Council response on traveller policy

John Fareham and John Abbott report that the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee have approved the Council’s response to the Government’s consultation on traveller policy.

After all the fun and games both we and local residents here have had over the years with sundry unauthorised traveller encampments we thought you might be interested in some of the information contained in the Committee papers. Although we have not been visited by travellers in the last year – in part because of our and the Area Team’s prompt work to move them on, and in part because some of the sites they used to favour have been built on – incursions elsewhere have continued and the Council calculate they spent just over fifty thousand pounds on legal fees and clearing up operations in 2016-17. Less encouraging is the officers’ contention, accepted by the Committee, that they cannot find a suitable location for a stop-off site for travellers  because all the possible locations are places of high flood risk. To take this view is to apply planning criteria for permanent properties to a site used for very temporary stopovers.

Helperby Walk grass cutting

John Fareham and John Abbott are working with officers to resolve issues with grass cutting on Helperby Walk.

We received complaints from local residents to the effect that the grass was becoming unacceptably long and looking neglected.  We therefore referred the matter to the officers who informed us that owing to current staffing levels the cutting frequency was currently below what was expected, but the position would improve as the grass cutting teams come closer to target grass cutting frequencies and the exceptionally fast growth of grass this year begins to slow down. We know that grass cutting issues have popped up in various parts of the ward over the past few years, in part due to staffing and equipment changes, but we will remain vigilant in a matter we know is important to many local residents and report any complaints we receive to the proper quarters.

Loveridge Avenue Home Zone scheme

John Fareham and John Abbott report that progress is being made towards the implementation of the proposed Home Zone scheme for Loveridge Avenue.

We received representations from local residents to the effect that, during thee wait for the scheme to be implemented, relations between residents on one side and the other in matters of who was entitled to which parking space. We therefore contacted the officers to ask what the current position was and were informed that the responses from local residents were currently being analysed and that information for residents regarding the cost of the scheme and the specifics of residents’ responses will be sent out soon, probably within eight weeks.  If we receive any further information prior to this we will of course let local residents know.

Courty Road North-National Avenue junction remodelling

John Fareham and John Abbott are working on proposals  to remodel the junction of County Road North and National Avenue.

It is early days yet, and we are still discussing with officers such matters as whether a feasibility study is necessary (we don’t think one is, and unlike others, we never do) and whether we should pay for it (as previously noted, the corporate centre snaffled every ward’s highways budget and now claims not to know where it put them all). Options suggested by the officers were a traffic island which we do not favour because of its potential impact on tenfoot access, and narrowing the carriageway at the junctions to slow down traffic and facilitate the installation of a pedestrian crossing with a dropped kerb and tactile paving. This latter would be in the best interests of those with limited or no visibility who, without such assistance, find crossing this junction rather fraught.”

William Gee site tree felling

John Fareham and John Abbott are seeking action in respect of tree felling on the former William Gee site.

Outline planning permission has been granted to build on this site, but that is only approval in principle and not full permission to build based on a final design getting approval.  We are concerned the developers are therefore jumping the gun by having trees felled before they actually have full permission to build and have asked the officers to investigate. When we have the outcome of the investigations we will of course let local residents know.

Ancaster Avenue traffic flow

John Fareham and John Abbott are considering the possibility of a one way system for Ancaster Avenue.

The officers have concerns about the practicality of the system and also about the cost.  They reckon the cost could be between ten and fifteen thousand pounds when the cost of getting all the additional signage, and going through the legal and procedural steps required to get a new Traffic Regulation Order, are counted in. It would also be necessary to determine in which direction the traffic should flow. When all the hoo-hah surrounding the Annual Meeting of Council has died down – and it should be noted that, if it is decided to proceed,  the matter will eventually come to the Area Committee we end up on after the council AGM has decided which of the Council’s new wards are put together to form which new Area Committees – we will discuss the matter with the officers at the local Area Team and report further when the outcome of the discussion is known.

Southfield Road crime prevention

John Fareham and John Abbott are playing an active role in crime prevention again, this time down Southfield Road where residents reported a spike in crime along this street and managed to identify the problem was “the tenfoot” coming off the turning head and which leads on to Chanterlands Avenue.

Of course because what looks like a tenfoot is, by some bizarre decision in the very long-distant past that nobody can discover the reason for, actually adopted as a Public Highway, it cannot be gated off.

If the reason we can’t gate it is because it is a public highway, the problem needs to be redefined and what better than to change the terms of the question?  There and then we made immediate enquiries about a Stopping-up Order and were told within only a few days, thanks to the excellent staff, they were still ‘a thing’ and how to set about having one.  Because we manage the minimal ward budget we have, the meanest ward budget in the city, we managed to find the £2000 it costs to undertake the process.