Anger as Labour scrap Gale Farm Court window improvement plans

Vulnerable elderly residents face another drafty winter

Gale Farm Court sheltered accommodation

Gale Farm Court sheltered accommodation

Only weeks before new UPVC windows and doors were due to be installed, residents at Gale Farm Court sheltered accommodation on Front Street have been told that the improvements have been shelved.

Complaints about poor insulation had grown over the years before the late Cllr Lynn Jeffries – working with Andrew Waller – managed to secure an assurance from the Council that new windows would be fitted.

It was hoped that the work would be done last year, but it was late summer before the Council moved to get planning permission to undertake the work.

Residents were expecting to have new windows and doors long before the start of the next cold spell.

The reasons for the U turn have not been made clear, there has been no consultation and there has been no public decision meeting at which residents, and opposition Councillors, could make representations.

Many blame Cllr Simpson Laing who has been in charge of housing decisions for the last 4 years. She was also heavily criticised last week for failing to prevent the visits of skips, to places like the Carr and Kingsway estates, from being scrapped.

It seems increasingly likely that Labour will lose control of the York Council on May 7th and essential improvements like these, aimed at helping elderly people, will be reinstated.

NB.The York housing revenue account shows a budget surplus of £15 million

Coppergate Fines – No decision until after the elections

Voters will go to the polls on May 7th still not knowing whether nearly £400,000 was collected by the York Council unlawfully.

The Council have appealed against a ruling by the traffic adjudicator that fines levied using ANPR cameras on Coppergate in 2013 and 2014 were unlawful.

Coppergate bus lane enforcement plans June 2013

Coppergate bus lane enforcement plans June 2013

The Council accepted last year that similar enforcement tactics used during the Lendal Bridge trial closure were flawed. Refunds totalling over £1 million are owed to affected motorists.

The Council has been asked to provide an updated statement indicating how many drivers have responded to the claim letters which opposition Councillors forced the authority to issue to Lendal Bridge motorists in January.

On Coppergate the problems arose when the operating hours of long standing traffic restrictions were extended during the morning and early evening periods. For the first time in York, cameras were used to enforce a ban. The adjudicator ruled the scheme unlawful because the signs were inadequate.  

The ANPR cameras were switched off a year ago when an appeal against the ruling was lodged by the Council.

 It has taken over 12 months for the appeal to be considered with speculation mounting that the ruling will be sustained and that the new Council will be left to pick up the financial pieces of a mistake which has had calamitous consequences for both drivers and taxpayers.

Labour Councillor Dave Merrett was widely held responsible for the blunder although it effectively ended the York political career of former Council Leader James Alexander.