Agenda and minutes

At this point Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have in the business on this agenda.

Members were invited to declare at this point in the meeting any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in the business on the agenda.

Cllr Cuthbertson declared a personal non prejudicial interest in Agenda Item 3 (Minute 3 refers) as a governor of Burnholme Community College.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Panel’s remit can do so. Anyone who wishes to register or requires further information is requested to contact the Democracy Officer on the contact details listed at the foot of this agenda. The deadline for registering is Friday, 24 November, at 10:00 am.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak under the Council’s Public Participation scheme.

This report summarises the issues around the new scrutiny review of the Council-owned land in the Tang Hall area and asks Members to agree their programme of work.

Members considered a report which summarised the issues around the new scrutiny review of the Council-owned land and buildings in the Tang Hall area and asked Members to agree their programme of work.

The topic registration form was submitted by Cllrs Kind, Looker and Potter in December 2003 (see Annex A).  It had the objective of making the best use of council owned land around Tang Hall school including allotments, playing field, family centre site and the former garage on 5^th Avenue.  The intention of the review was to involve local people in a scrutiny review to enable them to influence decisions about their neighbourhood. 

Officers from Property Services attended this meeting to update members on progress with the Area Asset Management Plan and inform the process of drawing up a programme of work for this review.

Officers reported that the purpose of this review was to get an idea of what the needs and priorities were for the people of Tang Hall and particularly to assist with the production of an Asset Management Plan for the area. It was highlighted that Tang Hall covered two wards – Heworth and Hull Road. There had been a meeting in June with the ward councillors to consider the core area of Tang Hall which was shown to Members on a map. Members discussed the following points at the meeting:

• That there would be a need to consult outside of this core area based on concentric circles as people might come in to use the facilities in Tang Hall
• That there were a number of holdings scattered across the area and whether any of these could be combined or reused for a different purpose
• That there was an opportunity to build a new library through the Big Lottery Fund
• That if this was going to be a model for future Area AMPs then it would be worth evaluating what economies of scale could be made.

Members discussed options for consultation and whether it could be linked to existing consultation. Officers reported that information was being collected across York through the Healthy City Board, which was focusing on Tang Hall as an area to consult on Healthy Living. It was highlighted that it could be useful to link up with other consultations so that people weren’t being inundated with different consultations. Members initially suggested a three prong approach:-

1. Simple questionnaire in the area
2. Information posted in significant areas such as schools, libraries,  community centres, and also take to ward committees
3. Drop in session for members of the public to come and talk to committee members

In addition it was agreed that talking to community groups, such as Ward Committee groups, Parish Councils, and ward forums, could be very useful. However it was noted that there was a need to get beyond these and market to those people that did not attend these groups. It was suggested that there were a number of issues coming up, including the integrated children’s centre, the bid  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.