At The Craven Area Committee on 29/5/08 members discussed and voted on the proposed schemes.

What a stitch-up! Considering the geographical area of the study and number of schemes discussed at 1st stage it was a blow to see proposed schemes distilled down to so few and in such a reduced area (just Crosshills and Sutton).there were  bus/public transport infrastructure bids(not just moving of stops on a629) thrown out - but depressingly for me similar proposals in Settle study progressed to proposal stage.

 I have been advised by highways area office that Jacobs are looking at a cheaper scheme re. A629 bus stop issue and I would hope that this could be reinstated on the study proposal(as only reason for throwing it off was cost - a whopping great £100,000. Just to move a bus stop!). 

Other schemes seemed inexpensive and practical - traffic calming on grange road Kildwick, pedestrian safety accessing bus stops on Cononley lane end, road markings a6068 cowling - Lancs border - in light of fatalities). Whereas some of schemes that were put forward look pretty lame and possibly overpriced.

If there cannot be any movement on schemes then I would hope that there might be some movement to accommodate the rejected projects on the general highways list of proposed schemes.

The Police Authority met today to discuss their “Estates Transformation Strategy”. To you and me that probably means closure of police stations. The press have highlighted 4 potential sites for closure - Crosshills, Settle, Ripon, and Knaresborough and it was confirmed last night at Kildwick Parish Meeting by a local Police Inspector. The worrying aspect of this latest development is the linking of it to the review of workforce structures also taking place.

Last year our area suffered through the net loss of 2 officers after a restructure. It seems if the crime statistics point to the marshaling of resources towards Harrogate and york we will suffer again. Therein lies the problem. Reported crime may be down but unreported crime will not have dropped and probably risen. If our local station closes how much harder will it be for us to report incidents of crime(an easy question to answer for those who have tried to wrestle with police phone system), I anticipate many will give up trying.

The morale of our officers is low, Settle officers living in police houses have been given notice of eviction. Whilst I recognise the need for the police to review all aspects of its service I wonder what financial imperative could be behind this. I hope that the multi million £ cost of Harrogates “super station” will not influence the decision, especially in light of the potentially large capital receipt from the sale of 4 pieces of prime real estate.

It seems our community is about to take another hit. First a reduction in our bus service, then post offices and now our police stations are about to go the same way. Surely enough is enough. We deserve as much of a police service as urban areas - crime whatever the perceived level of severity - has a long lasting affect on the victim.

The Police Authority states the following as objectives -

Promoting safer neighbourhoods through - Increasing levels of public satisfaction with the police service

background 

The Metro Ticketing Scheme, administered by METRO, provides unlimited rail and bus or bus only travel in West Yorkshire.  The area is divided into 5 zones that are centred on Leeds and the cost of the ticket varies depending on the zone you want to travel from.  The most expensive ticket covering zones 1 to 5 is approximately £1,000 pa.  The first “quick win” of the Leeds City Region was to expand the METRO Ticketing scheme to a new zone 6 which would cover Cononley to Gargrave and also to Harrogate and Knaresborough.  The central aim of the Leeds City Region is to remove the barriers within a coherent economic area to allow for growth.  The most important of these is the flexibility of the labour market and the removal of barriers for cross border travel both into Leeds/Bradford etc and also into Craven. 

Funding of a Zone 6 

The aim of the Zone 6 development was to make the scheme cost neutral as the basis of the scheme is that revenue from the ticket is divided between bus and rail operators based on the proportion of usage.  Growth in the scheme for Zone 6 would increase the revenue for the operators.  Total revenues for 2007/8 were £28m. In developing a zone 6 there needs to be a balance between attractiveness for the public and also for the operators.  A key issue here is the price differential between a rail season ticket for Skipton to Leeds (35.60 pw) and the expected cost of a rail only zone 1 to 6 ticket (£36.50).  If bus was then added the operators would only accept a zone 1 to 6 rail plus zone 1 to 5 bus at about £43.30 pw.  The key question here is why switch from a rail season ticket to rail only metro card and would the inclusion of buses in zones 1 to 5 be prohibitively expensive? If a public sector subsidy from NYCC was introduced this could make the product both more attractive for the public and the operators therefore delivering the labour flexibility and a possible shift away from the car.  NYCC have said that they will look at any proposals and discuss the costs and benefits of a subsidy. 

Alternative Products 

It is not certain whether creating two products, a zone 1 – 6 rail only, and a zone 1 to 6 rail plus 1 to 5 bus would be taken up by the public or would it be largely symbolic.  There is the opportunity to develop different more specific products that could support businesses, students, tourists, the social excluded or groups that can travel off peak all at discounts from the main offer.   An example of the business product could be that a company purchases 20 tickets at a 15% discount for any of their staff to use therefore reducing car usage etc.  Students currently pay £5.50 per week for METRO tickets and this could be expanded to zone 6 so allowing students from West Yorkshire to come to Craven College or for outdoor pursuits in the Dales but also Craven Students to go to other colleges and universities and leisure activities in Leeds etc.  The tourist card could allow travel anywhere in the City Region plus discounts to attractions for a week.  

Next Steps

METRO are aiming to introduce a Zone 6 on the 1st January 2009 although what that will comprise of is uncertain.  They will be developing a range of options based on the issues set out above and this should be produced by September. So watch this space for further developments.

Due to change of job and a increased number of evening council meetings attended in last few weeks the website has not been updated. This will be remedied in next few days and will be regularly updated from then on.

Sorry once again to those who have visited site and only come across out of date news.

Last week councillors voted to defer a decision to sell council owned land to a local company - Bentleys. In an awe inspiring display of prevarication and fence-sitting after 2 earlier policy committee decisions to sell the land - members decided that sitting on a decision for another 3 months was the best way forward(ie the preferred approach to making a difficult decision is not to make one at all). I am well aware of reports on this issue that might have, should have, been read - they were available for all. I was certainly well briefed and ready to make an informed decision on the night.

Decisions already taken are outlined below -

Council Meeting of 22^nd January, 2008, the Council:

 Resolved – That the recommendations in the following minutes are confirmedMinute POL.75 (Relocation of Successful Local Business – Land at Gargrave Road, Skipton) – Recommendation (2) to read as amended below:“That the Council agrees in principle to Option 1, subject to suitable restrictions because of concerns that ad hoc development will cause problems with the infrastructure; that the motion is deferred until the Gargrave Road Task Group and the consultants to be employed have had time to consider the full effect of developing the area and how it relates to the forthcoming Local Development Framework; and that a report back is made to the Council Meeting on 15^th April’.” 

Policy Committee recommendation of 19^th December 2007 which stated:

 “RESOLVED – (1) That the offer made by J N Bentley’s Ltd. for the field OS 5707, Gargrave Road, Skipton is noted.” 

“RECOMMENDED – (2)That field OS 5707, Gargrave Road, Skipton is disposed of to J N Bentley Ltd., subject to the Council at least achieving the market valuation for the land as set out in the Valuation Report at Appendix C to the Director of Community Services’ report (exempt from publication) and planning permission being obtained.”

Even with a full study and the following conclusion was arrived at - 

With overwhelming evidence to support the land sale it seemed the need to make a difficult but important decision was shelved for politically expendient reasons - why make an unpopular decision when it is election time? Bending over backwards to get a few votes from nimbys is ducking the issue. I am certain that those same councillors would not think twice about voting for this in snaygill or south craven - to move the problem where it will not lose them votes or upset the “preserved in aspic” brigade. Skipton is a vibrant and growing town it needs to prosper - to provide employment for not only the next generation but others to come. There was no real reason to delay this decision. Lets hope that this does not backfire on us and this district loses yet another major business and employer.

 A liberal Democrat colleague of mine Richard Ormerod has launched a campaign to win the freedom of the city of Durham for a local singer songwriter. Paddy McAloon was the highly talented creative force behind Prefab Sprout. Their second album “Steve McQueen” was one of the classic albums of the eighties. Paddy was one of the most gifted songwriters of his generation, and the 1st 3 albums were an ever present background to my time in London. I was lucky to see the band live and “When love breaks down” is one of my favourite tracks of any band. To support Richards campaign please email him at freedom4paddy@hotmail.co.uk

Liberal Democrats at North Yorkshire County Council are asking the ruling Conservatives to look at what Essex County Council are doing to try to save Post Offices.

This is an interesting proposal and merits further investigation particularly where the affected local communities across North Yorkshire are showing a commitment to supporting their local Post Office. 

Mark says “It cannot be an open cheque book but the County Council needs to liaise with Parish  Councils (who can levy a rate) and District Councils to see whether individual communities should receive support. The County Council for instance has mobile library services serving communities across the County area already.

We do know that some of the Post Offices proposed for closure are viable and that axing them is just to meet the arbitary 2500 closures that the Government have imposed on Post Office”.

Annual budget setting meeting for the county council this last week. A 4.75% increase was approved; our Libdem proposal for just 3.75% was voted down. Yet the council has had an improved settlement from central government -about £3m more than expected. [Remember 1% council tax is about £2.1m]

This year we have seen the introduction of a new element of the budget - the Pending Issues Provision. This is a clever little accumulator buried in the budget papers - a device to allow the Management Board (senior officer team) some “beneficial”, but as yet undefined spending. In 2008/09 this will be £3.3m; in 2009/10 it’ll be £8.5m; in 2010/11 it’ll be £14.4m; and in 2011/12 it’ll be £9.7m.

So that’s a total of £35m to be spent over the next four years at officers’ discretion!! The excuse for this four year, un-defined spending spree is uncertain the challenge of waste disposal costs in four or five years’ time is the spectre on the horizon, we have been told - yes, the logic escapes me too!

Meantime ordinary people on ordinary incomes in North Yorkshire, are receiving pay rises of around 2%, and slowly coming to terms with huge rises in fuel bills. Does the county council care?

I was pretty enthused by our budget proposals this evening. Working with other councillors and council officers I believe we have come up with an imaginative and thoughtful budget. My contribution to the debate is below -

Budget Speech

I would firstly like to add my support to the previous speakers on this subject this evening - to achieve a significant investment in local services whilst at the same time increasing reserves and freezing the level of Council tax is truly a remarkable achievement that any Council would be proud of, I doubt whether many Council’s will match this performance, this year. Moreover it shows our acknowledgement of how the economy will impact on our residents this year, we will not add to the burden of rising costs to our households e.g fuel, energy and North Yorkshire County Council.

Speaking of performance, and as portfolio holder for transforming the Council, I want to make transformation the central theme of my speech this evening. The hard work that has gone into producing this budget, sustained over a period of time and commissioned in a collaborative and inventive manner with involvement from both officers and members is a testament to our approach to dealing with issues in Craven.

Our performance as a Council has been well illustrated earlier and I make no apology for repeating the excellent result we achieved in 2006 best value performance indicator survey, which placed Craven joint top of the North Yorkshire district councils for overall resident satisfaction, whilst charging the second lowest level of district council tax - this surely is performance that bears repetition. I always like to compare our budget with North Yorkshire County Council – I am disappointed that they set a cynical just under capping rate increase, and I believe at the executive meeting on Tuesday it was reported there was an anticipated year end under spend of £7m – I wonder if they will be as creative as us in addressing service demands and put that under spend to work or perhaps just plonk it in their £51m reserves.

Performance across the Council has also improved dramatically as evidenced by the significant improvement in the direction of travel basket of performance indicators, monitored by the Audit Commission, which show that 57% of the Council’s indicators have improved, according to the latest figures, compared to 43% in the previous year.Performance is of course important and is quite rightly taken very seriously here at Craven, I am however delighted to say that we have also transformed the delivery of some services in the Council in this current year: -

·        The Planning service has transformed its processing of applications across all categories to such an extent that all national standards are being exceeded

.·        Asset management across the authority has been transformed with the capital receipts budget of £500k being quadrupled by a projected actual receipt total in excess of £2m.

·        National initiatives such as the Quirk report have been embraced with the result that the Council is now gifting land to assist with affordable housing development

.… Turning away from our achievements to date I want to talk a little about the major implications that the budget proposals have for the future…

Probably the most significant transforming initiative that this council has undertaken in recent years relates to the “Martini Project”This project is all about allowing staff, members, partners and indeed residents of Craven to enjoy and benefit from world class connectivity to communications infrastructures such as the Internet.The Martini angle comes in since this project will not just content itself with providing world class connectivity in any old way but has at its heart the core ambition to enable the afore-mentioned stakeholders of this council to connect - anytime, anyplace, anywhere - hence the name of the project.

I am particularly excited about this project since this council will, in a few short weeks, be the first district council in North Yorkshire to take delivery of connections to the NyNet ring of fibre optic cable that has recently been installed throughout North Yorkshire.

In point of fact, as a county councillor I am doubly proud of our early adoption of the Martini project since the NyNet ring was conceived and part-funded by North Yorkshire County Council over two years ago in response to the “black hole” in connectivity in our area that existed at that time.NyNet brings an amazing potential for our local businesses to compete shoulder to shoulder with businesses located not just anywhere in the UK, but anywhere on this planet.It also brings the same potential to the doorstep of this district council.

However, NyNet is of little or no use without vigorous and imaginative exploitation of the potential it offers - we believe that this is where the council can come in to play its part in not just exploiting NyNet for its own sake, although this is a major benefit we fully intend to secure, but also catalysing the exploitation of this world class infrastructure throughout the district, within every business and amongst every stakeholder.

This budget provides the finance to secure the first stage of the Martini Project which is centered on exploiting NyNet anytime, anyplace, anywhere primarily in relation to the staff and members of the council going about their day to day business.However, the lessons we expect to learn and the deployment knowledge we will undoubtedly gain will be a priceless asset when we come to the second phase of Martini, later in 2008/09 which will involve catalysing the take-up of NyNet and opening access to our Martini environment to all the stakeholders of Craven.

Much is talked nowadays about the impact of global warming, the need to be planet friendly, and the balance that needs to be struck between environmental considerations and economic ones.Greener travel plans, traffic control mechanisms and home working are some of the more popular mechanisms employed in the UK.We believe that the Martini Project will not only enable our businesses and ourselves to become more competitive worldwide, but it will also enable through its anytime, anyplace, anywhere philosophy, stakeholders to let their fingers do the walking.

There can be no greener travel than not travelling at all. There can be no more potent economic enabler than a world-class communications infrastructure that allows our businesses to compete wherever they are with any other business in the world.There can be no better traffic control mechanism than leaving your car on the drive.As for home working, why restrict this to the home? With Martini, stakeholders will be able to work anytime they wish, anyplace they happen to be, anywhere they find themselves.

Incremental improvement is not just necessary, but an imperative in modern public service today. But truly transformational ideas such as Martini are indeed rare and we are therefore delighted to be leading the charge in North Yorkshire in this critical transformational innovation. 

The improvement bids are a direct response to residents concerns and I am particularly pleased to see the £60K/YEAR community transport bid which I put forward, included. This is an issue that both Cllr Pat Fairbank and myself have campaigned on for our patch in the district. I know Pat was going to speak to this bid but cannot – She would have said that all of us car drivers have no idea what a poor deal bus users have in the area and its about time something was done about it – then slipped out for a fag with Steven and Paul. Well something has been done and this will address the concerns of the more vulnerable within our community allowing them to access essential services and to utilise their concessionary fares passes. It doesn’t let NYCC off the hook but it does plug a gap in current service provision. 

We are told repeatedly at Craven that there is only so much a small council can do; we are told it must be difficult to make a difference without the critical mass and economies of scale enjoyed by larger councils. But I firmly believe that this council is succeeding on virtually every front and I would submit to you tonight that the independent surveys which you have heard about concerning our leading status on satisfaction and our economy of council tax is powerful evidence of this contention.

Furthermore I would hope that I have been able to give members an inkling of the innovative and transforming approach that this council has taken in the past and the unabated appetite that this council has for continuing to innovate and to transform in the future.This council may be small, but it punches above its weight and it moves fast to embrace innovation. We believe this is a potent combination, which has brought us success and will continue to bring us success in the years ahead.

The budget for routine gulley emptying is to be halved by NYCC. This means that gulleys will be emptied only once a year rather than twice. The budget for drain maintenance will remain unchanged. This is all part of North Yorkshire County Council attempting to save £54,000,000 over the next 3 years.

A retrograde step? In light of recent flooding events in Craven and the likelihood of increased flooding in the future surely the correct course of action would be to INCREASE gulley emptying to 4 times a year. I have asked for this matter to be raised at Craven Area Committee on Thursday February 28th. There are residents in Craven still recovering from the latest flooding - when over 4500 sandbags were delivered to incidents all over the district. This was a joint effort by Craven District Environmental Health Team and NYCC Highways. It was clear that on 21/1/08 the flash flooding was exacerbated by inadequate road drainage  - the regular emptying of gulleys would have gone some way to limit the level of flooding. Make your views known regarding this issue and I will ensure they are relayed at Area Committee. I will make representation to the Executive Councillor responsible for this service - John Fort