Agenda item

Report to follow.

Members considered a report that provided an overview and update on the services and functions managed by Public Realm. This included delivery through in house provision, the private sector and through a variety of arrangements with the community and voluntary sector.

The Chair expressed concern regarding reports being received in a timely fashion. The Director or of Environment, Transport and Planning, Strategy and Contracts Manager, Head of Environmental Services and Executive Member for Environment and Climate Change introduced themselves to the Committee. Officers provided an update on the core functions and areas covered by public realm, including challenges and opportunities for services. The Chair thanked staff in the public realm teams for their work.

In response to questions from Members, Officers clarified that

·        Regarding conveying to residents on grass cutting that councillors had 100% agreed to the pollinator strategy, this was set out in the content of responses to residents.

·        There were three types of machines for street sweeping. Two small articulated machines operated in the city centre and occasionally outside, for example on Lord Mayors Walk and the other four machines; two road sweepers and two path sweepers, work outside the bar walls.

·        The frequency of grass cutting was being looked at.

·        Regarding HGV training, there was a staff training agreement to retain staff which is being rolled out across the wider Environmental Services.

·        The articulated mini sweeper has a fixed body and the cab moved left and right.

·        Regarding the terms used for meadows, this was open to interpretation and the Strategy and Contracts Manager undertook to look into the different terms being used and work being done on Chestnut watermeadow in the Haxby and Wigginton Ward.

·        The development of wildflower meadows was mostly resident led.

·        The 56 corporate days of volunteers referred to when staff and volunteers were working on site.

·        The council was doing a pilot with the University of York on establishing a maintenance plan at the Knavesmire as a model. The Knavesmire was chosen as for the pilot after contact from Ward Councillors and the outcome of the pilot would a template for other sites. It was noted that mistakes had been made with a number of sites and this would be addressed as part of the restructure of Environmental Services.

·        Regarding progress on the pollinator strategy, there was an update to the Climate Emergency Policy and Scrutiny Committee which included an update on progress against actions. There was also w Ward upwards driven implementation of the pollinator strategy.

·        Members noted a number of issues with parking on verges and encouraged Officers to work with Parish Councils. It was also requested that there be community payback in one village in Rural West Ward and for there to be cleaning up of leaves beyond the city centre. Officers advised that parking on verges had been to scrutiny over a number of years and that that the Department for Transport (DfT) had talked about outlawing pavement and verge parking. It was noted that community payback chose the where they worked and they had worked in outer city areas such as Dunnington.

·        Asked if there had been less leaf cleaning, Officers reported that here had not been less and the challenge this year was weather, resulting in looking at leaf collecting being extended by two weeks. It was noted that leaf cleaning teams were out every day and they worked with highways on working on gulleys during road closures.

·        It was explained that grandfather rights to drive HGV vehicles referred to being able to drive a 7.5 tonne vehicle on a driving licence if the licence was before 1999.

·        Regarding the use of electric caged vans, it was confirmed that there 16 electric vehicles in use, with 22 being at Hazel Court or Harewood Whin. There was 11 vans at Hessay having caging fitted and concerning electric vehicle charging, this was a month behind schedule. It was noted that the electric caged vans were now more expensive.

·        It was noted that there had been issues with the two electric bin wagons and they had been sent back to the manufacturer with all expenses and hire costs covered by the manufacturer.

·        It was confirmed that ‘goose scarers’ were a sub group of the Friends of Rowntree Park. The issue of the management geese in Rowntree Park had been to scrutiny previously. The geese were shot humanely.

·        The cost of running the service of the public toilet provision in the city was £95k. There had been problems with staffing of and misuse of accessible toilets and there had been a reply to the public speaker. There was to be a meeting with the contractor regarding the signage and maintenance of the accessible toilets and it was hoped that problems with accessible toilets would be addressed, which would be on a case by case basis. It was noted that the points raised by York Disability Rights Forum in their email of 12 September 2022 would be looked into. It was noted that an Access Officer had been appointed.

·        It was confirmed that there were break clauses in the contract for accessible toilets which related to performance. This did not include items that the council held liability for.

·        Referring to the points raised by the public speaker, Officers were asked what the plan was to make sure accessible toilets were usable. Officers explained that the council had worked with the police on addressing drug use and vandalism and were looking at making the toilets cashless. There was a number of solutions to problems and the officers were working with the Changing Places team on options to improve the estate. It was noted that it would cost more money to open the accessible toilets later and there needed to be an awareness around the cost.

·        Concerning a business continuity plan due to the floods, staff were multi-tasking where possible and prioritising tasks to where they were needed.

·        Asked if the council was good or proactive enough in communicating to residents, officers advised that information was updated on the council website. Regarding public realm, notifications were put out to Councillors. It was accepted that communication was not as good as it could be and would  hopefully be addressed through the restructure.

·        Regarding how secure farm tenancies were on the strays, these were not under stress and the farmers paid to graze the land. Anecdotally this seemed robust.

·        Concerning staffing, there were six FTE estate workers and twelve FTE city centre workers. Overall there was 65 staff in the public realm team including the city centre and estate workers.

·        Regarding how dirty the city centre was, this was not getting worse and the nature of the historic environment made it harder to clean. The council had started to work with YorkBID on work on a deep cleanse. A cleaning schedule had tried to be maintained but can be impacted by events such as the flood response.

The Chair thanked officers and the Executive Member for Environment and Climate Emergency for attending the meeting. The Executive Member thanked the committee for their debate.

Resolved: That the content of the report be noted.

Reason:     To improve the care and maintenance of the local environment including roads and streets, the city centre and parks and green space.

[The meeting adjourned from 18.52 to 19.01].