More secrecy as York Council tries to bury more bad news.

25 things you probably didn’t know about public services in the City

Behind closed doors logo

It appears that the Council haven’t made available to the public the answers to questions given  by Cabinet members at their meeting which took place on 27th March 2014.

In fairness the Council Leader s usually fairly prompt in proving public answers. Other cabinet members are more tardy and often evade the questions sometimes  in an attempt to score political points.

On this occasion there are some startling admissions.

These include:

  1. Since 2011, Labour have built only 1/3 of the number of houses built during the first three years of LibDem rule which started in 2003.
  2. The Council has not agreed any performance  targets for its “Smarter York”  team
  3. Residents have not been able to use the do it on line “Report it” facility to tell the Council about  potholes, faulty street lights etc since November. The Council blames a change to the  “Google maps” database.
  4. Around 30,000 calls are being received by the Councils customer contact centre each mnth. Typically 12,000 people visit the Council offices and 5000 Emails are received. During March 61% of calls were answered in 20 seconds. 11% were abandoned by the caller.
  5. The Cabinet member with      responsibility for customers      says, “Too much of the current interaction with the council remains      through traditional routes and the use of online and self services has yet      to be fully exploited” (See 4 above).
  6. Cllr Levene is looking      forward to the “next round of Focus      leaflets”
  7. The Council spends around £80,000 a year on mobile phones      for its employees.
  8. The Council spent £26,807      on new chairs for the eco depot last year. The chairs purchased by the Council have a “life” of 5 years. No payment was received for the discarded      chairs
  9. The Council received 1815 complaints from members of      the public between 1st April2013 and 21st March      2014.  The majority of the      complaints were about environmental services.
  10. The number of residents      opting to pay their Council Tax by 12      equal instalments has more than trebled (to 1618)
  11. The Council has over 70 separate “twitter” accounts      which are being managed by staff
  12. The Council still hopes to      publish a final draft of its Local      Plan by mid year with an examination in public expected in the autumn      and adoption “in 2015”.
  13. The token system for the park and ride facility at Monks Cross      hasn’t been working for “2 years”
  14. The real time car park space available information was removed      from the Councils web site last year. It is expected to be available again      “by May 2014” Click      here for an alternative
  15. The majority of electronic      Variable Message Signs (VMS)      around the City are not operational at the moment. All are expected to be      working again by October 2014 (!)
  16. There are no plans to      relocate the Food Festival and specialist markets from Parliaments Street      while works in Newgate are      underway (the permanent stall holders will be relocated into Parliament      Street while the works are undertaken)
  17. The Smarter York app is costing      taxpayers £11,000 a year. In      the 12/13 financial year there were 477 reports and in 13/14, 419 reports      using this system. The Council hopes to add additional functions to the      “App” in future.
  18. 710 households have signed      up to pay for the emptying of an additional green bin this summer
  19. The number of dog fouling reports for the last      three years show no increase: 216 in 2011, 219 in 2012, and 212 in 2013.      No FPNs for fouling were issued in 2013.
  20. The Cabinet member for      housing is not in favour of supplementing Council housing stocks by buying vacant property on the open      market. “They might require a new      boiler”. She believes that the new 2 bedroomed Council houses, being      built on Beckfield Lane, are costing only £120,000 each!
  21. No investment is planned      for sub-urban Council estate      communal areas “because they are amongst the best in the      country”!
  22. 1536 elderly and disabled      residents will be affected by Labour’s decision to scrap the Taxicard system (an alternative      to the bus pass)
  23.  The URBIE      buses, which provide mobile play facilities for children, have been      little used since Ward Committee funding was finished
  24. The Council will not      guarantee that all existing Childrens      Centres will remain open.
  25. Response times for street lighting fault reports are      claimed to have been
  • Oct 13 – 1.2 working days
  • Nov 13 – 2.6 working days
  • Dec 13 – 2.3 working days
  • Jan 14 – 3.3 working days
  • Feb 14 – 3.3 working days
  • Mar 14 – currently 1.6      working days

The most surprising thing is that this information has had to be dragged out of the Council. They have an active press department which should be advising residents about the withdrawal of services before they actually happen.

Full list of answers click here

Lendal Bridge/Coppergate fines income now over £2 million

Lendal bridge without traffic

Lendal bridge without traffic

The York Council has today published answers to questions raised at its last meeting.

In a response to Cllr Ann Reid, Cllr Merrett admits that the Council has now banked over £2 million from PCNs issued to drivers.

The Council claims “only 2 appeals have been successfully contested” against the charge although it admits that many appeals had “not been contested by the Council.

The full response to the question posed can be read here.

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