Agenda item

To receive a written report from the Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, and to question the Executive Member thereon, provided any such questions are registered in accordance with the timescales and procedures set out in Standing Order 8.2.1.

A written report was received from Cllr Reid, the Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services.

 

Notice had been received of twelve questions on the report, submitted by Members in accordance with Standing Orders.  The first four questions were put and answered as follows:

 

(i)         From Cllr King

“We were told last year that the inclement weather was a one off and that the Council learned from this experience. Would the Executive Member tell us what these lessons were and how successfully they have been implemented?”

 

The Executive Member replied:

“I think that it was more a question of hoping that last year’s inclement weather was a one off rather than saying that it was.

The revised Winter Maintenance Manual was widely consulted upon with attendance by officers at all the ward meetings over the summer. Within those presentations, it was identified that York’s resilience was over and above the recommendations of the government, which, across the UK, was set based on typical winter weather experienced over the last 10 years. 

The key improvement identified as part of the experience of January 2010 was that levels of salt stocks would be increased to maximum capacity for the salt barn, a total of 3,000 tonnes. Since then, the government have published their resilience report, following the last winter. In this, they recommend that salt stocks, at the start of winter should be 48 gritting runs. For York this would be 2,400 tonnes, so here again we have exceeded the recommendations. 

In the event of extreme weather in the future, York has established a Winter Maintenance Group, which would co-ordinate decisions and release information for all services across the council.  A significant number of compliments have been received on the frequency and quality of information this year.”

 

(ii)        From Cllr Orrell

“Can the Executive Member provide a list of the number of centrally funded grit bins in each ward?”

 

The Executive Member replied:

“Members will be aware that salt bins are funded in a number of ways - centrally by the Highways department and by Parish Councils, Ward Committees and Residents Associations.   When the bin locations were reviewed the centrally funded ones were only retained where they had been used in the previous winters and/or where there was a significant gradient and high footfall.   

By Ward these are:- 

Acomb – 9

Bishopthorpe – 3

Clifton – 2

Derwent _ 2

Dringhouses and Woodthorpe – 3

Fishergate – 5

Fulford – 4

Guildhall – 3

Haxby and Wigginton – 3

Heslington – 1

Heworth – 3

Heworth W/O – 1

Holgate – 11

Hull Rd – 3

Huntington and New Easwick – 8

Micklegate – 10

Osbaldwick – 4

Rural West – 4

Skelton, Rawcliffe & Clifton W/O – 4

Strensall – 6

Westfield – 9

Wheldrake – 6

Many Ward Committees have chosen to fund bins where residents have requested them.  You can see by this list that the number quoted recently by Cllr Alexander in my own ward is as a result of Ward Committee and Residents Association funded bins.  I have only 3 centrally funded bins compared to the 11 in Cllr Alexander’s ward and therefore for him to accuse me of gerrymandering is very wide of the mark.”

 

(iii)       From Cllr King

“What contingency plans are in place to address possible floods from settled snow and ice melting?”

 

The Executive Member replied:

“Flooding is likely in the event of a rapid thaw.  The weather monitoring process not only identifies the likelihood of frost and snow, as reported to members in their updates, it also monitors the increased temperature and the rate of thaw.  The Environment Agency calculations are based on 12 inches of snow equals 1 inch of rain.  Therefore there does not appear to be a threat to York.  However, we do have 40,000 sandbags in stock and 3,000 tonnes of sand on ‘call off’ with suppliers.”

 

(iv)       From Cllr Hyman

“Can the Executive Member tell Council when this Council expects to meet the Decent Homes target to have no non Decent Homes?”

 

The Executive Member replied:

“I am pleased to be able to report that as at the 1^st December 2010 we had just 36 homes that were non-decent as per the government guidelines.  All these homes are planned for works during November and December and as such we will meet the decent homes target of the 31^st December 2010.  I hope that Council will agree with me that is a great achievement and our Officers should be congratulated on achieving this success.

I would also like to stress that the current bad weather has not affected the Tenants Choice contractors and works are progressing.”

 

The time limit for this item having expired, written responses were provided after the meeting to the remaining questions, as follows:

 

(v)        From Cllr Simpson-Laing

“Can the Executive Member tell us if she agrees with the recent Conservative Liberal Democrat Government's announcements regarding changes in rent and housing benefit?”

 

Reply:

The principle behind the proposed changes in housing benefit is to ensure that we do not subsidise people to live in the private sector on rents that other ordinary working families could not afford.

Given that the very same statement appeared in Labour’s general election manifesto, I can assume that they agree with that principle as well.

The government have recently published a consultation on the proposed changes to Council House rent. A report will be brought to Executive in January setting out our response to the proposals.

 

(vi)       From Cllr R Watson

“Would the Executive Member for Neighbourhoods/Housing please indicate the income received for littering and dog fouling penalty notices issued in each of the last 8 years?”

 

Reply:

We first started issuing Fixed Penalty Notices for Litter and receiving income in the  financial year 2004/05. The dog warden service started issuing Fixed Penalty Notices for dog fouling in June 2007.

The amounts received for litteing have varied each year from £1500 in 04/05 down to £100 in 06/07 and up to £2500 in 09/10.  There has been a steady rise in income received for dog fouling from £100 in 07/08 to £1500 in 09/10.

In the current financial year to date (2010/11) the litter fines paid amount stands at £3,725 and dog fouling notices amount to £150. Income this year is expected to be higher but until the money is actually received it would not be correct to say it has been received.

I would stress that the income received does not equate to the number of FPNs issued as some fines are paid in instalments and some are not paid in the financial year that they are issued.

I am happy to circulate a table giving the information for each of the relevant full financial years.

 

Annual Income from Littering and Dog Fouling Fixed Penalty Notices –Full financial years

 

	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
	£ 000	£ 000	£ 000	£ 000	£ 000	£ 000
Littering	1.5	0.6	0.1	2.1	1.9	2.5
Dog Fouling	n/a	n/a	n/a	0.1	0.8	1.5

 

(vii)      From Cllr Merrett

“With regard to the allotment competition, tenants home grown and Edible York initiative, would the Executive Member advise on the reasons for the delays in bringing forward additional allotment sites to address the shortage of allotments in the Micklegate, Dringhouses area and other parts of the city with substantial waiting lists for allotments that have developed in recent years?

 

Reply:

Allotments are part of the Leisure, Culture and Social Inclusion portfolio. I will ask the Executive Member to contact you with a response to the issue you raise.

 

(viii)     From Cllr Firth

“Would the Executive Member for Neighbourhoods/Housing please indicate how many people were accepted as homeless in the City in each of the last 6 years and the numbers in temporary accommodation at the end of each year?”

 

Reply:

We have seen a steady decline in the numbers of people both accepted as homeless and the numbers in temporary accommodation at the end of each year.

460 people were accepted as homeless in 2003/04 compared to 130 in 2009/10 although there was an increase of 44 in 2007/08 over the previous year.

At the end of 2003/04 there were 242 people in temporary accommodation and at the 31^st March this year there were just 79.   I am happy to circulate the full figures.

Even one person homeless is one too many but the huge increase is due to the proactive work that the Homeless team does, day in day out, to ensure that the minimum number of people find themselves in need of temporary accommodation.

Year                            Accepted                   No’s in Temp

2003/4                                    460                             242 (31^st Dec 2004)

2004/5                                    424                             259 (31^st March 2005)

2005/6                                    433                             233 (31^st March 2006)

2006/7                                    214                             207 (31^st March 2007)

2007/8                                    258                             209 (31^st March 2008)

2008/9                                    208                             167 (31^st March 2009)

2009/10                                  130                               79 (31^st March 2010)

 

(ix)       From Cllr Merrett

“With regard to the special vehicle purchased to treat main cycle tracks, would the Executive Member outline how much it has been used, and how successful it has been and what proportion of the cycle network has been treated?”

 

Reply:

This year with the help of Cycling City we purchased 1 "Eromech" machine. This was bought specifically to work on the cycle routes as it has a large brush on the front, which will not damage the central line.

It proved successful at the beginning of the gritting season, before the heavy snow fall but for the past week the cycle routes were too deep in snow for any cyclist to use so we have utilised the Euromech on some footpaths thus prioritising and making best use of our resources.

We will be working the cycle routes with a mini tractor and snow plough that can clear each side of the white line in two passes and then brushing them, where possible, with the Euromech before applying a 50/50 salt sand mix.

Cycle routes are categorised 1, 2 & 3.  However, these categories do not relate to when routes are cleared but to the order in which we stop clearing them when conditions dictate.

Cycle track clearing and treatment is an ongoing daily event when the weather conditions permit.  All the off road cycle tracks were treated twice prior to the start of the snow event.  Work continued on them during the snow falls and about 50% were cleared back to tarmac but staff were fighting a losing battle.    As fast as they cleared them they were getting covered again so they pulled off on Thursday night.    Work restarted on them on Monday and the have been treated continually since then and expect to carry on treating them for the rest of the week.  Some of the shared routes have been back to tarmac for the last couple of days so staff are hopeful, but not certain, that they should all be passable by the weekend.

 

(x)        From Cllr Vassie

“Would the Executive Member for Neighbourhoods/Housing please indicate what proportion of York’s waste has been a) recycled, b) composted and c) land filled during each of the years since 2003?”

 

Reply:

We have risen from just 15.43% of household waste recycled in 2003/2004 and 84.58% landfilled to 43.25% recycled in 2009/20 and 56.75% landfilled. What is even more startling is that in 2003/04 we sent 83.400 tonnes of our household waste to landfill and last year it was down to 52.060 tonnes. A huge increase and one that our residents should be proud of.

Lord Mayor, I have a complete table for the years in question, which I will circulate.

 

Household Waste - Recycling, Composting & Landfill

 

(xi)       From Cllr Merrett

“Whilst recognising the excellent monitoring and information work undertaken by Council staff on York's air quality, would the Executive Member confirm when York will actually meet the statutory legal limits for Nitrogen Dioxide emissions under the administrations plans?”

 

Reply:

The environmental protection unit (EPU) has been monitoring air quality in York since 1998.

Deteriorating air quality led to an Air Quality Management Area being declared in 2002 to cover the city centre. Measures in the Air Quality Action Plans and Local Transport Plans initially appeared to improve or at least stabilise air quality,

For the purpose of monitoring the impact of York’s Local Transport Plan (LTP) a local air quality indicator has been established.  This indicator measures the mean of 40 annual average results obtained from 40 diffusion tubes located within York’s city centre AQMA. The results for this indicator are shown below :

2002 - 46 ug/m2

2003 - 41 ug/m3

2004 - 35 ug/m3

2005 - 33 ug/m3

2006 - 37 ug/m3

2007 - 38 ug/m3

2008 - 40 ug/m3

2009 - 45 ug/m3

As can be seen from the figures above, nitrogen dioxide concentrations across the city were in general decline between 2002 and 2005.  However air quality has deteriorated since 2005 and a 2nd AQMA was declared in Fulford in April of this year. City of York Council is currently considering these results in relation to the preparation of its third Local Transport Plan (LTP3) and associated revisions to the Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP).

It is considered that further modal shift measures (increased walking, cycling, bus travel ) alone are insufficient to meet the air quality objectives. Therefore City of York Council is also currently developing a Low Emission Strategy (LES) for the city.A Low Emission Strategy provides a package of measures aimed at accelerating the uptake of low emission fuels and technologies within a specified area.  The aim is to reduce emissions of both local and global pollutants in a clearly defined and measurable way. The report will be considered by the executive on 1st February and will be closely linked to the AQAP and the Local Transport Plan

 

(xii)      From Cllr Sunderland

“Would the Executive Member for Neighbourhoods/Housing please indicate the end of year rent arrears totals for Council tenants in York for each year since 2002?”

 

Reply:

In 2003/04 we inherited housing rent arrears of £1,436,564, a figure that was over £36k more than the previous year.

Since then we have seen a steady decrease, down to £471,598 last year.  This is as a result of improved management practices and support given to those tenants who, for whatever reason, find themselves in financial difficulties must be better for our tenants.

Year                Current Rent Arrears

2001/2                        £1,073,051

2002/3                        £1,436,564

2003/4                        £1,352,263

2004/5                        £1,020,386

2005/6                        £   794,524

2006/7                        £   655,813

2007/8                        £   593,635

2008/9                        £   581,034

2009/10                      £   471,598