Minutes

Residents had the opportunity to speak to:

Ward Councillors -

Cllr. Carol Runciman

Cllr. Keith Hyman

Cllr. Keith Orrell

Parish Cllr. Don Crawford, Chair of New Earswick Parish Council

Iain Dunn, Street Environment Officer

Graeme Dawson, Neighbourhood Management Officer

Sharron Hutchinson, Area Team Manager, York Youth Service

PS John Freer and PC Lailah Nijaila, Huntington & New Earswick Safer Neighbourhood Team

Having been available during the Ward Team Surgery, PS Freer took questions from the floor about a number of issues concerning residents.

1. Cycling without lights

PS Freer explained that this is an offence which could be dealt with by fixed-penalty notices of £80 for those aged 18 or over. For those under 18, Police will point out the dangers and speak to the parents of those concerned

2. Jockey Lane

Residents commented on speeding on Jockey Lane and felt that someone will be hurt. PS Freer advised that the team would be interested to find out whether there was any time of day or night that was particularly of concern.

Cllr Runciman drew the meeting’s attention to the Community Speedwatch literature and wheelie bin stickers available at the meeting and from the Council’s Road Safety Team in a campaign to show community intolerance to speeding.

Other residents mentioned concerns about the garages unloading large numbers of cars on the road and so blocking the carriageway. PS Freer said the team would look in to it.

3. Wheelies outside Joseph Rowntree School

Parish Cllr Don Crawford raised with PS Freer the issue of youths dangerously using the road outside Joseph Rowntree School to perform wheelies on their bikes. PS Freer said he would task his PCSOs to look in to the matter.

4. Antisocial Behaviour

PS Freer reported that there had been eight arrests over the course of six days for antisocial behaviour in the Ward. It is something his team takes seriously and wants to clamp down upon.

5. Parking on Footpaths

A resident raised concerns about vans continually parking on the footpath. PS Freer asked for details and registration numbers to be reported to him.

The meeting received a presentation from Simon Glazier, Area Planning Team Leader for York East.

Addressing the question of “what does planning try to achieve?” Simon told the meeting that planning shapes the places where people live and work and therefore had substantial public interest concerns within it.

There are two key strands: design and sustainability.

Design

Before 2005 planning officers’ guidance stated that they should not get involved in design; however, this has now changed and they are now able to give appropriate and objective design comments to applicants.

Sustainability

Sustainability includes a number of different elements from looking in to standards of insulation and energy use to matters such as public transport links.

How can the public interact?

Planning is about including people in the way their city is built and developed. In terms of specific consultation on plans, both immediate neighbours of a site and the Parish Council are informed and asked to give a view. Simon told the meeting that matters such as road safety and amenity could be considered valid arguments in planning terms; however arguments such as a decrease in property value or the loss of a view were not able to be taken in to account.

Any unauthorised developments should be reported to Planning for the department to take enforcement action or require developers to seek retrospective permission.

Questions

·         Parish Councillor Crawford raised the issue of delegated decisions, and questioned how democratic this was, and the issue of how involved Parish Councils were in the process.

Simon Glazier explained that in 2003 the Council was judged not to be making planning decisions quickly enough. Currently around 3000 planning applications are received per year.

Each case is looked at individually, and any elected member can call the decision in. Cllr Hyman added that they do do this.

·         How much do you use the police architectural liaison officer to take account of developments?

There is a statutory duty to consult. Comments are advisory, but there are a lot of important comments that come back.

·         A resident commented on greenbelt planning and whether there were sufficient brownfield sites.

·         Transport was also mentioned, and acknowledged to be a much bigger issue by Simon Glazier, though he commented that themes do carry through the levels of planning, and even in extensions, officers look to see whether there is provision for a cycle store.

·         The question of flats v. family housing was also brought up.

Simon responded by referring to the recently completed Housing Market Assessment. Until now, the desired balance of homes in York was anecdotal, but this research had shown that from a position of 2/3^rds flats and 1/3^rd houses being built, there was resident demand for 1/3^rd of new properties being flats and 2/3^rds houses: a reversal of current proportions.

Barry Otley, from the York Environment Forum addressed the meeting, and explained some of the work of the Forum.

York Environment Forum has been running for four years. They sit on the City’s Environmental Partnership which feeds into the Without Walls Local Strategic Partnership. There are also links with the Passenger Transport Network.

All members are volunteers, and meetings are held once per month at the Guildhall. Barry told the meeting that new members were welcome.

They are currently involved in:

·         the Landscape Character Assessment

·         York Open Space Strategy

·         Countryside Code and Education Pack

·         Public Rights of Way issues

·         the link of water catchment areas to flood risk assessments

·         the regional spatial strategy

·         the climate change strategy

John Oxley, City Archaeologist, addressed the meeting on the possibility of a York bid for World Heritage Status, an idea initiated by former Lord Mayor, Janet Hopton.

World Heritage Status is awarded by the UNESCO, part of the United Nations. World Heritage sites must demonstrate “outstanding, universal value”. Currently there are 812 sites designated worldwide, of which 26 are in the UK. British examples include: Durham, Bath, Edinburgh and Saltaire.

The World Heritage Steering Group in York are preparing a report for the council’s executive in April.

John outlined benefits he thought the bid would bring. World Heritage status would raise the profile of York, and let it join an “exclusive club”. This higher profile would bring benefits in terms of attracting inward investment. Nearby OneNortheast, the Regional Development Agency (RDA) for northeast England, have used the World Heritage Status of Hadrian’s Wall and Durham to attract investment, and York would hope to replicate this success.

With reference to York’s tourism, John mentioned the desire to build a sustainable tourism model, and also make York a gateway to other nearby places – ie. people travelling on from York to Scarborough etc.

He also mentioned the diversity of what York brings to a bid: from the Minster, to the Universities, to nearby Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and indeed New Earswick being in the tradition of a garden town and philanthropic development.

Cllr. Orrell asked whether Yorkshire Forward, this region’s RDA, were supportive. John replied that the informational panels that the steering group took to public meetings were funded by Yorkshire Forward, so hopefully that was indicative of further support to come.

The ward committee budget presented in the January 08 Huntington and New Earswick Your Ward was confirmed in public by the ward councillors, and a commitment was given to continue with street lighting improvements from capital funding.

No further issues were raised in public by residents.