Huge risk for York as Science City abandoned

Culture, festivals and leisure set to be hived off

The York Council is to take on the liabilities of the Science City organisation and is breaking its partnership with the University of York.

Science City claims to have brought £30million in investment to the City over the last 14 years.

Now the Council is replacing it with a wholly local authority owned company on which it will have only two Board members.

Taxpayers will be expected to pay £710,000 plus set up costs to sustain the new company.

A less than convincing business plan suggests that most of its activities will be similar to those undertaken by the long defunct Inward Investment Board.

Other activities are intended to underpin the (generally successful) Visit York organisation which has been in existence for less than 3 years.

As well as the lack of transparency, taxpayers will worry about the City Centre/visitor bias of an organisation which also aspires to take over “cultural and leisure”activities.

The company owners (York taxpayers) will have little say over the objectives of the new company, its Board appointments or method of working.

It is likely to hold its meetings in private, further reducing local residents influence.

The targets of the new company refer entirely to the City centre. Neither Front Street (badly in need of regeneration) nor any other suburb centre gets even a passing a mention.

With the Labour administration on its last legs, the best interests of the City would be best served by trying to get a cross party consensus before entering into an arrangement which may only have a life of a few months.

The Council report fails to reveal the terms under which the City would acquire the Universities share of the Science City company.

NB. Last year the Council Leader actually welcomed a bid by Science City to manage all business grant investment decisions for the City.

Beckfield Lane signs mystery

Beckfield Lane mystery signs

The York Council has been urged to explain when the blanked out traffic signs at the end of Beckfield Lane will be restored.

The signs are understood to advertise a weight restriction which appears to have been lifted while the long running A1237/A59 road works were taking place.

The Council did not consult residents about the signs and blanking them out with “gaffa” tape is an unusual way of lifting a restriction!

Recycling decline in York – more details published

The Council has now published a table showing the amount of waste recycled/composted each quarter for the last 5 years.

The table (click here) reveals that the lowest level of composting and recycling recorded occurred during the period Oct – Mar 2014.

This coincided with the period when the Labour led council stopped green waste collections

Poppleton Bar Park and Ride site still not completed

The York Council has missed yet another deadline for the “final” completion of the Park and Ride site at Poppleton.

The Park and Ride service was opened prematurely by the Council 3 weeks ago although essential signage, traffic signals, parking bays, landscaping and improvements to the A1237/A59 junction had not been completed.

Not surprisingly, despite the novelty of being able to ride on the City’s first electric buses, user numbers have been very low.

Most bus services are running empty.

By Saturday evening carriageway surfacing had been completed near the roundabout but lane restrictions remain in place as work to access footpaths and the cycle path has yet to be finished.

The Park and Ride site itself resembles the set of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

It will present a poor backdrop for the TV pictures of the Tour de France riders who are scheduled to pass the site next Sunday morning.

TV coverage is scheduled to be beamed world wide and was one of the main reasons given by the Council for its £1.6 million investment in the event.

The Council has failed to provide any explanation for the latest delays nor for its decision to open the Park and Ride facility before work was completed.

The failure is the latest in a sting of misadventures which saw that Council forced to abandon plans to turn Monk Stray into a camping site and which has seen very low ticket sales for their highly expensive Grand Departee concert being held at Huntington Stadium on Friday.

They have, however, now added the popular local band HUGE to the concert programme no doubt ensuring that the Council’s propaganda machine will be able to refer to a huge attendance at the event!

York to host Apprenticeship Recruitment Event

Young people across the city will be able to view over 250 Apprenticeship vacancies and receive job advice as City of York Council hosts an Apprenticeship Recruitment Event on Tuesday 1 July.

The event, which will take place from 4.30pm-7.30pm at the Hilton Hotel, will showcase exciting Apprenticeship opportunities from both large and small to medium-sized York employers.

The recruitment event comes after the success of the York Apprenticeship Challenge which saw 104 local businesses pledge to create 162 Apprenticeship vacancies in the city.

Young people aged 16-24 and their parents will have the chance to meet with recruiting employers as well as find out about alternative routes to Level 3 qualifications and university.

20 employers and 10 training providers will be advertising over 250 Apprenticeship vacancies covering a range of sectors including; business and finance, construction, creative and cultural, digital marketing and social media, engineering, I.T, health and more. Employers attending the event include City of York Council, NHS, Barratt Homes, Nestle, Garbutt and Elliott Solicitors, GIA Architects, Purenet, McDonalds, York Cocoa House, Meltons Restaurant and many more.

Connexions advisors will be available at 29 Castlegate alongside the event to support young people with their next-level options, including Apprenticeships, plus CV and Job Application workshops.

For more information on the event contact york.apprenticeships@york.gov.uk or visit www.facebook.com/yorkapprenticeships.