Agenda and minutes

An opportunity to talk to ward councillors; members of the Neighbourhood Management Unit; The Safer Neighbourhoods Team; Street Environment Officer Clair Bailey-Lane; Rachel Buxton, Waste Strategy Officer; and representatives from the Citizens’ Advice Bureau, York in Transition, York LINk, York Credit Union, The Energy Savings Trust Advice Centre, York Library Services.

  There will also be an opportunity for residents to put forward suggestions for the Sustainable Communities Act.

There was a chance for residents to speak to the ward councillors; Zoe Burns, Oliver Collins and Richard Stratford from the Neighbourhood Management Unit; Sgt Andy Haigh and PC Jo Brooke from the ward’s Safer Neighbourhoods Policing team; Street Environment Officer Clair Bailey-Lane; Rachel Buxton, Waste Strategy Officer; Annie Thompson from York LINk; and representatives from York Citizens’ Advice Bureau, York Library Services, York Credit Union, and The Energy Savings Trust Advice Centre.  Residents also had a chance to put forward their suggestions for the Sustainable Communities Act.

Before the meeting began, there was also a performance of Compost! The Mini-Musical, performed by Fishergate Brownies.

The minutes from the previous meeting were approved without amendment.

Sgt Andy Haigh from the Heslington/Fulford Safer Neighbourhoods Team gave an update on the policing issues in the ward.

Heslington Ward

• 167 crimes last year, down from 183 the year before
• Assault is down from 11 incidents last year to 5 this year.  The degree of severity in this category can vary quite a lot.
• Auto-crime and burglary are both down.
• Incidents of criminal damage have gone up.  Most occurring at the University.

Q. Is it students who are responsible for these incidents?

A. No, it is generally people going onto campus. Mainly bike theft.

Fulford Ward

• 145 Crimes this year, which is slightly up on last year.
• 87 Crimes in ‘Other’ category.  This includes things like shoplifting. We have encouraged retailers at Macarthur Glen to report incidents which has put up the numbers here.
• Burglaries and assaults are down.
• Auto-crime has risen a little.
• Anti-social behaviour in Fulford is up 23 incidents from last year at 225.  In Heslington, the figure is 83 incidents, down from 98 last year.

• What do these numbers mean?  In Westfield, there are over 2,000 crimes, in Guildhall over 3,000.  By comparison, Heslington and Fulford is a low crime area.

Police Priorities

• 1. Traffic problems are passed on to Traffic management. Don’t believe that anywhere in Heslington or Fulford is currently considered high priority.  But there are forms available at the meeting  to report problem areas, and this may be reconsidered.
• 2. Anti-social behaviour. Trying to get involved with youth services as many cases involve young people.  This problem does increase in summer, so you are encouraged to call us with any incidents.
• 3. Problem cyclists. We have been out three times since March educating the public and issuing tickets where necessary.   We try to use common sense as much as possible.

Police Pledge.

• This lays out our promise to you. Copies are available at the meeting. The SNT will be in the neighbourhood 80% of the time. We will get back to you within 24 hours of receiving your enquiry.

Call for questions

Q. Is dog fouling classed as anti-social behaviour?

• No. Don’t report this to the police. Contact Clair Bailey-Lane (Street Environment Officer).

Q. What are the police doing about the traffic lights at the Heslington Lane/Broadway junction?

• We have been dealing with cyclists so officers have been present, but have not really received any complaints.

Q. Is this a big issue? There are a number of cars abusing the red lights.

• We could spend some time down there. I think that perhaps the problem has eased. Its unlikely that we would ever be able to stop it completely.

Q. When is the CCTV on Main Street and Fulford Road going to be working?

• Have not been told yet.
• Keith Aspden: It will be to monitor traffic rather than security.

Q. Is it operational yet?

• KA: Have not been told. I have e-mailed the Council expressing concerns about the impact on Fulford Conservation area, but I do not know if it is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Prof. Colin Campbell will give a talk about sustainable communities before the Act is introduced.

An introduction to the Sustainable Communities Act was given by Zoe Burns and Professor Colin Campbell.

§         ZB: By taking part in this process, you can gain more power for your local community. This is the only act I am aware of that is driven from the bottom-up.  It recognises that the local community knows best how to manage its own area. 

§         The Act takes into account economic, social and environmental factors.  We are asking you to come up with ideas.  Parish Councils can’t use this, only local authorities. There are several possible uses.

§         We have tried to publicise this process as much as possible, tried to get as many people involved as possible.

§         The process: we are not expecting you to be experts on this.  Members have a better idea, officers will be able to give advice. We will be setting up a representative citizens’ panel, including those who are not normally represented. We will be consulting also with the Local Strategic Partnership.

§         We are required to reach agreement. Then proposals will go to the LGA. The LGA was chosen by Westminster as ‘Selector.’ It is expected that they will receive a large number of suggestions.

§         The LGA will then produce a shortlist which will be submitted to the Secretary of State to decide whether or not to give new powers.

§         There are two criteria for a valid proposal.  1. That the proposal must be something which only central government can currently do. 2. That it must promote the sustainability of the local area.

§         I’m sorry that there is little time left for you to get your suggestions in. The deadline is very tight.

§           Information is available online, and there is an online form to submit your applications.  Forms and pamphlets are also available at this meeting. 

§         CC: I would like to endorse Zoe’s points on the Act. It is not like most legislation which comes up through the Cabinet.  This is driven through us, through local residents.

§           This therefore reverses the process of centralisation that successive governments have pursued over the last 40 years.  We live in an overly centralised state. This could begin the fight back. 

§         What are we trying to achieve? There are a number of different objectives, which you can see on the slide:

§         We are endangering the world for ourselves and our grandchildren.  If you go back decades, we were closer to this ideal.  In our local community we had numerous local services and shops that we just don’t have anymore.  This process hasn’t stopped. We could still lose pubs, school, etc. We have to use a car for most things now.  Our community is threatened.

§          ‘Sustainable Communities’ as a name has a great deal of ambiguity.  It means environmental sustainability, but also means maintaining the community:  We are a group of people with a shared experience. Fulfordians. If facilities are taken away, where does the community go? This act could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Find out about future plans for York’s libraries

Fiona William from York Libararies gave a presentation outling developments at York Central Library.

• There are 14 libraries in York, as well as a mobile library and home library service. The Explore development at the Central Library will be the third Library Learning Centre in York, following Acomb and Earswick.
• The services offered by the libraries include: IT training sessions, research into family history and display facilities for community groups.
• York libraries are visited by 80,000 people every month; 2,500 people took part in the Big City Read; 1 in 5 children took part in the 2008 Summer Reading Challenge; 14,400 joined the library last year; they lend over 1 million books a year. 
• Hope to entice big name authors by creating space for a large audience.
• The audience were shown an outline of what the central library development would look like.
• The work should be complete by Christmas.

Call for questions.

Q. Will books be available in electronic format?

Yes, audiobooks also.  More formats will be provided. No late fees either. Electronic copies will simply disappear after allocated time.

Q. Do you deliver to old people’s homes?

Yes, but the service needs more publicity.

Q. Will the library be open all the time?

We are looking at opening hours.  Currently dreadful.  Every library should be open at least 30 hours.  We are hoping to increase hours by using electronic checkout.

Q. How does York compare with elsewhere?

Poorly funded, but it is improving.  There is a real appetite in York. We can now compete better because of our excellent staff.

Q. Are libraries open on a Sunday across the country?

Yes, it is fairly common.

KA: We should promote this more.

A chance  for residents to put any comments or questions to the councillors

No questions from residents.