Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee – 12pm, 12 January 2024

Well ladies and gentlemen can I welcome you all to this meeting of the harutan nbor area constituency committee and um particularly Welcome to our MP who’s joining us today thank you for coming um and just remember members this is being live streamed so you need to make sure you

Behave um have we got any apologies for absence yes CH we’ve got apologies from councelor Matt Walker thank you any more apologies no okay um can I then as I say um we’ve got with us today offices Mark and Harriet thank you for being here and

Supporting us and as I say we’ve got our MP which we’re looking forward to hearing from you Andrew so um um can we move on now then to the minutes of the meeting um held on the 23rd of November any comments if not would somebody move I think councelor has you m first

You’ve moved who’s seconding is that you councelor gives moved by Council Hasam seconded by Council Gibbs thank you can we then all those who are in agreement with those minutes please indicate I think that’s unan unanimous thank you very much um uh can I ask now if there members of

Any Declarations of Interest with the gender items we’re discussing today no thank you um right um next we move on to public questions and statements and I believe we have one statement to be read out today is that correct that’s correct chair we’ve received one statement uh on behalf of

Harriet residents Association Granville Road residence group and independent harri unfortunately there wasn’t a a a member eligible to available to come to today’s meeting they’ asked me to read it out so the title is the election of a Town Council for harate uh it’s following the demise of

Harate burough Council and the setting up of the group of the new North Yorkshire Council in April the this year we the undersigned groups and organizations are extremely concerned that election of a Town Council for hargate has been delayed further until May 2025 this ongoing delay as voted on by

North Yori Council without con Consulting at the time with the population of our unparished area is totally unacceptable to the residents and businesses of this town the largest in the new authorities administrative administrative area this is despite the residents and businesses of this town clearly demonstrating through previous

Consultations that there is a majority of the town in full support of such a council for which elections should have taken place in May 2024 whether each Ward on the New Town Council is represented is represented by one or two counselors is not a major concern we just simply want a Town

Council and are fully aware of the implications and responsibilities involved we are extremely concerned since the formation of such a vast and disperate Council such as NYC that residents and businesses in harate feel isolated and remote from proper local representation and decision making compared to the involvement enjoyed by

Existing smaller parished areas there is no benefit in delaying the process yet another year unless NYC considered people will be tired of any further consultations so we not vote again on this issue perhaps a case of Consulting until you get the result you want we therefore call on the Harriet Nur area

Constituency committee at this meeting to support as a matter of urgency the election and setting up of a Town Council for hargate without any further delay and before 2025 thank you chair I mean there is a response on um basic it’s thank you for the statements on behalf those organizations

Um and it’s just to say that um the committee can consider any matter within its remit and could consider the setting up of Town Council for hcet as part of its work program at the appropriate time sorry counc Harrison may I ask a question of Mr

Codman please chair I know we don’t we don’t have follow-ups to these do we but I’ve just got a question from Mr Mr Codman if I’m here Mark do we do we check that in this instance that Barry Adams has the authority on behalf of all the people

That he’s writing purporting to be and the reason why I ask is he says that there’s a thousand more than a thousand Harriet residents Association members over 300 Granville Road members asso uh group members and 156 business members yet not one person from that group group had the time to

Come here today and pose that question so I’m suspicious that Mr Adams actually has the authority to submit that on behalf of those people I’d be interested to know whether there’s even been a meeting to authorize that to happen or whether it’s just a personal view I can’t comment on that individual

Instance but we do check on on the actual statements and and and the individuals whether the the the the um representative view of them and their organization ations that’s something we can take into account you know going forward but again I can’t comment on this particular issue so so we know that

Barry Adams Mr Barry Adams has sent this letter but we have no no evidence that he’s actually representing the people that he’s reporting to just for confirmation and Clarity it has come from Barry Adams on behalf of those organizations any more questions comments could counc broad yeah thank you chair I

Just um I agree with him I agree with what’s been stated here and I think I could I can’t see any reason I couldn’t see any reason why we couldn’t have had the elections in May 24 um uh but I uh obviously there’ll be a timing issue now with if

We trying to get them for then I think we should try um and and obviously 2025 is the next time when it it seems it will be possible to do it I mean the the reasons for boundary changes the boundaries were already there in hara’s case there was no question of having to

Uh start again and carve the town up into 19 areas that were there and uh I just I think it was um I think there might have been other reasons for why they wanted want to be postponed rather than rather than logical reasons okay thank you we’re not

Going to this isn’t Up For Debate I don’t think is it sorry about that guys under this item it’s it’s not for debate it’s a statement with a with a with a response and then we move on on the agenda chair right um can I now can I welcome our MP Andrew Jones

For those who don’t know Andrew who never met him welcome yeah I’m if you want to read out any statement that would be really good thank you right well I won’t read out a statement um but can I just say thank you very much for that uh welcome um

I’ll make a few opening remarks if I may firstly uh I was last here in uh November 22 lot has happened since then and I just highlight a couple of issues along the way but uh just to remind everybody I do have to leave very promptly at one o’clock because I’ve got

A further set of meetings for the remainder of the day if I could just highlight the two issues where uh I think there will be significant interest the first was picking up on water quality we spent much of our last meeting here here talking about water quality and the bathing water bid and

There has been progress significant progress too over the summer we have created a a real team effort uh which has produced all the data to submit a bid to achieve bathing water status for the river nid at the Lio in nasor uh we had letters of support from 30 or so

Different different uh bodies support of town councils Parish councils uh this Council and it it’s been a real team effort over 200 people signed up to do the data collection data monitoring and uh all of this I have to say I’m extremely grateful for that support it’s

Been a big effort but the bid is now in I submitted it to Def I took it there just to be absolutely sure there wasn’t any problem with a post or anything like that uh we will know the outcome of that bid by late spring so fingers crossed

And I shall certainly keep lobbying uh to highlight the extremely good case that we made between now and that period if I could also just say a few words about Devolution uh We’ve obviously now had quite significant changes to our local governance arrangements and uh the yor and North Yorkshire

Combined Authority has now passed it all of its parliamentary procedures this will pave the way for the election of a May in May of this year that I think is a good thing uh it unlocks significant amount of funding in fact 540 million pounds of funding which can be spent on local

Priorities determined here rather than in Westminster I think the uh political parties have declared their candidates now pretty much uh so I think we should look forward to this as an opportunity and I think the principle here has to be to really reinforce local decision- making and that picks up the point in

The statement that you uh you you allowed to be read earlier Pat Uh I’m basically strongly in favor of decisions being taken at a local level and uh I’m not in any way uh against the tank Council but I have to say I think there’s a bit more work to be done for

It and I think the work is about which responsibilities will it have I know that it wouldn’t apply to everybody here so we shouldn’t spend long on this point because we already have Council in nbor for example uh but I think we need to ensure that a Town

Council is uh not duplicating the work of this area committee so I think there is a bit of work to be done sorting out what its responsibilities may be but the principle of decisions being made as locally as possible to the point where the service is delivered is a really

Good one and uh think we shouldn’t lose that at all but equally just last Point really this session isn’t just for me to answer questions you know I I have to say I think this is a two-way process the point why these area committee members of parliament dialogues take place is to

Ensure that local government and national government are working together to maximize what can be done to make our area even better so quite frankly I would like to hear as well what your priorities are and how we can work together a little more I view this as a

Two-way process and on that b back to you thank you you’ve just had a request there anybody got any comments they want to say is that you councelor Gosa no yeah no goso I have a question but not related to the um request for comments okay councilor broadbank

Uh sorry I got back to you don’t worry pH don’t worry I’m use this uh it’s on the um got a concern about the amount of money we spend on or given to schools in the area and send in particular the the where we are in the National KN we’ve been there there’s

151 areas we’re 14 second and we’ve been down well down for well D on the C Council so obviously longer is that what what can we do what do do you suggest we can do that hasn’t already been done to to uh make the point that North is not particularly

Well dealt with on this issue and why we’re still fairly still almost at the bottom of the league and we really need to be looking P per money per head per pupil so on it needs to be there needs to be some action what what do you

Suggest do that we haven’t done all count well I think the first thing to say is that send uh is seeing significant growth and this is an issue which is not specifically to North yor it’s happening right across the country uh indeed the national budget to go into

This area has gone up by 60% since 2020 and is now standing for the next financial year at 10.5 billion pounds and there can’t be many other parts of public expenditure which’ seen a 60% increase across four years so I think that reflects the growth that we’re seeing here uh it’s certainly been

Highlighted to me by the council offices and Council leadership more broadly actually including therefore the elected leadership the growth that we are seeing uh we had 1500 ehcps in 2014 we’re now looking at 5,000 there has been a change in the children and families act in 2014 that

Has broadened it out a bit and that is attributing about further 1,000 cases that is the estimate from the council offices for the 10,000 cases so we’re seeing a huge increase uh it’ be very interesting to know actually to try to explore what some of the underlying causes of that increase

Are and I think that is really an area where we should be putting significant amount of national work in terms of our area well the uh Director of Finance Gary Fielding has informed me that and indeed other MPS of the area that he thinks this is the number one Financial

Challenge for the whole of the council currently running a deficit and the deficit is projected to grow so it’s a very significant Point uh what My Views are on the subject well I have to say it’s very straightforward I think we should be making sure that people of all

Abilities all needs are educated as well as we possibly can education is an absolutely critical part of public policy your learning uh impacts every single thing that that will happen to you in your future life uh your earning your opportunities Etc and we have got one opportunity to get this right for

Children so that’s why I’ve always put huge emphasis upon uh education in our area I think the county is investing well in this area you will be aware I am sure that the former Woodfield Primary School okay we need to spend too long on that but that’s going to be opening for

80 pupils uh it’s going to be a school focused upon uh speech language communication and and other Associated mental health needs opening in April 25 so well done to the council I support that also quite frankly that is such a good site uh existing buildings plenty

Of land uh it needed to stay in educational use and I’m very pleased that it has so uh in terms of the funding we obviously have a significant need uh here and across the the country I’ve met with schools I met with families met with the council uh

Officers and also met with the children’s Minister whose name is David Johnston and uh there’s a couple of points to make here really firstly the national budget is increasing and we need to make sure therefore that we get our proper share of that and secondly that the uh the

Government has produced a um what they’ve called um Ascend action plan and I’ll I’ll send that to people obviously of interest to it but I’ll I’ll send I’ll make sure that we send a copy of that myice to every counselor here uh just so you can see what it’s about

There are three elements to that work that training for teachers in mainstream schools Capital budgets and also the establishment of national standards because the standards can be quite quite varied across the country uh I think the standards here in our area are high I have confidence in our council’s work

But we do I think need to make sure that uh that work is supported over the last few months uh I’ve taken that case to the minister uh and highlighted the different elements which combine to make the grant allocation uh it’s quite sort of complicated work but

I yeah yes uh there are many different factors involved here and they’ve also got uh schemes National schemes supporting councils who’ve got themselves into trouble on this issue we are not in that place we are a well-run council so uh not everybody is but there are special measures to help councils

Who have gotten a mess uh our grant is going up um it’s going up to 676 uh pounds uh uh next year uh yes perad yeah two 2 to 18 um so it’s not drawing the distinction and uh the point I made to David as Minister was

That we have need everywhere across the country the need uh is not entirely dependent upon uh deprivation but deprivation is quite an a factor in the underlying funding formula so also is the the historic spending level so those are two quite major factors which influence the current Grant those need

To be looked at that was the point that we’re working on here but this should be seen as part of a bigger piece of work which is the send action plan uh to cope with the enormous increase that we are seeing in this area you know from 1500 to 5,000 cases in

Just a decade that that that’s very challenging uh I know we passed the law in 2014 uh and quite frankly we’ve had lots of cases that certainly reached me where uh families have come in and saying we we are really struggling to get support and um we wanted to stop that we

Wanted to stop families having to really scrubble to get that but uh we know they do when I meet families all the time take their cases up uh at either a national level or at a local level this is a a very a very Salient issue at the moment

Yes I will do yes of course yeah H happy to do that yeah councilman did you have a question it was just a similar question um to to fill it um Andrew um I know you’ve worked very hard and helped us and helped the council in in our

Discussions and negotiations on the fair funding formula for the County Council forly and now the the new um uh unitary Council I just wondered if you could perhaps update us on any um talks that you’ve had with um or any discussions that have been ongoing in government to

Try to improve the uh the share of resources which uh North yoria Council gets um from uh from the treasury please following the excellent work which you and others have put in in the past on this on this issue well uh yeah thanks John uh I have have to say the way I’ve

Taken this approach has been to work with local organizations so it could be working with uh the foundation trust at the hospital working with the council leadership team in North Alon uh you know we we have very high performing Public Services typically our hospital is Great Schools excellent uh

The council will you know more about that because you’re all the counselors uh so I I don’t feel that we are facing the immediate crises so this work is about how do we make our area even better and the case that we put together and it’s normally a collective effort

From all of the MPS working together is that investments in North Yorkshire pay dividends because we have got quality organizations that can deliver and they will so that’s the key point to make uh you will get a very quick and uh significant return on your money if you look in our

Direction okay thank you Council Lacy did you have a question thank you you uh referred in your opening comments about the additional time if you like to work out uh what a Town Council um would would do but just wonder whether you were disappointed that despite the expectations on current plans we won’t

Get another Town Council and we’ll have a gap of demographic deficit in effect for two years rather than one so I just wondered whether you were disappointed about that well I think the work has to be done uh yet on establishing its responsibilities so I don’t think the

Groundwork has been done uh the principle should be decisions taken as locally as possible uh to where they will be delivered because they will be more tailored to local need that’s one of the reasons why the council has set up the area committee structure so I can’t say I was really

Disappointed because I didn’t think the work had been done got councelor gosler first if it’s related to this one then councelor Al it is actually thank you for coming Andrew and it’s nice to to see you again uh but surely the decision as to what the Town Council wants to do

Is up to the Town Council so therefore you need a Town Council first to be elected to then take you can’t impose it from the top you you can’t sit in North Allon and say oh we’re going to give this and this and this to a harri count Town Council that doesn’t

Exist the the the model throughout the rest of North Yorkshire has been that the existing Town councils including the wonderful NRA Town Council and I don’t know how they do it on their precept of 25 quid a year is it or something like that but they’ve they’ve put together a

Successful bid actually to take on N market and various other things but that’s because we were already there and they’ve worked together to do this and that has happened being replicated all over the the rest of North Yorkshire the council Le’s famous double Devolution deal but you’ve got to have the Town Council

Who knows what a Town Council may want to take up and surely it’s for an election to be take place and then the anybody who wants to become a town councelor to put up a case for doing that and saying this is the sort of thing I think we should be wanting to

Take over from North Yorkshire they may not want to take anything over but it is up to those rep Representatives it I I don’t see the logic of where you’re coming from saying oh it has to be worked through and particularly in Harrier I mean the the

Boundary thing is with with respect it’s just a red herring because we could we’ve cons we’ve we’ spent 90,000 of the taxpayer’s money already Consulting twice on a Harriet Town Council and scarra uh but should the two be TI together anyway uh and we’re going to

Have to now go out and consult again to spend some more money so we’ll have done more than £1,000,000 probably and in a cash trp Council to consult and the only decision on Harrier is the the boundaries do we go for the divisional boundaries and the two Council which was in the second

Consultation or do we go to what what I actually proposed in Jan last year I sent a letter to the executive and uh they didn’t think it was a good idea then but in July it’s a damascan con conversion so so it’s not a question it’s a point because Andrew has ra

Raised that hasn’t he he said there’s work to be done what is this work to be done then Andrew that’s my question well I actually I think the uh there’s a bit of Truth in what you say which is that uh councils can indeed start to create

Areas and take on put up bids together but it is slightly odd to say we’re going to create a public body which has got the capacity to take between 40 to 60 pounds uh in terms of a council tax and we don’t know what it’s for so I

Think it is I think a bit of work to be done saying what’s it for before you ask taxpayers to uh get the wallets out for you I think that’s entirely reasonable but but how can you do that if it doesn’t exist it who’s going to say that

Well are this is a little bit chicken ineg before you before you start to say we’re going to take taxation from people I would suggest a little bit of work to be done saying these are the areas that we’re going to be focused upon that I

See isn’t that why we have elections do do we not put our case and then go on the doorstep youen this is this is um can I ask well no you’re creating the body creating the taxes and then deciding what he’s going to do can I ask

Do that in priv questions to be asked i’ have asked a direct one to him do you support a Town Council it would have been a yes or a no well I hope he’s he’s already said that well I think the principle of local decision making is

Correct and the the principle you did say that last year of local representation yeah I did say that last year I haven’t changed my view on this and it should be that principle of taking decisions as locally as possible to the point where the service is delivered that that should be the

Principle we should work upon thank you very much for that can I ask Monica what she would like to ask um on the same on the same topic to be fair um just to to clarify for you Andrew I don’t know if you read the literature that came out

From North yor Council but they did give examples of the sorts of things that the Town Council might um take on board um but on the subject of town councils obviously we’ve got the really successful nbor Town Council you know who have been looking at what um they

Might be able to take back under their remit are you happy to sort of step in and support um them in their in their case on that and have you had any Communications with them on what they’re looking to achieve well they haven’t been uh in contact with me no uh but the

Principle of taking decisions as I just said what my principal view would be which will then shape the policy decisions so yes of course I’m always happy to work with them okay thank you for that any more questions Council go um just in relation sorry I’m going

To have to turn my back just in relation to your update um on the bathing water status application can I ask a direct question when will it be safe to swim in the river nid well we’re ant anticipating the bathing water decision on the uh towards

The sort of L late spring early uh summertime uh and that will then trigger a whole raft of activities it isn’t uh reasonable to say that it’s not safe to swim in the river nid because the whole point about the bathing water status is it’s measuring people actually already

Swimming in the nid people like swimming in the nid this is about helping them do that so uh I think the question is is um slightly loaded and slightly wrong the work to improve water quality is a complex piece of work which will require uh prolonged investment uh some

Changes in agricultural practice as well so it’s quite a complicated thing to do but that’s why I was so pleased to to get this bid together and lead the bid it’s been a hugely successful piece of work in that it’s brought people together uh we have highlighted what I think is a fantastic

Part of nbor uh it’s United all councils up and down the river up and down the catchment because obviously it doesn’t just affect nasur it affects all of the catchment uh it’s had support from the neighboring members of parliament upstream and downstream so I view this as a positive

Uh piece of work all about making our area even better counc um I ask this because um all three Waters designated for swimming all three rivers designated for swimming in England have all been given poor status in the newly published government water quality figures meaning people

Should not swim in them and risk getting sick if they do and I just wanted some idea of time frame if we are given if we were to be given a poor status what um investment would be needed and what would um bring about change well the if we achieve bathing

Water status what happens is the environment agency has to put in place monitoring throughout the catchment uh and it is a complex thing uh to to make change you know I look at the water quality uh issue in a very positive way this is the first government ever to

Have tackled water quality with an action plan this is a uh a huge initiative to broaden out the base of bathing Waters from just being effectively a coastal question to being an inland Waterway question as well so I think this is a a good thing quite frankly I was pleased that the councils

Backed it I don’t think we had any councils that failed to back it okay any more questions councelor Al just wondering if uh our colleagues across the way wanted to but if you not I I’ve got at least one maybe two um station Gateway Mr Jones uh I don’t

Know if you’re nobody calls me Mr Jones come on Chris we always call you Mr Jones goodness gracious man uh and can I can can I call you Andrew well you have for years I do prefer that Philip has for years you have for years as well um station Gateway yeah um

Obviously you were fully in support of his scheme last summer in June 20 uh 23 I think you were quoted as saying I hope construction will begin at the earliest opportunity and we’ve we’ve had enough talking and it’s time to start digging basically uh obviously things changed in

The in the whole process of the um the gate the Gateway scheme and we don’t really have to re visit an ancient history but um I think by August you you were calling this the scheme a dead scheme uh and you did offer your services to Lia between the council and

Government to make sure that 11 and a half million pounds of the government funding ended up in in Harrier uh so soos that’s one question did you did you have to do any um banging heads together Etc we now have got a a um a kind of different scheme focusing

It on the same area but we with kind of different elements to it which I don’t know you’re aware but it actually went to the West Yorkshire combined Authority and the department of transport for hopefully confirmation last Friday and I think it is fair to say we we in this

Room as councelors have all worked together on on this across the party political divide and I think what we’ve ended up with we all agree is a worthy worthy scheme so I if you were to give your um I don’t know whether you’ve seen it all Andrew because I don’t think it’s

All in the public domain yet so I can accept you won’t be okay fa with with the nitty-gritty but I would have hoped some of your colleagues in your party would have talked to you about it and you know with the kind of PR principles I just wondered if you you were

Supportive of the scheme that is now going to go forward hopefully well a couple of comments if I may Chris um firstly uh I support work when you’re looking at improving sustainable transport and that was something which did attract me to the first scheme uh there were

Some questions though so my My Views were a little bit more nuanced than you just presented them uh for example I thought there were difficulties for businesses that included the loading area and I think there were some questions to be answered as well on uh station parade and going down to a

Single Lane so I think that it was a bit more nuanced but the principle of investing in that part of town uh with quite significant money which would improve the urban realm improve sustainable transport that is a principle that should be encouraged I have to say I haven’t seen

The uh second set of proposals uh my colleagues respect strongly the uh requirements on confidentiality so they haven’t been sharing anything with me um quite frankly tell me what the plans are Chris but I’m encouraged by the fact that you think they’re worthy but tell me you I

Can’t comment I’ve not seen them there has been articles in the fit and other local Publications about it so somebody somewhere has been talking to to somebody but I think basically uh what what’s in there is uh upgrading the public landscape in Station Square and

One Arch which and I know you were very much in favor of which is brilliant well it it is regularly a problem area yeah uh it floods it is a well-used area but uh is occasionally prone to antisocial Behavior Uh too so I think that is a particular problem which needs to be

Solved yeah I and basically we I think the new scheme maintains the two-way traffic on station parade to Lane to Lane but there is a southbound Cycle Way in there from the bottom of lower social parade to to the the Everyman roundabout uh sorry not the roundabout the crossing

And crossings are important in the new scheme there’s various uh different Crossings which will make it easier for pedestrians to get to the bus station and the railway station and there’s the coordination of all the traffic lights from uh the Parliament street Junction all the way up through through station

Parade I I’m there’s more to it than that but but that’s the basics would you on first first hearing would you say this sounds this sounds quite encouraging but certainly the the point about the two carriageway the two-lane station parade that uh will address one

Of my concerns in the first one so that sounds positive uh I like the principle of making it easier for people to reach our bus station our railway station uh we need to encourage more public transport use and access to stations and an integration of that is is clearly a

Very good thing I’ve put a huge amount of time and effort into campaigning to get improved much improved public transport and uh access is a part of that so it sounds encouraging so far I look forward to seeing the plans I will I will ask if

They can be made available um but if if they are going to go forward uh with agreement from all sides here that would be a positive I would suggest okay any more questions Council Bank yes it’s on H sorry on HCC funding uh Andrew you um obviously we’ve got issues to fund the

Project if it goes ahead but um you’re fairly confident at the beginning of the year that we would eventually find some funding have you been able to um give us some ideas when where else we basically where else you think we might be able to get it

From well I think the investment in the convention center the proposals are about making sure it stays competitive uh and the facilities are first class and are attracting people into it uh you know I think we have many ingredients already as a town in terms of Hosting conventions conferences

Exhibitions which are fantastic you firstly and primarily it’s located right smack in the middle of town you’re not out on an industrial estate somewhere uh it is easy to walk around it is safe there are so many facilities around so it’s a lovely location to take your

Conference but the facilities have to be a to scratch uh it’s not a straightforward matter because there’s a large amount of capital here uh so that’s why I think the the council is going to be looking more for National support I will obviously be supporting that have supported that and will continue to

Support that uh what does that actually mean I think it means the uh bids that are available through things like the towns fund and other National schemes which will become available to fund projects and uh I’ve certainly taken the opportunity to highlight the bids uh to min

And will continue to do that but I I would anticipate there will be more funding schemes available uh and we should therefore sort of keep Vigilant and keep going with this yes I mean nationally yes I don’t know what’s in the budget so I’m slightly guessing that

Obviously yeah but but but I would anticipate there will be further schemes thank you um mine is the last question um would you support the formation of a Harriet Town Council well KY uh I we’ve covered this ground reasonably well um I’ve said that I support local

Decision making uh if we are seeing a group that doesn’t take on responsibilities but does take a large council tax then that will be quite hard to support but if it’s a group of people who want to actually make a difference in our area and take local responsibility and cond Dem rate there

Is a plan and a vision then I will most certainly be supporting it thank you you’re the last one to speak sorry on that um subject then what would you consider to be um the right sort of level of precept for the mayor because obviously you’re supporting a

Mayor for the combined Authority and that will also involve a precept what sort of level of precept do you think is acceptable well I haven’t done any work on this issue can’t comment on it really it’ll be up to the m to sort that out I haven’t gone through the finances in any

Way with them so I can’t really comment oh Council Al I think different mayors May uh different uh candidates may have different views about what they may wish to change and obviously that’s a further level of Taxation and the election will sort that out so you know

Why don’t we have a Town Council actually but that’s not my one of you guys wanted to question I don’t come come can I I’m sorry I do have question if nobody else has one I we have we got Council Harrison indicated you want no no question H may I call you Andrew

Mr Jones everybody else does um I’m I’m you mentioned about you know keeping your eyes peeled for funds and pots of money and stuff so uh I’d like to ask that you keep your eyes peeled uh for I think well I think this AC you asked the question what does this

ACC really want to stand for and do and I don’t think we’ve really answered that but we will make sure we get that answer ready for you for the next meeting certainly uh but one of the things is we’re very keen on obviously uh the way

We uh perhaps do travel so the change changeing in travel from say car to bus to bike Etc one of my uh one of my things that I’m really interested in is actually uh getting more people on the train uh and one of the things I’m quite

Keen on and is is a train station at Clara road so I would just ask that you because I think that would be very good I’ve actually done run the numbers and I think the numbers would be that that train station would have about 400,000 they call it entries and exits a year

It’s the same as H Bean Park uh and so I think it’d be very good investment uh so U I’d just like you to keep your eyes peeled for that one thank you well uh the the idea has uh has been discussed I’d be very happy to have further

Conversation let’s arrange that Paul uh with certainly have got National budgets for the opening of new lines and stations uh it’s quite a complex thing to do because it changes things like uh signaling Arrangements timetable more stops Etc so it is quite a complex thing to do but we are seeing record capital

Investment into the railways uh I agree with the basic principle of we should be encouraging more rail usage no question about that uh we’ve seen quite a change in our Railways over the past few years um notably the old two Carriage Pacers have been replaced by three Carriage class

170s and that is a significantly more pleasant experience and uh greater capacity the rail usage patterns are changing as we’re seeing post pandemic U Less commuting but we’re also seeing more Leisure use the London Services which weren’t there some years ago are successful and later this year we should

Be seeing the five car uh LR service upgraded to a nine or a 10 Carriage train so there is really a very very strong uh story but we are in a place really where we’ve got the infrastructure we need to encourage people to use it and uh that’s

One of the more positive things I think that uh that Chris was talking about in terms of access into the station uh through through the Gateway scheme so yeah encourage usage thank you thank you councilor windes thank you chair Andrew at the last meeting we had a great presentation

From a gentleman from the environment agency going back to water quality in rivers um we did state that the River nid due to part of it was due to old mine workings where um things was leaking from there runoff of um chemicals and slurry from farms into the

Rivers but then it came down to the other one which is uh um yosa water where water quality was not good coming from the sewage Works in many many cases old Victorian um sewage Outlets um um and it was pretty damning to be honest about Yorkshire water and it was absolutely

Astounding that somebody from basically a government um organization is criticizing a private company um we I think we all appreciated what he had to say and we all understood what he said Andrew what can central government do um to help with this water in the River nid

And also the Swale the Y and the the other rivers that run through our beautiful part of the county well it is a complex issue as you said Robert because there are so many different things that feed in to any River and uh if you look up into the need catchment

You think it’s all uh wonderful agricultural but actually there is an industrial past there and uh the issue of mine workings has been raised with me by the the environment agency was it a um Dr Christmas uh was it who was the uh highly memorable name obviously not so

Memorable enough that anybody has but uh well never mind but that’s the individual I’ve been dealing with that’s the environment agency and he’s been supportive um the bottom line is to make Waterway improvements require sustained effort across all of the fronts that you have been mentioning uh including agricultural practices and it is

Agricultural runoff that is now the largest cause of pollution in our River you highlighted the Victorian uh sewers yes they are old they’ve been in place a long time now um a key thing you will have noticed is that by the end of last year we had 100% of the storm overflows in

Our country monitored for the first time uh and it was a big change because it was only in 2016 I think it was that it was 6% monitoring so we now can quantify the scale of the problem and that will be able to therefore direct where investment will

Be going to make uh the quickest biggest difference I think the monitoring is critical to this actually and has changed the entire National debate uh the data will be is available live as well if it hasn’t been available yet it will be available very shortly so

People will be able to see what is happening at all of the water monitoring locations around the country in live real time uh where can government go well I think it can work through defra in a number of different ways firstly working with farming groups to talk about and educate on farming

Practice uh but there is also that Capital point about investment in the sewage works and in the storm overflows ultimately we have storm overflows as every other country pretty much does because there are periods where there is intense rain and they can that can overwhelm a sewer

Network uh but we need to see increased capacity to minimize any kind of overflow work so that is an investment uh issue and I think we will see more is going into it but we’ll need to see more funds going in but there is a water action plan which perhaps may be helpful

To circulate to you I can say send your copy if you’re interested yeah okay a pull as okay I’ll send I’ll be I’ll send everyone then okay fair enough thank you for that I’ve got the last last question from councilor Lacy counc broadbank yeah it’s on food way Andrew um obviously was announced

Last year changes to food waste the from national government and it was estimated because the rules were clear what was actually being thought of wasn’t clear it could have cost estimated could cost a million or six and a half million somewhere between there so I want a clarification so while I’m asking can

Have you got any further news on the food waste changes that might be implemented or considered I don’t have news on that for but I can equally I can go away and try do some research and try and dig something out for you which I’m which I’m obviously happy to do

Yeah okay well oh councilor ald it’s got to be pretty quick because unfortunately Andrew has I’m unconscious Andrew needs to leave leave us shortly so very quickly Andrew uh in December you voted in the House of Commons in favor of the government second reading of the government safety of Randa bill that

Includes a total of 200 19 million guaranteed to the randan government and so far another 50 million this year we’ve already spent 500 million giving money to the government in France that’s 96 million pounds um invested in stopping these boats why do you think that is value for

Money for the rape payers the the taxpayers in harrian and N well let’s just go back and think what is the issue that we are trying to solve here and let’s just remember that in the Mediterranean in 2022 2,62 people lost their lives Crossing that sea in the hands of people

Smugglers uh in 2021 27 people lost their lives crossing the channel so what we have here is a a very significant uh criminal activity the criminal smuggling gangs are making vast amounts of money and at the same time showing astonishing casual uh uh regard for people’s safety the principal reason to get uh

The uh the scheme uh operational is to get control of our borders I think the British people want to be able to say that through their government they decide who comes here and not through criminal smuggling gangs I mentioned the Mediterranean because of course many of the journeys start crossing the Mediterranean and

This is a significant issue not just for the United Kingdom but for uh All European countries there Randon scheme exists as a deterrent and I think deterrence can be effective we have already seen this with the returns agreement with Albania where the numbers coming here have fallen by

90% uh indeed that has been the key reason why the numbers crossing the channel Fallen by 30% uh last year compared to the year before to put that into context they’ve gone up by 80% in other European countries so other European countries are looking to us to see how have we

Been able to Buck the trend to get this evil trade under control so um how is it value you asked well um it is a mixture of value in the sense of life human life having value and financial value it is has been costing 8.3 million

Pounds per day to House people in hotels who’ve come across uh uh whilst they’re Pro the claims are being processed so getting control of our borders dealing with the uh evil of criminal smuggling gangs and protecting life that is the reason why this is an important issue the Rwanda agreement for basically

Offshore processing is one part of it it’s attracted a lot significant amount of attention but I think the most substantive part in terms of making the differences between the returns agreements so far with Albania so you do think it’s value for money well uh yes we have to spend the

Money to solve this problem and it is a very significant problem you know I I started by saying that 27 people had died crossing the channel in 21 2,62 people died crossing the Mediterranean last year that is an astonishing number of people so we need to take action it’ll be with

Other countries uh because these things are often uh done best in cooperation U but yes there is a huge problem to solve and it will require resource but the key thing is we have to act to be saving lives and control our borders the British people do not want

People Smugglers determining who comes in and out of our country right I’m very conscious that uh R&B has to go on to another engagement so I’ve got a set of meetings for the afternoon meeting the chamber meeting some constituents meeting the bid so yeah busy busy day

Pat oh well um therefore I think we’ll bring this to a close and thank you so much for coming listening to us and taking on board questions and answering them always happy to do that we’ll we’ll keep in contact no doubt good and I have

Got uh information to send out uh in the form of the send uh plan and the water plan which I will send to all even those who sent apologies okay done no problem well thank you very much thanks very much good luck with your next meeting thank you

Okay right the next thing we have is the Wast and Street Scene presentation um we’re just having a verbal update I believe is that correct should I should I start oh sorry we got H Briggs who’s head of waste operations Street seat and Michael we who is the h our business

Partner not quite close close the information I’ve been given it’s okay I’ll I’ll explain um should I shall I wait for colleagues to leave the room good afternoon members uh my name is Michael Leah I’m the assistant director for Environmental Services I’ve come with my colleague Harry Harry Briggs

Uh who’s the head of Wast and Street Scene Services um Harry will do the bulk of the the presentation but um and and I’m sure Harry Will introduce himself but as Harry’s only been in post a little over a month I thought I’d uh perhaps just um do some justice in terms

Of some of the history to this item um quite difficult to follow on from the MP’s bit so um try and keep it Lively um so um naturally everyone’s well aware of of where we’ve come to organizationally um leading up to lgr and beyond for this

Service area we’ve um started to put a structure in place I’ve mentioned Harry’s role at the head of and Harry will do the team beneath that we still haven’t quite got all the structures in place um beneath Harry yet but we’re working our way through that um all the

While we’ve been trying to keep uh keep on top of delivery of service so so notably collecting household bins but not limited to that there’s a range of other things in there as well as taking on board all of the um sort of leg projects have existed across all eight

Authorities prior to prior to the 1 of April so we’ve been continuing those projects and doing them justice as best we can whilst also then implementing change and also um um developing what we’ve calling transformation plans to assist the overall corporate position and help inform the overall transformation plan uh and help deliver

Savings so um quite a bit going on across all of that um so the brief today is really Harry will explain exp from his perspective where we’re up to I’m happy to answer any questions as we go through as well um if helpful um the focus would really be about performance

Uh and my headline Point around performance particularly around uh waste collection given that was the the previous harag burough service that’s sort of been adopted in um of the performance stats that I have seen the performance is largely um particularly leading up through April May and June of

This year being unaffected by LG are performance has been pretty static um from what was Harriet Bar’s council’s performance of the service to North yoria council’s performance of that service um what I can say is since sort of the summertime the service itself has been taking steps to improve performance

And we’ve seen some early shoots of performance gains um things around Miss bins and complaints I’m starting to see some reductions in that but it’s very early days as I said we’ve got a lot of work to do and these transformation plans will take years rather than months

To see see fruition so please um have your expectations set that this will take time for us to unlock um in that sort of contextual position harria is a big area within North yorta Council and it’s taking up a lot of focus of my time and Harry’s time so please be assured in

That sense that we are looking to this area to see improvements and working closely with the local team here to help um both in terms of those Legacy projects but then also the service performance so if I pass now to Harry just to sort of fill you in some of the

DET thank you yes so firstly just to say thank you chair for the invite today and I’ll just run through a verbal report on on the work we’ve been under Tak since April as a service management team um as Michael says we’ve been prioritizing um the maintenance of the services that

Residents and businesses rely on each and every day um so that’s waste collection that’s commercial Waste Services and Street cleansing as well and during that time we’ve been taking steps to understand the nuances of different uh Service delivery practices across the county um and different service pressures because

They’re not always equal at different times of the year and different pressures on the service more generally um and try and understand that and make sure that our servic is uh responsive to those needs across North Yorkshire um some of the key pieces of work that we’

Started to do already is looking at um charging for containers for bins um and making sure that’s aligned across North Yorkshire um we’re looking at the bulky Waste Service so people who have um white good sers um they can access the service in the same way across North

Yorkshire it’s the same charge and it’s the same mechanism as well that we’re we’re looking to introduce from from April um we also have a single online calendar now um which is one of the first things we’ve been able to do for people to be able to look when their bin

Is going to be emptied um rather than seven different versions of the same service uh we now have one single one um that’s sort of the the the sort of short to Med medium-term pieces of work we’re doing longer term we’re looking at how we collect waste across North Yorkshire

Um in terms of the working week U we have five-day working we have four day working we have rolling 4 day um so that’s a big piece of work that we’re working through with um Frontline colleagues as well as the Unison as well as the recognized Union um and then also

What we collect um in terms of what materials we collect and what kind of containers that we provide for resid to to access that service um we’re also rolling out wheel bins in place of boxes um and looking at how we respond as a service to bank holidays as well um to

Try and improve that functionality um around uh bank holidays and any catchup days uh so that we maintain those services on those because we recognize in certain areas Bank holes has proved a challenge in terms of how we respond to that um and making sure we have a resilient service for residents to

Engage with as Michael mentioned as well um the management team putting in that new structure for North orire Council as to how to deliver the services um has been the I’ve now been appointed as head of service um and we’ve now got a team of area managers in place as well uh

Following my appointment um to have an area manager for the Harriet and former Craven area um and he will be looking forward to uh addressing some of the concerns around performance and improving those and the management team as a whole is is looking to improve uh

From where we’re at um and address any small issues that we have intend of uh performance uh across more generally um we’re also looking at a role around engagement and communication so that members have a clear access route into our service areas looking having dropping clinics uh in each of those

Depos for that purpose so that if you’ve got areas of concern you’ll be able to come in and answer those questions there and then um as well as improve our Communications with residents um around comp uh complaints fre of information requests um and items such as

That so then moving on to I think the the topic of of discussion today which you you asked us to cover was um around the Lin project now this is one of the projects that was started by um the Harriet bur Council um and one piece of work that’s continued um it’s a

Significant piece of work it’s to look at the 1500 litter bins that were in the former haraga U District um area now I think there’s probably actually more than the 1500 bin that we thought we had as there always is in these situations um but the the aspiration of that

Project was to review and rationalize the number of those bins because regularly um bins can pop up Here There and Everywhere and it’s important that we make sure that they’re in the right place at the right location and we don’t have too many um or we don’t have the

Wrong size bin and there were some concerns about the condition of some of those bins um within the uh the environment we also wanted to look at reducing the operating cost from delivering that service um so rather than separate dedicated Street cleansing rounds those would go onto the domestic

Uh waste rounds and to try and um arrange so that they had enough capacity to last uh in between those collections um so we’re in the final stages now of rolling this uh this project out into nbra um and what we said is once that part of the project is complete and then

Subject to any feedback today we’ll uh review the project uh as to how we take that forward into to the next steps um to try and understand any isolated areas of concern or if there’s any concerns about the project more generally um irrespective of where the project goes

From this point on U they offer to to look at any individual isolated areas that are concern to yourselves or to constituents we’re happy to do so arrange walkabouts with any individual counselors um to to look at any areas that you have concern with um or I can

Arrange for a more detailed conversation about this this the project in its strategic uh aims if you’d like um but that realistically covers the the sort of summary I’d like to discuss with you today and then hopefully answer any questions that you may have okay I’ve got I think Council lat

Would like to ask question thank you um I’ve got so many questions um it’s one of those topics I’m afraid that is really quite comes a lot let’s say from residents so that’s obviously the Mist bins that Michael alluded to um earlier um but also then the the bins on

The streets the street bins um the placement of those bins is something that I have a bit of an issue with a lot of the time so previously when when we had the smaller bins they would be put in locations where people would actually most likely

Use them an entrance to a park for example or the exit of a park is a good place or next to a bus stop where people are standing and now it seems to have completely changed and and the focus seems to be on having the bin close to a

Road where the the vehicle that is going to empty it can get access to and that seems to be the priority not where the residents actually were most likely to use it the emphasis now seems to be more on where that vehicle can easily just

Park up next to it and empty it my understanding is they are wheelie bins so they can be moved so I can’t understand why the placement always has to be literally the side of the road where the vehicle is going to pull up versus being able to you know just

Just move it a distance to make it in a more logical place for the person who actually wants to wants to use it yes sorry go do you want to put your mic up so I’d like to piggy back on this question because I’m the one who brought this

Here so the first thing I’ve got to say is that Dan the the person that I’ve dealt with at claraa Road has been very helpful he’s been out with me the first problem we have is and it’s probably Fallen between two stools because of course I think Allison Wilson who was

Part of this department left the council but there’s been no sort of policy guideline in the first instance that I can actually say to all the members of the public so on social media media I I won’t put your name on there but but I’ve got to tell you I am very

Popular yeah put Michael’s name on there yeah but but you know the hottest topic and the thing that fills my inbox most are pubins so so one of the things that I I’d like you to take away from today is first of all communication he talks about communication and I think we need

To get out there exactly what the policy on this is Dan has explained it to me and it makes sense it’s on where you’ve got Ingress and egress the foot PS now I happen to have in my constituency probably the dog walking capital of Harriet because I’ve got the greenway between

Starbeck uh and Buon lane and then the greenway from built Lane and I’ve got KNX Country Park and I’ve got all sorts of stuff and our border to Monica so so Monica gets the same sort of problems so the first thing is I’d like to be able

To get us to communicate with people and say this is the policy on the new bins and then they can understand where the locations are and why they’ve been located in those places which I understand the mechanical stuff and the fact that you want to bring more people

That are actually tackling the street actually sweeping the streets and stuff so so I I get that I just think that where we’ve we failed is is actually in in explaining to people what we’re doing but also having some meaningful data behind it so for example a lot of the

Bins in my area are poop bins now that have been replaced with you know I call it I call them I call them like little tardises these new big bins uh and I am concerned that if you’re going to empty those once a fortnite they are going to

Smell but we haven’t had the summer yet so we’ll we can get to that one when we get there but I would like that to be some form of monitoring as well uh because and that’s why I’m so concerned about this and why lots of people are

Very concerned about this but I have nothing I can really point to and say look here’s the policy uh or this is instead I I I end up writing the same thing hundreds of times to people and and they still don’t get it so so that’s really where I would like your support

And also of course the the collection and the empty and the uh what I would call the uh review of these bins because they might need to be emptied more frequently than once a fortnite particularly if they contain a lot of dog excrement uh so so so that’s what my

Request from you is and yeah and councilor has absolutely right and the I mean one of your residents actually I believe it’s Charles Avenue has have been located really quite close to their house and this summer it did absolutely reak you know and I saw photos of it overflowing people leaving leaving bags

On top because they couldn’t get any more inside or all down the steps down to Woodfield Park um and we also have a problem where because the public weren’t aware before it actually happened what was happening repeatedly I find people are dropping poo bags in what I call the

Ghost of a bin so where a bin used to be and is no longer they’re still just dropping them there where they anticipated there to be a bin you know so the the communication piece was was really really missing um but I would like clarification as well on the amount

That they are being emptied um and how that’s going because I I also had a meeting with Dan and he talked about you know monitoring and how obviously different bins were perhaps going to take different amounts of time that they needed to be collected I mean I drove

Past the one in sherrow yesterday it’s absolutely overflowing so you know how is that work going of sort of monitoring and understanding how often the bins need to be emptied in different areas and also we were told that as the bin roll out happened it was going to free

Up those individuals who used to actually have to go around and and empty them to start sweeping um and generally tidying up um different streets so has that actually started okay so I’ll try and answer each of those points in turn so if if I’ve missed anything feel free to come back

Um so firstly yes they are traditional wheeler bins um that uh most households have um and so with them being emptied by our domestic collection Crews realistically we want them as close to Road as as humanly possible because they already have a large work program for

The day so they don’t have time to then go into the par which is what we tried to move away from where you could have a a strect lensing team that solely did the Lins and their work program was associated with that so the the time

Pressure is greater than it used to be because of um the aspiration to to move that work from a separate round onto our domestic Crews um I think in terms of the placement of the bins and I think this is this is possibly where it’s right that we now pause at this point

And reflect on that to see if maybe the locations are could be improved upon um or the number of bins that have been rationalized is too great um and I think that’s right and I think um the the new management team um as North yor council

Is looking at this project again not to say that the project was delivered incorrectly but we want now as a new organization to review that again take the feedback from yourselves around the points and I know that Dan has met with both of you and that offer is is

Obviously available to any other councilors and continues to be the case um and to try and look at how best we can deliver the aims of the project um which is effectively to rather than have operatives driving around between litter bins emptying them is to have a domestic crew that drive

Past anyways emptying the litter bins and then those teams can be freed up to do more traditional Street orderly barrows sweeping out litter picking all those kind of stuff in between the bins and that piece of work has started um it it is obviously challenging because the

Project as a whole hasn’t finished so we still have a number of litter bins that aren’t on the domestic Crews um but at this point I think it’s right that we pause um and we can look at the the issues that you’ve raised um and we can

See how we can improve for the next phase if if we get to that stage just um thanks chair thank you Harry I just I’ll pick up the question around policy as well because that was within the um and and to be fair to Harry Harry I don’t think he’s had a

Chance to potentially look at that yet so um two two points one is uh just prior to Christmas I did a a walk of um councelor Haslam’s patch um in terms of the L bins and and at first hand sight of what you’re describing so I’m very familiar with with what’s being put

Forward and I recognize some of those issues and the concerns um like Harry I don’t want to be um extremely critical of the project and the work to date um so I’m not going to try and pass comment on on that but really just describe where we’re going

To so in terms of policy we have started working closely with our highways colleagues around Street Scene because street scene as a policy will sit with highways not with Waste Services so a slight um Matrix management if you will so a piece of work’s been started with

Um a colleague within highways head of um um what’s it called head of strategy Network strategy Alan McVey and Barry Mason is the assistant director area there so we’re doing a joint project with with them and that will look across policy for the whole County area so not

Just harag so um that work has started it will take some time as you imagine there are quite a few areas within the new Council that need policy development um and just within our area Harry’s touched on quite a few across the whole gamut there’s there’s probably hundreds

So we’re working our way through that um so please again be assured that we’re starting to look at that policy area I think the founding principle from what I’ve seen is the bid needs to be in the right place it needs to be collected at the right frequency I mean these are

Fairly straightforward things um when I been out on on the patch that isn’t the case they’re in the wrong some of they’re in the wrong place some are missing and they’re not being collected to the right frequency so we’ve recognized that and I think we need to address that thank you that counselor

Can um thank you for your offer of meeting with councilors um Dan has as well made that offer but nbor town councilors would very much appreciate a site meeting um we also have received lots of emails where there been changes to been locations that don’t seem to be working for the public

And we’d um like to look into that with you as well as areas of um Leisure um where it doesn’t seem to be working we’d also like to look um at the marketplace um the very big bins were cited there but I think the rest of the

Bins that were talked about in terms of being tidied decreased in amounts to tidy up that area and give more more space um to pedestrians hasn’t been done but I’m guessing that’s still within the work that you’ve got to complete we do have an issue um in the

Marketpl with a business and waste that’s being left outside and causing quite um a mess and has been raised by residents um I I I believe my colleague counselor Matt Walker has been um trying to raise that and get that issue dealt with it’s with with regards to a cafe

And the marketplace off asite the market cross okay that’s not one I’m familiar with but more than happy to to look at how best we can respond to that because within um our service area there’s there’s waste uh collection and street scene as well as waste enforcement as

Well so um I’m more than happy to look at that it’s not something that I’m aware of at the moment but um if you can send me the details then we can look into that but yeah is regards to meeting um the Town Council um more than happy

To do that um I’ll just arrange to contact you outside of the meeting okay chair if I’m sorry if I made just to come back in again um so describe some of the policy area and and I’m as Harry’s mentioned pick up in in isolated cases as well I’m AB absolutely

Happy to review those areas as a maybe as a request back from officers to members Harry’s just touched on waste enforcement and something that I’m I’m really Keen that as a service we get on top of is around things like littering so whilst we can put bins you could the

Way I’ve described it is you could put as many bins as you want in in the whole town they’ll still be littering so what we’d really like to do is engage with members and communities Community groups we know there’s a really active litter picking groups in all areas of the

County what we really want to do is start engaging with some of that and and harnessing some of that Community effort so whilst we can get the bins in the right place we can start um effectively working together to try and address some of those

Issues chair could I ask a a question um when we were presented with the um work to um reduce the number of bins but increase the capacity it was talked about that doing this would allow more resources and we were um it was confirmed that we would have someone um

To be able to do more litter picking or Street cleansing um in nbro because of these changes um do you know when that’s going to um start to happen so I think as I mentioned earlier Council it’s until we do all the the bins in that area they’re still having

To go in between but it’s very much an as that that’s ultimately that’s the redesignation of the resources we’re not looking to strip out those resources as part of this uh project it’s just to make better use of them um so in specific question about the nas area

I’ll find out when that will be uh we’ll be able to divert those resources councilor ly do you have a question that you mentioned briefly but perhaps a little more detail the roll out of the blue bins um I do get questions as to when when they’re coming

Whe whether they’re coming do I need one Etc and and there probably is rhyme and reason but as I drive around Harriot and nbor I see blue bins in some places not others and I can’t quite see the logic so can you help me with that so that I

Can help residents thanks yeah Harry might need to pick up some of the Precision and the response but at a at an aggregate term this is a another Legacy harag bur Council project rolling out these these bins as a North ort Council we have not yet have have a

Policy in place for harmonized waste collection however what we are um predicting is that we would look to have wheeled bins for every household so we support the general direction of providing wheel bins so that project is continuing rather than being stopped so we will be looking at wield bins in

Every area across across the county not just harut bur so that we’re looking at the other um locations as well in terms of why certain areas of wheel bins and some don’t it’s based on the rounds so the team will look at the round and provide a wheel bin for round so when

The vehicle goes out it’s the right vehicle to service that household rather than it being different Vehicles so we’re not doing any round reconfiguration work it’s just picking up the particular rounds um and then in terms of the timing of this it’s linked to the amount of budget available

Arogant burough had set aside some Capital funding to roll out bins we’ve almost all but exhausted that funding available so to do more of the same work across the the county we’ll need to effectively find some more resources to help deliver that okay so what you’re suggesting is that it that it continues

To stall and and the sort of the yeah as was La last year I was Pro I was saying they’re coming and this this winter when the wind blows you won’t have the same problem of dispersed waste Etc and it’s stalled I understand completely in terms

Of resources it just think it’s a bit it is a bit of a sort of hotch post across the area at the moment um in terms of who’s got blue bins and who hasn’t I I get the perception based on the operation being your answer is clear

Thank you um in terms of the the the pacing of it we do have a plan I’m sure Harry will come in a moment in terms of how many households in north in in Harriet we can effectively roll onto those Wheels bins it won’t be all of them with this round of funding

Um thank you so we have communicated that out we’ve communicated to resid so we’ve committed to do that many um for the remainder of not just Harriet but the county we do need to do some further work on how quickly and how we fund that the hands are shooting up all over

The place sorry I’ve got Council Gibbs next thank you um a couple of questions first one’s just back to back to the bins that we were discussing a few minutes ago um and I’m generally supportive of the idea to to rationalize and everything that you’ve been doing

And I’ve Speak I’ve spoken with John club I’m sure you’re aware in the past about this quite a lot because I did have a slight concern over the approach in the sense that to me it didn’t seem like things like um main walking routes in and out of town were being properly

Factored in um I I represent the town center and the Town Center is largely fine as far as bins are concerned as you would expect um however if you’re out on your night out and you go and get your McDonald’s or your kebab and you start

Walking home with it you you know you often walk up or walk out rather one of the main main roads out the Town Center I’m thinking of colbath Road FL Franklin Road whichever way you go um and the response I got was that the approach is designed to have less waste bins in

Residential areas and to me that also makes sense but that doesn’t take into a fact that actually if it’s a main walking route in or out of town there is a lot more footfall than perhaps down a CAC or something so could that be looked at again um with regards to the main

Routs in and out of town which I appreciate a lot of them won’t actually be in my ward but maybe in in in in other colleagues uh and my second question which is is unrelated and is back to a legacy thing from Hara bur Council um one of the things that Hara

Did very well was it um text service for the grad to bins from speaking with colleagues who don’t represent harrius I know that not everywhere has that luxury um basically I’m after insurance are we keeping that because I would strongly encourage you to keep it if

Possible so I think it’s gone hasn’t it I thought it I still I still get them do you I got lots of people don’t see I got mine for Christmas unless that’s me being a counselor I’m guessing that but the text say my my bin collection data changed I still

Don’t yeah I still get it but I know that colleagues outside of harag don’t get it it’s not an option and I would like that keeping if possible um so yeah I mean in terms of bin locations absolutely more than happy to to pick up um any locations that have

Cause for concern either in the first phase or more recent um and that’s why we want to look at the the project in its entirety again before we’ roll it out any further I cover the yeah in regards to text uh messaging as a as a service I I like that ability to

Communicate to Residents and the way that harag previously done that is something that I would be Keen to support countywide uh and we’ve approached corporate Communications colleagues around that there is a cost to it um I’m trying to remember the number of time it’s at least 20,000

Pounds a year to text all residents in North Yorkshire so that was where we got to the point of right who’s going to pay for it so that’s where we’re up to so I I support the idea and and would want to see that through chair if I could just come back

Just because a few gasps around the room when when I mentioned it because does some have some people dropped off with because I still get them um I don’t know what’s gone wrong yeah no I I’ve had lots of um residents saying that they don’t they hav’t don’t receive them

Anymore perhaps that’s something that just could be looked into why some of us are lucky and some of us aren’t um certainly okay can we then oh councelor aldred like the way she says that don’t you uh all all I want to say is putting a uh

U congratulations to the guys who week in week out go out in all way weathers and MTR bins and I I was privileged and it was a privilege to go out with a crew back in October I spent a day going out with a recycling crew uh around Jenn

Fields actually I ventured into Michael Harrison country I had my passport so it was all right but no seriously uh I was the fourth guy and it was guys um I understand there are a few lady um waste collectors as well but it was a privilege and one thing that came across

Really well there’s two things that came across strongly one is that the guys are really dedicated and will go out of their way to make sure they they collect everything that the residents leave and put it back as neatly as they they possibly can as well and they will come

Back to something if they um it’s not there at at the appropriate time and I don’t know whether it’s because I I was with them but it was always done with a smile but I did get feedback from residents as well on that day and they

Were very very appre it was obvious they were very appreciative of the service I know that’s only one round it was only one day but it was a cold day it didn’t actually rain but they do go out in in our weathers and they do a a a

Remarkable job for us and and I I think you know it it I I have to say this and this your visit here has given me this chance to thank them and say we should invest in our our staff I know we do but we’ve got a a wonderful team of waste

Collectors and we shouldn’t forget that you know they’re out there over time we’re sitting in a lovely warm offices that they’re doing all the hard work and I know the residents 99% of them really appreciate what goes on so I know it’s been passed to them before but I’m I’m

Saying it in a televised Arena now so thank you thank you for the thank you for the feedback I’d I’d also Echo that I’ve been out on around and it it’s hard work it’s all weather um and we have committed and dedicated staff throughout the county and I think that’s a a

Privilege to have have taken that on board can I add to that as a recipient of that service and I watch them where I live I watch them come up and how they do take and I I think it’s just amazing and we’re so pleased at the service they give particularly where I

Live yeah just to say again to rec Michael’s comments thank you very much for for making those u words of praise for the crews I feel a real privilege um to lead the teams that we have across North the auia because as we go around

Each of the depos and talking to them uh talking to them about the future plans for the service and how we can deliver for residents and businesses um you can see the real passion that they have in uh their job um and wanting to do a high quality service because they recognize

How important it is um for residents uh and for the community as a whole in terms of having clean streets uh well-managed service um as Michael and I were talking today we got a message from someone to say that the crew always waves at their daughter when they go

Past and it’s that kind of stuff that’s a real personal level and the Fantastic ambassadors for the north yorshire Council um as a whole um so I’ll make sure we pass that feedback on yeah no I don’t think anybody’s got any uh challenges with the quality of

Our refuge collection I think just one of the things you need to remember though is in the summer it’s very dry very hot so sun hats I got one of my one of my residents wrote I think last year or the year before saying why haven’t they why haven’t our refug collections

Got sun hats I don’t know whether it’s yellow however my technical question is do in in in haraga the the bins the the vehicles used to carry three cameras uh but I noticed we’ve been getting sort of white ones and various of so they’ve obviously been swapping

Some of the trucks around but my question is is do they still carry the three cameras one uh I think one was for health and safety is around the vehicle one was uh for what the locate that the bin was out at the location the location

There was a third one which I think was literally just showing that it was emptied so I just wondered if because I get those questions all the time I’ll pick up the F I’ll pick up the first question around PP and health and safety during summer months

Um last summer North yosa Council was really proactive in supporting Refuge crews in particular um through particularly hot periods um they are allowed to wear Sun caps um so if there’s staff not wearing them then there’s a question there um we also provide them with water in in cab and

With sunscreen and we actually allow them to wear shorts um which a lot of other authorities don’t allow um and there’s a a health and safety consideration around that so we take the matter really seriously and um we’re actually being tested from other services around our approach because

They’d like to to replicate the model that we’ve got in terms of heal and protect our stuff in in periods of hot weather um in terms of the vehicle cameras I’ll I’ll let Harry pick that up because I I imagine it’ll be different for different vehicles but I’ll let

Harry respond yeah absolutely as I’m sure you can imagine we’ve got a real mixed Fleet from um that we’ve inherited as a new Authority from ail uh but absolutely uh onboard CCTV is the default for all uh new vehicles that come on to Fleet um for ourselves

Amongst a whole host of other pieces of Technology but absolutely that’s for recording at the the front down both sides and for the rear and that’s also too um it’s not a a piece of technology to look at monitoring of the crews performance or anything like that it’s

For the crews own welfare to look at accident investigation uh claims that we’ve hit their vehicle this kind of stuff um so absolutely that’s the default that we have um as well as other different Technologies for cyclist protection as well Council um I’ve just got a quick one

About food waste know obviously you know this is a a big issue that we need to look at how we’re going to deal with it but I know it is something also that residents are really Keen to start to see some movement on so I just wondered

If there’s any update as to what the pro you know where what sort of timeline we’re thinking we’re looking at being able to offer food waste collection it’s quite a tough question to answer yes there’s a a slight update uh government through simpler recycling have announced that all authorities will

Be obliged to collect separate food waste weekly from 2026 uh the position for North Yorkshire and in Partnership city of York Council uh we have um been provided permission to delay that start date until the end of the contract at Allon Waste Recovery Park which is

2043 so the decision that we took at full Council um I think it was February last year was to put that back stop into place so we’ve effectively accepted that transitional arrangement to 2043 however I’m aware that the leader has written to defra recently um um to request dialogue about

Being able to secure a date sooner than 2043 it’s particularly contingent on funding because locally um there is a significant and there still is a significant amount of uncertainty on how much funding we would receive should we in roduce that service and therefore I understand members at full Council were

Un unsure as to commit to a date yet but there is a a broad support I think to introduce that service sooner than 2043 um the the latest bit of news this week we had a letter from defra providing the allocation of capital funding to introduce the service so that

Allocation is for all councils um Nationwide our allocation was 4.8 million as North yorshire Council um however they government this is have withheld that funding from North yorshire Council um until the day we introduce the service so they’re keeping it in their coffers rather than

Providing it to us to a crew interest so I’m just pending a response to civil servants to say actually can we have the money here because we we we think you’ll probably forget about that cash um if you don’t give it to us now sorry so

We’ve got to introd we’ve got to intr roduce the service first and then they’ll pay for that afterwards is that how they’re doing it so the def have uh secured one pot of cash from treasury which was 295 million pounds nationally to implement food waste collection and that’s the allocation that they’ve

Provided out to authorities to start introducing it in those areas that will have it there are Circa 40 local authorities not introducing separate food waste yet because they have similar arrangements to us so we’re one of about 40 not introducing it yet defra um have not yet secured ongoing Revenue what’s

Called new burdens funding for the continuation of that service so any ongoing funding hasn’t been secured yet from treasury so what they’re saying to us is you can have your money to introduce it but you’ll have an ongoing cost we don’t know how much we’re going to give to you

To to cover the cost of that yet so other authorities have been given no choice but to implement it we’ve got this choice and we’ve accepted the choice to delay pending further detail on what money we may get I’m not sure if that answers the council’s question but hopefully it does

Yeah that’s great that you know you’ve updated with what’s changed since last you know essentially almost this time last year thank you right I think I think that was the last question so can I thank you both very much for attending and responding to the questions it’s been really really

Helpful thank you thank you everyone right members we now move on to agenda item seven which is committee work program and I’m going to invite Mark to introduce a report and identify any work program updates thank you chair um this is the uh report that uh comes to every every

Uh committee meeting uh I’ll just go through the Salient points in terms of the updates um as I’m going through the report I’m I’m just looking at the uh the working groups and I’m not sure any of them have met the climate change water quality volun Community sector other harate station Gateway working

Group since the last meeting yeah we did we’ve had we’ve had our one and only meeting I think that was report at the previous meeting no okay it was because I complained yeah I I complained the last one that we hadn’t met in fact we hadn’t

Formed a group so so we did I can do my report now we did meet and uh we went around but it there’s been several meetings of the whole a aec which uh it’s right and proper and I think the working group will now come into its own hopefully when the money’s being

Confirmed and we can what was always the purpose of that working group was to monitor progress as it goes on so that will be the working group rather than the entire a a ACC but hopefully there’ll be regular reports back and we’ve got rmp in favor of it so that’s good

Your no he’s right no the community voluntary sector group hasn’t met since the last meeting so thank you okay thank you um just an update from sorry I just going to say I can confirm that neither the water group or the climate change group have met either

You’re on the you’re on the ball there mark thank you I was obviously getting confused with the the all all Council all committee informal session we had um so the update from the just so that members are aware that the two statements that were referred by the at

The last committee meeting about active transport active travel and the 20 M hour uh uh statements that came to the last meeting have been referred to the transport economy environment Enterprise only scrutiny committee on the 18th of January just so as members are aware of that uh we haven’t got any for informal

Meetings uh in the diary at the moment and I’ve got the um the actual work program is attached uh at appendix two um just some updates I think the um school’s education achievement and finance have been confirmed for the 14th of March and the local nature recovery

Strategy might well come to that meeting as well um and the only other update that I have will Perhaps Perhaps be of interest to members um is that we are I’m looking at now um a meeting for the um 50,000 funding I think which was mentioned in

The book budget uh session that we had previously I had a a chat about um the appointment of an officer in terms of supporting our committee to be able to take this forward and I’m in the process of arranging an in-person meeting in in the next two or three weeks for members

Of the committee to to meet and start taking forward any proposals looking at the criteria that’s now being agreed and making sure that we have a a process to take that forward uh in the forthcoming uh couple of months but again that’s going to be done as soon as as soon as

We can so let’s spend it in this financial year and you can talk about how that’s taken into the budget process as well as as as as as when we do that as well uh and we’re also in the process of taking forward that we agreed that there’ be an informal session about

Commuted sums as well so again that’s the one that’s going to be arranged as well uh in the near future as well and just to confirm that the informal session of the committee we had one for the all members on the 2nd of January in advance of the business case going

Forward for the the the station Gateway as well and in terms of updates chair uh everything else that are ongoing behind the scenes in terms of the issues which have been brought up between meetings that have been followed through and I’ve put the major points in there but again

They’re just updates now major ones that I’ve I’ve I’ve sort of highlighted in the report can we suggest some more work program it’s it’s a committee’s work program this is the this is the item on the agenda where members can agree items of work for inclusion of the future work

Program well can I uh ask that we the committee might support a work group for har forming a harate Town Council can I ask what you envisage that group doing uh councilor Marsh because it’s basically got to go back to full Council if we want to change what

Full Council voted for which was but this was to make a suggestion from Harriet ACC to full Council but I think we can do that through full Council anyway and we could do it at the next full Council we could do it at 21st of

February fine if you want to do it that way I just want that voice to be heard I’m just thinking that’ll be before the next ACC um and and and there was an email this morning from Barry KH which details what we can do and what we can’t

Do um and I think that’s the only way legally you can do it anyway so we may as well that’s fine I I haven’t read my emails this morning so um very happy to do that but I don’t want to lose I think we’re all in agreement well

Most of us are in agreement we don’t uh are there any of items of any urgent items anyone wants to bring there’s no urgent items that we’ve been made aware of chair great that’s great so in those circumstances just to say remind members the date of our next

Meeting is Thursday the 14th of March 2024 not 25 yeah and note the change of date for following meetings now the 30th of May 2024 close if there’s nothing else then can I thank members and those officers who’ve attended today um and our MP and um just

Hope that uh We’ve managed to get across everything that we want to do today thank you everyone for your input for today’s meeting thank you for