York burglaries peak, post Christmas cycle security marking

November busiest month for burglars

—————–

Post Christmas cycle marking at Energise

Sunday, 29 December 2013. 11:00 until 16:00. We have teamed up with North Yorkshire Police to offer everyone the opportunity to get their bikes registered just after Christmas. We are also closing the rear car park so that people can ride their bikes that they got for Christmas with no cars around.

York road repairs backlog hits £32.7 million

Worn highays surface Hamilton Drive West
Worn highays surface Hamilton Drive West
Pothole Windsor Garth

Pothole Windsor Garth

In response to a Freedom of information request , the York Council has admitted that it would cost £32.7 million to address the backlog on highways repairs.

The figure includes all road and footway refurbishment works with associated drainage and road signs and markings.

Meanwhile more and more problems with potholes are expected as ice further damages poor road surfaces during the winter months.

Potholes little Green Lane

Potholes little Green Lane

Cornlands Road drains blockeed

Cornlands Road drains blockeed

12 money tips for a festive Christmas

A handy leaflet packed with money saving tips and suggestions has been published.

The leaflet, called ‘12 small changes for a festive Christmas’, suggests practical ways of managing money and budgeting in the run-up to Christmas and beyond.

click to download

click to download

It also lists contact details for a number of different organisations such as the National Debtline and The Money Advice Service, who can give help to residents who may need advice on financial matters.

Leaflets are now available to pick up from every library and Explore centre and from the Citizens Advice Bureau at West Offices. You can also download a copy from here

(more…)

£1.66 million costs but no income from Tour De France?

It is scarcely 6 months before the second stage of the Tour de France cycle race is due to set off from York.

However, the Council still hasn’t identified how it will maximise income from the event.

TDF York Council budget, click to enlarge

TDF York Council budget, click to enlarge

The Council has budgeted to spend £1.66 million hosting the event which is taking place on 6th July.

Most will go on crowd control on the day although the organisers have also demanded a £480,000 “hosting fee”

£200,000 will go on road repairs and cleansing, while marketing and publicity will cost £100,000 and “legacy events” £99,000.

However the Council has so far only identified a government grant of £291,000 to offset the costs.

No local sponsorship deals have been identified although it looks like tourism businesses will be the main gainers from the event. There is talk of £88 million being generated for businesses in the region.

The additional income that could be generated from car parking, merchandising, camping etc have also not been identified although £221,000 is being spent on a “project management team”.

The absence of an agreed business plan and any criteria, on which the success or otherwise of the event can be judged, is a major concern.

Old cyclist

In response to a Freedom of Information request the Council says,

“In order to maximise value for money and benefit from appropriate economies of scale an economic impact study will be commissioned (through Leeds City Council) on behalf of all LA districts through which the tour will run. This will cover all three stages including the Cambridge to London stage and will be undertaken in conjunction with partners including all relevant LAs (inc. Cambridge, Essex, and London), Sport England, and Transport for London. The study is expected to provide impact information at a LA level (i.e. we should be able to get specific figures for York).

The detail in terms of the methodology and therefore the assessment criteria and performance indicators associated with the work are currently being developed and therefore we are not in a position to provide these at this time.

It is probable that these will be based on a standard methodology developed by Sport England which typically measures impact based on an assessment of additional visitor spend as determined through on the ground survey work. We are also discussing business survey and/or longitudinal study to measure any catalytic impact on business growth and have an ambition to include aspects of the cycling legacy work being undertaken, as well as some of the more qualitative impacts”.

Many residents would no doubt take the view that the objectives of the project should have been clear long before the Council committed £1.66 million of its scarce resources to underpinning the event.

Bizarrely it seems that some Labour Councillors are unaware of the financial risks of the project.

At the last Council meeting one (Cllr Burton) successfully proposed. “that all income generated for City of York Council from the Tour de France Grand Départ is spent on frontline services for residents

Officials have now confirmed that there is likely to be little or no income from the event which could provide a boost for Council coffers.

The Council taxpayer is likely to be over £1 million out of pocket, with front line public services being the ones to suffer when further budget reductions then become inevitable.

As previously reported, even the less than parsimonious Sheffield Council – where stage 2 finishes on 6th July – is spending much less than York on the Tour.

Some trimming of the costs of the event would seem to be a prudent and urgent necessity for the York Council.

Energise commended by leading quality scheme

Energise Pool

Energise has passed a tough assessment from Sport England’s leading national quality scheme, Quest, in which it scored Excellent.

Quest is the most well known improvement programme within the leisure industry and its rigorous assessments challenge even the very best leisure centres in the UK.

In order to achieve Quest Plus, Energise went through a two year process, with a mystery visit and a two day assessment in the first year, and a second mystery visit and one day assessment in the second year.

The mystery visit in year two is particularly challenging as the mystery visitor does not work in the leisure industry.

 
(more…)

New figures reveal hundreds of thousands of children regularly exposed to second-hand smoke in a car

passive-smoking-172463679

New figures released by the British Lung Foundation (BLF) that show around 185,000 children between the ages of 11-15 in England are exposed to potentially toxic concentrations of second-hand smoke in their family car every day or most days.

That’s the equivalent of more than 6,100 classrooms full of children.

Dr Paul Edmondson-Jones, Director of Health and Wellbeing at City of York Council said:

(more…)