Agenda and minutes

Your chance to meet: Cllr Richard Cregan, Cllr Roger Pierce, Virginia Shaw, Neighbourhood Management Officer; representatives from the Safer Neighbourhood Policing Team, Street Environment Services, Children and Young People’s Services; together with an opportunity to see the Street Environment DVD, “Don’t be a Minger”.

1.1                         Residents had the opportunity to speak with Councillors Richard Cregan and Roger Pierce; Angus Young (Street Environment Officer); PC Danny Barrow and PCSO Les Place and PCSO Simon Cartwright of the Safer Neighbourhoods Policing Team; Roisheen Childs (Older Citizens Advocacy York); Adam Bailey and Marta Garcia (Waste Strategy); Richard White and Andrew Binner (Highways); and Virginia Shaw (Neighbourhood Management Unit).

1.2                         Residents had the opportunity to see the Street Environment DVD “Don’t be a minger”

The minutes of the October 2009 meeting will be signed and there will be an update on action points

2.1             Cllr Roger Pierce welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave some background to the setting up of ward committees.

2.2             He introduced Ginnie Shaw, Neighbourhood Management Officer and she provided information about fire exits and the location of the toilets.

2.3             Cllr. Pierce gave an update on the state of the footpath at the back of Tuke Avenue (item 7.1 of previous minutes).  He had confirmed the land as owned by Housing and Angus Young had suggested that the area be cleared through Community Payback.  This had been done.

2.4             Cllr Pierce also referred to the concern of a number of residents about the concentration of student accommodation in the area.  He reported the Government’s intention to require planning permission for change of use if more than three people who are unrelated are to be living together.  Such applications will have to go through the usual process and owners will have to seek planning permission if they are converting adjacent space such as a garage.

Your opportunity to hear from your Safer Neighbourhood Policing Team and give them feedback about the policing issues in your neighbourhood

3.1             PC Danny Barrow provided an update on the work of the Hull Road Safer Neighbourhood Policing Team.  The following points were made:

3.2             The Team is up to strength with the full complement of PCSOs for Hull Road and Rural East (eight).

3.3             Though crime generally is down, cycle thefts have increased and the police are currently tackling this through Operation Spoke.  This involves marking cycles with a unique reference number, using an ultraviolet pen.  Visits are being made to schools to mark pupils’ cycles.

3.4             Cycle offences were targeted before Christmas.

3.5             Residents had the following questions and comments:

Q: Can you read the number with the UV pen?

A: The Operation is part of the immobilise initiative whereby property can be marked and details registered on a national database.  This will help identify stolen goods and return them to the owner.  We could bring the equipment to a future ward committee meeting.

Comment from Cllr Pierce: Olympian Court is a hotspot for minor crime, including cycle theft from insecure cycle sheds.  Partners are working together to tackle this, including use of CCTV.  

Richard White (Assistant Director) and Andrew Binner (Operations Director) will give an overview of Highways’ maintenance responsibilities

4.1             Richard White (Assistant Director, Maintenance Services) and Andy Binner (Acting Head of Highway Infrastructure) provided a presentation and answered questions regarding Highway Maintenance.  The following points were made:

4.2             Highway Maintenance covers a wide range of activities, including: carriage way resurfacing; footway reconstruction; street lighting; gulley clearing; winter maintenance; verge maintenance; street signs; highways trees; flooding/warping; and pest control.

4.3             Winter Maintenance: the worst winter for around 30 years, including 20 days of snow and ice had stretched the council’s limited resources; 4,200 tons of salt had been used; 10,000 hours of labour expended and 800 requests for service made.  The council is responsible for 320 km of roads and 15 km of footpaths.

4.4             The council has a policy that is available to read at public libraries and can be downloaded from the internet.  A review is underway to consider how the policy could be improved and a plan of action is required if there is a repeat of the severe weather.  Consequently, they are seeking residents’ views and requested that they write, speak to their ward councillors or e-mail.  The review will be complete by summer 2010 so it can be taken through the Executive by next winter.

4.5             There had been various issues around salt bins, footpaths, secondary routes, cycle paths and pot holes.

4.6             The following questions and comments were made:

Q: Problems with potholes on Burniston Drive are not recent: they have been there for 9 years and reported several times.  There is also a permanently broken drain.

A: We will get someone to come out and inspect by the end of the week.

Q: A “new” bus shelter has been put up on Tang Hall Lane.  Whilst we welcome having one, it is in a very poor state.

A: We will look into this.

Q: In various locations, roads have been cleared and footpaths left so they are so dangerous pedestrians have to use the road.  The message is that cars are more important than people so please look into what can be done.

A: Can understand how policy can be seen in such a way.  It is 15 years old.  Have to be good reason to grit pavements and funding available.  There is no easy solution.  Part of problem is that when snow falls on grit there will not be the people traffic to activate the grit.

Q: Please make pavements across bridges a priority.

A: Thank you for that feedback.  Every road and footpath is inspected annually and a programme put together, following grading (1,2 & 3).  All grade 3 (poor) are inspected by a senior inspector and other criteria used to produce a ranking so that priorities can be identified.  It would cost in excess of £50m to bring all of York’s roads up to the ideal standard.

 Q: What about leaves?  When wet, leaves can become very slippery and dangerous.  The footpath on Bull Lane was swept on a Monday, when the bins are out, showing lack of joined-up working.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Your chance to comment on the provisional local improvement schemes list and find out which schemes the ward committee are proposing to support

5.1             Cllr Pierce reminded residents that the ward committee budget is around £26k, based on the current year’s baseline budget.  Schemes are recommended by the public; ward councillors consider the votes cast for each scheme and have put together the provisional list, as appeared in the January Your Ward (also on the screen).  These are draft schemes they are minded to approve.  He ran through the list, commenting briefly on each scheme in turn; then invited questions.

5.2             The following questions were raised:

Q: Though it received a high number of votes, the fund for removal of graffiti is not on the list for approval.  Graffiti is an important issue.  It took 9 months and a number of photos for some on the Badger Hill baseball notice board to be removed.

A:  Graffiti removal is funded by the city council and residents can e-mail photos to ypal@york.gov.uk.  Any that are racist or offensive will be given priority and removed in 24 hours.  Police will prosecute if they have evidence and two offenders are currently awaiting prosecution.

5.3     There being no further questions, the ward committee approved the provisional list as published.

Your chance to ask questions about local issues and concerns

6.1             Residents were invited to ask questions and raise concerns.  The following points were raised:

Q: Hull Road Park is a lovely place to visit but the quality of the water in the beck and lake are poor.  Would it cost a fortune to dredge the beck?  

A: Yes, to remove the silt and deal with the contents for the lake alone would cost around £100k.  A number of improvements have been made to Hull Road Park funded by the ward committee and we are continuing work within the resources available.

Q: Heard there is an issue of liability if residents clear paths or pavements in front of their homes.

A: If carry out any work can be an insurance issue.  However, extremely unlikely will be sued and no case law at present.

Q: What about budget cuts?

A: City of York Council cannot increase its charges by more than 3%.  Seems likely that there will be substantial reductions in public expenditure that will affect local authorities.

6.2     Cllr Pierce thanked everyone for attending the meeting and asked residents to complete the feedback form.