20 mph speed limit agreed for north York

Behind closed doors logo

In another behind closed doors decision, the Council has agreed to introduce a wide area 20 mph speed limit across north York (Clifton/Rawcliffe/Huntington area)

Several formal objections were raised to the traffic orders. All were ignored.

Residents are becoming resigned to these limits being imposed but will expect them to be removed next year when a new Council takes over.

In other similar City’s the introduction of wide area 20 mph speed limits has coincided with an increase in the number of serious traffic accidents.

Just a shame that £600,000 of taxpayer’s money is being wasted.

Four local Councillors objected to the proposal (3 LibDem and 1 Tory)

Fairness Conference costs questioned as Huntington concert struggles

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Sources with the York Council are saying that the costs – to Council taxpayers – of the recent Fairness Conference could be as much as £10,000. Apparently a similar level of funding has come from a local charity.

If confirmed, the figure will be similar to the amount being cut from the budgets of two York Council community centres both of which serve low income neighbourhoods.

The Foxwood Community Centre in particular is now struggling to find volunteers to continue to run the facility in the wake of the Council cuts.

One major user is moving to other accommodation claiming that the lack of commitment by the Council, to the future of community facilities ,was a factor in their decision.

 An attempt is to be made to form a new management committee in September by which time it is hoped a new core tenant will have been found.

NB. As reported earlier in the week, the Councils Grand Départy Concert on 4 July has run into financial difficulties.

Likely to cost a six figure sum to stage, only a few hundred tickets have been sold so far.

A new act has, however, been added to the lineup for the concert

Labour Blocks Lendal Bridge Inquiry

Labour councillors last night formally vetoed Liberal Democrat calls for an inquiry into the Lendal Bridge trial.

Lendal Bridge signs A scrutiny committee review of the controversial trial was requested by Lib Dem councillors Ann Reid and Keith Aspden. But, at last night’s ‘Economic & City Development Overview & Scrutiny Committee’ Labour councillors used their majority to reject the Lib Dem proposal.

Last week Labour leader Cllr James Alexander and Cllr Dave Merrett (the cabinet member responsible for the trial) publicly opposed calls for a review.

Cllr Ian Cuthbertson, who sits on the committee for the Lib Dems, commented:

“It is hugely disappointing that Labour councillors have blocked an inquiry into the Lendal Bridge trial. Liberal Democrats wanted a proper cross-party review of the trial to ensure that unanswered questions are addressed and lessons are learnt.

“Whatever the rights and wrongs of having the trial in the first place, it is clear that it was very badly implemented and managed. Poor signage meant that over 50,000 motorists were fined, the closure caused increased congestion in other parts of the city, then it was ruled ‘unlawful’ by the Government’s Traffic Adjudicator. We need to understand why these things happened, so that future attempts at tackling congestion do not end in similar failure.

“It is hard to escape the conclusion that Labour councillors cynically blocked the scrutiny review to shield their Leader and the Cabinet Member responsible from proper public scrutiny. If this is the case, it is clearly an unacceptable approach which does our city and its residents a huge disservice.”

Labour’s controversial closure of Lendal Bridge was abandoned in April after overwhelming opposition from residents and businesses and after a Government Traffic Adjudicator ruled the closure was unlawful.

The Economic & City Development Overview & Scrutiny Committee voted 4 to 3 against holding the review with Labour councillors Anna Semlyen, Neil Barnes, Stephen Burton and Joe Riches voting against.

A video of the meeting can be found here: http://www.york.gov.uk/webcasts

York West neighbourhood Policing team to be scrapped?

North Yorkshire Police have announced a shake up of their structures in York and the rest of the county.

They claim that their main aim is to use technology to increase the time that Police officers and PCSOs spend on the streets.

If it does that then it will get a lot of support from residents.

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In surveys that we have conducted in the Chapelfields, Cornlands Road and Front Street areas recently, some residents have pointed to a reduced patrolling profile for the Police compared to 3 years ago. 

The Police will also need to review their communications strategy.

Most residents – while welcoming the use of Twitter, Facebook and the like to provide information quickly – prefer to get a briefing leaflet through their letterbox.  This used to be done using joint newsletters with the local Council but this seems to have petered out. Neighbourhood Watch schemes have been unable to fill the information gap in most of west York.

The detailed proposals for policing in York are still unclear.

The Police statement talks of reducing the number of neighbourhood policing teams in the City from 3 to 2. Provided the Sergeants and Inspectors are easy to contact and take time to get out in the community that may not matter.

The last thing that we need is more managers sat in Fulford Road.

The Police should operate out of local community centres and schools whenever possible.

All in all, with a consultation on the future of crime and policing in the City not due to finish until 15th June, the announcement seems a little premature and leaves a lot of unanswered questions

York green bin charges generating £40,000 a year

Landfill

The York Council has revealed that it is receiving an additional £40,000 a year from the new charges introduced for emptying supplementary green (garden waste) bins.

Each household has been entitled to have only one green bin emptied free of charge since the beginning of April 2014.

When the Labour Cabinet decided to introduce the charges in April 2013, they were told that there were at least 5000 additional green waste bins in use in the City.

They hoped that, by charging £35 per bin per year, they would generate over £122,000 a year in increased revenue.

In reality only 1166 households have decided to pay for the extra bins.

It is unclear that is now happening to the green waste that was previously collected.

While some will be “home composted”, more is likely to be going into grey bins.

This will potentially generate more than £50,000 in landfill tax “penalties” making the charging scheme look unattractive to Council Taxpayers who will have to pick up the extra bill.