Autumn Edition 2015 The Newsletter for Residents of the Selby District

This is Citizenlink – produced jointly by Selby District Council and North Yorkshire County Council. We work together in a number of ways, and producing a joint publication like this is just another example of how we’re working better together to make it easier for you to get the information you need about your local services.

Destination Selby: Putting our district on the map:

See page 02

Changing lives: fostering in North Yorkshire.

See page 05

Summer of love: tying the knot in Selby.

See page 10

Let’s talk PLAN SelbyOver the summer we’ve been asking for views on parts of PLAN Selby – this is the document that sets out where development and growth should take place in our district up to 2027. It’s a big deal, and that’s why we need to make sure it’s right.

PLAN Selby will help us when we’re looking at planning applications – to make sure that development meets your needs now, and into the future. It’s also a vital part of us supporting long-term business growth to develop new opportunities and jobs.We’ve been asking for specific comments on elements of the plan during the last few weeks. In particular we’ve been working with people living in Selby, Sherburn and Tadcaster to look at how best to support these three market towns.

“Ultimately PLAN Selby will give us the framework to support the future development that our District needs; opening up new business space and a range of sites for new homes for family groups and individuals”, explained the Council’s Deputy Leader, Cllr John Mackman. “We’ve a lot of good things going for us here in the Selby district, and we believe we offer a great place to do business and to live and enjoy life. PLAN Selby will help us continue this in the years to come.”

You can find out more via the District Council’s website: www.selby.gov.uk. Just search for PLAN Selby.

Bypass opens on time and within budgetCompletion of a major reconstruction project by the County Council saw the reopening of the Selby bypass from the A19 Greencore roundabout, Barlby, to the A1041 Wishing Well roundabout in July. The £2.4m scheme involved deep repair of the carriageway, requiring

closure of the bypass along this stretch. The County Council took the opportunity to resurface Selby Swing Bridge and carry out routine maintenance.

County Councillor Don Mackenzie, Executive Member for Highways, said: “Selby deserves a bypass that is fit for purpose in the interests of its longer term economic future and we are proud to have completed this long-term repair efficiently, within budget and on schedule.

“We wish to thank road users and the Selby district communities for their patience while we have undertaken this work, and we wish to thank our contractors, Galliford Try, who worked additional hours and weekends to get the job done on time.”

The remaining sections of the bypass will be repaired in due course. This will be scheduled to fit in with other major planned works in the area.

02 03Also online at www.selby.gov.uk and northyorks.gov.uk

Enterprising districtOver 160 businesses recently benefited from a special Enterprise Day hosted at Selby District Council’s civic centre.

The event is part of a much wider package of ‘Growing Enterprise’ support for local companies.

The Enterprise Day was a chance for companies to showcase their work, do some business-to-business networking and get access to free advice on key issues such as marketing and finance. It was run by Business Support York and North Yorkshire, who offer a range of advice and support to small companies and new enterprises. Organiser of the day, Heidi Green, told Citizenlink, “It was a great opportunity to help businesses build contacts, meet new customers and find out more about the things that can make a real difference to them. Seeing so many businesses working together like that can only mean

great things for the future of the area, and I get the sense of a really positive outlook amongst the district’s small firms”.Other elements of the Growing Enterprise plan include supporting the development of festivals and markets, looking at opportunities for pop-up shops, new business incubator units, coaching and mentoring for business, working with others to provide access to free Wi-Fi in Selby and Tadcaster, working alongside schools and colleges to support business ideas from students, and supporting the on-going monthly Enterprise Café business support events. For more about these Enterprise Cafes: www.bsyny.co.uk.

Planning for the futureHelping businesses and individuals invest in their company premises or homes is a vital support to help growth and investment

That’s why Selby District Council has changed the way it delivers planning advice to make it easier for you to get the support you need. With the Planning Surgery

you can pre-book either a 25 minute slot with a specialist planning advisor, or request in writing a response about your development proposal. It’s designed to give you easy access to the help you need, in a way that’s convenient for you.

Find out more online: www.selby.gov.uk or call us via 01757 705101.

Leaders’ LeaderA key theme you’ll notice in this edition of Citizenlink is our work to support business growth in the Selby district. You’ve said this is important to you. In a recent survey, 82% of you wanted to see us work alongside business to help create new opportunities and support growth.

Making Selby a great place to do business is part of the District Council’s long-term plans, and is also supported by the County Council’s work with the Local Enterprise Partnership. We can’t deliver this alone. We need to use our resources and position to help support the private sector to make things happen in our area. This is about offering the right support, in the right way, alongside the right people.Both councils have been working alongside businesses and other public sector organisations as part of a series of ‘breakfast summits’. And from these much has been achieved by this public-private partnership for our area.

Business growth underpins our other priorities too - our priority is making Selby a great place to enjoy life: it’s not just an end in itself. Through our work with others we want to make the district a destination for investment, benefiting the whole community.

Destination Selby district We want to put the Selby district firmly on the map, because doing this supports business growth and vibrant communities. That’s why the District Council lobbied to play a major role in the very first Tour de Yorkshire earlier this year. And with 10,000 people watching the race in Selby town centre it certainly made its mark.

We’ve also teamed up with Welcome to Yorkshire to help promote what’s on offer in our area. Selby Abbey is an obvious jewel in the crown,

but opportunities for cycling, our food culture with the development of Selby’s food festival, the rise of new cafes and restaurants and activities such as the cookery school at Carlton Towers, all go together to make the Selby district a place to visit.

And the development of Selby’s brand new leisure village to complement the state-of-the-art leisure centre (see middle pages) will also help to bring in visitors, supporting a range of local businesses.

The place for businessIf you’re looking for good quality, well supported business premises then we may have just what you need. Selby District Council currently has a range of opportunities to rent commercial space at sites in Selby and Sherburn.

This includes the Vivars Centre in Selby, which benefits from free parking and a range of security support including CCTV and alarm system.The Sherburn Enterprise Park has an excellent range of units

from 750 sq ft to 2,000 sq ft, ideally situated between Selby and Leeds. There are also a number of larger sized units, including 10,000 sq ft space with office space, kitchen and toilet facilities.

If you’re interested in finding out more you can check out details on our website: www.selby.gov.uk/find-business-properties; you can email businesssupport@selby.gov.uk or call us via 01757 705101.

Meanwhile, the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP ) continues to offer a database of available commercial space. One of Selby district’s key strengths is the availability and affordability of commercial space to suit many different needs.

Click on www.businessinspiredgrowth.co.uk to find out more.

Showcasing town’s heritageWith the Selby bypass now re-open, you may have also noticed our roundabouts sculptures. Designed to highlight elements of the history of the town, the three sculptures depict Selby Abbey, the ‘three swans’ motif for the town, and reference to the town’s ship building heritage.

It’s part of efforts to enhance key routes into Selby town centre to encourage visitors and raise the profile of the town to others.

Connecting businesses Selby district businesses can now benefit from extra help to improve online connections. The Connection Vouchers scheme gives companies a helping hand to upgrade their internet connection… bringing you closer to your customers.

It’s estimated that companies across Britain will need up to ten times their current bandwidth over the next five years if they are to keep up with the increasing demands of online business.

This support is available to small and medium-sized companies or charities. If you are a limited company, partnership or sole trader or if you work from a residential property as your main business base, you can apply.

What are connection vouchers?• A connection voucher will cover

the installation cost of the broadband connection, from £200 up to a maximum of £3,000.

• You pay the VAT and any value over the £3,000 grant amount and the monthly subscription cost.

• Vouchers can be used by an individual business, commercial landlords, charities and organisations.

• Several organisations can apply as a group through a landlord or agent and combine the overall value of their vouchers, as long as they are happy in having the same provider.

• The voucher can be used to provide fixed or wireless solutions.

Why is better broadband good for business?• Access to faster online speeds helps

access new markets through improved file sharing with customers and suppliers

• It can save money on hardware by enabling better access to online storage

• It can improve productivity and customer service through faster uploads

Find out more: www.connectionvouchers.co.uk.

Leader of Selby District Council, Cllr Mark Crane

Leader of North Yorkshire County Council, Cllr Carl Les

Business waste SORTED Get your company’s waste SORTED with Selby District Council’s business waste collections. Offering flexible options to suit your individual needs, the service collects general waste and recycling such as paper and card, cans, glass and green waste giving you more time to concentrate on your customers.

We offer a range of container sizes and collection frequencies

to suit your requirements.Every business, no matter how small, has a legal responsibility to dispose of their waste correctly and be able to prove they are doing so.

Find out more about how the SORTED service can help you do this: www.selby.gov.uk/waste-collection-businesses.

05Also online at www.selby.gov.uk and northyorks.gov.uk

Could you choose to foster, change a life?Fostering North Yorkshire is looking for people who are interested in becoming foster carers.

More than 400 children were looked after by North Yorkshire foster carers last year and to keep up with demand the County Council needs to recruit around 60 new carers this year, particularly those who are willing to give a safe and stable home to vulnerable teenagers or who can offer a short-term home to a disabled child.

As long as you’re over 21 and are fit enough to care for a child or teenager, there’s no upper age limit and it doesn’t matter if you work or not or whether you own or rent your home. You can also foster regardless of your ethnicity or religion or whether you’re married, single,

gay or straight. As long as you’re over 21, have a spare room and can give vulnerable children and young people the care and support they need, you could help make a difference.

For people who are interested in fostering, information events will be held in locations around the county on Thursday 10 September.

For more information about becoming a foster carer and to book a place at an information evening, go to www.northyorks.gov.uk/fostering or call Fostering North Yorkshire on 01609 534654.

The innovative Better Together partnership between Selby District Council and North Yorkshire County Council continues to see us working together on a wide range of projects.

We’ve called it Better Together because we know we can improve services and increase efficiency for people who live, work or visit the area when both councils work in close partnership.

We’re sharing staff, expertise and skills. Selby’s Chief Executive, Mary Weastell, is also an Assistant Chief Executive at the County Council. We’re also sharing finance, legal and business support expertise and are currently working towards sharing IT services.Reducing costs is a key aspect of Better Together; so far we have saved more than £100,000

and are working on a package of projects which could save around £1.4m by 2020. This type of partnership between a district and a county council is unusual in local government and is being strongly supported by central government grant funding.

This year alone £137,000 of central government funding was used to help the County Council develop a new website for Selby District Council and help to improve the systems we use to serve customers who contact the council. The new District Council website has been very well received and

is popular: 24% more people are now visiting www.selby.gov.uk and this has helped towards 15% fewer people needing to ring the council or call in at the contact centre at Market Cross, Selby.

We’ve also been granted £555,000 to help both councils deliver better services to our communities and give residents and businesses a greater role in the design and delivery of their local services.

In January, the Registrars of Births, Marriages and Deaths moved into the Civic Centre at Doncaster Road. See page

10 for details of what is on offer at the venue to couples planning to get married.Selby-based County Council staff are also a regular fixture at the District Council offices and District Council tradesmen have recently completed a move that sees them now operate out of the County Council highways depot (pictured). By sharing space, more expensive town centre office and shop leases have been surrendered. This provides a saving for one council and an income for the other. The move also offers more opportunities for staff who share an office to work better together, so this is a clear win-win solution. The two councils also share a telephone system and network, which means Selby has benefitted from the savings available by partnering with the County Council.

Communication links between the two organisations are also now safer, stronger and cheaper: it makes it easier to join up other services at a later date. This is just the start. There are plans for more collaborative projects over the coming months to help us continue to make savings while delivering improved services. It all goes to prove that two councils can work better together.

Open the door to a young person

Could you open the door to a new opportunity by opening the door to a young person?North Yorkshire County Council is recruiting supported lodging hosts.

If you enjoy making a difference to the lives of young people, becoming one of our hosts is a great way to earn an additional income. It’s not as hands-on as fostering, so suits people who may be working full or part-time. As a host you are not offering a permanent home, but a stepping stone – somewhere for a young person to stay until they’re ready

to live on their own. You would need to have a spare room for the sole use of a young person.

For further information, visit www.northyorks.gov.uk/nowrongdoor, call 01609 535695 or 01723 373891 or email nowrongdoor@ northyorks.gov.uk.

Helping communities to grow strongerThe County Council’s Stronger Communities programme works with communities to help them to develop their knowledge and skills to become increasingly self-reliant and able to meet low-level needs.

This can be as simple as helping to publicise activities, establishing connections or signposting groups to funding opportunities. Or it could be about understanding where there are gaps in provision and working with communities and voluntary sector partners, such as Selby and District AVS and North Yorkshire Youth, to fill them.

In practice, this could mean:

• Working with children’s centres to support parents and carers in delivering stay and play groups for under-fives, particularly in rural areas.

• Supporting groups like Sherburn Visiting Scheme, which is running a memory café on Monday afternoons in Sherburn library.

• Helping to publicise activities like the Supportive Arts sessions that Magnetic Arts runs in Selby on Tuesday afternoons.

• Liaising with libraries and the Workers’ Educational Association to give the community access to a digital inclusion day.

• Ensuring communities are aware of the support available if their bus service is reduced. Support schemes

include Wheels2Work, community transport to help older people and people with disabilities and a community car, as in Pateley Bridge in Nidderdale.

• Supporting the development of more community-run libraries.

• Exploring ways of bringing post office services back to communities.

The Stronger Communities delivery manager for Selby district, Tom Jenkinson, is happy to hear from groups or individuals wanting to provide activities or to find ways to help others stay healthy, connected and involved in their community.

Tom is based at the District Council’s Civic Centre in Selby and can be contacted by email at tom.jenkinson@northyorks.gov.uk or on 01609 533808.Partnerships

delivering business support At the heart of Yorkshire, the Selby district benefits from links into two Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). These organisations are designed to offer targeted help to businesses.

The Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has launched a new service to help ambitious small and

medium-sized businesses grow and create jobs. It now offers a one-stop-shop for information about the support and funding available to Selby district businesses.

Research shows that businesses often don’t know what is on offer or how to access it. Small and medium-sized businesses are an important part of our local economy, explained Roger Marsh, Chair of the Leeds City Region LEP, “SMEs make up 99% of our business community: if they grow, our region will grow too. Our new growth service is a single point of contact to help them explore and identify the right support for them and simplify the

journey”. For more, click www.the-lep.com.

Meanwhile, the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding LEP ran its first Pop-up Business Café at Community House in Selby earlier in the year and has another on 21 September. The café is a free, informal event at which business owners can chat to experts about social media, business support, taxation, legal advice and much more.

Find out more at www.businessinspiredgrowth.com.

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06 07Also online at www.selby.gov.uk and northyorks.gov.uk

New leisure village work beginsIn the last edition of Citizenlink we celebrated the opening of Selby’s brand new leisure centre, with its state-of-the-art facilities and new swimming pool… this time we’re looking ahead to the exciting Leisure Village development at the same site which promises even more activities for everyone.

Whether you fancy ten pin bowling, an adventure climbing facility, adventure play zone, aerial trekking ropes, indoor ski simulator, skate park or BMX park – it will all be there for you.

Work began on the site, which is next to the new leisure centre, earlier in the summer. It’s due to open its doors next summer.

Together the Leisure Village and the leisure centre will really put Selby on the map.

We think there’s a big benefit for our businesses too, because the Leisure Village will help toencourage people into Selby

town centre, with a knock-on benefit for local firms. “It’ll be a huge draw and bring visitors into Selby”, explained Dave Peart, the District Council’s Executive member with responsibility for leisure and culture. “This has a positive knock-on effect of providing a substantial boost to the wider business community”.

He also explained how the development supports

the District Council’s long-term ambition to make the Selby district a great place to enjoy life.

The Leisure Village will be run by WLCT, the organisation that delivers the district’s leisure services in partnership with the District Council. Managing Director Pete Burn told us, “We’re extremely pleased to working on this project which will deliver fantastic facilities for families. The things on offer will be enjoyable and accessible, providing a fun way for people to get active stay active”.

Alongside the activities available in the building, there will also be an outdoor skate and BMX park, with discussions on-going with local groups about how best to design this. These local groups have already worked with us on the plans for the indoor skate park.

New leisure village work begins

What an amazing summer of cycling! First we welcomed the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire: 10,000 of you came out to watch the race which was broadcast around the world. And Selby played a key role as the start of stage two.

This coming weekend (Sunday 6 September) it’s the Selby Three Swans Sportive, with over 700 riders expected to take to the district’s roads. With distances of 30, 60 and 106 miles the Sportive is a non-competitive cycle ride. This year’s ride is being organised by Yorkshire Cancer Research in partnership with Selby Cycling Club, Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust, Selby District Council and British Cycling. Victoria Wignall from

Selby Cycling Club said, “ Our Sportive encourages people to get on their bikes, raises the profile of cycling in our district and brings in much needed funds for Yorkshire Cancer Research. As a small club we’re amazed at how the event has grown in size and the fantastic feedback we’ve received from riders. It’s great to be able to help people ride their first sportive, or cycle their first century in a safe

and supported environment on quiet and scenic roads”

It’s not just the cyclists and the charity that benefit. With so many people taking part there’s a knock-on positive impact for local businesses too, and in terms of raising the profile of the district for visitors. Council Leader, Cllr Mark Crane, explained, “We’ve been focusing on raising the profile of our area through events such as the Tour de Yorkshire and our new partnership with Welcome to Yorkshire. We want to showcase what the district has to offer for visitors, because this helps to boost business and builds pride in our district”.

You can find out more about this weekend’s Selby Sportive here: www.selbythreeswanssportive.org.

Registrations can be made on the day (numbers limited) from 7am at Selby Railway Sports and Social Club, Station Road, Selby, Y08 4AA.

The Selby district has an enviable position on the Transpennine cycle route, with a spur of this heading up to York, and routes out to South and West Yorkshire and the East Riding. The district’s rural lanes and flat countryside also offer ideal opportunities to get out and about to explore.

Why not find out more online: www.transpenninetrail.org.uk.

Food festival takes its place in district’s calendarWe celebrated Yorkshire Day in style in the district, with another Selby Food Festival. Bringing together producers and suppliers from across the region, the festival brought hundreds of people into Selby town centre on Saturday 1 August: great news for those taking part, but also a boost for other town centre businesses.

The festival this year was run by the Selby Town Enterprise Partnership, STEP, which brings together a range of businesses, alongside the District Council and other public sector partners. The aim of the group is to help boost business opportunities for the town. The group’s chair and store manager of Sainsbury’s in Selby, Becky Lowery, explained why they wanted to support the festival, “We want to help create a sense of Selby as a

destination town: somewhere that offers a range of festivals and activities. We were really delighted with how the festival went this year, and we’ll be looking at the impact on traders directly involved as well as other established town centre businesses. But this isn’t just about the trade figures, this is about putting Selby on the map in the longer term”.

At the start of work earlier in the summer, Daniel Leigh, Site Manager ISG; Tim Harvey, Construction Director ISG; Jonathan Lund, Selby District Council Deputy Chief Executive; James Foley, Business Development Manager Alliance Leisure; Craig McLackland, Contracts Manager ISG; Cllr Dave Peart, Selby District Council’s Executive Member for Housing, Leisure, Health and Culture and Stuart Holden, Development Manager WLCT.

Book easyIt’s now easier than ever to book exercise classes at Selby’s new leisure centre, whether or not you’re a member.

You can search for classes, book your place and if you’re not already a member you can make a payment all in one place: www.selbyleisurecentre.org. With state-of-the-art facilities, the leisure centre is the ideal place to get in shape or stay in shape.

With cycling and swimfit, body combat and boot camp, yoga and zumba, there are classes covering a wide range of activities and for a wide range of abilities. Check out the website to find out more. You can also find out about membership too, giving you access to the first class gym and swimming pool.

Roadside litter blitzWe know that clean streets are important to you. In a recent survey it was the issue identified by people as being of most importance to their local community.

A key issue for us at the moment is the amount of litter thrown from vehicles. Earlier in the year we collected 175 bags of litter from beside the A64 around the Tadcaster area, 55 bags of litter from beside the A63 in the south of the district, and around 120 bags of litter from the roads leading into and out of Selby town centre.

That amounts to a lot of rubbish thrown from people’s cars, vans and lorries. And it costs us all money, time and effort to pick it up; as well as being unsightly and sometimes dangerous.Selby District Council has the

power to fine anyone found littering from a vehicle, but we need your help. If you see someone throwing litter at the side of the road we’ll need a description of the vehicle (including make and model or registration number), date, time and location. It’s also helpful to have a description of the driver too. The perpetrator could be faced with a £75 fine.

You can report any issues via our website or by calling us on 01757 705101.

Meanwhile, we continue with our

other litter picking work. During just one month earlier in the year we collected 130 tonnes of waste from the district’s streets. This includes rubbish from litter bins and street sweeping, but it also included over 700 bags of items that had just been thrown onto the ground.

We all have a role to play in helping us to keep our streets clean.

We also think it’s also important for us to keep the streets clean to support our businesses too. A clean and tidy district helps to encourage visitors and

helps to promote the area fornew business investment. This can have a direct economic benefit the area too, and helps to support a range of other work to improve key gateways into the district.

08 09Also online at www.selby.gov.uk and northyorks.gov.uk

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Ground cutting for the new school: From left, Phil Bewers, operations manager, F Parkinson; Suzanne Firth, strategic planning manager, strategy and commissioning, children and young people’s service, North Yorkshire County Council; Paul Cockerill, lead architect, Scarborough office, Jacobs UK; and Peter Acaster, chairman of the board of directors, Ebor Academy Trust.

Building under way on new primary schoolA turf cutting ceremony marked the start of building work on Selby’s newest primary school.

Staynor Hall Community Primary Academy will open in September 2016 and will address the need for additional school places arising from the Staynor Hall housing development.

It will offer 210 places plus a nursery and is designed to encourage community use of the facilities.

The estimated cost of the school is £5.5m. Funding

comes from contributions from the developer and county council capital through the Schools Capital Programme.

The Staynor Hall housing development will eventually comprise about 1,200 homes. A further 3,000 homes are planned elsewhere in Selby.

Local schools and the community were consulted by the county council in 2013 on educational provision in the town, given rising school numbers and proposed housing development. The preference was for a new

school, which would be a sponsored academy.

County Councillor Arthur Barker, executive member for schools, said: “This represents the biggest single investment in local educational facilities for Selby for many years and we will work closely with our partners, the Ebor Academy Trust, to create a school that everybody can be proud of.”

Progress on the development can be followed at www.staynorhallschool.org, which also has a link to the admissions procedure.

Improvements to home care servicesPeople who receive care in their own homes in Selby district are benefiting from new services following the awarding of new contracts at the start of the year.

The County Council used the new contracts to improve what it expects the service to deliver. Two areas were singled out for improvements after consulting people receiving care – timeliness of visits and ensuring that wherever possible people see the same carer on each visit. These approaches have been best practice for years, but this is the first time care providers have been contractually bound to deliver consistent and timely care.

The providers awarded contracts in the Selby area are New Concept Care and Nursing (NCCN), Riccall Carers and Castlerock. Some of these already provided care locally.One Riccall Care employee said: “Try it, be prepared to work hard, but the job satisfaction is overwhelming,

we do make a difference to our customers, be prepared to laugh and cry sometimes.

“There’s loads of different hours available to suit most lifestyles and family commitments. It’s busy and demanding, but I would recommend trying it.”

An NCCN client said: “Without the help from the care workers, we would not have been able to look after mum at home. The care that they have provided has been outstanding.”

To find out about working for providers in the Selby area, contact Castlerock on 01757 250310 or at selby@crghomecare.uk.com and Riccall Carers on 01904 720700 or at care@riccallcare.co.uk, or NCCN at www.newconcept-care.co.uk.

Have your health checked for freeThe County Council is encouraging people to take up the offer of a free NHS Health Check.

The NHS Health Check invites adults aged 40 to 74 -without previously diagnosed heart disease, diabetes orchronic kidney disease - for a free health assessment. Itaims to identify those at risk of serious, but potentiallyavoidable, conditions such as heart disease, stroke,diabetes, kidney disease and certain types of dementia.

“The NHS Health Check is an important step for manypeople towards improving their lifestyle and becomingmore aware of what they can do to minimise healthrisks,” said County Councillor David Chance, portfolio holder for public health and stronger communities.

The check can save lives by helping to lower people’srisk of developing heart disease, stroke, kidney disease,type 2 diabetes and some types of dementia.

The County Council is working on initiatives topromote and complement the NHS Health Check,including developing weight management programmesto help people to achieve and sustain a healthyweight, and specialist smoking cessation services.

Find more information at www.northyorks.gov.uk/healthcheck or ask at your GP surgery.

New sexual health service launchedA new service providing sexual health advice, contraception and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections for people of all ages has been launched across North Yorkshire.

The County Council has awarded the contract for a new integrated sexual health service – called YorSexualHealth – to York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The trust will provide local services that will be accessed through a central booking system. It will work in partnership with GP practices.

The service will also provide support for people living with HIV and their carers and outreach in community venues working with groups at risk of poor sexual health.

The new service began in July. Sexual health clinics will be available Monday to Friday, with some clinics also available

on Saturdays. People will also be able to access a range of advice and support online and from “virtual clinics”.

People can contact the service for advice or to make an appointment on 01904 721111 and find further information online at www.yorsexualhealth.org.uk.

County Councillor Don Mackenzie (right), outgoing portfolio holder for public health and prevention, with Dr Lincoln Sargeant, director of public health (centre), members of the County Council public health team, and staff from York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, MESMAC and North Yorkshire Aids Action.

Peace of mind for you and your familyReassurance that help is on hand – that’s the promise of Selby District Council’s Lifeline service. A support service that offers independent living, with the peace of mind that assistance can be offered in those emergency situations. It could be for an elderly relative, someone with dementia or learning disabilities, vulnerable or young people that need reassurance.

The reassurance comes from a simple press of a button, which puts you in touch with a help centre straight away.

With a brand new friends and family service launched this summer, which costs from just £2.58 per week, there’s never been a better time to find out more.

Here’s how it worksJust choose the level of help you need and we’ll do the rest.

Friends and Family Package – New£2.58 per week (with

£82.50 installation cost)Or £4.17 with nothing to pay up front. At the press of your button the call centre will contact a nominated person to come to your home.

Reassurance package£5.22 per weekOur Call and Response service.Similar to the Friends and Family package, but on the rare occasions when friends or family cannot be contacted a council Support Officer will be alerted.

Level 1£6.26 per weekAs per the above packages

with a personalised support plan of monthly wellbeing visits and the reassurance that a Support Officer will always be alerted to your call alarm.

Level 2£12.54 per weekAs per Level 1 enhanced with weekly wellbeing visits to your home as part of your personalised plan.

For all packages the emergency services will also be called if required. Contact us via our website www.selby.gov.uk, email lifeline@selby.gov.uk or call us on 01757 705101.

Also online at www.selby.gov.uk and northyorks.gov.uk 1110

Couples choosing to marry at better, brighter venueSince the county council’s register office moved to new premises at Selby Civic Centre earlier in the year, 28 couples have married at the venue.

The brighter, more modern rooms at the district council’s premises mean couples getting married or entering civil partnerships can celebrate in style. Couples have also given high praise to the venue’s staff since the move.The move is designed to increase the number of ceremonies, which could benefit a range of local companies offering support services such as catering, floristry or photography.

All users of the registration service are benefiting from more parking spaces, a cafe, more room for guests and better access.

The move was part of Better Together, a partnership between the councils to give a better service and better value for money (see page 4). This project has achieved savings of more than £40,000 a year.

If you’re planning a ceremony – or a naming ceremony – in the Selby area, you can find out more about what the register office has to offer at www.northyorks.

gov.uk/weddingvenues or by calling 01609 780780.

Wherever in North Yorkshire you’re planning your ceremony, the County Council’s registration service can help. There are nine popular register offices across the county, and the service can also help if you’re planning to marry at one of the county’s many licensed venues, from stately homes and castles, to stunning theatres or village halls.

Find out more via the web link above and at www.northyorks.gov.uk/registration.

‘Visionary’ prevention service praised

Top team: Tim Madgwick, Deputy Chief Constable; Judith Hay, North Yorkshire’s head of children’s social care; Richard Flinton, North Yorkshire’s Chief Executive; Louise Casey, Director General for Troubled Families; Julie Firth, head of the new Prevention Service; Cllr Janet Sanderson, North Yorkshire’s Executive Member for the Children and Young People’s Service; Pete Dwyer, North Yorkshire’s Corporate Director for the Children and Young People’s Service

Libraries at the heart of our communitiesThe county council is working with local organisations to consider options for setting up community-managed libraries.

Earlier this year, the council consulted the public on the future of the library service with the aim of retaining current service provision through partnerships with communities and other agencies to achieve a £1.6m saving as part of the authority’s overall budget reduction of £167m.

As a result of the consultation, the authority took on board the message from over 17,000 responders that libraries need input from paid staff to survive, approving an increase of £175,000 in the proposed library budget to provide additional dedicated support to help community libraries get off the ground and develop.

The level of savings required will mean a radical transformation in the way the library service is delivered. It will become a networked “family” of libraries through a partnership with volunteers.“We want to make sure that many more community libraries can be

successfully introduced in order to retain a much-cherished county-wide library service,” said Cllr Chris Metcalfe, North Yorkshire’s Executive Member for Library and Information Services. “We cannot secure that service without communities stepping forward, but we also acknowledge that communities need some on-going dedicated support.”Core libraries, which serve the main towns – including Selby – in each of the county’s districts will act as the professional “hubs” with overall responsibility for providing support to community libraries in their district. They will need to find 40 per cent of their opening hours through volunteer support.

In Selby district there would be two of 21 community-managed libraries. These would be in Sherburn, which would receive between 12 and 15 hours of paid staff support each week, and Tadcaster, which would receive between

five and seven hours of paid support.There is already a community library serving the parishes of Barlby and Osgodby that has been running very successfully since the first community libraries were introduced in 2012.

The home library service and a supermobile service will continue for people who have difficulty reaching a library.These plans have led to discussions with the parish councils at Sherburn-in-Elmet and South Milford about how community ownership of the library building could enable the development of a community hub providing a range of statutory and voluntary services. Such a development would run in tandem with any development of the Sherburn old girls school and the provision of leisure activities from the Eversley Park Centre. Sherburn Parish Council is seeking to recruit a community development officer to work with the district and county councils to support the development of community-run services.

The County Council’s new Prevention Service is offering targeted support to young people and their families. It adopts the Government’s Troubled Families model of one plan and one dedicated worker for each family in need, meaning workers can stay alongside a child and their family from birth to 19 years.

Prevention teams provide highly targeted, consistent and effective support on the ground at times when families are most in need, be it early mornings, evenings or weekends, to stop problems escalating.

The service has been praised by Louise Casey, director general in the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Troubled Families tsar, who said North Yorkshire had already done an “exceptional job” in turning around the lives of nearly 900 families as part of the Troubled Families programme, called Developing Stronger Families in North Yorkshire.

She was “100 per cent behind what North Yorkshire is doing” through its Prevention Service, which will help lives, but also save money.

District Council aims for UK firstSelby District Council is aiming to be the first officially-recognised ‘dementia friendly’ council in the country, thanks to the efforts of its Chairman Cllr Richard Sweeting.

Being ‘dementia friendly’ means recognising the needs of people living with a range of conditions that fall under the ‘dementia’ banner, including Alzheimers. Cllr Sweeting explained, “This isn’t just about direct care services, this is about making sure that everything we do as a council takes into consideration the

needs of those with dementia at whatever stage. People may need extra support to access a wide range of local services and it’s important we’re able to understand these needs”.

The Council has just started on this journey, with staff given support and training from a number of local services.

“This is a trailblazing scheme and it’s something that’s really close to my heart”, said Cllr Sweeting, who works as an activities co-ordinator at Highfields Care Home in the district.

Trusted helpLooking for a tradesman you can trust? If you’re in need of property repair or maintenance work then you can now call on Selby District Council’s team to deliver a reliable and quality service.

Whether it’s for your home or your business, we offer competitive prices for a wide range of work. This includes electrical and joinery repairs and maintenance. There are standard rates, inclusive of materials and labour, for a number of jobs: to find out more email us commercialservices@selby.gov.uk or call us for a quotation on 01757 705101.

Staff carrying out the work are part of the team that supports the Council’s homes across the district, so they are fully trained and have been checked against criminal and safeguarding records. That means you’ve got peace of mind in the quality, reliability and service you’ll receive.

Your councillorsEveryone in the Selby district is represented by local councillors. Back in May you had the chance to elect members of Selby District Council, and the next North Yorkshire County Council election will be held in 2017. You can find out more here about your local councillors. You can get full details of councillors, including ways in which you can contact them, via our websites. www.selby.gov.uk www.northyorks.gov.uk

Selby District CouncilHere are your local Selby District Councillors

Leader of the Council, Cllr Mark Crane Brayton (Con)

Deputy Leader of the Council, Cllr John Mackman Monk Fryston (Con)

Executive Member, Cllr Cliff Lunn Thorpe Willoughby (Con)

Executive Member, Cllr Chris MetcalfeTadcaster (Con)

Executive Member, Cllr Dave PeartCamblesforth & Carlton (Con)

Cllr Karl ArthurDerwent (Con)

Cllr David BuckleSherburn in Elmet (Con)

Cllr Liz CaslingEscrick (Con)

Cllr John CattanachCawood and Wistow (Con)

Cllr Stephanie DuckettBarlby Village (Lab)

Cllr Keith EllisAppleton Roebuck and Church Fenton (Con)

Cllr Mel HobsonSherburn in Elmet (Con)

Cllr David HutchinsonSouth Milford (Con)

Cllr Richard MusgraveAppleton Roebuck and Church Fenton (Con)

Cllr Wendy NicholsSelby East (Lab)

Cllr Robert PackhamSherburn in Elmet (Lab)

Cllr Christopher PearsonHambleton (Con)

Cllr Ian ReynoldsRiccall (Con)

Cllr Jennifer Shaw-WrightSelby West (Lab)

Cllr Richard SweetingTadcaster (Con)

Cllr Jude ThurlowSelby West (Lab)

Cllr Paul WelchSelby East (Lab)

Cllr Debbie WhiteWhitley (Con)

Cllr Mike JordanCamblesforth and Carlton (Con)

Cllr Donald MackayTadcaster (Con)

Cllr Brian MarshallSelby East (Lab)

Cllr Mary McCartneyEggborough (Ind)

Cllr Ian ChilversBrayton (Con)

Cllr Judith ChilversSelby West (Con)

Cllr Jack CrawfordByram and Brotherton (Lab)

Cllr James DeansDerwent (Con)

Here are your local North Yorkshire County Councillors

Cllr Chris MetcalfeTadcaster (Con)

Cllr Mike JordanSouth Selby (Con)

Cllr Elizabeth CaslingEscrick (Con)

Cllr Andrew LeeCawood and Saxton (Con)

Cllr Brian MarshallSelby Barlby (Lab)

Cllr Steven Shaw-WrightSelby Barlby (Lab)

Cllr Cliff LunnSelby Brayton (Con)

Cllr Robert PackmanSherburn in Elmet (Lab)

Cllr Chris PearsonMid Selby (Con)

Cllr John McCartneyOsgoldcross (Ind)

ContactsCitizens’ Advice Bureau www.citizensadvice.org.uk 03444 111 444

Traveline(independent advice about public transport services) www.traveline.info

Business supportLeeds City Region Enterprise Partnershipwww.the-lep.com York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Enterprise Partnershipwww.bsinessinspiredgrowth.com

Parish councilsFor details of your parish council, check via www.selby.gov.uk

Selby District Council www.selby.gov.uk 01757 705101 @selbydc

www.facebook.com/selbydc

North Yorkshire County Council www.northyorks.gov.uk 01609 780 780 @northyorkscc

www.facebook.com/northyorkscc

Policewww.northyorkshire.police.uk Non-emergency calls 101Emergencies dial 999

Health Non-emergency calls 111Emergencies dial 999

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We want to find out more about what you think of Citizenlink. This is your newspaper about your local services, so it’s important to us that we cover the things that you want to know about.

Give us your feedback if you can. You can email us via communications@selby.gov.uk or write to us via Communications, Civic Centre, Doncaster Road, Selby YO8 9FT.

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