Tomorrow is Family Day 11-3! Clay crafts with York Minster team,labyrinths,@lushcosmetics and the Summer Reading Challenge website are here!
— AcombExplore Library (@acombexplore) August 15, 2014
Poppleton Bar – delays continue as Council responds to Freedom of Information request
At the last Council meeting Councillors were told that all work on the Poppleton Bar Park and Ride project would be completed by the end of July.
No end to Poppleton Bar works
However there is still a considerable amount of work outstanding with periodic impacts on congestion levels in the area.
While the final May deadline for conclusion of the whole Access York contract is long past, it is unclear why there are continuing delays at Poppleton (other than the obvious one that the contractors are simply not fully resourcing their contract obligations).
Cycle tunnel in use but no lane marking on paths
Councillor Ann Reid is now pressing for answers and some have emerged as responses to Freedom of Information requests
One (click to download) confirmed that the whole Access York project – of which the Poppleton works form part – was due to be completed by 23rd May.
Details of the road closure orders have also been published on the Council’s web site
Meanwhile, the permanent traffic signals at the A59 junction with the Park and Ride access road are now in place, but the following work is still outstanding
- Considerable surfacing and landscaping work
- White lining (e.g. on the cycle path exit from the A1237 pedestrian/cycle tunnel. (If this is intended to be a shared cycle/[pedestrian space then it does not seem to comply with the specification agreed with the Blind and Partially Sighted Association)
24 hour lighting on new roundabout
Yesterday (Thursday) the street lights in the area were permanently lit. Taken with the decision to exclude the provision of on-site electricity generation from the project, this does seem to fly in the face of the Councils environmental policies?
Drivers now want a realistic completion date for the project.
Residents would also like to be reassured that there are penalty clauses in the contract which will be invoked to compensate the Council, taxpayers and drivers for the inconvenience and additional expense that they have suffered over the last few months.
Carr Lane closed for another week? Pelican repairs underway
Carr lane closed to traffic
It looks like Carr Lane will be closed to traffic (at its Boroughbridge Road junction) for another week.
Repairs started on York Road pelican
Better news on York Road where at least repairs on the long standing fault on the pelican crossing started yesterday
Acomb Explore’s first transatlantic event to be with Orange Prize-winner
Author Madeline Miller will be talking about her Orange Prize winning novel, The Song of Achilles, live from the East Coast of the USA.
The talk, including a question and answer session, will be broadcast from Boston via Skype to a large screen at Acomb Explore on Thursday 21 August, 7-8pm, with entry by ticket only.
The American writer is a classical specialist and her book is a very human retelling of the Ancient Greek tale of the god Achilles and his lover Patroclus, hero Hector and the siege of Troy.
“A captivating retelling of the Iliad and events leading up to it through the point of view of Patroclus: it’s a hard book to put down, and any classicist will be enthralled by her characterisation of the goddess Thetis, which carries the true savagery and chill of antiquity.” Donna Tartt, in The Times
Madeline Miller was born in Boston and grew up in New York City and Philadelphia. She attended Brown University, where she earned her BA and MA in Classics. She has studied at the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought and in the Dramaturgy department at Yale School of Drama, where she focused on the adaptation of classical texts to modern forms. While for the last ten years she has been teaching and tutoring Latin, Greek and Shakespeare to high school students.
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Cornlands Park
If you can’t do the job yourself claim credit for someone else’s efforts.
Litter still covers the Cornlands playground
The long saga of the condition of the Cornlands Road Park has taken a bizarre twist. Lowther Street based Labour Councillor Gonefora Burton has issued a leaflet claiming credit for the restoration of the Cornlands Road play area.
This will come as news to the dedicated team of local volunteers and Council officials who have been struggling over the last 12 months to raise money for the scheme.
The plans to improve the Park dates back over 5 years when the, then LibDem led Council, realised that improvement could only be made when access to the park was made more secure.
A programme of installing railings around the perimeter was started (the playground had been fenced off a few years previously but was still subject to vandalism and was a magnet for anti social behaviour).
The opportunity to invest more money in the Park came when the developers of the old White Rose pub site agreed, in 2010, to pay nearly £8000 to improve local leisure facilities.
Labour Councillors were elected in May 2011 and one of the first things that they did was to siphon off this money into improved facilities at, private membership, sports clubs.
With the Ward Committee budget also having been cut, this meant that the improvement project was back to square one.
For a short time the “DIG IN” project tried to establish a communal garden within the playground railings. Unfortunately vandalism, and a lack of consistent support, meant that the project was abandoned and the idea of improving the playground for children was revived.
Dog “poo” bags hung in centre of Park
Progress has been made but a major investment in fencing (metal railings to protect the east end of the Park at least) is still needed. If the present three accesses to the Park are retained, then about 30% could be made available 24/7 for dog walkers.
It is to be hoped that the Council restore the poop scoop bin quickly.
It disappeared sometime ago and now “poo” bags are hung on old bit of play equipment.
Ironically Cllr Burton and Labour MP Huge Bayley had a photo opportunity at the park a couple of weeks ago. The area was covered in litter but neither of them, apparently, did anything about it.
The litter was still there on Thursday. (We’ve reported).
All in all, a pretty shabby and opportunist attempt by Labour to claim credit for something that they have contributed little to. They should apologise to the volunteers who they have insulted.
