Police warning after drugs stolen in York vets burglary

York police have issued a warning following the theft of drugs used for treating animals in the city.

The drugs were in a car which was stolen from a veterinary surgery in Upper Poppleton between 4pm on Sunday 3 March and 7.30am on Monday 4 March 2013.

The thieves stole the vehicle’s keys and a small amount of money from the premises before taking the car.

The red Ford Focus bears the registration number YY56OXL.

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List of planning applications received by York Council between 25th Feb – 1st Mar in the Westfield Ward

Labour Councillors have said that if future neighbours will NOT receive a notification from the Council about any planning applications that they receive. Instead they will depend of residents seeing the notices which should be displayed on a nearby lamppost. We think that such a system is highly fragile! We will there routinely report on this web site that applications received for the Westfield Ward each week. Most are likely to be routine domestic extensions many of which are unlikely to be controversial. Full details can be found by by clicking the reference below or by quoting the application reference on the “planning portal” web site.

• Ref No: 13/00214/FUL Location: 19 Huntsmans Walk York YO24 3LD Proposal: Conservatory to rear Applicant: Mr And Mrs Snowball Contact Mr Howard Berry Consultation Expiry Date 26 March 2013 Case Officer: Carolyn Howarth Expected Decision Level DEL

• Ref No: 13/00290/FUL Location: 45 Askham Lane York YO24 3HB Proposal: Single storey rear extension and replacement roof to side Applicant: Mr Alistair Hogben Contact Mark Tabert Consultation Expiry Date 26 March 2013 Case Officer: Carolyn Howarth Expected Decision Level DEL

• Ref No: 13/00303/FUL Location: Instyle Kitchens & Windows Ltd 45 Front Street York YO24 3BR Proposal: Conversion of part ground and first floor from retail to self contained flat (Use C3) (retrospective) (resubmission) Applicant: Mr Gary Langley Contact Mr Howard Berry Consultation Expiry Date 26 March 2013 Case Officer: Victoria Bell Expected Decision Level DEL

• Ref No: 13/00381/FUL Location: 10 The Green Acomb York YO26 5LR Proposal: Single storey building to rear Applicant: Mr Hugh Morris Consultation Expiry Date 26 March 2013 Case Officer: Heather Fairy (Mon – Wed) Expected Decision DEL

Confusion about Police intentions regarding the enforcement of 20 mph speed limits in York

20 mph

With the Councils deeply flawed public consultation process on the proposed City wide 20 mph speed limit drawing to an end, a Chief Police officer’s statement has raised concerns that cameras may be deployed to enforce the new limits.

Hitherto the Police in York have said that they would expect any such limit to be “self enforcing” while the Council’s own web site talks of winning the “hearts and minds” of drivers..

The national statement reads;

“Reports from the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group have stated that police are not enforcing 20mph speed limits. The police policy is clarified below”

An ACPO spokeswoman said:

“In most cases, 20 mph limits will follow Department of Transport guidance and include features such as speed bumps or traffic islands designed to slow traffic. ACPO guidelines include thresholds for enforcement across all speed limits to underpin a consistent policing approach. However it is for local police forces to apply a proportionate approach to enforcement of 20mph limits based on risk to individuals, property and the seriousness of any breach. Where drivers are exceeding the speed limit through willful offending, we would expect that officers will enforce the limit and prosecute offenders.”

Locally the chief supporters of the new limit (Cllr Semlyen in Dringhouses and Cllr Williams in Westfield) have so far failed to make clear whether they support deploying speed cameras to enforce 20 mph limits (the Police have recently trebled the number of mobile cameras that they operate in the county)

At a meeting held on 29th January the “Cabinet” member with responsibility for transport (Cllr Merrett) told Councillors, in response to a question about the enforcement of 20 mph limits, “Regarding the enforcement of the 20mph speed limits in residential areas of York by the Police, the Cabinet Member responded that enforcement would be carried out selectively, where needed”.

The suspicion is growing that the enforcement of the unnecessary 20 mph limit will turn out to be another “cash cow” aimed at penalising hundreds of otherwise law abiding drivers in the City.

No doubt the Police and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan and the Acting Chief Constable will make the local police policy clear before the consultation period closes.