Local Group? Looking for a free meeting venue? Gale Farm Court may be the answer

The residents of Gale Farm Court, the sheltered accommodation unit for older people which is located on Front Street, have come up with a novel way of making better use of their community room.

They are offering free use of the room – which can accommodate up to 40 people – to local groups who need a meeting space.

The residents will permit free use of the room with priority being given to groups who might let residents join in with their activities.

Obviously this offer is likely to be of particular interest to craft, further education and discussion groups who are in need of additional participants, but it may also go some way to satisfying the demand for space at places like Energise and the Library which are sometimes over subscribed.

Any group that is interested should communicate their details and requirements to:

Kerrie Smith|Sheltered Housing Scheme Manager

t: 01904 552298 |m: 07825680637| e: kerrie.smith@york.gov.uk

Woodlea Avenue, Acomb – York Carriageway Resurfacing Works

City of York Council is due to resurface the carriageway on Woodlea Avenue during the weeks commencing 24^th November and 1^st December 2014.

The works are programmed to take 2 weeks to complete, working between 8:00am and 5.30pm.

To carry out the works safely, a road closure will be in place on Woodlea Avenue. Due to the nature of the works and the size of the machinery required to undertake the works, there will be periods of time when it will not be possible for residents to gain vehicular access to their properties.

In these circumstances, residents should be prepared to use alternative parking.

Small Business Saturday Bus launches York campaign

York will see the Small Business Saturday Bus roll into the city on Tuesday 18 November to launch the city’s drive to encourage residents and visitors to show their support for local small businesses on Small Business Saturday, taking place on 6 December 2014.

Small Business Saturday is about encouraging everyone in the UK to support small businesses with events and promotions being held on what is one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

The Small Business Saturday bus tour is promoting the campaign in advance to shoppers and also handing out vital promotional material to help businesses be involved on the day. The arrival of the bus offers an opportunity for small business owners to gain advice and tell the Small Business Saturday team and City of York Council’s York Means Business team what they are doing to celebrate Small Business Saturday. The bus will be located in St Helen’s Square from 11am until 3pm.

York will be celebrating Small Business Saturday itself by hosting a market celebrating York’s independent businesses. Located along Duncombe Place (outside York Minster) and organised by City of York Council and the Proudly™ initiative, itself a collective of York’s independent businesses,the event will feature local businesses selling goods and sharing their unique stories.
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York Council project failures

Calls for system overhaul

With yet another major York Council project falling behind schedule, and hopelessly over budget, there are growing calls for a review of project management processes in the City.

Poppleton Bar Roadworks delays

The latest budget overrun is reported on the A1237 Haxby – Wigginton cycle path. As well as major delays the project will now cost over £1.3 million compared to a budget of £700,000.

A Liberal Democrat spokesman said,

“It is time re-introduce regular project updates to the Councils monitoring committees.

Any significant delay – or cost overrun – of more than 10% must trigger a formal report in future.

We’d also like to see more openness in reporting with regular updates being posted on the Council’s web site”

As well as the cycle path, projects which would be subject to review include:

Poppleton Bar park and ride site (5 months delay)
“Grand Departy” (£183,000 over-spend)
Lowfields care village (3 year delay)
Community Stadium (2 years behind schedule)
Guildhall re-occupation (18 months behind schedule)
Lendal Bridge & Coppergate trials (abortive costs yet to be determined)

The Press are reporting that the Green Council Group Leader has now decided that there are questions about the Lendal Bridge trial which do need to be answered publicly. Despite voting last week against an Inquiry, he is apparently now saying that the Council’s Chief Executive should be asked to account for the mistakes at a “governance” committee meeting.

NB. The Lendal Bridge situation is also likely to be discussed at the Council meeting which is scheduled to be held on 11^th December.

York pilots flexible ‘childcare hubs’ as part of national initiative

Parents in York will find it even easier to find childcare to fit their needs thanks to a new national pilot scheme to create childcare ‘hubs’.

Ten Community Childcare and Early Learning Hubs have been set up across the country by childcare charity 4Children, on behalf of the Department for Education, four of which are in York.

The Hubs consist of a variety of early years settings and schools all working together in a local area to achieve three goals – improving quality, offering blended childcare to parents and supporting the provision of new childcare places as required.

Victims of crime sought for Independent Justice Panel

Julia Mulligan, North Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner and Jonathan Mortimer, the independent Chairman of the Out of Court Disposal Scrutiny Panel, are today asking for victims of crime to come forward to help scrutinise the use of police cautions and other non-court penalties.

The Panel was set up earlier in the year in response to public concern about the use of Out of Court Disposals in North Yorkshire. The Panel has identified that its objectives are to ensure that such penalties are used appropriately, consistently across the county and to make recommendations to North Yorkshire Police.
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