Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Tim Grogan and Nick Brown.  Councillors Derek Bastiman and Yvonne Peacock substituted respectively.

All Members are invited to declare at this point any interests they have in items appearing on this agenda, including the nature of those interests.

Councillor Chris Aldred declared an interest as a member of the Police, Fire & Crime Panel.

Members of the public may ask questions or make statements at this meeting if they have given notice to Melanie Carr of Democratic and Scrutiny Services and supplied the text (contact details below) by midday on Wednesday 11 June 2025, three working days before the day of the meeting.  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.

If you are exercising your right to speak at this meeting, but do not wish to be recorded, please inform the Chair who will instruct anyone who may be taking a recording to cease while you speak.

No public questions or statements were received.

Purpose: To introduce the new Police & Crime Plan for 2025-2029 and new Fire & Rescue Plan for 2025-2029 , and to hear her views on crime, ASB and the services commissioned to provide support to victims etc.  The links to view both Plans are below:

Police and Crime Plan – see: https://www.northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk/police-crime-plan/    

Fire and Rescue Plan – see: Fire oversight - York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority – Policing, Fire and Crime Team   

The Chair welcomed Jo Coles - Deputy Mayor for York & North Yorkshire to the meeting and drew attention to the new Police & Crime Plan and new Fire & Rescue Plan, both of which had been recently published and circulated to the Committee ahead of the meeting.

Members took the opportunity to question the Deputy Mayor on a range of related issues which included:

·          Where the additional PCSOs and police officers would be located;

·          The powers given to PCSOs;

·          Cross-border crime

·          The use of mobile speed cameras in the county, as opposed to fixed cameras;

·          The future of rural fire stations across the county

In response to Members’ questions, the Deputy Mayor confirmed the following:

·          Following a review of neighbourhood policing and as a result of receiving additional funding from central government there would be an increase in Police Officer and PCSO numbers as of September 2025 as follows:

Ø  In Scarborough & Ryedale - from 23 PC and 24 PCSO,  to 28 PC and 29.68 PCSO

Ø  In County – from 32 PC and 40 PCSO, to 47 PC and 52 PCSO

Ø  In York and Selby – from 25 PC and 31 PCSO, to 37 PC and 40 PCSO

·       There were a small number of public safety officers undertaking a tri-service role - the Deputy Mayor confirmed she was keen to see their number grow.  These were not included in the numbers above.

·       There would be a named sergeant for each district and contacts details for PCs and PCSOs would be made available online.

·       Currently the aim of the PCSO role was to increase community confidence in policing, with enforcement powers sitting mainly with PCs.  The Crime & Policing Bill would deliver more powers to the PCSO role e.g. dispersal powers.

·       Cross border criminality continued to be an ongoing challenge, from ad-hoc crime to organised criminal gangs – The Deputy Mayor provided an overview of detection rates and methods for identifying intelligence quickly.  She also highlighted the work of the rural taskforce.

·       Retail crime rates were moving in the right direction – The Deputy Mayor confirmed the impact on businesses was understood and recognised a problem nationally with huge under reporting.  It was confirmed that business owners had been consulted when drafting the Police & Crime Plan and their concerns had been reflected within.  Processes had also been streamlined to encourage businesses to report crime and support the Police in data gathering.

·       There were no fixed average speed cameras in situ across the county, only mobile units – The Deputy Mayor highlighted a number of targeted campaigns and confirmed a review had been carried out last year by road safety partners, to evaluate the current approach, including carrying out an economic feasibility of other options.  Members noted the planned ‘Safe Streets’ month in July, involving working with the Local Authority’s Road Safety Partnership and local communities. 

·       On-call fire fighters received the same training as full-time fire fighters.

·       The budget for the Fire Service remained challenging with a £20m gap in the budget and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 60.