.

A resident mentioned that one of the workmen involved in demolishing the old Manor School had said there was going to be a road built?

Cllr Myers said he did not know anything about such a road, but he would ask the question.

A resident raised the issue of anti-social behaviour issues in Sovereign Park and said it had been going on for a long time with no resolution. She felt it needed a multi-agency approach to deal with these issues.

Cllr Myers said he wanted a meeting with Residents Associations, Police and Community Officers. The problem was communication. He said that the latest update was that he had held meetings with Community Officers and Police and had asked whether there could be a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) put in place. He had also looked at CCTV, Dringhouses had this in certain parts of their Ward but it was very expensive. Also, in the play park there should be new signs saying “no alcohol” “no ballgames” and asking people to respect the facility.

The issue of the 9 bin stores was raised.

Cllr Myers said he had asked the Police to look at this issue and make sure they were secure.

Cllr Barnes said there was a need to look at more creative ways to solve the problem as young people have nowhere to go.

The meeting closed at 21.15.