Agenda and minutes

You will have an opportunity to talk to:

§         Your Ward Councillors

§         Your Street Environment Officer

§         Your Safer Neighbourhoods Policing Team

§         Your Young People’s Services Officer

§         Your Neighbourhood Management Officer

During the surgery residents had the opportunity to talk to Councillors, City of York Council staff and the Safer Neighbourhood Team. Several residents talked to the councillors and the Safer Neighbourhood Team. There were several displays including one about the Local Development Framework.

Residents were welcomed to the meeting by Cllr. Waudby, chair of the meeting.

John Swires, Group Manager told the meeting about their Service Provision Review. Part of the on-going consultation was to consider if there are enough crews and appliances to provide fire safety and community fire safety. York has an increasing population and the review will look at making sure that they have the right service at the right places.

There are several options being looked at – these will be available in more detail from the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue web site. In short they are;

• Replace the existing fire station in Clifford Street with a new station.
• Move the fire safety and Building Control Depts. out to increase the space.
• Build an additional, smaller fire station possibly in the Hull Road area
• Move it out altogether.
• Make the Huntington Fire station full-time.

The façade of the fire station in Clifford street is a listed building and will be kept but the space available isn’t enough to replace the station with what’s there now. It would mean that there would be one appliance and the river rescue team based at Clifford Street and another appliance and the aerial appliance based somewhere else.

If residents look in the press and on local media and at the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue web site all the details will be available for people to let their opinions be heard.

Insp. Mark Iveson and Sgt. Donna Musgrove introduced the team and explained that they would leave after their presentation to continue on patrol.

A comment was made to thank the police and to say that they are more visible and many people see the team patrolling.

Insp. Mark Iveson, the new Inspector for the area, introduced himself and told the meeting about his background. He has 23 years experience as a police officer in York. He started on foot patrol in the City and them spent 10 year in the traffic division. He was one of the investigating officers into the Selby rail crash. He served with the National Intelligence Model and was a Detective Inspector in Harrogate. He is now back as a uniformed Inspector. The areas he’s responsible for are the North West of the City, Skelton, Rawcliffe and Clifton Without Ward, Haxby and Wigginton, Strensall and New Earswick Ward, Heworth, Bell Farm, Tang Hall and Hull Road.

The crime figures for the area are good there is a general downward trend. To be realistic in the current economic climate there may be some increases but there have been reductions for the past 5 years. Overall crime is down 34% but these reductions may be difficult to maintain. North Yorkshire Police has to target resources where they are needed and some resources may come in from other divisions if crime rates rise.

Q. Does anti-social behaviour come under crime?

A. It depends on what it is. If it involves criminal behaviour or breaches of the peace it does. Graffiti is criminal damage but each case of anti-social behaviour has to be considered separately.

North Yorkshire Police does have monthly meetings of thematic groups where each area is looked at. One of these groups is concerned with anti-social behaviour and the force does take it seriously.

Q. Did the bad weather over summer have an effect on the 34% reduction?

A. I don’t have the crime figures for previous years to hand. I think that the increase in PCSOs, patrols and higher visibility will have more of a bearing.

There are 3 teams in the area and 2 officers from each team ride cycles this means that an officer can respond to incidents extremely quickly and visibly.

Q. I’ve heard that the latest shift for PCSOs ends at 10pm.

A. At the moment it is but work is being done to extend it to midnight. People in post currently will have to be canvassed to see if they’re willing to do it. But all of the team are very committed and often ask to work beyond their hours on a voluntary basis.

From February next year the shift pattern will change to 3 days off rather than the 4 taken off under the current shift pattern. At the moment the team is based in Fulford Police Station but soon it will move to Clifton Moor Police Station which means the shift will start and finish in the area it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Andrew Williams told residents that what he does was covered in the latest edition of the Your Ward newsletter. He said that he relies on residents to let the team know about any problems in the area like fly-tipping, fly-posting, graffiti and rubbish. If residents see any problems they should call the York Pride Action Line on 551551. The York Pride budget will cover things like repainting, putting no fly-tipping signs etc. The team also give out stubbies to put cigarette ends in to avoid littering.

Q. Last year we had a problem of fly-tipping on Rawcliffe Beck, there were 10 pallets, step-ladders and so on there. This wouldn’t be a problem if you put a fence up.

A. The land belongs to the Environment Agency.

Q. Can anything be done about the huge amounts of ‘For Sale’ signs? Are there rules as to what is permitted? At the entrance to Fylingdales Avenue there are too many signs.

A. I’ll have a look at it and refer it to Planning Enforcement if it needs it.

Q. Are you linked to the York Pride Line? Can I point out that when people call they never get any feedback or acknowledgement.

A. There are developments and improvements to the service – I will take your suggestion and feed it back.

If you ring the call centre on 551550 they’ll pass the call on or make sure we get a message.

There is some good news of the graffiti front. Some offenders on probation have been committed to 2 days a week cleaning graffiti using powerwash. We  want to develop this way of resolving the issue.

Mike Proctor, Deputy Chief Executive, York NHS Foundation Trust came to encourage people to become members of the Trust.

The Foundation Trust has been in position for 18 months. It is free of government control to determine what service it offers and how to do it. After financial assessment we can begin to fit the service to the local area. Members have the opportunity for more influence on how it develops. The board of governors are elected from the membership. Currently the membership is 11,000. People can commit as much time as they want. They can take an active role or just receive the newsletter.

The Health Authority in York has top rating and York Hospital is an important part of this. What we want to do falls into 8 key areas.

1. Real focus on patient safety.
2. Perform well against benchmarks and continue to improve waiting times
3. Make sure there’s enough capacity, beds etc.
4. Give ‘customers’ free choice to any hospital in the country.
5. Be a good employer and retain good staff.
6. Develop and agree a strategic vision.
7. Develop the site and improve some of the ward blocks.
8. Be part of governments policy making – felt that NHS policy is determined within the M25.

As one of the biggest employers in York we want to be a key part and build relationships locally.

If you take part now you’ll have an input into how the trust is shaped. At some time we’ll all need to use the trust so we should have a say in how it develops.

Membership has grown. There’s no other hospital for 25 miles. Local people have a vested interest in making the hospital fantastic.

Q. Are there any plans to have a railway stop at the hospital?

A. We’d love that to happen. However we have a new car park starting – the contract has been signed and the construction will start within a year to double the spaces. One of the reasons we decide to keep to the current site is that if we’d decided to move it would take 15 years for a decision to be made and we couldn’t update anything on the current site until then.

We are actively discouraging staff from using cars and will extend parking for a while to provide spaces for visitors and out-patients.

Q. Is the NHS Foundation Trust the same as the Primary Care Trust (PCT) whose role is to commission health services and provide mental health services?

A. We’re separate but we are reliant on the PCT for the vast majority of our funds. The PCT has been in financial turmoil, two years ago it was given £10M less than the work was billed for. We are providing a cheaper service clinically and keeping patients out of hospital where we can.

Q. What’s happening at the Bootham Park site?

A. That is a mental health facility run by the PCT. We have a few offices on the site we rent from them. There is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The chair, Irene Waudby announced that there were two additional schemes that the Ward Committee will consider, They both came from Clifton Without Parish Council and had been missed off the ballot list due to an administrative error. They are a grant to install a bus shelter on Rawcliffe Lane at a cost of £5,000 and a grant to refurbish the bus shelter on Green Lane for £1,000.

Cllr. Waudby and Cllr. Moore declared their interest in the schemes submitted by Rawcliffe Parish Council as they are members.

The first schemes to be discussed were number 4 and number 30 on the ballot – a grant to Rawcliffe Parish Council to erect a fence on the boundary of Rawcliffe Recreation Field at two sites. The Parish Council have been looking at the scheme to replace the old fencing to increase safety and security and to stop people getting onto the site when they shouldn’t. The stile at Staindale Close will be replaced by a kissing gate.

A parish councillor from Clifton Without declared that the parish council did not support scheme number 8 – the installation of a bus shelter at Malton Way and Shipton Road.

Scheme 15 – A bench near the Scout Hut on Green Lane. A representative of Clifton Without Parish Council said that they’d put in more ambitious schemes which seem to have been trimmed. Comment was made about the allocation of schemes on the ballot paper and that the parish councils had not been involved in determining what schemes went on the ballot paper.

Scheme 16 – A bench near Clifton Moor Church and Community Centre.

Where is the bench going to be? That is a good question, if it gets support and it is approved we will consult with people as to where it should be.

Scheme 19 – the height restriction bar to prevent unauthorised access to Rawcliffe Recreation Field. This has been suggested to stop travellers getting onto the site as they have done recently.

Scheme number 20 – installation of bollards at the South side of Howard Drive/Shipton Road. A resident asked how much has already been spent on this. The response was that there aren’t any bollards there at the moment. The problem has been that since the installation of bollards at Manor Lane the problem has relocated to Howard Drive.

This is only a suggestion and an opportunity for people to comment on schemes. The only offence would be causing damage to public property, if that happens people should call 551551 to report it immediately.

Scheme 24 – The notice board at the junction of Fylingdales Avenue and Shipton Road – It was pointed out that the board would serve a wide area not just the estate.

Scheme 25 – a grant to Skelton Village Hall to provide events for the elderly - was supported and it was mentioned that a ward committee grant had been used to completely refurbish the hall, including installing a new floor and access  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Cllr Waudby suggested that time was extremely short and the meeting should have closed already and asked if the meeting could take just a few questions.

Q. Did you know about the questionnaire circulated by Safer York Partnership in the Rawcliffe Recreation Association area and have the councillors received any complaints about Rawcliffe Recreation Field?

A. We’ve only just been told about the questionnaire. We knew there were some historic problems in the area and that the police have dealt with them. Jane Mowatt from Safer York Partnership will have to report back to the City Strategy EMAP and we will await their comment. Apart from an incident with travellers we haven’t received any complaints form residents about Rawcliffe Recreation Field.

Q. Last year we had a heated discussion. We felt that Clifton Without wasn’t getting a fair hearing. The chair agreed that we should all work together. We would like to invite all the councillors to attend Clifton Without Parish Council meetings.

A. The councillors said they would attend, time permitting, but that they were extremely busy and often had several meetings in one day.

Q. The councillors were asked about ward team meetings.

A. They replied that they hold these four times a year and that the Councillors, Safer Neighbourhood Team, Street Environment Officer, Young People’s Service Officer and Neighbourhood Management Officer attended these.

Q. A representative from Clifton Without Parish Council said that they felt that Clifton Without wasn’t being represented by the ward committee and that the only opportunity for the parish council to lobby the ward committee was by writing letters.

A. Cllr. Waudby repeated that the Ward Committee will consider without prejudice the two schemes mentioned at the beginning of the meeting and that the results of the voting would be included in the next Your Ward newsletter and that the approved schemes would be announced at the meeting in January.