A meeting with Talk Talk, councillors and officers has taken place on 8th May following a letter sent by Cllr Andrew Waller to Talk on 25/04/18 expressing concerns received from residents with respect to the work being conducted in the streets of Westfield Ward as part of the Talk Talk UFO roll out to which information from Dringhouses and Woodthorpe Ward were added (tabled at the meeting). The agreement to meet was welcomed by councillors and was encouraged by Talk Talk as part of ongoing engagement.

The summary of residents issues were;
a) Verge conditions – stones and gravel would prevent grass growing or safe cutting by machines
b) Tarmac on concrete driveways – there had been promised to come back but residents were uncertain when that would happen
c) Courtesy to residents
d) Cutting of other cables in the highway
e) Bus routes blocked
f) Pedestrians put onto the road due to closed footpaths

The weather had been particularly difficult due to the duration of the low temperatures.
The first top soil on verges had started on Saturday (5th May) with raking to remove stones and seeding after that with photos take of each verge. This needs to be done with all verges which have been left in poor condition.
Communications – a new leafelt has been developed to warn people to call the careline if there are issues and to reinforce the message that the crews will be returning to streets after the initial engineering works.

There have been instances of other utilities having cables in the ground where they are not meant to be and this has resulted in some residents having telecoms cut (there is a BT Openreach worker with the teams at all times)
Accept that there needs to be a clearer communication of plans to residents and ward councillors with respect to ;
1. Replace temporary tarmac in concrete driveways with concrete (on like for like basis)
2. Restoration of verges with re-soiling (replacing the rubble) and grass seed (within the timeframe when it is not too warm/dry for seed to successfully germinate)
3. Step up tool box talks to gangs to reinforce customer service requirements
4. Review pinch points where there are so many crews and vehicles that it starts to impact on transport in an area (e.g 24 bus route in Windsor Garth)
5. Review locations where pedestrians needed to go onto the road due to the works

There will be a new inspection regime to respond to the 5km per week of digging that the UFO roll out has achieved.
Sharing of spreadsheets of inspection with ward councillors for response to check against resident complaints before final sign off.
Review with the council communications team to have a page for updates, and Frequently Asked Questions, and a summary of the position with roads which have been completed through the process. This would need to be kept -up to date to ensure public confidence.
In addition to the base level of information on the council website some ward councillors will want to support communications through different media with residents and therefore would appreciate being kept up to date.
It was suggestion that ‘T’ or ‘Temp’ being sprayed on temporary tarmac going forward this would reinforce the message to the public that there really would be ‘like for like’ replacement.

 

ACTION Following up;

1. Within 2 weeks to have timetable for;
a) Concrete replacement of temporary tarmac (with the aim to complete this within the next two months)
b) Detailed programme for reinstatement of verges
2. Attendance at the June 5th joint Ward Committee meeting of Dringhouses & Woodthorpe and Westfield Wards (to be held at Indoor Bowls Club Thanet Road, drop in at 6:30pm with formal meeting 7pm to 8:30pm)
3. Sharing of inspection sheets with ward councillors to ensure all points raised are followed up
4. Agree with York Council Communications Team a web page to contain Frequently asked questions, source documents, contact points, and updates on completed streets.
5. Plans for an improved inspection process

 

We will post an update when these arrive so that residents are clear what is happening to restore the streets