Agenda and minutes

The drop-in surgery gives you the opportunity to talk to your councillors, street environment officer, safer neighbourhood team, neighbourhood management officer and visiting speakers in an informal setting.

1.1       Residents were able to speak with their ward councillors, Neighbourhood Management Team, Safer Neighbourhood Team, Street Environment Officer, Transport Planning Officers and representatives from the various local improvement schemes featured on the ballot sheet.

Your local police team will give an update on issues in your ward and answer any questions you have.

2.1       The Safer Neighbourhood Team updated residents on police activity and crime statistics in the ward. Crime on the whole is down by 28% and cycle theft is down 30% following targeted efforts by the police. Police have been using drugs warrants to arrest a number of criminals in the last few months and the thieves who had been stealing scrap metal from Terry’s and elsewhere have also been caught.

Residents had the following comments and queries:

Q         Do you monitor traffic speed in the ward?

A         We haven’t in the last few months – there is now a dedicated police van for this purpose. This has freed up the team to do other work.

Q         What can we do about dangerous drivers on Westminster Road?

A         The information will be passed onto colleagues at Traffic Management.

Officers from the council’s Transport Planning department and Transdev will be present to consult and receive feedback on the new 19A/C bus services.

3.1       Andrew Bradley (CYC) and Keith Sykes (Transdev) updated residents on the changes to the new number 19 bus service. There were problems when the original 19A/C was introduced and both parties give their apologies for the inconveniences caused. The revised 19B/L service has proved much more successful with 90% reliability.

Residents had the following comments and queries:

Q         Has money been saved by changing from the 14 & 22 services to the new 19?

A         Yes.

Q         Burton Stone Lane residents now only have a 2 hourly bus service. The demand for the service differs in the morning and afternoon. Rather than have a set frequency, it should vary to meet demand.

A         This information will be passed on to the cabinet member for the meeting on November 3^rd. At least one Clifton Ward councillor will be present to ensure residents’ interests are represented.

The suggested schemes for 2012-13 will be discussed. If you made one of the suggestions on the ballot list, come along to tell people more about it.

4.1       Toby Knight, Neighbourhood Management Officer, gave an update on the progress of local improvement schemes funded from the 2011-2012 ward committee budget.

4.2       Residents were invited to comment on, or speak on behalf of the shortlisted local improvement schemes for 2012-13:

Scheme 2 – A fund for alleygating.

Q         £2,000 won’t buy much.

A         This fund is matched with funds from other partners, such as the Safer York Partnership.

Scheme 5 – A grant to Safe And Sound Homes.

Q         Are they asking each ward for funding?

A         Yes.

Scheme 11 – A grant to YSJ Student Union for the community Freecycle event. Funds are for van hire and publicity.

Q         Do they collect throughout the city?

A         In 3 of the city’s wards. This year, they hope to work with University of York.

Q         How do residents find out?

A         Big yellow bags with notes will be delivered. It will be published through community groups, the Your Ward newsletter and possibly the radio.

Scheme 10 – A fund to continue the green waste collection.

Q         At present there are only 5 collections a year. The bags only have a 10 day lifespan. However, residents who have to have ward-funded collections pay the same rates as those who get standard collections.

A         Speak with Toby Knight regarding changes to this scheme. CYC is continuing to roll out its green waste collections across the city.

Scheme 17 – A grant to York Older People’s Assembly. To organise and publicise services locally, such as ‘sloppy slippers’ and toenail cutting.

Scheme 25 – A grant to Age Concern York for their toenail cutting service. Money is to set up sessions in the ward or even do home visits.

Scheme 26 – A grant to Bootham & Clifton Out and About. This is for coach outings, which have proved very popular with residents.

Scheme 15 – A grant to Clifton Partnership. It has organised activities such as the summer fun day, a Halloween event and the cookery contest at the food festival. It will also host a sporting event to tie-in with the Olympics. Many partners are involved.

Scheme 24 – A grant to Street Sport York. It runs climbing tower, skate park and multi-sport sessions in the ward. Average attendance in the ward is 31 young people.

Q         Is the gender balance analysed?

A         Yes. It varies between wards. Most are about 50:50, but some are a 70:30 female/male ratio. Only one ward is mostly boys.

Scheme 20 – A grant to YSJ Student Union to support the Community Co-ordinators. Their role is to integrate students into the community. They attend ward committee and residents’ association meetings and work with ward partners. They aim to reduce student-caused problems and make them more of a help in the community.

Q         Does the Student Union match-fund the scheme?

A         It’s not match-funded, but it does provide something.

Scheme 28 – A grant to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau. This is to provide an outreach service  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Guildhall Planning Panel will talk about the work they do and how you can get involved.

5.1       Geoffrey Williams, clerk to the Clifton Planning Panel gave a brief overview of the role of the panel. They look at around 90-100 planning applications a year and feed back to the CYC Planning Team.

Residents had the following questions and comments:

Q         What are the criteria to join?

A         No official criteria. Local knowledge and common sense are helpful.

5.2       The seven nominated planning panel members were elected without contest. They are:

• Geoffrey Williams
• Jackie Fenwick
• Joanna Finley
• Sarah Daniel
• Oliver Balme
• Andrew Batterton
• Peter Smith

Your chance to ask questions about local issues and concerns not covered by the agenda.

6.1       Residents were invited to have their say on issues not covered in the genda.

6.2       On the topic of the proposed reversal of changes to Water End, residents had the following questions and comments:

Q         Reversing the changes will have a negative effect on Westminster Road (WR) and The Avenue (TA). Could ward money be used to fund a point closure on WR?

A         There are 5 proposed options and consultation on these will start soon. A rising bollard on WR would be ideal, but is very expensive. There has been a 60% cut to City Strategy’s budget and ward funding would be required to make this happen. Pending the outcome of the consultation, the ward committee will use its underspend from the current financial year to achieve this.

Q         Will all local residents be consulted on the changes? This didn’t happen with the original consultation.

A         The ward committee will ask for the consultation to be as wide as possible.

Q         Was the original scheme part of Cycling City?

A         It was match funded by Cycling City and CYC.

Q         Where will the money to reverse the scheme come from?

A         Funding was set aside for this as part of the original scheme.

Q         Since the changes, the safety of the junction for cyclist has improved.

A         All views were represented at the meeting with the cabinet member, who listened and then made the decision. Members won’t always agree with all residents on what is best.

Q         Traffic has increased on WR since the changes. Speeds of 63mph have been recorded by the police. How big has the increase in cyclists been?

Q         Changes have increased safety for cyclists. Could the traffic lights be improved? Often they are red when nobody is coming.

A         The lights have been optimised as best as possible.

Q         Has the city’s Cycling Champion been axed?

A         The role is on hold and due to be reviewed.

Q         The scheme should focus on more than just one arm of a four-arm roundabout.

Q         Cyclists rejoining the road will be dangerous.

A         Perhaps, but this happens all over the city. It is the most feasible option.

Q         What criteria is used to judge whether the scheme is a success?

A         Traffic usage, waiting times and other factors.

Q         What progress is being made to develop affordable housing in the area, such as on the Shipton Street and Water Lane sites?

A         Clifton has the most social housing in all of York. The Shipton Street site now has planning to include social housing, however developers cannot be forced to develop. CYC does not own or have the capital for the Water Lane site. Less than 5% of new housing is new builds – old housing is being brought back into use.

6.3       The meeting was closed at 9.15pm