Agenda and minutes

The drop-in surgery gives you opportunity to talk to your councillors, safer neighbourhood police team, street environment officer and neighbourhood management officer in an informal setting.

Residents had the opportunity to talk with Cllr Steve Galloway;  Cllr Sue Galloway; Cllr Andrew Waller; Julie Hood, Neighbourhood Management Office;, Michal Czekajlo, Neighbourhood Management Support Officer; Jackie Armitage, Street Environment Officer; Sgt Lindsey Stamp, PC Colin Parks; Paul Bickle, Energise Manager; James Williams, Waste Strategy Officer; Alan Bell, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue; Penny Goff and Helen Butterworth, NHS Foundation Trust; Louise King and Catherine Mattiocco, Yorkshire Water; Chris Pinder, Responsive Repairs Manager; Martin Horner, Head of Civil Engineering.

Main Meeting 7.00pm

Minutes:

2. Councillor Steve Galloway welcomed everyone to the meeting

The minutes of the meeting held on 25^th September were agreed and signed.

Sergeant Lindsey Stamp will give an update on police operations in the area and answer any questions you have.

Sgt Lindsey Stamp gave an update on the last quarter of the year and the changes to local policing.

3.1 The  following changes will be implemented from March 21^st 2011.

• The City will be divided into four Inspector led area; East, West; Rural and City Centre.
• Westfield will be part of the West Area Policing team which will be led by Insp Phil Cain.
• Inspector Cain will be responsible for the Safer Neighbourhood Team and the Response Team.  Both will be based at Acomb Police Station
• The Safer Neighbourhood Team will change their shift pattern to ensure seven day cover.
• The current PCSO’s will remain in Westfield with more access to cycles so the visibility of the Officers is expected to remain the same.

3.2 Crime figures have stayed at the same level compared to last month.

Alan Bell, Fire Station Manager, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue will give information about keeping safe in respect of fires and how to reduce the risk of fires.

Alan Bell, Fire Station Manager gave a presentation regarding the free home fire risk assessments offered by the Fire and Rescue services.

4.1 The risk assessments can be requested by that either by calling 01609 788 545, the website or by completing one of the leaflets.  The leaflets are in most community buildings including libraries.

4.2 The assessments are carried out by the Community Safety Officer, who determines the key risks in the property and identifies what needs to be done to minimise the risk.

4.3 Risk assessments include:

• Checking any smoke detectors. If they are defective or no smoke detectors are present they can be installed free of charge. Smoke detectors should be checked every week by pressing the red button on it.
• Fire escape routes will be checked and you will be advised on what to do and how to evacuate in case of fire.
• The assessment takes up to 1 hour and can be arranged at a time convenient for you.
• Kitchen, electric appliances and cables will be checked to minimise the risk of fire.

4.4.1       Fires with tragic consequences happen rarely.  When this does occur a thorough investigation is undertaken.

4.4.2       Providing residents know their escape routes and have taken proper precautions e.g. fitted smoke detectors, there is no reason to believe an escape would not be possible.

4.4.3       Houses are designed and built with fire safety as a crucial part of the planning process, they allow for easy escape and are accessible to the fire brigade.

Concern was raised in respect of removing keys from a locked door (for security) and making a quick escape in the event of Fire.  It was explained that this is part of the risk assessment and the resident concerned completed a form to book one.

The following questions were raised:

Q – Do fire extinguishers have ‘use by’ dates?  

A – All fire extinguishers have dates by which they should be used.  In the home it is preferable not to have any fire extinguishers although fire blankets are useful in kitchens.

A representative from Yorkshire Water will be at the meeting to discuss communication issues and recent delays dealing with leaking pipes.

Chris Pinder, responsive repairs manager, will give information about what might be done to prevent frozen pipes and what you can do in the case of a burst pipe.

Martin Horner, head of civil engineering, will discuss the gritting policy and the siting of salt bins.

Louise King and Catherine Mattiocco  gave a presentation regarding the difficulties experienced by Yorkshire Water during the recent period of very bad weather. They also thanked  Colleagues from Local Authorities and partner organisations for their support over this difficult period.

• In December 80 000 calls were received, compared with 23 000 expected in December.
• 2200 repairs on pipes were completed across the region, compared with an expected 600.
• Colleagues worked through Christmas and New Year 24 hours a day to ensure that repairs happened as quickly as possible and customers were kept with running water where possible.
• 130 repairs to burst pipes were completed daily.
• Less than 1% of the 2 million properties supplied by Yorkshire Water were without water as a result of problems, although it is acknowledged that thousands more were affected by problems.
• The priority was to support the most vulnerable customers (the elderly, housebound, those with medical conditions, disabled and those with newborn babies).  Bottled water was delivered to as many of these customers as possible.

The new £18m water treatment works at Acomb Landing will begin in May 2011 and will take 20 months to complete. It will treat around 35,000,000 litres every day.

The following questions were raised

This is an opportunity for discussion on the provisional list of schemes for 2011 – 2012.

Residents were given opportunity to ask questions or raise comments about the proposed schemes.

Westfield Central

Westfield Foxwood

Your chance to ask questions about local issues and concerns.

There were no other questions or comments.