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There was a 39% slump in the number of residents returning Ward Committee ballot papers in the autumn of 2011 compared to the previous year. The annual ballot is held to determine how residents want to spend a budget which has been delegated to local Ward Councillors.

The process was heavily criticised last year when ballot papers were circulated with other pieces of junk mail.

The Council also decided not to include some – resident suggested – schemes on the ballot paper and later several Labour Ward Councillors chose to ignore the results of the ballot altogether.

In Westfield they decided to pay for the purchase of pantomime costumes while funding provision for security patrols was axed.

The worst turnout was in the Heworth Ward where only 34 ballot papers (0.6% of households) were completed. The next lowest was Westfield where only 0.7% of households completed the ballot papers.

See also http://tinyurl.com/York-Ward-Committee

A York Council committee has spent the last few months reviewing the effectiveness of the “do not resuscitate” forms used in parts of the NHS.

It is a sensitive area and one that the Council is right to review in its role as a “Health Watchdog”. It followed concerns about the use of the forms at the York Hospital following a review by the Care Quality Commission in October 2011.

Indications are that health professionals do understand and respect the intention of the forms.

The committee is due to meet next on Monday. Details of the study can be found here http://tinyurl.com/do-not-resuscitate

Police are appealing for witnesses to two separate incidents. One involves a collision on Bishopthorpe Road on Friday evening while the second involved an assault in the early hours of Friday morning in Clifton.
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