Tour de Freebie reaches Paris
With their £20,000 a year salaries Councillors can well afford to pay the normal entrance charge.
Unlike some children in the City who face a price hike from £1 last year to £5 this year.
Half the adult fee (£3) would have been more reasonable.
Earlier in the week a report, which is being presented to the York Council “Cabinet”, claimed that the numbers on the Housing waiting list had more than halved in 6 months.
click for source document
4692 was the figure quoted by Labour to justify their plans to build 22,000 additional homes over the next 15 years, mainly on green belt land next to the City.
No explanation was given for this phenomenal reduction which was simply labelled as a “decrease”.
It was all the more surprising as, since Labour took control of the Council the supply of new “affordable” homes, has tailed off.
It now turns out that the change has been achieved simply by taking people off the list who Labour Councillors feel are not in housing need.
These include all those in the so called “bronze” category.
This is another decision that has been taken without any consultation and behind closed doors. It has not been widely publicised since it was introduced about 4 weeks ago..
It is time that the Council ordered a public scrutiny review of the way in which the North Yorkshire housing waiting list has been massaged.
Some of the revised criteria that are now being applied will win general support (listed below).
Many however will find this new example of secrecy a sinister development.
The key changes are listed below.
• Do you use, or would like to use, childcare in York?
• Are you a mum, dad or carer to be?
• Do you have views on the quality and availability of childcare?
Then we’d like to hear from you! City of York Council wants to make sure that childcare meets families’ needs.
Your opinions are really important to us and will help us to encourage high quality childcare that is available in the right place, at the right time and at an affordable price. We will do this by working closely with childcare providers and partner organisations.
Have your say and be in with the chance of winning £100 of high street vouchers. Click here Have your say
This is the last day that the Council will be emptying green bins this winter.
One resident has started an “on line” petition aimed at getting the service restored. Click here to access it
The petition reads
Autumn leaves are falling everywhere and gardens are still growing but we have nowhere to put our Green Waste unless we store it until spring or take it at our own expense to Hazel Court.
We have all paid for this service to the council who have short changed us by cutting winter collections
Stay healthy by accessing health information online. Try our NHS Choices workshops at Explore Acomb this November. pic.twitter.com/bX978ybA8P
— Libraries & Archives (@YorkLibrariesUK) October 29, 2013
Access times for market vehicles entering the area at the end of the day have been relaxed for the winter to take account of outdoor trading conditions.Working with the agreement of the City Centre Manager, traders are now able to load up an hour early on Sundays through to Fridays, whilst the access time for Saturday business remains at its usual time.
The arrangement will start from Sunday 3 November until Spring Half Term, Sunday 23 February.
Like most City centre traders, market stall holders have been badly hit by the Labour Councils 36% increase in car parking charges while new traffic restrictions in the City centre have been the final straw for some.
Newgate Market is situated in the heart of York, just off The Shambles. For further information about the market and York’s specialist markets visit www.york.gov.uk/markets.
For information on planning your journey into the city centre visit www.itravelyork.info.
Research shows that stopping smoking for 28 days can extend your life by up to one week if you remain smokefree. The new ex-smokers from York are therefore celebrating their first steps towards a healthier, smokefreelife, and if they succeed in quitting for good, they could collectively add more than 14 years of life to the city’s population.
Taking part in Stoptober has reaped additional benefits:
·The average smoker has 13 cigarettes a day, which equates to 364 cigarettes every four weeks. Stoptober would have saved them £141 each over four weeks and if they remain smokefree they could save £423 by Christmas and £1,696 in a year.
Collectively, if all Stoptober participants in York quit for the 28 days this month they would have saved £106,314.
·With the average cigarette taking approximately four minutes to smoke [5], this Stoptober could have saved the average smoker over 24 hours by not smoking; and cumulatively the nation’s Stoptober participants would have gained over 680 years in spare time.
