Councillor Graham Stokes Cabinet Member for Corporate Services

JANUARY 2006

"None of us is as clever as all of us"
John Stuart Mill

A BRIGHTER SPRING FOR FIVE TOWNS
Thousands of daffodil and crocus bulbs have been planted across the Five Towns to ensure a blooming lovely springtime. Wakefield Council, various community groups and schools worked together to plant the bulbs this month. They should be flowering in March and April.

The planting has taken place in Purston Park with the Friends of the Park Group ; Hawhill Park with children from Common School and St. John The Baptist School ; Pontefract Park (new bedding areas at entrance to the racecourse/park) ; Lock Lane with the Community group ; Freeport ; Pioneer Roundabout ; Ferrybridge Riverside with the Ferrybridge Residents and Tenants Association ; Streethouse Crescent with the Groundwork Trust and the community ; Willowbridge Playing Fields with Ackton Pastures School ; The Green, Airedale with the Friends of the Green Group and local schools ; and Wheldon Road, Castleford with the Castleford Partnership.

The Neighbourhood Action Team has been involved in clearing some of the sites in advance of the projects and the Neighbourhood Environment Teams have prepared the ground and relayed turf following the bulb planting.

CONGRATULATIONS VALE SCHOOL
The Local Education Authority study all the test scores and examination results of all the pupils in the Wakefield District. Vale School were informed that out of 120 primary schools, the children in year 6 last year, made the most progress from reception through to year 6 of any school in the whole education authority area.

AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT AREAS
The outcome of the council’s most recent air quality survey is the need to extend the current Management Areas due to emissions of nitrogen oxides from transport. Ferrybridge and part of Knottingley are included within the new areas. Specific areas are unlikely to meet the standards because of pollution from traffic, and Air Quality Management areas will be declared. These areas are centred on the busiest roads and include, the M1 corridor, most of Wakefield City centre, areas within the district adjacent to the M62, including Altofts, Normanton and Castleford, The Ferrybridge area and the A1 corridor, which runs through the district including the existing AQMA at West Park and also Darrington. Air Quality Action Plans will be drawn up to reduce pollution in consultation with the public, highways agency, transport planners and other interested parties. I am pleased that we are recognising these areas and drawing up plans to mitigate the effects of pollution in our areas, and I do intend to be very much involved in it.

AIRE GROUP MEETING, FAIRBURN CHURCH HALL
In December I attended a meeting arranged by the Aire Campaign Group (Against Air, Industrial, River & Environmental Pollution). The meeting was called to hear a prominent national speaker on Environmental Issues, Dr. Van Steenis. Whilst I found him a bit of an eccentric and I disagree with his coloured view of business and politicians in general, I found he was very knowledgeable about pollution and the causes of pollution. He was in favour of coal fired power stations fitted with FGD, burning British coal, discounting the alternatives like nuclear and giving his reasons why. He blamed a lot of the nations illnesses and cancers on pollution emanating from places like oil plants, which is very topical at the moment following the fire at the Texaco plant in Hemel Hempstead and the massive environmental pollution that it must have caused. Representatives of the Primary Care Trust and Ferrybridge Power Station attended the meeting, along with members of the public.

FLOODING
A further meeting with affected residents has been held in Ferrybridge Community Centre to discuss progress that has been made with the problems of the Wash Dyke flooding at Ferrybridge. Measures are to be taken which includes removing the top half of the grill that covers the culvert and replacing it with a raised platform to allow a better water flow. The Environment Agency have now completed their initial investigations and they feel that the culvert underneath Ferrybridge road should be large enough to take the flow of water. The problem is at the Fishergate end of the culvert where it narrows into two smaller culvert pipes. It is planned to do some work on this to enable a better free flow of water. At last I feel as though someone is listening and that realistic plans are being put together to prevent future flooding.

LICENSING
As you may know Wakefield Council has taken over the licensing function from the magistrates, and as of 24th November the Licensing Team have processed 1,019 premises licenses, and 1,017 personal licences. In addition 300 new applications are currently being processed. Furthermore, as at 30th November there were 47 matters dealt with by Committee and 6 more listed for consideration. Wakefield are ahead of most other authorities in respect of dealing with licensing issues and it is particularly pleasing that we have not yet had an appeal against a Committee decision.

MERGER OF POLICE AUTHORITIES
I have recently been sent a fact sheet outlining the background to deliberations about the future of West Yorkshire Police. Although the West Yorkshire Police Authority would prefer to remain as a stand-alone service, the Home Secretary has proposed for the force to merge with either North Yorkshire or with all the other forces in Yorkshire and Humberside. This is seen as the only way of allowing the forces to deliver the full range of protective services effectively. Talks are still ongoing.

NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICING
In December I met Chief Superintendent Mark Whyman to discuss community engagement in Knottingley and Ferrybridge. The police have outlined plans for neighbourhood policing based at Castleford for the 5 Towns area and this has raised concerns with local councillors and residents. Since last January, Neighbourhood Policing has been introduced across the Wakefield District and has resulted in the District now having four Neighbourhood Policing Teams - one each for the three Community Safety Areas (5 Towns, South East, Wakefield) and one covering the three centres of Castleford, Pontefract and Wakefield. I did ask what sort of policing Knottingley and Ferrybridge can expect, will there be police on the beat, what is being done to combat the problems with youths congregating and creating a nuisance, is there any truth in the rumours of the closure of Knottingley Police Station, why have staff and motorway police been withdrawn, is it intended that our community constable will remain.

Chief Superintendent Whyman feels that the Knottingley Police station is no longer viable. When staffed it only receives about twelve contacts per day including those from people simply asking for directions or delivering stationery and it is felt telephone calls can be handled better centrally. He felt that the way forward was to have a closer liaison between the council and the neighbourhood team, operating from shared bases like Ferrybridge Community Centre and Knottingley Town Hall. There could also be a joint councillor and police surgery with police attending perhaps once per month at our existing council surgery at The Close. Increasing the number of PCSO’s should also help to deal with Anti Social Behaviour.

Inspector Steve Lavelle intends to hold monthly briefings with councillors within the 5 Towns area and has organised the first meeting for 13th January. He also intends to provide monthly updates in respect of policing within our area.

I am not totally convinced of the effectiveness of Neighbourhood Policing and I will keep an open mind, but it is results that will make my mind up one way or the other. I accept a lot of good results are coming through but we still need a concerted effort on tackling anti social behaviour.

Recent successes for the Neighbourhood Policing Team includes Operation Dorchester - this is an operation funded by Wakefield and District Housing which is targeting anti-social behaviour and criminal damage hotspots across the District. The Team have concentrated on the Love Lane / Barracks estate in Pontefract, Huntwick Crescent in Featherstone, The Green at Airedale, Castleford and the Warwick estate at Knottingley. Feedback from the public has been very positive.

Acceptable Behaviour Contracts (ABC’s) - 17 have been taken out at Knottingley and two at Featherstone.

Anti Social Behaviour Orders (ASBO’s) - the Team are currently working on obtaining a number of these orders. One was obtained in October on a Knottingley youth.

Arrests - 100 - these include a number of prolific / persistent offenders and are for offences of theft, damage, public order, warrants for failing to appear at court, disqualified driving, breach of ASBO, breach of bail conditions, possession of controlled drugs, theft of motor vehicle and assault.

'Stops' - 428 of which 293 are attributable to Operation Dorchester.

Vehicle nuisance - 35 vehicles were seized by the Team in October. Some were as a result of neglect on the owner’s part to obtain insurance and some were motorcycles and quad bikes being used to cause a nuisance. A further 87 people received an official warning under the provisions of section 59 of the Police Reform Act regarding their use of motorcycles.

October also saw the location at Castleford Police Station of the joint Neighbourhood Policing Team and WMDC Operation Delhi Team, which deals with motorcycle problems. The team has been involved in a wide variety of activities and interventions across the 5 Towns area, which are too numerous to continue to list here.

COMMUNITY CHEST SPENDING 2005
Local Councillors have agreed the Community Chest spending for 2005 listed below to assist local organisations.

Knottingley Silver Band - £1,000.00: CASA Counselling Service £320.00: Knottingley & Ferrybridge Carnival Committee - £2,500.00: United Playcare - £1,000.00: Kellingley Welfare FC - £1,500.00: The Greenhouse Youth Club - £1,800.00: Write Books CPR - £400.00: Ferrybridge Community Centre Association - £1,410.00: Ferrybridge T&R Association - £995.00: Knottingley Town Hall - £400.

We hope to continue supporting local organisations as quite often it is only small amounts of money that are needed to make a real difference. Wakefield District Housing have also started making small grants available to local organisations.

OAKLAND HILL ESTATE
You may know Oakland Hill Estate better by its old name of Holmfield’s Caravan Park. Following work starting in 2003 a planning application was submitted part retrospectively. The application has been held in abeyance awaiting additional information from the applicant but since then development has carried on without permission being granted. The site has been developed as country homes, but because the site is situated within the green belt it can only be developed to cater for mobile homes that are by their nature temporary, and not for buildings that are permanent. Unauthorised development has taken place on the site and retrospective planning applications submitted.

At the Planning Committee held in December, the planning application was withdrawn and the applicant has now been given two months to resubmit an application. At the same Committee applications were submitted for five garages on the site, four of which were retrospective applications. These were refused and enforcement action is to be taken regarding these and other structures that have been erected without planning permission that are permanent rather than temporary. These include, brick skirtings to the base of mobile homes, brick entrance steps, boundary walls and gates, porches and conservatories.

ASPIRE HEALTH SCHEME
Health and fitness boost for residents. Access to discount health and fitness facilities is being introduced across the district. The Aspire Sport and Leisure Scheme is now available at all Wakefield Council-run leisure centre’s and adults can enjoy unlimited swimming, gym and fitness sessions for a one-off joining fee of £25 and a monthly charge thereafter of £18. It has proved very popular and already more than 1,200 people have signed up. The scheme is now available at Knottingley Sports Centre as well as many other centres throughout the District. For further details, call your nearest leisure centre.

Graham Stokes
Cabinet Member for Corporate Services

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