A film showcasing the Ebor Vox activities over the city’s Charter Weekend is now online for residents to view and download. Ebor Vox was the world premier of a choral piece for 800 voluntary singers that saw them, musicians, puppeteers and dancers process through the streets of York.

The 20 minute filmed called Our City – The Story of Ebor Vox, follows the stories and activities of the participants who performed Ebor Vox, a new work by acclaimed composer Benjamin Till commissioned for York 800. It shows the range of activities over the Charter weekend including Flash Choirs and first performance in Dean’s Park as well as the procession with the Civic party and council members.

Click here to view the film http://vimeo.com/54310387

Despite recent concerns about standards at some nurserys in the City a report says that local standards are generally higher than can be found elsewhere in the Country.

A recent Ofsted report has placed York’s Early Years and childcare providers and Children’s Centres significantly above both the national and regional averages. The report also demonstrates an improvement when compared to last years statistics.

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A lot of attention has understandably been focussed on flood defence works during the recent periods of poor weather.

Flood barriers, and countering river overflows, are principally the responsibility of the Environment Agency.

Most of the pipes that drain surface water belong to Yorkshire Water although the Council is responsible for roadside gulleys.

The, then LibDem led, Council in 2008 introduced a programme of upgrade works aimed at dealing with ponding on roads, footpaths and public areas. Over £800,000 has been spent tackling these issues, but there is evidence that a large number of pipes and culverts are still blocked with silt and roots.

Now a new “surface water management” report suggests that a further £5 million is needed to complete the programme.

Worryingly the Council report reveals that recently “ funding for maintenance of highway infrastructure, in particular gully cleaning, has been reduced annually over successive years to a point where it is now mainly a reactive operation. Such routine gully emptying that is carried out is generally not in the areas that suffer surface water flooding”.

With the Council sinking ever deeper into debt, funding this level of investment with be problematic.

The report can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/Drainage-in-York. It is due to be discussed at a meeting taking place on Tuesday

The Council is closing its “face to face” benefits advice service which it currently runs at the Foxwood Community centre, Sanderson House in Chapelfields and at the Acomb Explore Library. Instead residents with queries will be offered telephone contact.

Face to face access to the Benefits Service will continue to be available at the Gateway Centre (Front Street) on a Monday.

Our view remains that residents should be able to talk to Council officials at the Acomb Explore Library

http://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?Id=3722

Legislation exists to help to prevent a range of potentially dangerous/anti-social products being accessible to young people. The products regulated with age-restrictions include alcohol (minimum age 18), cigarettes (18), fireworks (18), knives (18), aerosol paint (16); in recent years trading standards officers have carried out education and enforcement work in all of these areas.

The number of illegal sales has been decreasing over recent years

In future children posing as potential purchasers of restricted items may not tell retailers their correct age. The intention is to force the retailer to ask for proof of age

The report can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/age-limit-sales-enforcement

Confusion surrounds Labour’s plans to build three new care homes in York after it was revealed that one of the proposed sites in Fulford has been abandoned and another in Acomb has been delayed. Meanwhile, questions are being asked after plans were revealed to use the Burnholme School site as an alternative venue and sell the site in Fulford.

In May Labour agreed proposals to close the city’s nine care homes and replace them with state-of-the-art homes at Fordlands Road in Fulford and Haxby Hall plus a new care village site at Lowfield in Acomb. However, just 6 months later the Fordlands plan has been scrapped after analysis revealed concerns over flooding and space. The Burnholme Community College site has now been identified as the preferred alternative. The changes mean that the new facility will not meet the original April 2014 opening date, with the Burnholme site not available until after the school closes in July 2014. Meanwhile, the Lowfield Community Village project in Acomb has also run into problems as the tendering process to select a partner to run the site will now take longer than anticipated and the proposed April 2014 opening has also been scrapped.

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