Agenda and minutes

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

Also meet members of the Hamilton Panthers Football Team and see their plans for the new changing facilities.

Talk to developers and see the plans for the new council head quarters.

And Take part in the ward freecyle event.

Residents had the opportunity to talk with Cllr Dave Merrett, Cllr Sandy Fraser and Cllr Julie Gunnell, Matther Ward – Neighbourhood Management Officer, Michal Czekajlo – Neighbourhood Management Support Officer, Sgt Neil Wood, Insp Phil Cain, Insp Mark Henderson, Angus Young – Street Environment Officer, Simon Lansley – Hamilton Panthers Football Club Representative, Phil Sanderson – Hamilton Panthers Club Secretary, Andy Webster – Club President, Gary Limbert – CYC Football Facilities Project Manager, Philip Rickinson – director PRA Architects, Derek Gauld – Principal City Development Officer, Steve McManaman – Miller’s Construction Manager.

Free cotton shopping bags promoting local shopping, funded by Micklegate Ward Committee, were available for residents.

2.1 Councillor Sandy Fraser welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave some background to the purpose of the ward committee.

2.2 The minutes of the last meeting were agreed as an accurate record of the last meeting and signed.

2.3 An update was given on the alley between Scarcroft Hill and Mill Mount, after a long ongoing campaign it will be resurfaced.

Find out about the new working arrangements for the police team and the latest police work across the ward.

Insp. Mark Henderson gave an update on Safer Neighbourhood Police Team activity.

3.1            Inspector Phil Cain was introduced to residents. Inspector Cain will be looking after the residential area, outside of the city walls,  of Micklegate ward.

3.2       Police are facing financial restructure with £24,000,000 of savings to be made and 523 job posts cut in the next four years. Job reduction will be mainly civilian office staff, and losses will be made by not filling vacancies created by natural wastage.

3.3       Police boundaries will be changed and from 21^st of March 2011 Micklegate will be split into inner and outer. Officers for Micklegate inner will be operating from Fulford Police Station and officers for Micklegate outer will be operating from Acomb Police Station.

3.4             PCSO’S for your area will stay the same. New shift pattern, covering seven days a week will ensure the right people will be in the right place at the right time.

3.5            Statistics for the ward show that there is a 15% drop of burglaries, 5% decrease of violence crime. Number of cycle and shop thefts have risen up before Christmas with the highest volume in September and went down in January 2011.

Residents were given the opportunity to raise questions, the following were asked.

Q         Who will be covering South Bank?

A            Officers operating from Acomb Police Station will cover a South Bank.

Q         Are you reopening Acomb Police Station?

A         Yes, Acomb has been open for some time, but not as a 24hr station like Fulford, volunteers are staffing the enquiry desk at Acomb Police Station.

Q         Will the crime figures be split for Micklegate after the restructure?

A         We will be able to produce combined as well as separated reports for Micklegate, which will be presented at the next ward committee meeting.

Q         What type of thefts are the most often?

A         Cycle theft and shed burglaries in particular. We have some successes with tackling it, but the figures are rising.

Q         Does the thieves take cycles to travel somewhere and leave them somewhere else, or they are being stolen to sell?

A            Unfortunately most of the stolen bikes are disappearing, and we can’t be sure where they are going.

Q         What types of cycles are stolen most often, cheap or expensive?

A         Any type of cycles, there is no distinction.

Q         What type of bike lock should I use?

A         The place where you leave your bike is as much important at the good quality lock. Thieves can break any type of lock, the only difference is that good quality lock will take them more time to open. Gold standard are the locks to buy to secure your bike.

            On 17 Feb 11 as part of Operation SPOKE, Security marking of cycles will be available at the cycle Hub Station, Wellington Row from 10:30am to 13:30pm. There are also meetings being held at Clementhorpe Hall, the details can be found on the NYP website.

Q         What about people who do  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Phil Sanderson and Simon Ramsley from the club and Gary Limbert, Football Facilities Project Officer will inform you of the proposals for the teams facilities on Little Knavesmire.

Gary Limbert – Football Facilities Project Officer, Phil Sanderson – Club Secretary and Simon Lansley – Club Representative gave an update on the Hamilton Panthers activity and the proposal for the facility development.

4.1             Club was formed in 1988 based on Little Knavesmire.

4.2       The club is entirely run by volunteers. The age groups start from 6 years old to adult providing continuity from junior to senior game.

4.3 There are 185 registered players at the moment with 3500 players who went through the club since formation.

4.4       Brief history of the club:

• 1995 - moved into mothballed changing rooms in former ROC building at invitation of Council

Derek Gauld, Principal City Development Officer will tell the meeting about the York, New City Beautiful report.

Derek Gauld – Principal City Development Officer and David Caulfield – Head of City Development gave an update on the New City Beautiful project.

5.1       City of York Council and Yorkshire Forward commissioned the production of a long-term, economic vision for the City of York in 2009. The York Economic Vision has been prepared by Professor Alan J. Simpson and a panel of urban, economic, cultural and movement advisers.

5.2       The New City Beautiful report makes a strong economic and cultural case for how the city could evolve over 30 years.

5.3       The key existing assets of York are: rivers, walls and gateways, streets, places and spaces and parks. We are looking at the ways of how to make them more attractive and accessible. Examples for redevelopment can be taken from other cities around the world. Those assets have huge impact on the economy of York.

5.4       York is a unique place, it’s pioneer in a lot of things and we want to take a step forward. Representatives of the authors and the council are holding an exhibition and public meeting to present the vision, and to ask for your views and feedback on the ideas within report on Monday 21^st February 2011, 5.00pm – 7.30pm at York Theatre Royal.

5.5            Towards a Delivery Plan:

• Identify all potential projects;
• Short-term ‘early wins’ and longer term plans;
• Temporary transformations;
• Work already underway:

-         City Centre Movement and Accessibility Framework

-         Library Square

-         Parliament Street

-         Minster Piazza

-         Planning Statements – The Barbican, Stonebow house,  Piccadilly, Hungate, Terry’s, Nestle.

-         Footstreets extension

• Detailed Delivery Plan by April 2011.

Residents were given opportunity to raise questions.

Q   This exciting report does give view of really good vision for York, but it requires strong political leadership.

Q   Is there a plan for a new bus station within that project?

Q   Are there any plans for tram trains for York?

A   We are aware of the transport issues in York and realise that proper alternatives for private cars are required, however the report does not go into specifics.

Representatives of developers York Investors LLP and main contractor Miller Construction will inform on the proposals for the new council building.

Chris Hale from S Harrison for York Investors, architect Matt Parkins and Miller’s construction manager Steve McManaman will also be available to answer questions from local residents.

Steve Mcmanaman – Miller Senior Operations Manager gave an update on the development of West Offices.

6.1       York West Offices will be located within city walls where the former York Railway station was. The purpose of the project is to consolidate all City of York Council staff in one location for efficiency. The redevelopment will bring the former Railway Station building to public use.

6.2       Key dates:

• Contract period: January 2011 – August 2012;
• Site Working Hours 7.30am – 6.00pm Monday – Friday;
• Certain Key Deliveries may be outside these times;
• Access to site via Station Road;
• Gateman;
• Fully secured site – Tag Guard Security system;
• Estimated Maximum Workforce – 110;
• Road/Footpath closures may be required.

6.3       Local Community Involvement:

• Higher York;
• Build North Yorkshire;
• Open Day 14 February;
• York College;

-         Work Experience

-         Sponsorship of Awards

-         Using the project as a learning tool

-         Site visits

• Archeological dig – open weekend;
• NYBEP – School/College.

Residents were given opportunity to raise questions.

No questions were raised.

The proposed schemes for next year will be discussed, this is the final chance to influence the decisions on how the budget is allocated.

The List of Local Improvement schemes for year 2011/2012 that is generally supported by Micklegate Councillors was published in the Feb 2011 edition of Your Ward.

This list is subject to the schemes being legal, feasible and within budget.

Residents were given opportunity to raise questions and concerns regarding proposed schemes for year 2011 – 2012.

Q            Scheme 11-01, what sort of waste facilities will that be? I don’t think that Bokashi types of bins are most suitable for households?

A         We will supply households with suitable composting bins and we will check the feasibility of the scheme before it will go ahead. 

Your chance to ask questions about local issues and concerns

Residents were given opportunity to raise questions.

Q         Graffiti issues in the back alleys on South Bank seem to be increasing.

A         We are reporting the graffiti issues to Angus Young – Street Environment Officer who will be looking at removing them. In Micklegate we currently have the lowest reports of graffiti for some time.

The following comments were raised.

• Bishophill Action Group is looking for new members. Anyone who would like to be involved can find their details in February Your Ward newsletter.
• Councillors thanked to residents for attending the meetings and support over the last four years. There is a number of initiatives and schemes that Councillors were involved in, such as:

-         Supporting Clements Hall;

-         Redevelopment of the Electric Substation to new cycle store

-         Close cooperation with Racecourse

-         Campaign for new flood defences in Clementhorpe

-         New cycle racks on Bishopthorpe Road

-         Alley gating schemes.