Agenda and draft minutes

Prior to the formal meeting residents had the opportunity to speak to the Ward Councillors, Neighbourhood Management, their Safer Neighbourhood Team and the Street Environment Officer.

To approve and sign the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 12 October 2011.

RESOLVED:                That the minutes of the last meeting of the Heworth Ward Committee held on 12 October 2011 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

Nigel Eggleton from Veolia Transdev will update residents on changes to local bus services.

Mark Ellis of Veolia Transdev attended the meeting to update residents on changes to local bus services. He acknowledged that he had only been with the company since April 2012 so many of the changes in service had been made prior to his joining. He did however make the following points:

·        Agreement that there had been issues with the A44 service from York station and city centre to the University

·        The Coastliner service from Leeds, calling at Heworth, did not receive public funding so required sufficient passengers to cover costs

·        He confirmed that there had been a steep rise in costs, government cuts resulting in the bus operators grant being cut by 20% and fuel increases which all had a knock on effect for passengers

·        A decision was required on how to make the A44 service more profitable to operate.

The following points were made by members and residents:

·        Some residents pointed out that punctuality appeared to be non-existent for these services and a number of specific issues were reported

·        It was questioned whether the service might be improved if the route was split in the city centre, particularly on race days, to ensure that a service was provided

·        The A44 and Coastliner services often ran together, and on Bank Holidays/Sundays there was no service

·        Concerns had been raised by a number of residents that, over Christmas and the Jubilee Bank Holidays there had been no bus service to the city centre

·        The issue appeared to be delays from one side of the city to the other particularly on race days,  during city events and in bad weather. It was suggested that the route could be split with each service running into the city and returning back to Heworth to maintain a more reliable service

·        Even if the service was, at the very least, split on race days there would at least be a service

·        Residents made suggestions of the service looping and returning via Dundas Street/Stonebow and not progressing into the city centre

·        It appeared that the Park and Ride service was ‘cherry picking’ from busy bus stops resulting in commercial routes being unable to provide viable services

·        Reference was made to a public meeting held in March 2012 with Hugh Bayley, MP and the Cabinet Member for City Strategy when residents had raised their concerns regarding services in the area however there had been no feedback or follow up

·        Difficulties in influencing the priority of services, however pressure on providers needed to be maintained

·        Confirmed that York did not have the volume of traffic to attract the level of funding referred to with the  Bradford initiatives

·        Need to encourage increased bus travel to remove traffic from the city and gain Sustainable Transport Fund monies for improvements to services

·        Reference to the imminent launch in August/September of new cross city bus tickets, which could be used on any bus journey with any company in the city. Details were given of the special day tickets offer which would shortly be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

At this point in the meeting you can raise any issues or concerns you may have in respect of the ward.

It was at this point that residents were encouraged to raise any other issues or concerns in respect of the ward. However following the lengthy discussion on changes to local bus services no further issues were raised.

To formally agree the schemes to be funded through the Ward Committees for 2012/13 (to view the schemes for the ward go to www.york.gov.uk/wards/).

Ward Members were asked to agree the schemes to be funded through the Ward Committee for 2012/13, details of which had been circulated to residents at the meeting.

Members confirmed that with a much reduced fund of £4860 only organisations situated within the Heworth ward would now be eligible to bid for funding.  It was explained that funding had now been split into three pots:

·     Ward Budgets:  Each ward had an allocation to use as grant funding to commission local voluntary and community organisations to meet identified needs.

·     Other Voluntary Sector Support:  Funding to support those voluntary sector organisations that provide services to more than one ward and that are currently forced to apply for a plethora of individual ward committee grants.  It was not intended that this fund would be open to Council services such as Street Sport; however, it was proposed that in the first year only, whilst the Ward Credits pot was being established, Council services were allowed to bid.

Your Consortium had won the tender to administer the schemes according to the Council’s criteria and priorities and would provide support to the recipient organisations including accessing additional funding / revenue sources, helping them to become more sustainable.

·     Ward Credits:  A “credits pot” to be allocated to identified wards to be used to commission new services, either from within the Council or from other partners / sectors, to deliver on the Ward priorities. 

It was reported that all the eligible schemes had been considered, together with the York St Johns Student Union bid (Afternoon tea at St Wulstan’s project) which had previously be considered  ineligible however, as the project had been specific to the Heworth ward, it was also now recommended for funding. Following discussion it was confirmed that the schemes proposed to be funded were:

·        £499 to Glen Allotments to replace a wooden picnic bench and make improvements to the gate.

·        £2000 to Bell Farm Adventure Playground for their summer play scheme.

·        £500 to York St Johns Student Union ‘Afternoon tea at St Wulstan’s’ project.

·        £1861 into a community chest and applications that fall within this budget are invited from ward based community groups.

Members encouraged residents and organisations to apply for funding of up to £500 for ward based projects/groups from the community chest. It was reported that an application form could be obtained by contacting the Neighbourhood Management Unit on (01904) 551832.

Following further discussion it was

RESOLVED:                That Ward Members agree the allocation of ward funding as detailed above.

REASON:                     To enable ward grant funding to be allocated to local ward schemes for the forthcoming year.

To help identify issues to be the focus for the next informal meeting.

The Ward Members introduced the ‘Your Ward Forum’ and asked residents for details of suggested issues they would like discussed at future informal meetings.

The following suggestion was made for an item to be discussed at a future meeting:

·        Transport issues, bus service improvements

Members requested residents to contact the Neighbourhood Management Unit on (01904) 551832 if they had any additional issues they wished to be discussed at a future meeting.

RESOLVED:       That the above issue be considered at a future informal Ward Committee meeting.

REASON:            To ensure that issues relevant to the ward raised by members and residents at meetings are given due consideration.