Council bids to prevent repetition of Christmas bin collection chaos

The York Council is distributing a leaflet to each household explaining how they plan to schedule waste collections over the Christmas period.

Bins in Foxwood 2012

Bins in Foxwood 2012

Last year the service deteriorated into chaos during the same period.

This year some recycling collections are being cancelled. There will be no collections on New Years Day but there will be a “catch up” on the following Saturday.

The Council have issued the following advice.

(more…)

Rubbish skips this weekend Saturday 30th November

Although the Council has cut back on the number of amenity skips it provides, several residents associations continue to run programmes aimed at making it easier for tenants to get rid of unwanted items.

The skips are only in place for a few minutes and residents must ensure that they put any rubbish into the skips and do not leave it on the path or highway.

1 Dringfield Close 08:30 09:30

2 Pottery Lane 10:30 11:30
3 Lindsey Ave 12:30 13:30
5 Fossway 10:30 11:30
6 Burnsall Drive 12:30 13:30

8 Ganton Place 10:30 11:30

9 St Palinus Church 12:30 13:30

York firm wins £1.6m contract to build new city archive

William Birch & Sons Ltd of Osbaldwick will build the new city archive at York Explore.

The new archive is part of the Heritage Lottery Fund-supported Gateway to History project to preserve and open up the city’s internationally-important archives to people across the city and indeed the world.

click to download update

click to download update

The works at York Explore will include the construction of a new state-of-the-art conservation store for the archives and a sensitive refurbishment of the existing first floor to create new spaces for people to discover the city’s extensively-recorded history.

Essential work on the roof and floor will also be carried out to on the Grade II listed library building at the same time as installing a new energy-efficient heating system, repairing the roof, refreshing the layout of the ground floor and the very successful café.

The Gateway to History project received a £1.5m HLF grant in December 2012.

(more…)

Oliver House – Council on brink of making correct decision!

After nearly two years of indecision, the York Council is being recommended next week to put Oliver House (the former elderly person’s home at the end of Priory Street) on the open market.

Oliver House York

The building has been empty since the home was closed in April 2012.

The prime site is expected to bring in substantial offers from residential developers. The Council has budgeted to receive £450,000 from the sale of the site.

In reality the sale is likely to produce a much higher figure.

Any new homes provided there would reduce the pressure to build on greenfield land and would provide the Council with a useful capital receipt. It would help to offset the huge increase in debts accumulated by the present Labour administration.

The Council had been dithering over proposals to lease Oliver House to voluntary groups which are currently located in Holgate Villas. The Council spent £15,000 on a feasibility study for the conversion of the building. It revealed that the costs of converting the building could be as much as £1 million.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge


Additionally it has been costing the Council £30,000 a year to keep the building empty.

Local residents – led by Liberal Democrats – had expressed increasing concerns about the buildings future

Many pointed out that the voluntary groups involved did not need a prime site location and that it would make more sense for the Council to ensure that they had alternative rented accommodation available.
There is still a lot of unoccupied office space in the City.

It was hoped that suitable buildings might be identified in sub-urban locations which were in need of regeneration. Acomb, for example, has never recovered from the Councils decision to close its office in the Front Street area.

However, it now seems that the Council is restricting its office search to the city centre. Two possible locations are being evaluated

The office building is likely to include other uses and will be dubbed a “Health and Social Care Hub”. The Council is looking to replace it in 2 or 3 years time with a purpose designed facility. The NHS will make a financial contribution to this new “one stop shop” style centre.

The costs of the commercial office lease are expected to be covered by the rents paid by the tenants.