Agenda and minutes

7.00pm to 7.30pm

This is your chance to talk informally to;

Your local ward councillors

Your Street Environment Officer

Your Safer Neighbourhood Team

Your Neighbourhood Management Officer

And find out about the Local Development Framework.

The Safer Neighbourhood Team and the mobile police office will be on hand during the surgery. They will be selling high quality Oxford Armour Barrier Cable Locks for a fantastic price of £8 (they usually cost £20).

During the surgery solar-powered battery chargers, Hessian bags, recycled mousemats, pencils and low-energy bulbs were given away. The police were selling Oxford Bike locks from the mobile police office.

The minutes from the last meeting will be approved by the meeting.

Cllr. Joe Watt welcomed people to the meeting and introduced Skelton Village Hall to those that hadn’t visited before. He explained about some of the things that the ward budget had helped with, the new floor and the ramps for accessibility. He also asked people to sign in, complete the evaluation sheets and about the ‘green’ bags, battery chargers etc that could be collected after the meeting. The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

The team will continue their consultation and give you an update on your priorities from last time and information about what they’ve done so far.

Sgt Donna Musgrove introduced PC Ian Richardson and told the meeting that he had come along to answer specific questions, Donna dealt with the more strategic aspects.

Donna said that the team had met their targets of detection rate. Overall, taking out fraud on the Tesco site and similar, crime levels haven’t increased. There had been a particular issue with auto-crime which was down 21%. The priorities indicated at the last Ward Committee were reducing in level too. These were in Anti-social behaviour, Responding to anti-social behaviour and speeding.

Operation Consequence which is to reduce anti-social behaviour will run particularly at the end of April.

Responding to service calls, there is a 24 hour review of how long it takes to respond. Individual cases are studied. If anyone calls keep the reference number and note how long it takes to respond.

Speeding, PCs & PCSOs have been given training in Pro Laser Speed Gun but it cannot be deployed due to force-wide policies. A pro-active matrix has been deployed by the fire service, Moor Lane will be the next priority area.

From 21 to 26^th April ‘Operation Dawn’ will focus on reducing crime. This is a city-wide initiative to reduce crime.

March this year compared to the same period last year crime is down 50%.

Anti-sociall behaviour call-outs so far have been; January – 35, February – 30, March – 48. The March figure is high due to the early Easter. Some of the incidents happen at one of the hot-spots McDonalds which have been granted a licence to open 24 hours.

Operation Consequence is still going on and is focussing on several hot-spots. Generally speaking crime is on a downward trend.

Q. Do you know anything about the two house break-ins in Skelton recently?

A. One was a standard break-in the other what is called a ‘two-in-one’ where they also stole the car keys and the car. The car was recovered later not far away.

Some of the Ward’s young people will tell us about their hopes and ambitions and what there is to do in the ward. Sharron Hutchinson will introduce the Youth Services Team and give an update on their activities.

Sharron Hutchinson, Area Team Leader, introduced the Youth Team. Terry Kiernan Senior Youth Worker, Jay and Lizzy, Youth Workers. She also introduced two young people who were going to talk to the meeting, they were Louis and Phil.

Terry told the meeting about the activities of the Youth Service.

In Rawcliffe they meet on Mondays from 5.00pm to 7.00pm. Usually there are between 20 to 25 young people at the sessions. They cover; arts & crafts, sport, football, cooking and so on. Some of the budget supplied by the ward committee helped to buy new equipment. Young people get involved in preparing and deciding the programme of events. The aim is to develop social skills and augment their education.

The plans for the future involve working more closely with the police to promote a football tournament as part of Operation Dawn. To hold some outdoor activities, a music workshop and a trip away.

In Skelton the sessions are held between 6.30pm and 8.30pm. there are between 10 to 15 young people at these sessions. They cover; arts & crafts, sport, football, cooking, music, sexual health and so on. As in Rawcliffe young people are part of the management committee and get involved in planning and arranging the programme of activities.

Some of the activities planned are; a first-aid workshop because it is useful to prospective employers and looks good on a CV. Another music workshop, outdoor activities and a residential course.

In Clifton Without the service still operates a session at Canon Lee School but is also doing outreach work there. They spend two to three hours going out and approaching young people on the streets to try to develop a relationship with them with a view to encouraging them to attend sessions and activities.

The team is trying to encourage more young women to come along to the sessions in all areas.

Louis then spoke about the benefits of the Youth Service and what they young people get out of it.

It’s a safe place to meet friends and it keeps them off the streets. They learn new skills and about; sexual health, music technology, cooking, arts & crafts. They are trying to organise a weekend fishing trip.

It’s a safe and warm place to meet new people and to approach older-people they feel safe with to ask for advice. They have access to music kit, break dance workshops and things they wouldn’t normally be able to do.

Sometimes the police interfere when they are just out enjoying themselves.

Some of the equipment they have bought is; A Wii, a new television, table-tennis table, pool table, cooking equipment etc.

Q. What do you cook?

A. We try to cook healthy eating, we’ve cooked organic white bread, and curries.

Terry said that the also do a taste test where they cook something and see if they like it, which they normally do.

Q. We’ve seen no sign of youth workers in the area of Clifton Library recently, what has the serice been doing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Iain Dunn will explain what the Street Environment Team has done in the ward and how some of the York Pride money has been spent.

Iain Dunn gave a presentation about the work of the Street Environment Team and the York Pride Budget. It covered the general aspects of their work, street cleaning, graffiti, rubbish and so on. He also told the meeting that some of the York Pride budget can be spent on improvements needed in the area, Adding drop-kerbs, repairing fences, street name-plates etc. Anyone who had any suggestions or if anyone saw anything that needed repairs if they call 551551 the Street Environment Officer can see what they can do.

Q. Do you think that a graffiti wall would be a good idea?

A. Not really, the police are trying to stop all graffiti and the problem is getting worse. Encouraging graffiti is not a good idea.

Q. Who’s responsibility is sewer clearance? Is it the resident or the water authority?

A. The law comes into effect in April 2010 when it will become the responsibility of the householder on who’s land the sewer is situated.

Q. Who asked for the fence to be repainted on Rawcliffe Recreation Field? I asked for it to be removed to stop youths sitting on it drinking and causing problems and making the police’s job more difficult.

A. The request would have come in from either the parish council, the Rawcliffe Recreation Association Management Committee or a resident.

Q. The footpath on the A19 is in a poor state of repair. There’s several hundred yards which needs resurfacing and the grass trimming back.

A. If you report it to 551551 it will go on the list of things to be considered.

Q. There are some signs on Moorlands Road which look like the brown tourist signs, they are placed in such a way which obscures the view to the left.

A. Iain Dunn told the meeting he’d report the matter to highways.

The councillors will let the meeting know what’s happening with the Eco Town.

Cllr. Moore told the meeting that the Department for Communities and Local Government had issued a 56-page document only that day. 15 proposed sites were going to be taken forward. One of these was to be in the ‘Leeds City Region’. In the summary of the document the Eco towns were described as having to have a separate and distinctive identity and be exemplary in environmental technology with a 0% carbon footprint and 30%-50% are expected to be ‘affordable’ housing.

The development at Clifton Gate is still possible and not much has really changed since the last meeting.

Your opportunity to discuss local issues affecting you within the ward.

The split of the Ward Committee Budget between the three Parishes was challenged, in so far that the apportionment to each Parish was not considered equitable to the value they were receiving.

It was requested that the Ward Councillor's demonstrate to the respective Parish Councils that their funding is equitable to the three Individual Parishes.

It was stated that the split that was worked out is as it was in the minutes and the Councillors agree with the figures. 

£13,470 to Clifton Without                       40.92%

£10,476 to Rawcliffe                    31.83%

£8,969 to Skelton                                  27.25%

This takes into account the youth work across the parishes and grants to allotments etc. which covers all the parishes.

However, representatives from the Parish Council didn’t agree with the split. There was some debate over the figures and the relative amounts to each parish which could not be resolved at the meeting.

The chair asked for the topic to be discussed outside the meeting. The hope was expressed by the Chair that everyone could work more closely in the future. The ward councillors were invited to go to the Parish Council meetings.

Rawcliffe Grange and Rawcliffe Recreation Field. A resident went to their neighbours, who had signed a petition last September. The people they saw said there had been no improvement in addressing anti-social behaviour. There has been an increase in moped in the area. Cllr. Moore told the meeting that he had contacted Barratt Homes and was waiting to hear from the managing director about holding a meeting. There is in place a multi-agency plan which has made significant progress. This wil be added to in Operation Dawn. A resident explained that she has been supplied with a panic alarm fitted by the police, but that she had to dial 999 the previous week.

The remaining solar-powered battery chargers, recycled mousemats and pencils and low-energy bulbs were distributed.