Minutes

1.1   Residents had the opportunity to speak informally to Councillors Hyman, Orrell and Runciman, Claire Taylor, Iain Dunn, Sam Watling, Inspector Jo Brooksbank, PCSO John Armstrong, Parish Councillors Don Crawford & Richard Revell.

1.2   Information was available about the Local Development Framework.

1.3   Representatives from the following groups were present with information about their services and applications for ward committee funding:

·         Street Sport York

·         Active York

·         City of York Council Arts and Events Team

·         York Wheels

·         Age Concern

·         Huntington Memorial Hall

·         New Earswick Community Association

·         Friends of Huntington School

·         New Earswick & District Indoor Bowls Club

·         Friends of York Walls

·         Family Matters York

·         Older Citizens Advocacy York

2.1  Cllr Keith Orrell welcomed residents to the meeting.

2.2 The minutes of the last meeting on 7^th July were agreed and signed. 

Inspector Jo Brooksbank and PCSO John Armstrong gave an overview of recent Crime and Community Safety issues in the ward.  The following points were noted:

3.1  North Yorkshire Police (NYP) underwent a restructure of staffing and shift patterns in March due to reductions in the budget.   Where possible, reductions in staff have been made in the back office rather than in front line policing.  NYP will not be recruiting officers over the coming years.

3.2  Inspector Jo Brooksbank oversees Rural York which covers eight ward committee areas including Huntington and New Earswick.  The whole team for Rural York are based at Clifton Moor.

3.3  The restructure has not affected Huntington and New Earswick in terms of staff.  The new shift pattern means that the area is now covered from 7am to midnight.  City centre response teams cover the area between midnight and 7am. 

3.4  The funding provided by the Government for Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) runs out in 2013 and it is unclear at this stage what the future of PCSOs will be. 

3.5  In September 2011 there was 49 reported crimes in Huntington and 17 in New Earswick which is quite high for this ward.  There has been an increase in burglaries especially from sheds and garages.  The team are working hard to educate people about protecting and securing their belongings in sheds and garages.  There was an increase in anti-social behaviour during August, the team are working with Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust to address this.  Thefts at Monks Cross have decreased.

The following questions and comments were noted:

a)     Cycling on the pavement is a big problem in this ward.  How do we encourage people to cycle safely?

Response was given that education is an important part of this.  The team work alongside schools and other bodies such as Street Sport York to deliver this.  The team stop anyone seen cycling on the pavement and issue fines where appropriate.  Residents were encouraged to contact the team to highlight any hotspot areas.

Fiona Williams, head of Libraries and Heritage gave an overview of the work of the Library Service.  The following points were noted:

4.1  City of York Council runs 14 libraries and one mobile library which are free and open to everyone to use.  They are community anchors, a free, safe and warm place where people can sit and read and access information. 

4.2  The libraries provide support to people with reading and literacy in a number of ways including providing book starter packs to every child at nine months old, supporting reading groups, The Big City Read and the six month book challenge which targets people in the workplace who may have got out of the habit of reading.  

4.3  Libraries work closely with Adult Education providing a number of courses in libraries including free ‘Get Online’ courses to teach people how to use the internet.  The libraries help on average 2000 per year to get online and make use of the free wi-fi across all York Libraries.  E-books are very popular and this service is continually being expanded.

4.4  The Library Service are currently recruiting volunteers to help offer more services within the library to the residents of York.  The volunteers are not a replacement for paid staff and anyone interested should get in touch with their local library.

This was an opportunity to discuss the local improvement schemes and grant applications put forward for the 2012-13 ward committee budget.  The following points were noted:

5.1  There is no guarantee how much the budget will be for the 2012-13 financial year.

5.2  The following declarations of interest were made:

·         Councillor Orrell and Hyman are members of Huntington Parish Council

·         Councillor Runciman is a member of New Earswick Parish Council

Representatives gave more information about the following schemes:

·         H&-11-09 - Huntington Memorial Hall – application for £5000 to make improvements to the small hall

·         H&-11-11 - New Earswick Community Association – application for £3500 for their gardening scheme.

·         H&-11-12  - Street Sport York – application for £2000 to run 10 two hour sessions around the ward

·         H&-11-15 - Friends of Huntington School – application for £2500 to support ‘The Big Read’

·         H&-11-18 - New Earswick Community Association – application for £1000 for young people’s activities during the summer holidays

·         H&-11-20 - New Earswick Indoor Bowls Club – application for £440 to fund two cross generational summer activity sessions

·         H&-11-21 - Friends of York Walls – application to fund a 2012 walls festival in conjunction with other community groups

·         H&-11-23 - Family Matters York – application for £480 to run a ‘Time Out from Anger’ course for parents and carers.

5.3  Residents were encouraged to state their preferences on the schemes by filling in the ballot form and returning it to the Neighbourhood Management Unit.

6.1  No questions or comments were noted.