Councillor Graham Stokes Cabinet Member for Corporate Services

FEBRUARY 2004

CENSUS INFORMATION
Key statistical Census data giving a detailed picture of life in the Wakefield District is now available on Wakefield Council's website, following the release of information for local areas from the Office of National Statistics. The information the Census provides allows central and local Government, health authorities and many other organisations to target their resources more effectively and to plan housing, education, health and transport services for the coming years.

Every ten years since 1801, the nation has set aside one day for the Census - a count of all people and households. It is the most complete source of information about the population that we have. The latest Census was held on Sunday, 29 April 2001, but the detailed results are only just coming through. Within the data available are separate sections detailing Knottingley and Warwick Estate, information is available on population, health, marital status, transport, numbers of residents per household, ethnicity and religion, occupation and work related statistics, qualifications and housing. Additional neighbourhood profiles are being developed and will be published in due course.

The profiles have been published on the Council's community website and can be found at www.wakefield.org.uk/Census2001 It is planned to make paper copies available at libraries and some public buildings. Further profiles and data at a national and local level are also available at the Neighbourhood Statistics website, http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/

PROPOSED CLOSURE OF FERRYBRIDGE POST OFFICE
In December 2002, I attended a meeting of the Post Office in Leeds, where I was told it was intended to restructure and modernise the urban Post Office network which it was anticipated would lead to the closure of 3,000 of the existing 9,000 Post Offices. The need for this arises from the fact that many Post Offices are already financially unviable, in addition the government transferred benefit payments to direct payment into bank accounts from April 2003, leading to a projected loss of 41% of turnover.  I asked about the impact on other nearby shops that are only viable because people call in whilst visiting the Post Office, and I was told that it was not one of their considerations, they are struggling for survival themselves and cannot be responsible for other businesses within an area.

I expressed concern that Wakefield MDC had transferred over the payment of rents to the Post Office and one of our considerations in doing that was the number of available outlets. The answer I was given was that, obviously any business that we give the Post Office will make the branches used more viable and less likely to be unprofitable and considered for closure. I was told that there will be no big bang and individual Post Offices cannot be identified, the process will happen in dribs and drabs as the under utilised and unprofitable offices express an interest, consultation will take place on individual closures.  The majority of Post Offices are privately owned, and there is nothing to stop the owner from closing anyway where they are unprofitable, or the owner encounters financial problems, many have already chosen to do that, without consultation.

The first closure we saw in our area was the England Lane Post Office, which arguably was not profitable, and there are alternative Post Offices at Racca Green, Hilltop, and Pinewood Place. Now we are faced with the closure of Ferrybridge Post Office, this is in a well used parade of shops, and is a lifeline to many people within Ferrybridge. The Knottingley councillors along with many local people have opposed this closure on the basis that the handout from the Post Office states that there are several suitably located Post Office branches in the immediate area, details are provided on the handout, in actual fact the handout only mentions one Post Office not several, this being the Knottingley Branch at Hilltop.

The Knottingley Branch Post Office is not in the immediate area, there are no other Post Offices in Ferrybridge, the journey to Knottingley for pedestrians is via a very steep hill which would be difficult for elderly people to negotiate, this is wrongly described in the handout as, "The terrain is mainly level apart from an incline along Ferrybridge Road'. 

The fact is you cannot leave Ferrybridge in any direction without negotiating a hill. The Knottingley Post Office cannot cope with the needs of Ferrybridge, it is too small. The car parking referred to is non-existent; whilst car parking does exist opposite it is always full.

When the District Council took the decision to transfer the collection of council house rents over to the Post Office, it was based on the premise that there were more outlets for residents to use than currently existed with rent offices, consequently the council rent office in Ferrybridge Square was closed.  This proposal would leave existing rent payers, many of them elderly with nowhere to pay their rent in Ferrybridge. Many elderly people do not know how to operate hole in the wall bankcards and prefer the face-to-face contact with the Post Office, this proposal will disenfranchise elderly people of Ferrybridge who cannot make the journey to Knottingley.

The Post Office as well as being a lifeline for local elderly people does also assist in the viability of other shops in Ferrybridge, many people call in at these local shops whilst visiting the post office, closing the Post Office could have knock on effects for these other businesses.  The consultation period finishes on 9th February.

KNOTTINGLEY AND PONTEFRACT AREA PANEL
The Area Panel is a meeting of the local Council in public, it is where councillor’s from Pontefract and Knottingley get together to discuss items of interest to our area, members of the public are welcome to attend and there is a facility for them to ask councillors any questions they have concerning our area.

Our last meeting was held in Pontefract on 8th January 2004, the meeting was attended by Sgt Jones, of West Yorkshire Police, We were told that there had been a quiet start to the year, that is not to say it was without problems as theft of vehicles and from vehicles is a problem in the Knottingley area.

The new mobile police station currently based in Featherstone will be there for 3 months then will be moving to another area, it will target areas with particular policing problems. The Police have a twilight patrol which patrols and targets areas of high incidences of anti social behaviour, they base these on intelligence information received. Also present was Mark Hooton from the Wakefield Energy Efficiency Advice Centre, based in Normanton. Telephone 0800 052 7496. Mark gave out information on a range of energy efficient initiatives.

His role is to address the Home Energy Conservation Act, to help the poor, and to assist residents to save energy. The advice centre is part of a national network working with agencies, benefit departments, and other partners such as the Primary Care Trust and Surestart and the utility companies, to identify those at risk from cold homes. They will attend any meetings to give advice and they have recently been giving out free energy efficient light bulbs and bookmarks. They are in the process of creating an affordable warmth strategy which is an action plan based over a 5 year period, to reduce the number of people in fuel poverty.

The main Government grant is called "Warm Front", this gives grants of up to £2,500 to install central heating, but it is not available to everyone, you need to be a homeowner, and on benefits.

Another scheme is WYSE (West Yorkshire Saving Energy), which is available to everyone and gives discounted energy measures on such items as cavity wall insulation and central heating.

Healthy Homes is another scheme that offers central heating and insulation measures to people who suffer from a cold related illness.

Other schemes include, utility company discounts for cavity wall insulation, interest free loans, trade in of freezers for discounted energy efficient ones, and "Stay Warm" which is a fixed price fuel scheme available to those over 60.

UK YOUTH PARLIAMENT
The Wakefield election for the UK Youth Parliament is about to take place, and for the first time it will be a 100% internet vote.  Every one of the 33,000 11 to 18-year-olds across the District is eligible to stand as a candidate and vote in the election to return two local representatives (MYPs). The two successful candidates will join more than 400 other elected MYPs from across England and have the chance to express their views and concerns at the highest level.  A roadshow is visiting all secondary schools from Monday 5 January. CD ROM's will also be available packed with information about the process.

A list of electors will also be completed and anyone eligible has the opportunity to check whether their name appears on the electoral roll. That list, once complete at the end of January, will then be used to allocate every individual a voter identification number which will allow them to access the closed part of the website to make their secret vote.

The list of electors and personal data will not be available to the general public. Once nominations have closed in February, candidates will prepare their statements and their election manifestos will also be available on the web.  Then the voting will begin. From Monday 29 March to Friday 2 April registered voters will be able to make their choice from any computer with internet access.  Results will be announced on the Friday night when the two successful candidates will begin their 12 months in office.

CHILDREN'S CENTRE
Wakefield Council are planning to base a Children’s Centre at Englands Lane School. A Children’s Centre offers a service for Children aged 0 – 5 and their families, there will be early education integrated with day care, for a minimum of 5 days per week, 10 hours per day and 48 weeks per year.

It offers family support, development of parenting skills, child and family health services, ante natal support, support with nutrition, safety, speech and language development, maternal depression and stopping smoking. It builds on the Sure Start model.  It is not intended as a single unit but more of a hub of resources and outreach that is available to all throughout the district.

Knottingley will be part of a local area partnership with Pontefract North and Featherstone (Who will also have their own facility), and an East Area Partnership Board will be formed.  It is expected that there will be an implementation plan by Mid February and partnerships will be up and running by 1 April.

KNOTTINGLEY-WAKEFIELD RAIL LINK
I have just received information that to make way for the new Virgin and GNER timetables at Westgate station, Wakefield, the Pontefract to Wakefield service is to terminate at Kirkgate station, Wakefield. Whilst on the face of it this is bad news as the Kirkgate station is inferior to Westgate for a number of reasons, we are told that the time saved by terminating at Kirkgate would enable the service to run through to Knottingley addressing a long standing request for an hourly service between Knottingley and Wakefield.

STREET LIGHTING
On 2nd February, Amey Highways Lighting took over responsibility for Wakefield Council’s street lighting. The contract is for ongoing maintenance of the existing street lighting service for a period of 25 years including the replacement and upgrading of the existing streetlights. Within 5 years Amey are committed to upgrading 28,000 of the current 41,000 lighting columns, the replacement programme will commence around June 2004. This will mean that by the end of year 5, all the street lighting in the district will be to current design standards utilising steel columns and "white" light.

In addition, as many of you know we have had difficulty in obtaining new lighting for unlit areas, there will now be a review of unlit areas which would benefit from new street lighting in line with the councils policy on improving community safety. The overall cost of the 25-year contract represents a 28% saving compared to the more conventional way of running the service, so is great value for money. A telephone number for day to day and emergency reporting will be set up and will be available 24 hours a day 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

URBAN RENAISSANCE
The Urban Renaissance Programme  has so far focused primarily on Castleford and Pontefract Town Centres. The intention is now to include the whole of the Five Towns within it including Knottingley. It is proposed that the current towns team be reconstituted to include representation from all five towns, but to also ensure that the body is not over-representative (the current number for Castleford and Pontefract is over 200). I will keep you informed of developments.

It is proposed that a meeting will be held with the stakeholders (including ward members) in each of the remaining 3 towns, probably in mid February, followed by a public meeting in each of the 3 which will be informative and enable people in those towns to contribute to the process by bringing forward possible initiatives for those areas, and these are likely to be held in early to mid March.

A1 MOTORWAY UPDATE
Overall progress - approx 9 weeks behind programme

Bulk earthworks complete for winter, restart in Spring

Main problem areas are the Structures

Complexity of Longbull Hill Bridge – first switch of traffic, end of January

Network Rail delay to access for 4 railway bridges

Technical approval of design – Holmfield Interchange (CABE approval required)

The main design for the new road is nearing completion but the design of the landscaping etc will follow.

Landscape/gateway feature in Holmfield Interchange being considered – replica of the Ferrybridge Henge

Arras Cart burial has been removed for examination, currently planned for display in Pontefract Museum.

This completed the archaeology on site except for minor areas of retention ponds.

A glossy booklet describing the findings will be published.

Brotherton to Ferrybridge and M62 sections still due to open in December 2005

Assessment of existing structures on the A1 is on-going and discussion with WMDC officers on remedial measures required prior to detrunking continues.

Detrunking works being designed prior to liaison with WMDC officers

Graham Stokes
Cabinet Member for Corporate Services

[INDEX]