Agenda and minutes

The opportunity to talk to your ward councillors, street environment officer, Safer Neighbourhood Team, neighbourhood management officer and visiting speakers informally.

1.1  Residents had the opportunity to talk to Councillors Galvin and Vassie, Claire Taylor (Neighbourhood Management officer), Suzanne Prance (Street Environment officer), Andy Vose (Transport Planning officer), Ed Gray (York and North Yorkshire Probation Trust officer), Sgt Andy Haigh and PCSO Laura Smith (Safer Neighbourhood Team).  

An update on any action points.

2.1    Cllr Christian Vassie welcomed residents to the meeting.

2.2    The minutes of the last meeting were agreed and signed. 

An update from your Safer Neighbourhood Police Team and your chance to raise any concerns.

Sgt Andy Haigh and PCSO Laura Smith gave an update on police and community safety issues in the ward.  The following points were noted:

3.1      There were 173 crimes in Bishopthorpe in the 2009/10 financial year to compared to 185 in 2008/9. 

3.2      In Wheldrake, there were 109 crimes in 2009/10 compared to 140 in 2008/9.

3.3      There have been a number of thefts from farms around Wheldrake by a gang of travelling criminals.

3.4      Anti-social behaviour has decreased across the ward and is especially very low in Wheldrake. 

3.5      Residents were encouraged to continue reporting speeding using 95 alive form.

Andy Vose from the Transport Planning Unit will be talking about the next stage in the development of the Wheldrake to Heslington cycle path.

Andy Vose spoke to the meeting about the next stage in the development of the Wheldrake and Elvington to Heslington cycle path.  The following points were noted:

4.1     The ward committee is contributing £2500 towards the feasibility study for this cycle path and this is being matched by the Transport Planning Unit, giving £5000 in total. 

4.2     Sustrans are likely to be commissioned to carry out the feasibility study.  A brief will be written for them throughout June with the aim for them to start work in July.

4.3     It would be useful to bring together a group of local people to form a steering group, using their local knowledge to help identify several possible routes.  Ideally there would be representation from each of the parish councils. 

The following questions and comments were noted:

a)  Will the route be mainly roadside?

Response was given that hopefully it will be a mixture of roadside and off road in order to satisfy both the commuter and leisure cyclists. 

b)  Will the cycle path cross the airfield?

Response was given that it would not be suitable but it may be possible to skirt around it.

Two residents volunteered to be on the steering group and their details were taken.

A representative from the Probation Service will give a talk on the Community Payback scheme and the sorts of projects which can be undertaken. 

Ed Gray from York and North Yorkshire Probation Trust talked about the Community Payback project.  The following points were noted:

5.1         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 per month. 

5.2         The teams are supervised at all times by an employee of the Probation Trust and wear high visibility vests so residents are able to identify who they are.

5.3         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.

5.4         The Community Payback team work closely with the councils Street Environment Service to keep the wards looking clean and tidy.  The council often provides the equipment and community payback provides the manpower.

The following questions and comments were noted:

a)  Have the offenders committed serious crimes?

Response was given that the majority of offenders have just made a mistake, they are not hardened criminals.  The majority come and carry out their service, then go and get on with their lives and we never see them again.  

b)  What sort of supervision do you provide?

Response was given that one employee of the Probation Trust closely supervises between four to six offenders and they are trained to deal with a range of different challenges.  The offenders are required to sign a contract before they start work and if they cause trouble or break the contract they are sent of site and back to court.

c)  How can people request work from you?

Response was given that they should fill in a referral form or contact us on (01904) 526000.  We must risk assess every project before we can commit to it to ensure that we are not putting the offenders at risk. 

Your chance to ask questions about local issues and concerns.

The following questions and comments were noted:

a)  Flooding continues to be a problem in Wheldrake.

Response was given that the council are looking for a long term solution to this.  As roads were built on straw, they have no structure which is why they keep collapsing.

b)  Is there another court case coming up regarding Elvington Airfield?

Response was given that there is another case coming up which is another stage in City of York Councils noise abatement order against the airfield.  The owners of the airfield are not showing any indication of being prepared to come to a compromise with the council over this.

c)  Cllr Vassie reported that the repair works to the bridge in Elvington were due to start on 14^th June and would last 6 weeks.  Residents were encouraged to support the local businesses as much as possible during this time who would be very effected by the loss of passing trade.