Agenda and minutes

The drop-in surgery gives you the opportunity to talk to your councillors, street environment officer, Safer Neighbourhood Team, neighbourhood management officer and visiting speakers informally.

Residents had the opportunity to talk to Cllr Carol Runciman, Iain Dunn (Street Environment Service), Ed Gray (York and North Yorkshire Probation Trust) Sgt Donna Musgrove and PCSO Tom Laurie (Safer Neighbourhood Team), Claire Taylor and Kate Bowers (Neighbourhood Management Unit) Chloe Schroeter (Energy Partnership), Andy Binner and Michael Watkins (Highways Maintenance Team).

An update on any action points.

2.1       Cllr Carol Runciman welcomed residents to the meeting and explained that she was representing Cllr’s Watson and Firth who were unable to attend and Cllr Hogg would be arriving later. 

2.2       The minutes of the last meeting were agreed. 

At this point Cllr Runciman gave Chloe Schroeter from the Energy Partnership the opportunity to explain a bit more about the Hotspots project:

2.3       The Hotspots project is run by the Energy Partnership Ltd and helps vulnerable residents to achieve warmth, comfort and safety in their homes. 

2.4       Residents can receive energy efficiency advice which could lead to grant applications for free heating systems and insulation, free benefits checks to make sure they are receiving everything they are entitled to and free home fire safety checks to minimise risk of fire in the home.

2.5       For more information residents should contact Chloe at the Energy Partnership on (01904) 554490. 

An update from your ward police team and you chance to raise any concerns. 

Sgt Donna Musgrove and PCSO Tom Laurie gave an update on crime and community safety issues in the ward.  The following points were noted:

3.1    Crime has reduced by 25% compared to the same period last year. 

3.2    A project called ‘Pub Watch’ is underway whereby trouble causers can be banned from pubs in Haxby for a period of three months.  If they continue to cause trouble they can be issued with a life long ban.  ‘Shop Watch’ is also underway which is a scheme where shopkeepers warn each other of shoplifters or suspected shoplifters. 

3.3    The team are looking at potentially implementing alcohol free zones in the ward and would be interested in feedback from residents as to which areas of the ward to include.  The team are aware that this is not necessarily the whole solution but it is an option open to the community.  Alcohol free zones do not cover young people as the police already have enough powers in this area.  

The following questions and comments were noted:

a)  Is there any progress in catching the person who committed the robbery in the shop in Wigginton?

Response was given that no-one has been caught yet but CID are working on this.  The offender was wearing very distinctive clothing.

b)  Rawcliffe Lake is an alcohol restricted zone, however it is constantly littered with alcohol cans and bottles.  The wording on the sign is not strict enough. 

Response was given the team are aware of the problem but it is impossible to be there all the time.  The team will go and have a look at the wording on the sign. 

Iain Dunn from the Street Environment Service and Ed Gray from the Probation Service will tell the meeting about the York Pride budget and the Community Payback scheme.

Iain Dunn from the Street Environment Unit and Ed Gray from York and North Yorkshire Probation Trust spoke about the Community Payback project.  The following points were noted:

4.1      Iain manages the York Pride fund, a small pot of money for making small environmental improvements to the ward.   Suggestions for ways to spend this money are welcomed from residents. 

4.2      The street environment service work closely with the Community Payback team to keep the ward clean and tidy.

4.3      ‘Community Payback’ is a sentence available to the courts whereby offenders carry out unpaid work in the community to literally ‘payback’ the community for their offences.  The team have around 250 offenders on the books at any one time which amounts to approximately 4000 hours of unpaid work a month. 

4.4      The teams are supervised at all time and wear high visibility vests so residents would be able to identify who they were.

4.5      The teams can carry out jobs such as litter picking, cleaning off graffiti, cutting back shrubbery and painting.  There are teams working in the city centre on a Sunday morning cleaning up rubbish.

The following questions and comments were noted:

a)  Are the teams monitored to ensure the work is being done properly?

Response was given that each team is supervised on the job by an employee of the Probation Trust.

b)  This is a very worthwhile project and very beneficial to the whole city.

c)  Can City of York council provide materials to Community Payback for carrying out projects?

Response was given that yes the council have provided materials in the past and will continue to do so to support improvements to the ward.

d)  Would you be able to do some work to tidy up around Rawcliffe Lake? 

Response was given that yes this is something the team can look at.  Once it has been risk assessed the team will be able to go down there regularly.

e)  I have heard about a project which is looking at using green spaces to grow vegetables for the community, is this something you could be involved in?

Response was given that the team could be involved in this and have previously done some work on clearing allotments.

Representatives from Highways Maintenance will give a presentation on their services including the Winter maintenance programme.

Andy Binner and Michael Watkins gave an overview of the responsibilities of the highways maintenance team and their response to the recent bad spell of weather.  The following points were noted:

5.1            The Highways Maintenance Team is responsible for carriageway resurfacing, footway reconstruction, street lighting, gully cleaning, winter maintenance, pest control, flooding/warping, verge maintenance, highways tree, road lining, anti-skid surfacing and street signs.

5.2            This year has seen the worst winter on record for 30 years with 20 days of snow and ice and temperatures falling as low as –10 at times.

5.3            The gritting wagons went out 90 times on the primary network putting down a total of 4,200 tonnes of salt.  This is double the amount normally put down throughout the whole winter season.  An overview of the winter maintenance policy is on the City of York Council website.  The priority area’s in terms of gritting is known as the ‘primary network’ and includes all the main arteries in and out of the city, all major bus routes and 15km of footpaths which includes all city centre footpaths and those around shopping centres and old peoples homes.  Gritting is carried out on a ‘secondary network’ if conditions require it but is dependent on budget and resources. 

5.4            It was stressed that the council do not have the resources to grit every street and footpath in the city.  Requests from residents are looked at on a case by case basis but there is no guarantee it will be done.   

5.5            The winter maintenance policy is being subject to a full internal review and feedback from residents is welcomed.    

5.6            The bad weather earlier in the year highlighted a number of key issues to be addressed in the review; salt bins, clearing of footpaths, secondary routes and cycle tracks and the repair of pot holes. 

5.7            There are currently around 7,500 potholes across the city in need of repair that the council know of and more are appearing as fast as they are being repaired.  The initial priority is to repair the biggest pot holes and those on high speed roads to ensure the carriageways are safe.  All potholes will have had an initial repair by May.  The team are working with the parish councils and street environment officer to ensure that all the potholes are reported but if residents think any have been missed they are encouraged to ring (01904) 551551 to report them.

5.8            Andrew and Michael registered their thanks to the gritting staff who worked tirelessly for 20 days to keep the city moving. 

The following questions and comments were noted:

a)  Where do residents stand on clearing the footpaths outside their properties?

Response was given that this is difficult to answer because the law on this has never been tested.  However, as long as you are making a reasonable and genuine effort to clear the footpath, it is unlikely that anyone could sue you.

b)  Would it be possible to fix something to street signs to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Your chance to ask questions about local issues and concerns.  

The following comment was noted:

a)     The bus terminal for the number 1 service should be moved from Mill Lane to Ryedale shops.  This would stop the traffic flow problems on Mill Lane and help to decrease anti-social behaviour at Ryedale shops.