Residents are invited to the Dringhouses & Woodthorpe Ward Committee meeting on Wednesday 20th January at Woodthorpe Primary School, Summerfield Road, YO24 4RU.
There is a drop-in session at 6.30pm and the main meeting starts at 7pm.
The full agenda is available at http://tinyurl.com/DringWardMeeting
Details of the grants approved by the Ward committee for the current year have been published on the Councils web site. Click here
Beneficiaries include the Woodthorpe Community Group, West Thorpe Methodist Church, St James the Deacon Church, the Mayfields Community Trust, “Craft & Chat”, the Friends of Chapman’s Pond and the Friends of Hob Moor,
An “on line” newsletter covering the Dringhouses and Woodthorpe area can now also be found on the Council’s web site click here: https://www.york.gov.uk/news/article/54/dringhouses_and_woodthorpe_ward_news_councillors_update_december_2015
Venue: York Castle MuseumMeet everyone’s favourite cold hearted miser Ebenezer Scrooge as he tells you his story on the cobbled Victorian Street Kirkgate.
Bah, Humbug! Meet everyone’s favourite cold hearted miser Ebenezer Scrooge as he tells you his story on the cobbled Victorian Street Kirkgate.
The drop in one man show sees Scrooge transform his life in the much loved festive tale of redemption.
Please visit the website for full Christmas listings : www.yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk
Community groups in Dringhouses & Woodthorpe are invited to bid for a share of the Ward Budget for 2015/16, with a closing date for applications of Friday 20th November.
Further information can be found on the council website at https://www.york.gov.uk/dringhousesward
Details of how much local communities will have to spend through new Ward Committees have been confirmed as part of plans brought forward by the Liberal Democrat-Conservative Executive.
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The proposals, which are opposed by the Labour Group, will see Ward Committees given an allocation of a £925,000 budget to fund projects such as street clean-ups and offer grants to local voluntary groups.
The process for allocating highway improvements has been partly localised as part of the plans as has some social care funding.
Work will also be undertaken by council officers to identify further budget areas which could be devolved to communities.
Local Councillors are expected to announce shortly how they intend to consult over the use of the different funding streams
. Re-establishing proper Ward Committees was a key part of the Liberal Democrat manifesto
The proposals begin the process of devolving power and budgets to local residents and community groups.
This enhanced pot of money will give wards the opportunity to tackle local priorities and develop community initiatives.
It increases overall funding to nearly £1 million from the £75,000 in grants available under the previous Labour Council.
A LibDem spokesperson commented,
“It is disappointing although perhaps not surprising that the Labour Group is opposing the moves. The previous Labour Council removed ward credits, stripped power and budgets away from local communities, and spent four years ignoring local residents.
The new Executive trusts elected ward councillors to work with their communities and make the right decisions – rather than impose everything from West Offices like the previous Labour administration.”
Dringhouses & Woodthorpe ward will receive a big funding boost this year thanks to plans brought forward by City of York Council’s new Executive.
The proposals will see Ward Committees given an allocation of a £925,000 budget to fund projects such as street clean-ups and offer grants to local voluntary groups. The process for allocating highway improvements has been partly localised as part of the plans as has some social care funding. Work will also be undertaken by council officers to identify further budget areas which could be devolved to communities.
Here is how Dringhouses & Woodthorpe will benefit:
Re-establishing proper Ward Committees was a key part of the Liberal Democrat manifesto and something we are pleased to have been able to deliver.
The proposals begin the process of devolving power and budgets to local residents and community groups. This enhanced pot of money will give wards the opportunity to tackle local priorities and develop community initiatives. It increases overall funding to nearly £1million from the £75,000 in grants available under the previous Labour Council.
Ward committees may consult on investing in more off street parking
Then, on 30 July, Executive will consider the report which recommends significantly increasing wards’ share of a funding pot of £925,000. This could be used by the revised ward committees to allocate to projects such as street clean-ups, or grants to voluntary groups and, for the first time, to fund road repairs and to add more local capacity to the adult social care voluntary sector.
These proposals aim to be the first steps in devolving a number of funding streams to wards, and asks officers to identify further budget areas which could be localised.
The Executive will be presented with a set of options for the make-up and remit of ward committees.
They will be chaired by local councillors and at them, local residents will help decide collectively which projects will be supported to tackle local issues, to improve the council’s accountability to residents and to provide opportunities to influence services at the local level.
The number of times the new ward committees will meet and the degree of consultation they engage in will be considered, as will be the level of officer support allocated to them and their activities.
Ward budgets will be looked at too. The proposal is to devolve additional budgets to wards to create a single, enhanced pot for each ward which can be used flexibly to meet their priorities and to develop community initiatives which could reduce reliance on central council services. The new, revised ward committees will have a significant overall increase in budget.
The process for allocating highway improvements will be partly localised through the new ward committees. It is proposed to transfer £125,000 from the annual highways maintenance budget and £125,000 of Local Transport
Plan capital to create a £250,000 ward highways programme, and an allocation made to each ward from this.
In addition, the enhanced pot could be made up of:
Examples of initiatives that ward funding could support include:
Cllr Keith Aspden, Deputy Leader of City of York Council with responsibility for Economic Development and Community Engagement, said:
“These proposals increase the money for ward committees to spend to nearly £1million. They begin the process of devolving power and budgets to local residents and community groups.
We want to give wards this enhanced pot of money so they can genuinely tackle local priorities and develop community initiatives.
“We also want to build on local spending on highways and are asking council officers to explore further budget areas which could be devolved to wards in the future, for example, public health budgets alongside a clear and transparent approach to ward spending.”
