The Neighbourhood Caretakers are set to work with residents, councillors and volunteers to respond to issues without the constraint of schedules facing the council’s existing public realm staff.
Team Foreperson Chris Ferry told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) they hoped to be able to visit each of York’s 21 council wards twice a year depending on workloads.
Cllr Jenny Kent, the council’s Labour administration’s environment spokesperson, told LDRS £150,000 invested in the team this year had created extra resources despite the difficult financial circumstances facing local authorities.
The launch of Neighbourhood Caretakers this month comes after councillors approved the funding for the team as part of the authority’s Budget for the current 2025-6 financial year.
A proposal to create the team was among the manifesto pledges made by Labour during the 2023 local elections which brought them to power.
York Council is thought to be the first local authority to bring in a Neighbourhood Caretaker service.
The new seven-strong team will work across the area covered by the council which will be divided into four to plan and organise their work.
Plans for the Caretakers includes walkabouts with councillors to find issues and responding to problems raised by them and staff rather than through the council’s existing complaints channels.
They are also set to support projects run by residents and volunteers, such as through Adopt A Verge programmes and tree-planting, along with events like the Great British Spring Clean.
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