Agenda and minutes

Come and talk to:

§         Cllr Jenny Brooks

§         Cllr Nigel Ayre

§         Cllr Jonathan Morley

§         Ginnie Shaw, Neighbourhood Management Officer

§         Angus Young, Street Environment Officer

§         the Safer Neighbourhoods Policing Team

1.1       Local residents had the opportunity to speak to Cllrs. Jenny Brooks, Nigel Ayre and Jonathan Morley, Ben Hyde (Street Environment), PC Danny Barrow and PCSO Kirsty Gillon (Safer Neighbourhoods Team), Ginnie Shaw, Zoe Burns and Toby Knight (Neighbourhood Management Unit).

2.1             Cllr. Jenny Brooks welcomed residents to the meeting.

2.2             Residents were invited to raise any issues with the previous meeting’s minutes before they were approved:

a)                 Referring to item 6.a from the minutes. How much money has been allocated to repairing the stray?

a.      It will cost about £900.

2.3       The minutes were approved and signed.

Russ Broadbent from the Council’s Parking Services will be speaking on the problems with parking in the villages.

3.1       Due to the adverse weather conditions, guest speaker Russ Broadbent was unable to attend the meeting. Cllr. Brooks invited residents to raise any parking related issues they had, which would then be fed back to Russ.

3.2       The following issues were raised:

a)                 There is a problem with parking on verges in York. Is it possible to launch a city-wide campaign to tackle the issue?

a.      Russ Broadbent could be invited to next Ward Committee Meeting, or a ward liaison meeting to discuss the issue.

b)                 There is far too much parking allowed in Dunnington. Crossing from Petercroft Lane into York Street is made very dangerous due to limited visibility; could double yellow lines solve the problem? Also, parking on Church Street prevents buses from passing each other.

a.      Some houses on Church Street do not have off-road parking. A lot of people are happy with the parking situation there as it slows traffic. Parking within 15 metres of the Petercroft junction is illegal. Will discuss possibility of double yellow lines with parish council.

c)                 Parking near bus stops prevents cars from getting past.

a.      This is not always the case. It is only an issue if the cars park untidily.

d)                 People have been taking the issue of parking on verges into their own hands by placing large stones or other obstacles on the verges. What does the Council then do when it comes to cutting these verges?

a.      Unsure. Will look into the matter.

An opportunity for you to tell us what you think, before the final decisions are made at this meeting on how to spend the 2009/10 ward committee budget.

4.1             All the supported schemes for the 09/10 financial year were briefly talked through, with residents also being provided with copies of these schemes as they appeared in the Your Ward newsletter.

4.2             Cllr. Ayre explained the situation with scheme 09-29. York Credit Union Partnership have withdrawn scheme due to their belief that the funding offered was insufficient to provide a reasonable level of service. Cllr. Ayre is trying to resolve the situation.

4.3             Cllr. Morley explained that there was insufficient funding to pay for all the desired schemes. The least popular scheme was 09-09 – street lighting on Church Road which will be dropped. The £1,800 underspend resulting from this he proposes to place in a community chest which could be used to fund schemes such as 09-28 – Street Sport, 09-33 – Mobile play schemes or 09-29 – York Credit Union Partnership.

4.4             Residents had the following questions:

a)     Regarding 09-30. What does Older Citizens Advocacy York do?

a.      Cllr. Brooks explained the outreach program of OCAY. It was the only available scheme specifically for older citizens, and the ward committee was mindful that in previous years there had been complaints that there were plenty of schemes targeting younger people, but none targeting older people. There was no pressure to support it, but the scheme did receive a lot of votes.

b)     A concern is raised over the York Credit Union Partnership. Had heard that loans were offered with interest rates of almost 30%.

a.      This is not true – interest rates are very low.

c)      How does the balance of funding work between the three wards? Is it pro rata?

a.      Yes it is. Councillors have a breakdown of scheme votes by individual ward as well to help them decide what to fund.

d)     It would be helpful to put the expected available funds for each ward in the ballot to encourage people to be more specific with their voting.

a.      Agreed. This is something that will be looked into for the next round of voting.

e)     Does the committee not actually have its budget yet? Why is it making decisions without knowing the full amount available?

a.      The decisions have been made on a list of provisional schemes. These will not be finalised until the budget is known. It was explained that the full council budget is not known until February 26^th. If voting and decisions were held off until the next ward committee meeting it would be very hard to complete schemes within the financial year.

4.5       The provisional schemes list was publicly ratified.

Your opportunity to discuss concerns on local issues within the ward.

5.1             Cllr. Brooks asked residents to be on the look out for suspicious people and vehicles in the area. There have been 6 break-ins in Dunnington recently, when there were only 7 recorded in the whole of 2008. Some have been during the day.

5.2       Cllr. Morley announced that there was likely to be an underspend in the ward committee budget for the Osbaldwick area. In consultation with Osbaldwick parish council, he would look at funding scheme DHO-09-09, Improved street lighting on Church Street, with this money.

5.3            Residents made the following comments:

a)     There is a lot of money supposedly available to improve cycling conditions in the city, however no development has been seen in Dunnington yet.

a.      Cllr. Brooks responded that she had asked for a track down York Road, but was told that a lot of the money had already been earmarked for other things. It is suggested that somebody from the Council could attend the next meeting to speak on cycling issues.

b)     There is a safety issue with children cycling across the road at the top of Eastfield Lane. They struggle to get across the road fast enough when there are gaps in the traffic.

c)      Would like to see a zebra crossing for cycles in the area. Surely these can be provided at relatively little expense?

a.      They actually cost quite a lot as they would require a flashing light to be installed. Will ask Highways and Road Safety Officer to come up with some solutions to the crossing problems.

d)     Who decides if parking is legal or illegal?

a.      The Government. The Council decide on issues such as double yellow lines.

e)     Jobbing builders will sometimes park their vans on footpaths and leave them there all day.

a.      This is illegal, and should be reported to the police (non-emergency number) if they are going to be there for a long period.

5.4       The meeting is brought to a close.