Agenda item

·       Introductions

·       Neighbourhood Action Plan – a discussion in small groups with the aim to identify solutions to challenges at a ward level and develop an action plan

·       Have your say

 

Chaired by Cllr Fenton who opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. Colleagues from the Local Police Team were not able to join us and the meeting started with the Neighbourhood Action Plan item.

 

Neighbourhood Action Plan

With the use of PowerPoint presentation Cllr Fenton outlined the Neighbourhood Action Plan approach, a collaborative effort to work with partners at a ward level to address priority areas and following the Area Based Community Development principles. Following the presentation Cllr Fenton invited the meeting to split up into four groups to discuss potential further solutions, actions and responses to challenges identified under each of the following priority areas.

 

Health and wellbeing - including promoting activities and volunteering opportunities available locally

·      19.6% of Reception age children are overweight, comparing to 22.5% for York as average.

·      There are 515 children in Dringhouses and Woodthorpe aged 0-5 vs 410 on average for York wards.

·      Limited free to access constructive and healthy activities for children and young people within the ward.

 

Health and Wellbeing / Tackling the Cost-of-living crisis

·      Percentage of residents feeling socially isolated and feeling that they don’t do anything of value with their time is slightly above York’s average.

·      Residents worried about money and struggling to make ends meet.

 

Equality of opportunity - including supporting organisations providing low or no cost activities locally

·      Communicating about services and activities available locally to encourage participation.

 

Environment and climate emergency

·      Protecting and improving local green spaces and strengthening biodiversity.

·      Improving play and recreation spaces.

·      Making sustainable modes of travel (public transport, cycling, walking and wheeling) easier, safer and more convenient.

 

The following feedback was offered following round table discussions:

 

·      It is good to hear that such a hight number of projects is taking place. Perhaps focus should be placed on communicating about what is already available? Live Well York, an information and advice community website for all adults could be used for that purpose and perhaps creation of a digital ward directory with links to organisation websites could be investigated?

 

·      Distribution of a hard copy newsletter could help with promotion of events and activities.

 

·      In terms of the local environment, planting of trees in verges could deter illegal parking.

 

·      Improvements to surface of local pavements would encourage more people to walk i.e. water tends to puddle on a pavement on St James Place.

 

·       A concern was raised about people who may be isolated at their own house and not going, or participating in groups at all. First step would be to identify where they live and then offer information about local social groups and offer company? Perhaps a questionnaire through the door giving residents a chance to respond would be an option? We would need a list of volunteers who would be happy to offer social interaction support. It would be a big job to put a project like that together.

 

·      Perhaps local tradesmen could pledge to offer time for free to help transform empty housing into community centres? Fundraising would be required to make it happen.

 

Q - A question was asked which foodbanks are supported by local supermarkets?

 

A – Neighbourly – an online platform is used by some bigger companies, such as Lidl to connect with communities. A list of community foodbanks and good causes that Lidl Thanet Road is connected with can be seen by following this link. 

 

·      We need to remember about York Neighbours, a local charity supporting elderly in York and York Wheels, community transport service and how both could be better involved in the work to address social isolation at the ward level.

 

·      In respect of communication with young people a range of relevant methods should be used. Apparently young people prefer to use Instagram and TikTok as opposed to other social media platforms such as Nextdoor, or Facebook.

 

·      More outreach youth work is needed to enable young people to take ownership of local spaces and to promote positive behavioural choices. Collaboration with York College on better student involvement with local projects and green spaces such as Chapmans Pond, or Hob Moor will be explored as a result of today.

 

·      More cycle parking and potential outdoor gym equipment could help to address the health and wellbeing priority.

 

·      Explore involvement of the Probation Service with support for local projects such as Friends of groups. (A comment was made by a member of Railway Pond Nature Reserve that they have tried to involve Probation Service in the past, but that didn’t work out.)

 

·      York Cares, York’s charity matching the skills and expertise of employers and their employees to community projects is already involved with local green spaces, but perhaps they could be introduced to more groups?

Cllr Fenton and Widdowson thanked for all contributions. The next step will be to feature the Neighbourhood Action Plan on the ward page for everyone to see.

Cllr Widdowson then led on the have your say part of the meeting. The following question and comments were raised.

 

A suggestion was made to rename the Moor Lane Centre to perhaps Moorcroft Centre to better reflect its location.

 

Q – Do the Police patrol the area on foot and bicycles? I never see them.

 

A – After the meeting, Community Officer followed this up with PCSO Nigel Klavins who provided the following response: ‘’ The PCSO ‘s from Acomb do patrol on cycle. There is pattern to where we go. The team is generally tasked to go to certain areas dependant on crime trends / where incidents occur. Police Officers and PCSO’s all have access to vehicles just in case they need to get to a location / incident more quickly. Foot patrol is also a good opportunity to stop and engage with members of the public.mThe use of vehicles does help us get to the more rural areas that are covered by the team at Acomb ( Copmanthorpe, Rufforth, Hessay, Askam Bryan, Askam Richard, Poppleton ).’’

 

Q – The shared pedestrian and cyclist path on the approach to Tesco is obstructed by vegetation and the NHS compound. Can something be done about that?

 

A – Nimbus Care took over that part of the car park affecting the cyclist’s access. There is a shared cycle/pedestrian path on the side of the former nursery building that is affected by overhanging vegetation. This will be reported. The new facility within Tesco car park is used for health checks, blood taking etc. We will follow up on the issue of cyclist’s access.

 

Q –Buses parked on both sides of the road on the approach to Tesco Askham Bar obstruct visibility and make it difficult to cross the road.

 

A – Cllr Widdowson will follow this up with a site visit with the Council Active Travel Officer to look at the issue and see what solution could be suggested.

 

Q – Could the bus stop on Tadcaster Road/Aldersyde Court be repositioned to allow better visibility for both bus drivers and passengers waiting at the bus stop? Currently the bus often does not stop there, as the driver presumably cannot see the passenger waiting.

 

A – We have asked for that bus stop to be repositioned as part of the Tadcaster Road scheme, however that hasn’t happened due to overall higher than expected costs of other elements of the project. The current bus stop maintenance and advertising contract with JCDecaux is coming to an end next year. We will ask to include in the new contract specification that it states that advertising panels do not obstruct the visibility.

 

Q – Could cyclists be encouraged to use cycle lanes on the road as opposed to cycle on pavements? There are a lot of cyclists on pavements along Tadcaster Road and an accident will happen sooner or later.

 

A – We will write to the Councillor responsible for the Transport portfolio to see what can be done about it.

 

Q- Where will I be able to see the Neighbourhood Action Plan updates?

 

A – The Neighbourhood Action Plan is a living document, and updates will be available on the ward page on the council’s website in due course.

 

Q – What is the latest information about the green bin emptying pricing? I feel that it is too expensive.

 

A – The Garden Waste Subscription Scheme costs £46.50 per season, per bin and residents can opt in to pay for the service. It is not a statutory service and many other local authorities are charging for the service already.

 

Before closing the meeting Councillors thanked those who did take part in the recent City of York Council budget consultation and informed that the next round of engagement on the proposed budget will be taking place this autumn,  before the Council budget is decided by the Full Council in February 2025.