A new approach to the issue of HMOs

Fiona and Neil were delighted to see the council's cabinet taking a positive direction on the issue of Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs). This has been a longstanding issue for residents in the Hull Road Ward and is something we've worked on a lot since being elected back in May.

We both went to the meeting and spoke on behalf of residents. We were also pleased to see representatives from the Badger Hill residents group speaking up for themselves.

The Hull Road area of York has seen an uncontrolled growth in HMOs – caused by a lack of accommodation to meet the demands of a growth in student numbers.

This is an ongoing concern for many of the residents in Hull Road – from increased levels of crime and anti-social behaviour, both by and against students, and from the gradual loss of a community for all ages.

The nature of communities always evolve over time, but areas such as Tang Hall and Badger Hill are seeing change at an unnatural speed that causes huge upset to long-term residents.

We want to work towards a mixed community where students and long-term residents can live side by side in a safe and welcoming environment, so we welcome the cabinet decision to implement an Article 4 Direction, thus introducing extra planning controls for HMOs.

We also welcome co-operative working with representatives from all parts of the community including students and landlords. This joined up thinking will ensure that the growth of HMOs is controlled far more efficiently than at present – whilst also ensuring a greater standard of living for anyone who chooses to live in shared rental housing.

This is only one step in a process towards the community we all want, the hard work will continue and this is by no means the be all and end all of the situation.

Hull Road Ward Committee Meeting - Tues 4th Oct

All Hull Road Ward residents are invited to our next ward committee meeting on Tuesday 4th October.

At St Hilda's Church Hall, Tang Hall Lane.

AGENDA

1. Drop -In Surgery

Drop-in surgery, 6.30pm

The drop-in surgery gives you the opportunity to talk to your

councillors, street environment officer, safer neighbourhood team,

neighbourhood management officer and visiting speakers in an informal

setting.

2. Main Meeting

Main meeting, 7.00pm

3. Safer Neighbourhood Police Team

Update on the work and issues within the ward.

4. Hull Road Planning Panel

Update on the work the planning panel has been carrying

out and the annual planning panel election.

5. Houses of Multiple Occupancy

Jonathan Carr, head of development management at

City of York Council, will present an update on the article 4 future

direction.

6. Local Improvement Schemes 2012-2013

Come along to find out more about the schemes

on the ballot list. If you have made one of the suggestions on the list,

come along to tell people more about it.

7. Have your say

Your chance to ask questions about local issues and concerns not

covered by the agenda.

Is Hull Road really one of York's filthiest streets?

The Press in York today writes about 'York's filthiest streets', with statistics indicating Hull Road as having one of the highest rates in York of call-outs of the council's street cleaning teams.

This could be seen as a positive or a negative - depending on whether you choose to look at it as residents taking pride in their streets and making more calls to the council, or whether a higher rate of clean-up indicates higher amounts of clean-up needed in the first place.

We're keeping an open mind! But we do know, and have met, residents in the Hull Road Ward who take a huge amount of pride in the areas where they live - from residents who display beautiful front gardens to residents who regularly pick up litter and other rubbish from their streets.

We're also working with the council's neighbourhood management team, street environment officers and other people, to make sure high standards are maintained. This includes weekly walkabouts of the ward in which councillors often take part.

Fiona commented in the Press article: “We’re working very closely with the street cleansing team and we have been going out on walks they do every Thursday.

“We are disappointed but we are new councillors and we are quite positive and are determined things will improve.”

The full article can be found at: http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9224506.York___s_filthiest_streets_revealed/

A Saturday double-bill

Last week's rain held off on Saturday to allow us to spend most of the day in Hull Road Ward talking to residents. Okay, we don't presume to have the power to control the weather, but there was definitely an uplift in our mood as the sun poked out through dark clouds overhead.

It's no secret that Hull Road has a number of complex issues, which makes being Councillors for the ward both challenging and immensely rewarding.

We spent the morning doing a street surgery for half of Badger Hill (Crossways, Sussex Road, Eastfield Crescent and the smaller streets). This was a new experience for us as new Councillors and, judging by the response from residents, well appreciated by the locals too.

There are several ways a street surgery can be conducted. Our street surgery consisted of delivering leaflets around the chosen roads roughly a week before, stating our intention to visit. Residents could put these leaflets prominently in their windows in order to ask us to call round on the day itself. This proved hugely successful and we were able to speak to quite a few residents about issues that were important to them. We'll now work on those and keep in touch with the residents who raised them.

Badger Hill is often on the 'front-line' of the Heslington East development and many issues are typically University-related, which showed us the importance of keeping open dialogue with the University management themselves.

The street surgery also showed us the obvious benefits over 'static' drop-in surgeries where one waits for residents to come to them. We think it's important to get out there and meet residents in their homes where they feel most comfortable.

In the afternoon, we made the short trip to Hull Road Park where a family fun day was in full swing. We were pleasantly surprised by the large number of locals who had come out to take part in activities, go on the climbing wall, watch the falconry display or just to get an ice-cream. Well in excess of 500 locals were there.

The surrounding areas are home to many lower-income families and we spoke to people who lived in Etty Avenue, Alcuin Avenue and Burlington Avenue. The family fun day was a cheap and affordable way for them to get out of the house for a bit.

With the community spirit we saw clearly demonstrated in both Tang Hall and Badger Hill, we're proud to be Councillors of Hull Road Ward.

Hull Road Park Summer Park - Sat 13th August

Come along to the Hull Road Park Summer Fair this Saturday (13th August) from 1pm to 3pm.

A FREE family event with a range of activities including falconry display, bouncy castles, street sports, community stalls, music and more.

Not to be missed!

Remembering York student David Kato

[photo of Neil (far left) and Fiona (second from right) with Labour Leader of the Council James Alexander (second from left) and our neighbouring Heworth councillors Barbara Boyce and Ruth Potter]

The blog has been quiet lately, we know, but that’s hopefully good news for residents as it means we’re too busy working for residents to be able to spend time blogging!

So – we take a short break in order to tell you about some campaigning of a different sort that Fiona and Neil did on Saturday.

Whilst neither of us define as LGBT, we both believe strongly in combating discrimination of any kind.  Our empathy with the gay rights movement comes from our own experiences – for Neil as a disabled person and Fiona as a woman – although we would never presume to say the experiences are the same.

So we packed up our gazebo and Labour leaflets and headed to Rowntree Park for 2011’s York Pride Event.

This year’s event was special as the event commemorated the life of David Kato – a Ugandan gay rights activist who studied at the University of York.

David Kato was murdered back in his home country earlier this year after a Ugandan newspaper called for his execution – on grounds of his sexuality.

York Central Labour MP, Hugh Bayley, released balloons in David’s memory and a minute’s silence was held. The rest of the day was a celebration of music and fun was had by all. The event was led by this year's York Pride chair, Dan Sidley - a Fishergate Labour campaigner.

Read the York Press write-up here

Great news on Hull Road Park funding

News release from York Labour website:

Councillors celebrate reversal of park cut

Hull Road Ward’s Labour councillors Neil Barnes and Fiona Fitzpatrick are today celebrating success in reversing a cut in funding to Hull Road Park.

The original cut, proposed by the previous Liberal Democrat administration, consisted of £38,000 worth of cuts to Hull Road Park – which would have resulted in less park security at night-time and the removal of flower beds and other positive aesthetics.

Local community leaders such as the Chair of Tang Hall Residents’ Association, Simon Moss, and local church leader, Father Tim Jones, had previously campaigned against the cut, which would have had a clear detrimental impact on the park and its offer to local residents.

Councillors Barnes and Fitzpatrick pushed for the inclusion of a complete cut reversal in the Labour budget amendment proposed last night by Labour Leader of the Council, Coun. James Alexander.

Coun. Barnes said:

“I’m absolutely delighted that we have been able to fulfil one of the most significant pledges of our campaign, which was to protect Hull Road Park. In an area where there are many low-income families, a free facility like this is absolutely vital to the community.

“It’s a cut that should never have been considered in the first place. Now that we can maintain nightly closures of the park for security reasons, the amenities that are used by people of all ages will continue to be part of a safe environment.”

Coun. Fitzpatrick said:

“I was really pleased to see Father Tim Jones come to the council meeting and speak on behalf of his parishioners and local residents. He was absolutely right in stating that council budget cuts usually hurt the least well off the most, and nowhere more so than in a community asset like Hull Road Park.

“Father Jones also rightly said, ‘How do you put a value on a park?’ The city’s parks are amongst the best assets we have in York and should not be endangered.”

Simon Moss, Chair of Tang Hall Residents’ Association said:

“This is brilliant news for the residents of Tang Hall. Hull Road Park has been central to our community for many years and used by people of all ages. Nightly closures and maintaining flower beds and the park environment will ensure that it continues to be one of the area’s greatest assets.”

The city’s Liberal Democrats maintained their stance of cutting the park’s funding and voted against the amended budget.

Complex issues for Hull Road

It's obviously been a while since we've posted - please put it down to the sheer amount of learning we're going through!

Fiona has been busy meeting residents in the Ward, sorting through issues such as maintenance of local paths and removal of bus routes, whilst both Neil and Fiona are gradually getting into a routine of committees and local meetings.

One particular highlight last week was the Badger Hill Residents' Group meeting at Heslington Church on Friday. We were expecting to see a handful of people but were astounded to see well in the region of 100 local people in the church hall. This is fantastic and shows a real community spirit. It also cannot be ignored that there are clearly concerns in the Badger Hill - and these are concerns that we simply must listen to.

However, addressing these concerns and reaching a solution will be no easy task as the issues involved are quite complicated - mainly revolving around the University of York's expansion.

We do recognise the positives of the new Heslington East campus - particularly on the economic side and general benefits to the city of York. But it's distinctly unfair for quality of life to be lowered for local residents, particularly those who have lived there for years (and we met one man who has lived on Badger Hill for 50 years!). From accommodation on campus to parking to HMOs to aesthetics of the area - it won't be easy to solve these issues and find the best solution for everyone.

But we're definitely going to give it a go.

Meeting Hull Road's dedicated local neighbourhood team

We met the Safer Neighbourhood Team for Hull Road yesterday. Based out of a small office in the grounds of Derwent School off Osbaldwick Lane, they are a fantastic, dedicated team who often have to deal with difficult residents of complicated backgrounds. We're really looking forward to working with them on various Ward projects to make a difference to the community.

Hull Road also has a really committed Street Environment Officer, who deals with day-to-day aesthetic issues in the Ward. He's invited us out on one of his 'ward walks' on a Thursday morning - a great way to get into the 'nitty-gritty' of on-the-spot ward issues.

York Press publishes crime figures for Hull Road

The Press in York published ward-by-ward crime figures in yesterday's edition. You can view the statistics for Hull Road at: http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/resources/files/15384/. In the ward, sexual offences and criminal damage are both down on last year - which is great news. Unfortunately a rise in burglary means that the overall average for Hull Road is a rise of 12.39%.

Here's what Neil said to The Press: "These rising figures are clearly worrying despite the positive news of the reduction in criminal damage and sexual offences. As a new Ward Councillor for Hull Road, I intend to work with local police and their safer neighbour teams to find out exactly what type of properties are being targeted and where in the ward so that we might address any areas of concern.

"During the campaign, I could see that we have a hard-working safer neighbourhood team who are very visible in the ward, and so this serves to underline the importance of maintaining strong front-line policing services. I would also encourage residents of the Ward to get in touch with either Cllr. Fitzpatrick or myself if they have security concerns in their area - we can then make sure these are heard by the right people."

Welcome!

Welcome to our new blog as newly elected Labour Councillors for the Hull Road Ward.

It was a really exciting day at the Energise Sports Centre on May 6th as votes were counted. After quite a long wait, our results were finally announced in the late afternoon. We are just so fantastically proud to have been elected as your Councillors.

We really are here to help residents and so we are always open to enquires, comments and feedback. We also like good banter as much as the next person, but offensive or discriminatory comments will just be deleted without reply.

It might take us a while to get into the habit of this blogging malarkey, but hopefully, once used to it, it will a useful tool for two way communication with residents.

Also check out Neil's Twitter profile at www.twitter.com/neilbarnes101 and our Hull Road page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Hull-Road-Labour/171137662943506

Take care for now!