Now York Council botches clinical waste collection

Apparently one Holgate resident has been waiting for 10 days for her grey bin to be emptied.

Although the issue will be familiar to many, given the shambolic reorganisation of bins collections over the last week, this case raises more serious issues.

The home concerned is one that is on the schedule for the collection of clinical waste. This type of waste is collected regularly by the Council prior to incineration.

Despite EIGHT attempts to contact the council, the waste remains on the street.

An appalling state of affairs.

NB. The Council describes its clinical and medical waste service in the following terms.

The council offers a free collection to householders who need to dispose of any clinical waste which arises from treatments at home, for example, sharps (needles) or yellow bagged waste. The collections are usually arranged as a result of referral by a GP, hospital, health visitor, district nurse or home care assistant. Please contact us to arrange either a one-off or a regular collection. Please note that we do not provide replacement empty sharps boxes, you will need to request this from your health care provider.
The council can help you to dispose of other non-hazardous medical waste, for example, dressing and packaging, which may not fit in your bin. Please contact us to discuss how we can help you.

It says that a collection can be arranged by clicking here

Blow for Sports Village hopes. Community Stadium to be delayed?

The Council has announced that it will no longer be funding an athletics track at the Sports Village on Hull Road.

The facility was to have opened this year.

The proposal to establish a sports village – which also includes swimming pools, 3G football pitches, a fitness suite, a outdoor cycling circuit and spa facilities – was agreed over 3 years ago and most of the facilities are now in use.

However, the provision of a new £2 million athletics stadium was to be the final jewel in the crown.

The intention had been to maximise the use of shared facilities such as the refreshment area, physiotherapy, spa and changing rooms.

Now the Council has decided to refurbish the University of York running track on Heslington Lane which is nearly 2 miles away from the Sports Village. The Heslington/Fulford area already suffers from traffic and parking issues

The implications for the running costs of both facilities remain unclear as does the financial commitment of the Council to the whole Community Stadium project.

A spokesperson for the Labour run council has claimed that the new site will be “cheaper”.

However, the athletes are claiming that the Council has agreed to subsidise the York Athletic Club for “5 years”.

Who has agreed such a subsidy, with what restrictions and for how much remains a mystery?

This major change in policy was taken at another behind closed doors meeting, so taxpayers are being kept in the dark

Moving the athletics track from the Huntington Stadium was an essential precursor to work on the new stadium starting.

It now seems that athletes will leave Huntington in late 2014 prior to occupying the refurbished University track in 2015.

Completion of the Community Stadium has already been put back to 2016 and further delays cannot be ruled out.

York archive modernisation project enters next phase

A £1.77 million transformation of the city’s Archive has moved a step closer. An invitation to tender to create new public spaces and build a state-of-the-art store at York Explore Library Learning Centre has now been issued.

Six builders have been shortlisted to date following a pre-qualification competition. The contractors have until 27 September to submit their bids to City of York Council for evaluation. The successful firm will start work at the library in late November this year.

The scheme is part of the Gateway to History project, made possible by a £1.6 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The first floor of the Grade II listed library will be refurbished to provide dedicated spaces for the Archives and Local and Family History. A climate-controlled extension will be built to house the city’s unique records.

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