Police investigating the death of three-year-old Lydia Bishop at York College Nursery on 17 September 2012, have charged a 24-year-old woman with gross negligence manslaughter.
She will appear at York Magistrates’ Court on 8 April 2013.
York College will be summonsed to court for health and safety breaches.
The York Council is being blamed for poor communications with social housing tenants as the deadline for the introduction of new Housing Benefit rules looms.
All social housing tenants should by now have received a personal notification of their Housing Benefit entitlement under the new rules
Anyone aged over 61 is exempt from the changes as are disabled children, children in the armed forces, foster carers and people who need overnight care?
An on line benefit entitlement calculator has been provide (click here) but has been poorly publicised.
The Council’s publicity fails to recognise that some Council homes in – for example – the Cranfield Place area while being originally classified as 3 bedroomed properties, but were later reclassified as 2 bedroomed (because one of the rooms was below Council housing minimum size standards).
Other questions involve those ex military pensioners who are unable to work because of injuries sustained while on duty.
The Council promised proactive communications with tenants in a paper published a few months ago (click here to download)
But we understand that many residents remain confused about their eligibility for discretionary payments
Some background information is available at the following government website click here.
Completed petition forms are pouring in as York residents give the thumbs down to Labours plans to charge residents an extra £30 a year to empty green waste bins.
The response is one of the highest ever recorded in the City. National politicians are also now backing the campaign (see Press story)
It comes as the Council concludes its own “consultation”. It can be found by clicking here
There has been little pre publicity for the Council survey and it is very difficult to find on the Councils web site.
They are requiring residents to complete an electronic survey. The questions though are loaded, presuming as they do that economies have to be made in waste collection rather than other areas of Council expenditure.
Labour is currently spending £600,000 on the introduction of a city-wide 20 mph speed limit and two of its officials are on a £25,000 marketing jaunt to Cannes.
A petition against the Green Bin Tax can be found on the Councils web site by clicking here.
So far 139 residents have used this method to register their opposition. The petition closes on 3rd April.
The Liberal Democrat petition form can be found by clicking here
Residents responding to a Focus survey mainly carried out in the Westfield Ward have also come out strongly against the Labour plan.
96% are opposed to charging for green bin emptying.
96% also want to see the Beckfield Lane recycling centre reopened while 69% say they were inconvenienced by the lack of a New Years Day refuse collection
