A year to see impact of caretakers plan - council

A Neighbourhood Caretakers scheme planned for York could "make our communities shine", a meeting heard - although councillors warned residents may not see changes for at least a year.

The scheme would include regular walkabouts in council wards and co-ordinating with existing volunteer groups to maintain areas such as grass verges and playgrounds.

City of York Council's environment spokesperson Jenny Kent said the system would draw on local knowledge to "make sure all parts of York look good".

But environment lead James Gilchrist said the work needed to set up the posts meant it would be at least a year before the changes were "seen and felt".

The comments came during a discussion on the proposal at the council's Economy, Place, Access and Transport Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

York's Labour group pledged to introduce Neighbourhood Caretakers as part of its pitch to voters during the 2023 local elections which brought them to power.

Their manifesto stated the scheme would help look after communities and put pride back into the city's streets while helping the council use limited resources more wisely.

The proposals include allowing caretakers to look at where problems are in local areas and decide who is best placed to deal with them.

The hope is that residents would have one point of contact to report issues, while council departments could deal with issues like road maintenance, grass cutting and fly-tipping.

Tracy Ostler, who chairs residents' group the Groves Association, said she hoped the changes would mean that issues would be dealt with more quickly.

She said: "There's issues that are taking far too long to fix.

"For instance fly-tipping is constant in this area, I've counted 10 instances of it in one week just around my little area."

Gilchrist said: "This aims to tap into local knowledge and into the positive work already been done to deal with issues.

"The question is, given our resources are limited, how are those issues best prioritised?

"This is all dependent on budget decisions.

"In a year's time we might be talking about how things are starting to change but by then it will be longer before the changes are seen and felt."

Proposals to set aside £150,000 for Neighbourhood Caretakers will go before all York councillors for a vote along with other budget proposals on 27 February.

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