Agenda and minutes

Your chance to meet:

• Cllr Andy D’Agorne
• Cllr Dave Taylor
• Toby Knight, Neighbourhood Management Officer.

And representatives from:

• The Safer Neighbourhoods Policing Team
• Street Environment Services
• The Environmental Protection Unit.

Plus:

• Find out more about the proposed Air Quality Management Area on Main Street, Fulford.

1.1             Residents had the opportunity to speak with cllr Dave Taylor and cllr Andy D’Agorne; PC Elle Smith, PCSO Kathryn Bean and PCSO Laura Smith from the Safer Neighbourhood Policing Team; Kate Bowers and Toby Knight from the Neighbourhood Management Unit; Jackie Armitage and Angus Young from Street Environment Services; Mike Southcombe, Andy Gillah and Elizabeth Bates from the Environmental Protection Unit; Director of Neighbourhood Services, Sally Burns; Ivana Jakubková from St Nicholas Fields; Jonathan Tyler, Independent Facilitator and Roisheen Childs from Older Citizens’ Advocacy York.

1.2             The policing team were giving away free timer switches and energy saving light bulbs to residents as part of the ‘Light Up, Lock Up’ campaign.

2.1             Jonathan Tyler made introductions and welcomed everybody to the meeting.

2.2             The October meeting’s minutes were agreed and signed.

The Safer Neighbourhoods Team for Fishergate will provide an update on police operations within the ward and answer any questions you have.

PC Elle Smith gave an update on the Safer Neighbourhood Team’s activities in Fishergate.

3.1             Current policing priorities for the ward are: anti-social behaviour, graffiti and speeding.

3.2             Anti-social behaviour is being tackled through the Fishergate dispersal zone. ASB figures are down 47% compared to the same period last year. The main hotspots for anti-social behaviour include: Danesgate, Grants Avenue and Wenlock Terrace.

3.3             The Safer Neighbourhood Team is limited in what it can do to affect speeding in the ward. Although there are a couple of officers trained in use of the speed gun, there are no areas in Fishergate where this can legally be used at present.

3.4             There are ’95 Alive’ forms available for residents to report speeding incidents.

3.5             Although graffiti continues to be a policing priority, there have been very few problems reported in the area lately.

3.6             The team will be bringing Operation Spoke to the Danesgate Centre on March 27^th between 10am and 3pm. All are welcome to come along to this cycle tagging event.

The following questions and comments were raised:

Q         Could you explain the ’95 Alive’ form?

A         It is for residents to register complaints about problem areas for speeding. They complete the form and send it to the Traffic Management team. Any given road can only become a target area if enough complaints about speeding on it are received.

Q         Is this why the team are limited in what they can do?

A         Yes. Also, the Traffic Management team is able to do much more than the Safer Neighbourhood Team.

Q         Is there a similar form to report people cycling on pavements?

A         The team tackle this daily, but there is not currently a form for reporting incidents. Will raise the suggestion with the Sergeant.

The council has identified part of Main Street, Fulford as having air quality that is below acceptable levels. Representatives from the Environmental Protection Unit will be present to discuss this and will be seeking feedback on their proposals to address the situation.

Andy Gillah, Principal Environmental Protection Officer, explained about the proposed Air Quality Management Area in Main Street, Fulford. Some of the points made were:

4.1       Air quality is important because of the effect that it can have on people’s health. There are government objectives that indicate a minimum standard of acceptable air quality and it is an important part of the council’s transport policy for the city.

4.2       Where the national air quality objectives are unlikely to be met, an Air Quality Management Area must be declared. This will then be followed by an Air Quality Action Plan within 12-18 months.

4.3       Fulford Road sees approximately 20,000 vehicles per day. The resulting Nitrogen Dioxide output has seen the road breach these national objectives.

4.4       There is already an Air Quality Management Area in York around the inner ring road. One of the three proposed options for the Fulford Road AQMA would see it extend to, and join with, this existing AQMA.

4.5       The area of concern in Fulford holds 33 properties; approximately 83 individuals.

4.6       For more information, people can contact the Environmental Protection Unit on: (01904) 551555, email: environmental.protection@york.gov.uk or visit: http://www.jorair.co.uk

The following questions and comments were made:

Q         Traffic lights around gyratory have been changed in the last 2-3 years. Traffic is held up as a result.

A         The existing AQMA around the inner ring road has perhaps caused this. By holding traffic at this end, it will move more freely at the Gillygate end.

Q            Children will travel up and down this road twice a day and nursery-age children perhaps six times a day. The whole area is affected and so option 3 is the logical choice.

Q         As an alternative, perhaps we should look at utilising the river to get into York? People could park at the ring road and be ferried into the city.

A         This can be raised at the action plan stage.

Q         What will go into the action plan?

A         This will be considered at a later stage.

Q         Is there a time limit for the action plan?

A         Has to be produced within 12-18 months of the Air Quality Management Area being declared.

Q         What changes were made as part of the Gillygate AQMA?

A         A holistic approach was taken as the AQMA covered such a large area. In the short term it has involved encouraging alternative modes of transport, among other things.

Q         Why isn’t the majority of air pollution always produced at rush hours – as would be expected?

A         Two reasons. First, Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) can take a while to form, so there is a time delay. Second, the meteorological conditions of the day will affect how it forms. There are short-term levels of air pollution and long-term also. The short-term air quality is not as important as the long-term air quality.

Q         Are there figures available?

A         Yes – on the Jorair website: http://www.jorair.co.uk

Q         Will further analysis identify which kinds of vehicles are responsible for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The provisional list of Local Improvement Schemes to be funded from the 2010-11 ward committee budget has been set, and will be discussed and ratified at the meeting.

5.1             The proposed schemes to be funded from the 2010-11 ward committee budget were put forward.

The following questions and comments were made:

Q         Do the combined costs of the schemes fall within the budget?

A         As far as we know. The budget has not yet been set, so this is based on an estimate.

Q            Regarding scheme 21: if the fruit trees are planted by the city walls, wouldn’t pollution make the fruit inedible?

A         A resident answers: most pollution will be washed off with water and they should still be edible.

A         Will check with the Environmental Protection Unit before proceeding with the scheme.

Q            Regarding scheme 10: Where will the adventure playground be located?

A         The idea is to look at possible locations with the initial funding, but the options are limited. It could quite possibly be somewhere on the Millennium Bridge green.

Q         Do those who receive grants have to produce receipts? Are there checks made on applicants?

A         Yes, receipts must be produced and all applicants must complete a quite detailed form and sign a contract before the money is handed over.

Q         There are no sports facilities in the area any more. What can we do?

A         There is a football pitch currently in development, which will be a welcome addition to the area. It is unfortunate that this side of the city does not have as many facilities as the north.

Q         Ivana Jakubková of York In Transition and St Nicholas Fields spoke about scheme 27: The event is scheduled for April 17^th at the Priory Street Centre. Also, YiT are running an event focusing on bees and beehive making scheduled for February 20^th at St Nicholas Fields Environment Centre. Details of these can be found at http://www.yortime.org.uk or http://www.stnicksfields.org.uk

Q            Regarding scheme 13: Would this money fund new salt bins or existing ones?

A         The ward committee funds three of Fishergate’s salt bins and this money is to maintain those for the next year.

A         Sally Burns, Director of Neighbourhood Services, advised that City of York Council is currently reviewing its existing salt bin and gritting policies and will give residents the opportunity to voice their opinions in consultation.

Q            Regarding scheme 12: Was this 20mph zone the result of complaints?

A         Yes. Residents were provided with a number of potential 20mph zones to express their preferences for on the October ballot sheet. This area came out on top by quite a margin. Residents will be consulted as to what measures they would like to see implemented.

Q            Regarding scheme 22: The mosaic regeneration idea has been removed. What happened to the original mosaic?

A         Due to an unsuitable choice of backing material by the mosaic’s original creator, it did not last. Replacing the mosaic would be quite costly.

Q            Neither of the suggestions for landscaping the triangular patch of land by the Danesgate Centre have made it to the final list. Why was this?

A         They received a negative  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Your opportunity to raise any issues not covered by the agenda.

6.1             Residents had the opportunity to raise any issues that had not already been discussed.

The following questions and comments were raised:

Q            Regarding recycling. Marlborough Road is quite narrow and the recycling van cannot always get down it.

A         They are currently looking at changing the parking layout on this street to accommodate vans and other large vehicles.

Q         Have noticed a number of street lights not working. Although each light has a sticker with a number to call to report this, it is not very practical when driving past.

A         It is intended that as part of the More For York programme, council staff will carry devices that allow them to log these while out and about.

Q            Changes made to Fulford Road lighting outside the police station have actually made it darker rather than brighter.

A         Cllrs will enquire about this.

Q         The refuse collectors leave the Moorland Road in a state when they come to collect bins in the morning.

A         Cllrs will look into this. A previous complaint has been received about the same street.

6.2            Jonathan Tyler thanked everybody for attending and closed the meeting.