Only about 20 residents (plus a couple of Labour Councillors from other parts of the City) turned up at the Ward Forum last night despite the welcome attendance of Julia Mulligan the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Attendance at Ward meetings has fallen off since the council stopped publicising the meeting dates in ward newsletters.

Julia Mulligan spoke and answered questions for about an hour.

She confirmed that she is maintaining Police and PCSO numbers at the level she inherited – 1392 and 183.

On 20mph limit enforcement she said that the new ACPO guidelines would be adopted in N Yorks. This means that 20mph limits will be subject to the same process as 30mph limits. If a road has persistent speeding problems then it could be subject to enforcement. Residents will have to record their concerns through the 95 Alive forms and the same process will follow.

There will be no new resources to do this so they will just have to take their turn with all the rest. The main difference is that if people are stopped in a 20mph limit then there will be the same options of taking a speed awareness course, instead of a fine and points, as there is now for the 30mph limits.

However the new policy does represent a change of approach from the Conservatives in North Yorkshire, who have previously been as sceptical as we are about wide area 20 mph limits and the wisdom of allocating scares Police resources to roads where there have been no recorded accidents.

If any tickets are issued in the new 20 mph areas during the first year of operation, on roads with a low accident record, then it is likely that the new Council, which will be elected in May 2015, will decide to scrap the new restrictions.