Tang Hall Residents' Association coffee morning

Informal Ward Committee meeting - 15th Jan 2013

Fiona and Neil will be available to talk to any residents on local issues at the next informal Ward Committee meeting on Tuesday 15th January.

The meeting starts at 6pm at St Nicholas Fields Environment Centre just off Harrington Avenue/Rawdon Avenue.

The meeting will cover a range of local issues but also residents will get their first opportunity to discuss ideas for how the recently announced 'Big Local' funding should be spent (see earlier post).

Fiona and Neil hope to see you there!

Councillor action secures safer pedestrian route for Badger Hill residents

Above: Fiona is actually standing where
residents previously wouldn't have been
able to walk.

A well-used footpath in the residential area of Badger Hill has become clearer and safer, thanks to the actions of Hull Road Labour councillors, council officers and the Community Payback scheme.
The path, running along the Badger Hill side of Field Lane, had become the main footpath between Windmill Lane, other Badger Hill roads and the new Heslington East university campus. This was following highway reconstruction which saw the other side of the road becoming a dedicated cycle path.

However, seasons of neglect had led to overgrowth of a boundary hedge and composting of dead leaves – in some places cutting the width of the path by nearly two thirds. This created a major safety issue for elderly residents and parents with pushchairs as they fought for space with an increased level of pedestrians to the campus and wayward cyclists not using the dedicated path.

Following numerous complaints from residents, local Labour councillors for Hull Road ward, Coun. Fiona Fitzpatrick and Coun. Neil Barnes took action.

Before

Coun. Fiona Fitzpatrick said: “This footpath along Field Lane has always been well-used by residents. But due to highway reconstruction for the new campus and changes to bus routes, the path has become increasingly important in recent years, especially for the elderly for whom access to a bus stop is vital. It is an equally important path for school pedestrian traffic. However, the path has gradually been taken over by overgrowth and composting leaves.

“That is why we are delighted that our call for action has led to the council’s Public Realm staff and a team from Community Payback taking on the job and making it a safer path for everyone. Council officers accepted my invitation to visit the area and realised how neglected it was, then took urgent action to address it”.

After!

Coun. Neil Barnes said: “The state of the path has long been a bugbear for residents, so I’m glad that Coun. Fitzpatrick and I were able to make this local action count and show residents that a Labour Council still works to provide a valuable service to them in the face of devastating local government cuts imposed by the Coalition.

“We want to say thank you to the teams involved for their hard work in addressing this problem.  We welcome ideas from residents about other areas in Hull Road ward that Community Payback might be able to make a difference to.”

Tang Hall to get £1 million investment from "Big Local" fund

Fiona and Neil were delighted to hear this week that Tang Hall has been selected as a "Big Local Area" to have £1 million over ten years allocated by the Big Lottery Fund.

Tang Hall is an area set across the southern part of Heworth Ward and the northern part of Hull Road Ward. When it was built in the first half of the 20th Century, Tang Hall was a model community of social housing. However, it is now amongst the country’s most deprived areas with a high level of childhood poverty. Despite this, there is still a strong feeling of community waiting to be tapped into.

This is why we wholeheartedly welcome this important funding from the Big Lottery Fund. Tang Hall is rarely top of the list for any investment and so £1 million will go a long way to help develop projects that aid regeneration. The money will make a huge difference and we as councillors will work to ensure it is targeted where need is greatest.

From City of York Council:

£1m to make Tang Hall a Big Local Area

City of York Council is delighted to announce that today (Monday 10 December), the Tang Hall area has been selected as a Big Local Area to have £1 million over ten years being allocated by the Big Lottery Fund.

The funding for Tang Hall comes from the Big Local Programme. Funded through a £200 million Big Lottery Fund investment and managed by Local Trust, Big Local is helping 150 small urban and rural communities across England to make their areas even better places to live.

Each Big Local area will receive at least £1m Lottery funding to spend over the next 10 years. The scheme is completely resident led so it will be entirely up to people living in the area to use the £1m on the things that matter to them, and on projects and services that will have the biggest impact on the needs they identify.

Ward Action Plans are already in place in Heworth ward and Hull Road ward as is the council partner-run Tang Hall advice hub which offers support with debt and money advice, training and jobs. Alongside these, the local community – which encompasses the Heworth and Tang Hall Residents’ Associations – will identify further need and build capacity to commission or deliver support themselves.

Councillor Dafydd Williams, City of York Council’s Cabinet Member for Crime and Stronger Communities said: “It is brilliant that the Tang Hall area has been chosen to be part of the Big Local programme.

“This project is not just about the money: residents will receive training and support to help them identify priorities and develop a plan for their area. Through this, we can bring together all the local talent, ambitions, skills and energy from individuals, groups and organisations who want to make a positive and lasting difference in their communities.”

Hull Road councillors latest update

It's the end of November and it has been a very busy month. The past week saw major floods in York for the second time this Autumn, though luckily not as destructive this time round.

Because of recent scares in Badger Hill, Fiona and Neil kept a close eye on the situation, ready to help out as and when needed. Luckily, the ward largely avoided the worst of the floods, with only Hull Road Park being closed due to concerns about the water level in Osbaldwick Beck.

It perhaps raises the issue of the state of the Beck, and we're looking to see how we can make sure it is flowing easily and won't flood in a major storm or heavy rainfall.

Gully cleaning and ongoing maintenance has also helped stave off flash floods in Badger Hill. Fiona and Neil spoke to residents on the last occasion of floods - widely reported in The Press (see below link) - and have worked with council officers to ensure action is considered a high priority.

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9755252.Clean_up_operation_starts_after_floods/

In other news, Fiona and Neil have worked with shopkeepers and police on the Melrosegate parade of shops to monitor and reduce the incidents of young people congregating in the early evening. Of course, there is no law against young people meeting up near shops and we shouldn't stereotype in a general way, but local police and councillors are mindful of where this could become intimidating to local residents making use of the shops.

All the latest news!

Apologies to our readers for going quiet these last few months. Despite being the summer months, it has been incredibly busy in the ward for Fiona and Neil.

The Article Four Direction governing the conversion of homes into Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO) is now nicely established. As predicted in several quarters, we saw a rush of houses being converted, which then raised the question of whether they'd met the April deadline or not. As a result, the Council has seen a number of enforcement actions resulting in landlords being forced to submit planning applications.

Link: http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9998337.Council_probe_into_possible_shared_housing_breaches/

We, as councillors, were still then concerned that planning applications might be approved despite guideline thresholds on concentration of HMOs within areas (10% at street level, 20% at neighbourhood level). Therefore we lobbied officers to refuse applications where a threshold had been breached. We're pleased to have seen our efforts pay off, with applications now being refused - notably at least one in the Newland Park Drive area.

We continue to support the maintenance of mixed communities where all strata of society can co-exist peacefully. So with that in mind, we have also been working with the University of York Students' Union in how we can support their volunteering and community activities. We've been particularly impressed by their proactive attitudes to community cohesion, and as such, have included them as a vital part of neighbourhood working and our Hull Road Community Contract.

Elsewhere:

• Neil Barnes has written to the York Press to highlight pressures the Coalition Government continue to place on lower income families - as there are many who live in Hull Road. As Labour councillors, Fiona and Neil will continue to work as part of the City of York Council Labour Group in protecting York residents against the worst of these pressures & Gov't cuts at local level: http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/features/readersletters/9939860.Fantasy_land_stuff/
• The Mosque on Bull Lane - which sits on the ward boundary between Guildhall and Hull Road - has had a planning application approved for a new building to rehouse the Mosque and Islamic Centre. A Mosque has stood on the site for over 25 years and is a well-established entity in the area. Fiona and Neil support social inclusion in York and greater provision of community services. But we will also continue to address localised concerns where we can. For example, around traffic and noise.
• As the Derwenthorpe project takes shape (just outside our eastern boundary), we, as Councillors, continue to address the impact on our ward residents. Fiona Fitzpatrick chairs a Derwenthorpe Partnership forum sub-group and is well placed to be a voice for residents.

And finally:

Earlier this year, Neil Barnes nominated popular local figure, John Horsley for Volunteer of the Year at the York Community Pride Awards. This was following his commitment to improving the environment of the ward via weekly walks - despite being 83 and continuing to suffer from cancer. To our great delight, last week he won! Unfortunately John was too unwell to attend, and Fiona Fitzpatrick collected the award for John alongside Simon Moss of the Heworth & Tang Hall Residents' Association.

John won the award jointly with Violet Armitage - who volunteered in the St Leonard's Hospice in Tang Hall for many years. Violet sadly passed away before the awards evening but was represented on the night by friends and family. http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/communitypride/news/10001170.Community_Pride_Awards_2012__Volunteer_of_the_Year/

Residential street set for further over-development as a result of Government intervention

The recent refusal by the Council’s East Area Planning Committee of a planning application for 93 Newland Park Drive has been overruled by the Government’s Planning Inspectorate, following an appeal by the applicant.

The original refusal took into account representations by local residents and Hull Road Labour Councillor Neil Barnes, and concluded that further excessive development in the street would be detrimental to the local community.

On appeal by the applicant, the Government’s Planning Inspectorate disregarded local views and the decision by York councillors.

Coun. Neil Barnes said: “Since my election in May 2011, I have worked tirelessly to scrutinise all planning applications in the area, particularly where developers sought to create ‘super-homes’ out of what were sensibly-sized family houses.

“I have attempted to call these developers to account and resist the drive away from sustainable mixed communities. On several occasions I have represented the views of residents at planning committee – particularly regarding Newland Park Drive, which is a hotspot for development of these overbearing super-homes.

“On several occasions, I have found the decisions of the planning committee overruled by the Government’s Planning Inspectorate. This completely disregards the valid views of local residents and the councillors representing them and makes a mockery of the Government’s localism agenda”.