Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting will be agreed and signed.

Cllr Douglas welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked them to sign in on the attendance form and to complete the evaluation form to help the Neighbourhood Management Unit improve the performance and accessibility of ward committee meetings.

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed and signed.

The team will give an update on their recent activities and the results of the survey about their priorities.

Sgt Martin Metcalf introduced the team and explained that they were attending on a rest day. He told the meeting about what the team had been doing. An arsonist who committed 28 offences has been arrested. There had been some robberies on Burton Stone Lane but 2 people have been arrested. One is in prison and one on bail. They are aware that the allotments are suffering from crime at the moment and the team is looking into ways of solving this. The team have acted on 27 drugs warrants with a lot of success. Over a period of a few days the team issued 115 tickets to cyclists without lights and on the pavement. Burglary of homes is down 37.27%. Anti-social behaviour is dowon on previous years. The team is still working to reduce it and covert cameras have been set up in hot-spots.

To reduce cycle theft the team is security tagging and recording serial numbers of bikes in the area for free. The next event is on 3^rd February at the Kingswater Centre.

The ward team will hold interactive ‘workshop’ sessions to get your views on how to improve the area you live in.

The workshop sessions looked at encouraging more people to come to meetings, reaching more people, the ward newsletter and the budgets. The workshops were of small groups of people to give everyone the chance to speak and to feel easier about speaking. Each group was lively and animated and several of the themes that came out were common between several of the groups.

To encourage more people to come to ward committee meetings the workshops came up with several suggestions;

·          Meetings should be more interesting and include drinks, be less formal and definitely need the Police to be there.

·          Electronic communication to advise meetings taking place such as text alerts, emails, posters up.

·          There could be tea and coffee at all meetings.

·          What about Saturday meetings.

·          Meetings held in the day time instead of the evening.

·          Use the notice boards more to advice of meetings and other events.

·          Demonstrate to residents that it will make a difference.

·          Emphasise ‘people power’.

·          Use a different name ‘ward’ and ‘committee’ sound too clinical.

·          Have a ‘Dragon’s Den’ initiative for the young people of Clifton to get funds to provide things for them.

To reach more people

·          Create a mailing list to send information about meetings (and e-mail list).

·          Use networking with local groups.

·          Advertise on Radio York.

·          Get schools involved.

·          Use a different name ‘ward’ and ‘committee’ sound too clinical.

·          Encourage those that do come to bring more people with them.

·          Put notices in local shops.

·          Invite shop keepers to talk about crime as it affects them with Police, hoteliers to visit and state community impacts.  Invite football team to come and talk about what they are doing and their plans.  Brighten up the news letter with some colour.

On the Your Ward newsletters;

·          On Newsletter/minutes a map of the locations of meetings.

·          Use a one page reply paid handout to all households.

·          Make decisions more clear.

·          The front page should look more like a tabloid – a large story on the front with a picture.

·          Short stories – articles on what people can do, how they can get involved.

This meeting is where the decision is made on how the budget for 2010-11 will be allocated. If you have any comments this is your chance to let the ward committee know.

Everyone was happy to support the proposed list (which was ratified at the meeting) with the exception of;

“CL-10-05 – Investigate the feasibility of a roundabout at the junction of Crichton Ave and Burton Stone Lane” there were reservations about whether this would be needed after the alteration in the area but it did still get overall support.

“CL-10-14 – A fund for Young People’s Service to pay for computer equipment to increase computer access for young people in the ward.” Residents felt that there should be more information supplied. They wanted to make sure that it would benefit the young people in the ward and not be taken somewhere else.

Your chance to ask questions about local issues and concerns.

·          Guy Fowler to scatter salt in icy conditions, council to dump salt in streets so people can help themselves, more salt bins and skips.

·          Bede Ave wants a gate at the footpath as it leads to BSL to prevent anti social behaviour and needles etc.  Residents fund???

·          Very unhappy about the different levels of service for collection of waste i.e. recycling difference and green bin option not available as widely as required.

·          Why not have one number to call when the weather is bad – we need a specialist response team to give help and assistance.

·          Compliment the Safer Neighbourhood Team for their results and their good liaison with young people in the area.

·          Is there a way of looking at the payment for parking permits without an increase in cost.

A question was asked about Westminster Road, Cllr Scott gave a précis of what was happening – The executive of the Council had decided not to close off part of the street. However in April the scheme (including the new cycle layout on Clifton Green) would be reviewed and that would offer another opportunity to press for road closure.

People were asked to complete the evaluation and equality forms to help the Neighbourhood Management Unit to reach more people, to provide a more effective service and to make sure that the Your Ward and ward committee meetings were appropriate for everyone in the community.