Agenda and minutes

Resolved

That Councillor Nigel Knapton be appointed Chair of the ACC until the first meeting of the Committee following the Council AGM in 2024.

Resolved -

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 31 March 2023, having been printed and circulated, be taken as read and confirmed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Resolved

That Councillor Caroline Goodrick be appointed Vice-Chair of the ACC until the first meeting of the Committee following the Council AGM in 2024.

Members made the following declarations:

Councillor Donohue-Moncrief – In respect of the petition item in respect of the provision of public toilets in Filey – She was a former Cabinet Member of Scarborough Borough Council which had undertaken a review of public conveniences, including those in Filey. She had also been the Chair of Scrutiny following the Cabinet review and had voted for the recommendations. Recently she had been lobbied by the petitioner and others in relation to the provision of the public toilets in Filey. She emphasised that she had not pre-determined the issues raised and would approach the item without prejudice.

Councillor Cross - In respect of the petition item in respect of the provision of public toilets in Filey – He stated that he had similar interests to those outlined by Councillor Donohue-Moncrief having being a Member at Scarborough Borough Council and had considered, and voted on, the review. He was also a resident of Filey, so was affected by the proposals, and also knew the petitioner. He was also a Member of the Town Council which had been fully briefed on the proposals and had recognised these as a major issue for the town. He also stated that he had not pre-determined the issues raised and would approach the item without prejudice.

Councillors Goodrick, Knapton, Andrews, Taylor, Burr, Jabbour and Baker - In respect of the petition item in respect of the provision of public toilets in Filey – The Members stated that they had all served on the ACCs Planning Committee at which the petitioner had appeared as a public speaker in relation to the demolition and provision of temporary toilets of the public toilets. The decision on this matter, however, was not for that Committee to make.

Councillor Jabbour – In respect of the item related to the provision of Post Office services in Helmsley – He stated that he was a resident of Helmsley affected by the current situation and had been involved in correspondence with the Post Office in respect of the current situation.

Members of the public may ask questions or make statements at this meeting if they have given notice and provided the text to Steve Loach of Democratic Services (contact details below) no later than midday on Tuesday 13^th June 2023.  Each speaker should limit themselves to 3 minutes on any item.  Members of the public who have given notice will be invited to speak:

·         at this point in the meeting if their questions/statements relate to matters which are not otherwise on the agenda (subject to an overall time limit of 30 minutes);

·         when the relevant agenda item is being considered if they wish to speak on a matter which is on the agenda for this meeting.

The Chair noted that there were a number of public questions relating to items on the agenda, which would be taken when those items were considered.

The following question did not relate to any agenda item:

Sharron Sumner – Local Resident

Given the purpose of this committee is to consult with the community in each Constituency, why are these meeting held during working hours? A number of people wanted to attend today’s meeting about the lack of Post Office Services in Helmsley but were unable to do so due to work commitments. Many Principal and Unitary Councils have moved to holding meetings during the evening to better enable resident participation, it is also a benefit to working Members. Evening meetings is one way of encouraging people from a more diverse background to stand for public office.

Members discussed the issues raised by the questioner and outlined the following:

·            Some Members agreed that many working people were disenfranchised by meetings taking place within working hours, making it difficult for them to attend, and noted that Town and Parish Councils usually held their meetings in the evening to encourage public participation.

·            A Member stated that she also worked during the day and would find it helpful for a mixture of day and evening meetings to be provided to assist with her attendance.

·            It was noted that many Parish Councils and Parish Forums had now moved to meet in the evening.

·            Members suggested that a mixture of day and evening meetings would be beneficial for all involved.

·            A Member considered this to be an important issue and suggested that there was an opportunity for technology to be utilised to give greater access to meetings for everyone.

·            It was noted that not everyone worked during the day and moving meetings to the evening would disenfranchise those who worked at that time. It was also emphasised that Councillors were not full time, with many having jobs, and meetings were set up to take account of their availability.

The questioner stated that she too had been a Councillor and understood the need for a balanced approach. She emphasised, however, that the diversity of attendance for meetings such as this depended upon everyone having the opportunity to attend.

Members stated that they would pass on the issues raised by the questioner to the Constitution Working Group to determine how these could be developed.

The Chair introduced this item welcoming all those who had attended the meeting in respect of this issue. He explained how Members of the ACC had agreed to discuss this matter at their previous meeting and had enabled the meeting to take place in Helmsley, allowing local residents to attend and express their views.

The procedure for this section of the meeting was outlined.

Initially the public questions related to this issue were provided as follows:

Carolyn Frank

As a Helmsley resident I am disgusted that an award winning and vibrant market town is left without an essential service for residents for both posting and banking. However, I am here today to represent small businesses in my role as development manager for the Federation of Small Businesses covering York & North Yorkshire.

Businesses in the town, over 100 independent businesses, in order to stay open, need both postal services and access to banking services.  It is that simple, it is not an inconvenience or a service that would be nice to have,  it is an outright risk to businesses being here by Christmas 2023 or Helmsley having empty units where viable businesses once stood.  The Post Office has to take responsibility – businesses told them downgrading the service here to an in shop not standalone post office was a risk, and were ignored, and are now being fobbed off with apologies which mean nothing.

Online banking is not a solution for cash based businesses such as our brilliant cafes and takeaways, and with the demographic of an aging population in Helmsley, and the majority of businesses being microbusinesses, access to cash is paramount, and therefore a banking service for cash is needed in the town.

Postal services for online retail is part of retail today – a small shop in Helmsley cannot survive with footfall alone, they must trade online, and in order to compete with the likes of Amazon, they have to offer rapid delivery services, it is no good taking orders from a customer and saying I can post whenever I have to leave town next to go to a Post Office.   With a microbusiness or sole trader, shops are losing many hours a week trading time, travelling out of town to post multiple deliveries in order to service their customers.  Not all can access self service solutions.

There is also an impact on footfall – with no banks, and no Post Office which was promised as an alternative, what reason for local residents to come into town – the impact on our route-map to net zero of car usage instead of having accessible local services in walking distance is huge, not to mention the hollowing out of the service centre here in Helmsley.

It is not surprising that businesses are not queuing up to take on the post office – they are too small in both facilities and staff capacity, and the reputation of the post office is as an untrustworthy business partner given recent scandals.

The Post  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Should a petition contain 500 signatures or more it will be scheduled for debate at the next meeting of the appropriate Area Constituency Committee.

The following petition has exceeded 500 signatures, to date 1490, and, as such, will be considered at today’s meeting:-

“Free access to toilets in Filey, pending a full review and consultation for the administrative district”

At the meeting the petition organiser will be given five minutes to present the petition and an officer of the Council will provide a response. The petition will then be discussed by councillors for a maximum of 15 minutes.

A decision on how to respond to the petition will be agreed at the meeting. Councillors may decide:

•             to take the action the petition requests

•             not to take the action requested for reasons put forward in the debate

•             to commission further investigation into the matter.

The petition organiser will receive written confirmation of the decision and the decision will be recorded in the minutes of the meeting, published on our website.

Should a petition contain 500 signatures or more a debate would be scheduled at the next meeting of the appropriate Area Constituency Committee.

The following petition had exceeded 500 signatures, and, as such, was considered at today’s meeting:

“Free access to toilets in Filey, pending a full review and consultation for the administrative district”

At the meeting the petition organiser, Jonathan Cairns, was given five minutes to present the petition and Harry Briggs, an officer of the Council, provided a written response read out by the Clerk. The petition was then discussed by councillors for a maximum of 15 minutes.

A decision on how to respond to the petition would be agreed at the meeting. Councillors may decide:

•       to take the action the petition requests

·       • not to take the action requested for reasons put forward in the debate

•       to commission further investigation into the matter.

The petition organiser would receive written confirmation of the decision and the decision

would be recorded in the minutes of the meeting, published on the Council’s website.

Mr Cairns outlined the following:

“As of 13th June 2023, the petition has 1531 supporters. These have been gathered informally and without mass collecting.  As an example one person on Coble Landing in late May collected 40 signatures in less than 35 minutes.

There has been 99.9% support for the Petition. All traders along the front have supported this.  It is not just about Coble Landing, it is for Barry Robson who was left to fend for himself when the previous year work overran by 3 months.  It is also for Steve Newton and his employees at Royal Parade, who wonder if their business will be decimated when Royal Parade toilets are dealt with.

The harsh lesson is much better planning and organisation is needed.    Builders need to have supplies before committing to work. Planning permission can’t be left to work out in January or February. Filey Town Council should be given more than 8 hours to look at plans. Local disability groups should be consulted on new design, and access.

All these actions affect people’s businesses and livelihoods. They affect hundreds and thousands of visitors. Filey deserves better service.  A written apology should be made to Mr Robson, and all those on Coble Landing for the delay and impact on their businesses. This delay was avoidable.

There is no excuse for lack of signage, and websites still saying toilets are open. No excuse for poor directions, giving incorrect street address.  Correct signage was promised to the planning committee on 20th April 2023.

1.     Temporary toilets were rejected by Mr Battersby, I could not persuade this committee to meet as a group of 3 ahead of 16th June 2023.

2.     A head height shower has been promised (email from Mr Battersby). Maintenance report for last year showed 4 blockages due to sand.  Is there a sand trap in this design?

3.     The petition has identified some very important compliance issues with building regulations for disability  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Kevin Hollinrake, MP, had hoped to join the meeting remotely, but unfortunately, due to a technical failure, he had been unable to do so.

Resolved

That this item be deferred to a subsequent meeting.

The Manager of Democratic Services, Daniel Harry, presented a report on the Area Constituency Committees in the new North Yorkshire Council allowing Members to discuss a guide on Area Constituency Committees' ways of working for this next iteration of the committees.

He highlighted the following from the report:

·            The report was developed alongside the Executive Member for Corporate Services and the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of ACCs.

·            Arrangements for Meetings – including ordinary meetings, special meetings, additional meetings and hybrid meetings.

·            The introduction of Mid-Cycle briefings for Chair, Vice-Chair and Group Spokespersons – to be utilised for Work Programme and agenda setting but avoid using as an opportunity for an additional meeting.

·            A Corporate Director has been assigned to each Committee to assist with any issues in relation to the provision of reports or the attendance of Officers – Richard Webb has been assigned to Thirsk and Malton ACC.

·            An essential part of the local agenda will be liaison with Parish and Town Councils, and the newly developed Community Partner Networks will assist in the development of that co-ordination.

·            Liaison with Overview and Scrutiny would be an intrinsic part of the work of ACCs.

·            Funding of £50k, held by the Corporate Director of Community Development, would be available to each ACC, with an appropriate framework for obtaining this being developed. The funding would be assigned to local projects following recommendations from the ACC.

·            Details of potential areas of work for the ACCs were detailed in the report. This included identifying meaningful liaison with Community Safety organisations to ensure that there was a focus to the issues being considered, through the analysis of relevant data.

Members discussed the report and the following issues were highlighted:

·            It was clarified that issues raised through the Public Questions/Statements section would not usually be debated at that stage by Members, but the issues raised could be discussed during consideration of the Work Programme to determine whether these could be the subject of future agenda items.

·            Issues relating to the consideration of Policing matters were discussed. A Member asked that, in future, just the recounting of Police data be avoided, with information as to how they are addressing issues being provided. A Member considered that attendance at ACC meetings was also important for the Police as they gained details on local matters, and from Council provided services.

·            It was suggested that there was a need to continue to monitor Council services, with some details contained in the existing work plan being carried forward and to maintain the updates from the Constituency MP.

·            The timing of meetings and the location of venues required careful consideration, as indicated in the earlier public question. There was also a need to consider how meetings were made easier access with appropriate infrastructure in place to enable remote access and to provide live streamed meetings. It was noted that where there was ICT equipment currently available the practice of broadcasting meetings would continue. The feasibility of obtaining equipment to allow access to all  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Members noted that a review of the various Category 2 and 3 outside bodies was about to take place and suggested that appointments to these bodies be carried out when that review had been completed.

Resolved  

That the appointments to Category 2 and 3 outside bodies be deferred until a review of the representation on those bodies has been completed.

Considered

The report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services) providing a Work Programme for Members to consider, develop and adapt. 

As discussed in item 9, above, planning of the work programme would be undertaken at the mid-cycle briefings for the ACC and informal meetings of the ACC to ensure that the programme reflected the issues pertinent to local communities and to the Council, going forward. A revised work programme would be developed in line with the issues raised in the earlier report alongside the local matters.

Resolved

That the Work Programme be developed accordingly and presented to subsequent meetings of the ACC for further consideration and development.

Resolved

That the next scheduled ordinary meeting of the Area Constituency Committee would take place on Friday 29 September 2023 at 10am at a venue to be confirmed.

The meeting concluded at 4.25pm.