Agenda item

To deal with the following questions to the Executive Leader and / or other Executive Members, in accordance with Standing Order 11.3(a):

 

(i)         To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr Potter:

“Will the Executive Member for City Strategy join with me in expressing great disappointment at the cut to the funding for Park & Ride sites at Askham Bar, the A59 and Wigginton Road and will he inform Council what action he is taking to get his government to reverse this situation?”

 

(ii)        To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr D’Agorne:

“Regarding Fulford Road public transport improvements, what is the average inbound bus journey time now, compared with the experience prior to the changes to the layout?”

 

(iii)       To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr D’Agorne:

“Regarding Fulford Road public transport improvements, has there been any significant increase in the outbound journey time since the changes?”

 

(iv)       To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr D’Agorne:

“Regarding Fulford Road public transport improvements, what further action is proposed to reduce the illegal air quality levels at the junction of Main Street and Heslington Lane?”

 

(v)        To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr Kirk:

“Would the Executive Member confirm that the recent coalition government announcement about the abolition of the RSS imposed housing number targets means that the City's draft green belt is now free from the threat of development?”

 

(vi)       To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr Horton:

“Can the Executive Member for City Strategy comment on the current running reliability of the ftr, whether this meets agreements made between the City of York Council in 2006 and how he plans to ensure that First improve service reliability, with particular concern to early morning running?”

 

(vii)      To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr Firth:

“In view of the promise by the newly elected Member of Parliament for the Outer York Constituency that he would ensure that funding was made available to provide a dual carriageway on the line of the A1237 northern by pass, would the Executive Member for City Strategy indicate how much additional funding for transport has been made available to York as a result of the MPs representations?”

 

(viii)     To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr Potter:

“Will the Executive Member for City Strategy write to the Transport Minister and support his call to introduce a 20 mph speed limit to all town centres and residential streets across the country?”

 

(ix)       To the Executive Member for City Strategy from Cllr Keith Orrell:

“Would the Executive Member for City Strategy pass on the congratulations of the Council to all who have been involved in reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents in the City by 36% during the last 2 years?”

 

(x)        To the Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, from Cllr D’Agorne:

            “What is the projected impact on recycling rates for 2011-12 and 2012-13 of the roll-out of kerbside recycling and fortnightly collection being extended to all properties?”

 

(xi)       To the Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, from Cllr Simpson-Laing:

“Will the Executive Member indicate whether she will write to the Housing and Communities Ministers to request that they do not hold up the Housing Revenue Account review, initiated by the former Housing Minister John Healy MP, so that the building of much needed council housing is not held up?”

 

(xii)      To the Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, from Cllr D’Agorne:

“What work has been done on developing a waste reduction alternative to the 25 year PFI waste treatment plants proposed for York and North Yorkshire for this authority to consider before committing to the contract?”

 

(xiii)     To the Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, from Cllr D’Agorne:

“What additional annual costs will face the Council:

a)     to pay for the loans and

b) to pay if the volume of waste is less than projected over the lifetime of the contract?”

 

(xiv)     To the Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, from Cllr Simpson-Laing:

“Will the Executive Member pledge to residents in private rented accommodation in York that they will not lose their homes when the cuts to Housing Benefit take place, and will she outline how the Council will protect these residents?”

Fourteen questions had been submitted to Executive Members under Standing Order 11.3(a).  The guillotine having fallen at this point, Members agreed to receive written answers to their questions, as set out below:

 

(i)         To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr Potter:

“Will the Executive Member for City Strategy join with me in expressing great disappointment at the cut to the funding for Park & Ride sites at Askham Bar, the A59 and Wigginton Road and will he inform Council what action he is taking to get his government to reverse this situation?”

 

            Reply

The funding for the Access York Phase 1 scheme has not been cut but suspended pending a review of the entire programme. It is understood that progress on all of the Transport Major Schemes across the country (approximately 60) which had not already commenced has been halted pending the spending review and update of the government's scheme prioritisation methodology.

The Park & Ride scheme has a relatively low cost, a high value for money (when assessed against the previous criteria) and excellent sustainability credentials. It is therefore anticipated that funding for the scheme will be released once the review is complete however delivery of the full package may be over a longer timeframe than originally anticipated.

Alternative funding sources are being investigated but the low level of match funding (10%) available locally severely restricts options. Lobbying of the relevant Minister will be pursued however it is highly unlikely that there will be any movement until the funding and prioritisation parameters are finalised in the autumn.

 

(ii)        To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr D’Agorne:

“Regarding Fulford Road public transport improvements, what is the average inbound bus journey time now, compared with the experience prior to the changes to the layout?”

 

            Reply

Here is the data for service 7 showing the average AM Peak (0700-0930) timings inbound on Fulford Rd on two comparable weeks in June 2009 & 2010.

The figures shown in the 'Actual Run Time' section are the average number of minutes elapsed since departing the Park & Ride site. The figures in the 'Dwell time' section are the average time in minutes spent at each stop.

At a glance, it appears that buses are taking longer on average to get from the site to Fulford Main St, but moving along Fulford Rd substantially faster than in 2009

However it is perhaps a little early to draw too many conclusions as the change has not really had time to bed down yet. Further checks will be made later in the year.

 

(iii)       To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr D’Agorne:

“Regarding Fulford Road public transport improvements, has there been any significant increase in the outbound journey time since the changes?”

 

Reply

 

(iv)       To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr D’Agorne:

“Regarding Fulford Road public transport improvements, what further action is proposed to reduce the illegal air quality levels at the junction of Main Street and Heslington Lane?”

 

Reply

As I have explained previously, the Executive responsibility for air quality management rest with the Neighbourhoods Directorate at present.

On the narrow issue of public transport contributions to air quality I would comment that the period from 2008 to the present day has seen a significant improvement to the quality of bus providing services on Fulford Road.

In brief:

·        Park & Ride (7): New, Euro V (EEV) buses brought in to service Autumn 2008 with lower NOX, CO and Particulate Matter emissions levels than the previous vehicles.

·        Arriva, route 415: New, Euro V (EEV) double deck buses brought in to service October 2009 - impact as above.

·        Transdev, route 24/26, Euro IV buses brought in to replace the previous owners' collection of older vehicles - impact as above.

·        Plans for the next year or two include looking to increase the minimum emission standards for school and local bus services (both being retendered in 2011) to Euro II / III respectively.

 

(v)        To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr Kirk:

“Would the Executive Member confirm that the recent coalition government announcement about the abolition of the RSS imposed housing number targets means that the City's draft green belt is now free from the threat of development?”

 

            Reply

On the 6^th July the Secretary of state for communities in the Coalition Government announced the revocation of Regional Strategies (RSSs) with immediate effect.

He made the announcement in a letter sent to chief planning officers in Local Planning Authorities across England. It included the guidance highlighted below.

Local planning authorities will be responsible for establishing the right level of local housing provision in their area, and identifying a long term supply of housing land without the burden of regional housing targets. Some authorities may decide to retain their existing housing targets that were set out in the revoked Regional Strategies. Others may decide to review their housing targets. We would expect that those authorities should quickly signal their intention to undertake an early review so that communities and land owners know where they stand.

It is important for the planning process to be transparent, and for people to be able to understand why decisions have been taken. Local authorities should continue to collect and use reliable information to justify their housing supply policies and defend them during the LDF examination process. They should do this in line with current policy in PPS3.

Local planning authorities should continue to use their plans to identify sufficient sites and broad areas for development to deliver their housing ambitions for at least 15 years from the date the plan is adopted. Authorities should also have a five year land supply of deliverable sites. This too will need to reflect any changes to the overall local housing ambition.

We are currently considering the implications of the changes to the national planning system for our Local Development Framework including what this means in terms of setting long term Green Belt boundaries.

My view is, though, that our future plans can be fashioned to ensure that the draft green belt boundaries are confirmed and that our intention to do so will be subject to a decision by the Council’s Executive in the early autumn.

 

(vi)       To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr Horton:

“Can the Executive Member for City Strategy comment on the current running reliability of the ftr, whether this meets agreements made between the City of York Council in 2006 and how he plans to ensure that First improve service reliability, with particular concern to early morning running?”

 

Reply

I am aware that there was an incident a few weeks go which prompted a resident to complain about the non arrival of the early 6:30am service. I believe that First have written to eh complainant apologising My understanding is that the issue related to the non availability of staff.

The sheet below shows the deviation from the scheduled times. As the sheet demonstrates, in the vast majority of cases, the services are operating within the Traffic Commissioner's designated 'on-time' window of 1min early to 5 mins late.  The Council is currently working with First to introduce a Punctuality Improvement Partnership which will place responsibilities on both First and the Council to further improve the reliability of services.

Both parties are now using the real time data made available through the Bus Operator Reports software to pinpoint where and when the delays are occurring to alter timetables and consider improvements to junctions/bus priority measures, etc. First have recently undertaken work to improve the reliability of route 5 using data from the Real Time system and corresponding tweaks are being made to the timetable which will improve the service performance and the Council will encourage First to take a similar approach to route 4 services.

 

 

(vii)      To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr Firth:

“In view of the promise by the newly elected Member of Parliament for the Outer York Constituency that he would ensure that funding was made available to provide a dual carriageway on the line of the A1237 northern by pass, would the Executive Member for City Strategy indicate how much additional funding for transport has been made available to York as a result of the MPs representations?”

 

Reply

No additional transport funding has been allocated to the Council since the election.

Until the spending review is complete and the mechanism for distribution of funding finalised it is not expected that there will be any opportunity for the submission of a bid for funding for the improvement of the Outer Ring Road. The Access York Phase 2 funding bid to the Regional Transport Board, which included improvements to the Outer Ring Road roundabouts, was allocated to the reserve list of schemes in the regional programme due to the funding being oversubscribed. The submission of a formal bid to the DfT was not permitted unless the scheme was identified in the programme.

When investigated in 2008 the full dualling of the ring road, including grade separated junctions, did not meet the value for money criteria identified in the previous guidance for major scheme business cases. In addition there were concerns over the environmental impact of such significant capacity improvements which could lead to substantial increases in traffic levels and greenhouse gas emissions.

It is anticipated that the projects which are already in the major scheme system will be reviewed first leaving limited resources for new schemes. It is also not clear whether the regional allocation system will continue under the new arrangements. The options for bidding for funds for upgrading the ring road will be investigated immediately the revised guidance for major schemes is published.

 

(viii)     To the Executive Member for City Strategy, from Cllr Potter:

“Will the Executive Member for City Strategy write to the Transport Minister and support his call to introduce a 20 mph speed limit to all town centres and residential streets across the country?”

 

Reply

No

 

(ix)       To the Executive Member for City Strategy from Cllr Keith Orrell:

“Would the Executive Member for City Strategy pass on the congratulations of the Council to all who have been involved in reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured in road accidents in the City by 36% during the last 2 years?”

 

Reply

I am pleased to record the Council’s thanks to all this who have contributed towards this major improvement in accident figures. Continuation of this trend would mean that the cost to the community in both financial and emotions senses would be greatly reduced.

 

(x)        To the Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, from Cllr D’Agorne:

            “What is the projected impact on recycling rates for 2011-12 and 2012-13 of the roll-out of kerbside recycling and fortnightly collection being extended to all properties?”

 

Reply

The recycling roll-out will be completed by December 2010.  The impact has already been accounted for in our projections, which, along with waste minimisation, is targeted to reduce the waste going to landfill by 6.8% from current levels.

 

(xi)       To the Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, from Cllr Simpson-Laing:

“Will the Executive Member indicate whether she will write to the Housing and Communities Ministers to request that they do not hold up the Housing Revenue Account review, initiated by the former Housing Minister John Healy MP, so that the building of much needed council housing is not held up?”

 

            Reply

The Council is committed to ensuring that the HRA review is completed quickly & comprehensively as possible to ensure the best possible outcome for our tenants.

On the 22nd June 2010, the Executive approved the draft response to the consultation on the HRA Subsidy Review, indicating that we wished to voluntary opt out of the current system, despite this meaning the Council will take on approximately £90m of additional debt.  It is clear that the coalition government are committed to reviewing the existing subsidy system, which currently see York lose in excess of £6m per annum of its rental income.  At this stage I feel that our response, which included some suggestions that would be beneficial to York is sufficient to indicate our desire to build new Council houses.

 

(xii)      To the Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, from Cllr D’Agorne:

“What work has been done on developing a waste reduction alternative to the 25 year PFI waste treatment plants proposed for York and North Yorkshire for this authority to consider before committing to the contract?”

 

            Reply

York signed up to the Waste PFI process a number of years ago which has brought us to the position we are now at.  The York and North Yorkshire Partnership have been monitoring the markets for the last 8 years.  York is committed to waste minimisation, re-use and recycling, and will continue to strive for improvement, but the treatment plant with its Mechanical Treatment front end, its Aerobic Digester and the energy from waste plant is a very creative solution that give York the certainty that it can meet the Government’s and European landfill diversion targets.  It gives York certainty that it will not incur huge financial penalties for failure to divert.

 

(xiii)     To the Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, from Cllr D’Agorne:

“What additional annual costs will face the Council:

a)     to pay for the loans and

b) to pay if the volume of waste is less than projected over the lifetime of the contract?”

 

Reply

            a)            No loans have been taken out by the Council.

b)         The project has been built on guidance given by DEFRA and the Treasury and they are comfortable with our projections. There is significant flexibility in the waste volumes expected to be processed.

 

(xiv)     To the Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, from Cllr Simpson-Laing:

“Will the Executive Member pledge to residents in private rented accommodation in York that they will not lose their homes when the cuts to Housing Benefit take place, and will she outline how the Council will protect these residents?”

 

Reply

This is really a question for the Executive Member for Resources as Housing Benefit is in his remit but I will attempt to answer it as follows:-

The Council cannot restrain action by private landlords to seek eviction if there are rent arrears. The Council can of course, through our Housing service, encourage a constructive dialogue with private landlords to adopt a more sensitive approach. We can also publicise the changes, direct customers to appropriate sources  of  support and assistance and inform individual customers  of  the likely impact on them.  Unfortunately this detail cannot be provided as yet as the guidance on the impending changes is awaited.

In terms of financial help from the Benefits Service we could use the Discretionary Housing Payment Fund as appropriate and whilst we are informed that DHP funding will increase by 50% nationally in 2011/12,  this fund is currently under significant pressure and the Council has to contribute to it to meet current and increasing demand (subject to a fixed maximum ceiling). 

Our services will work together to ensure we provide as much support as we can to our customers who are affected by these changes.