Grass cut back from Teal Drive snicket

Grass cutting reported on Sunday

Good to report that, following action by Cllrs Stephen Fenton and Sheena Jackson, the grass on the Teal Drive/Carrfield snicket has been cut back

In fact the whole of the Rowntrees playground, park and surrounding area has been tidied up.

Next on the list is to get the cycle barriers painted.

Teal Drive – Carrfield snicket grass cut

Next up – get the cycle barriers painted!

Earlier in the week there was a bit of a drama at the Foxwood shops when a drivers foot slipped on the accelerator sending her car into the flower tub.

Fortunately no one was hurt and damage was superficial

Errant driver relocates Beagle Ridge Drive flower bed

Heslington Lane parking plans approved

Plans to tackle parking ‘chaos’ on Heslington Lane were formally approved tonight following a long-running campaign by Liberal Democrat Councillor Keith Aspden.

Problems have occurred after parking opposite Fulford Golf Club means cars and bikes are having to manoeuvre around a line of vehicles into oncoming traffic. Residents say the situation has been putting people in danger. Cllr Aspden organised a petition on the issue earlier this year which was eventually signed by nearly 600 people.

His campaign led council officers to bring forward proposals to install double-yellow lines along parts of Heslington Lane and Broadway. The plan was backed by residents during a consultation over the summer and was formally approved tonight by the Executive Member for Transport and Planning.

The University of York is earmarked to fund the proposals which will cost £2,000-£3,000 and work is expected to begin in the coming weeks.
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York Council snubs iconic City centre business

The Council has decided to rescind the use of a permit allowing a small van to service the Mulberry Hall shop on Stonegate

The business had been issued with the permit since 1988.

The shop said, in an appeal against the highways department ruling, that it would only, in future, access premises during pedestrian hours on “no more than 2 occasions each week”.

The business is understood to be facing a major challenge from out of town and internet competitors and wanted to be able to continue to provide a prompt and accessible service for its customers.

The owner of Mulberry Hall – Adam Sinclair – is leading the campaign to have a Business Improvement District (BID) established in the City.

The Council decision was taken at another “behind closed doors” meeting with the agenda only being published on the Council’s web site after the meeting had concluded.

Council promises more transparency in Quango monitor as….

….Council officials trouser £9000 in Directors fees from “City of York Trading”

The York Council has said that its “Shareholder Group”, set up to monitor the performance of the new “Make it York” (MIY) Quango, will in future meet in public. The decision follows criticism of the Council for failing to establish, and publish, performance measures covering the whole of the new organisations remit.

Noticeably absent are any measures for City centre management and markets activities.

The Shareholder Group met in private on 6^th July. No minutes of the meeting have yet been published. Following a Freedom of Information request, background information has been published but it is unlikely that any taxpayer would easily find it on the Councils web site (Click here)

There is no evidence that the five Councillors involved in the shareholders group have challenged MIYs controversial plans to demolish the fountain in Parliament Street or to re-site the popular children’s Christmas Carousel ride.

The next meeting of the group will apparently take place on 5^th October. However the group does not yet even appear in the list of committees published by the Council.

All in all, it is time for senior Councillors to get a grip of the processes being used to ensure that the £918,000 of taxpayer’s money – handed to MIY – is being spent wisely and following proper consultation with residents.

City of York Trading (CYT)

Following the decision of the Councils Executive to ask for more information about City of York Trading it has emerged that two Council officials have been paid £9000 in connection with their Directorships of the Company. The Company is wholly owned by the York Council and mainly matches surplus resources to vacancies in the public sector.

The information emerged in response to a Freedom of Information request.

Directors at the York Council have a salary of around £100,000 a year while Assistant Directors receive about £75,000.

It is unclear who authorised the additional payments, when and for what reason?

One of the more controversial aspects of the revised constitution for CYT (and MIY) were proposals to remunerate Directors. It had been assumed that this would not apply to Council officials or Councillors, but this may not be the intention.

No declarations of interest were made in the papers prepared for the Executive meeting on 27^th August.

Recently, Councillors in York have been more open in declaring their financial interests and the hospitality they have accepted. Current listings confirm that none have received remuneration from local Quangos like those that now run our libraries, theatre and museums..

Proper declarations have also been made for outside bodies such as the LGA and Yorwaste on which the Council has a shareholder interest, although there is currently no requirement to reveal the level of any remuneration received.

Skips on Saturday

York Police in seatbelt campaign

Over the next week North Yorkshire Police will be supporting a Europe-wide TISPOL seatbelt campaign.

TISPOL is an organisation established by the traffic police forces of Europe, in order to improve road safety and law enforcement on European roads. Its main priority is to reduce the number of people being killed and seriously injured.

With recent figures from the Department for Transport showing that almost 1 in every 10 vehicles (8%) stopped in Great Britain during the BRAKE 2014 road safety week, were for seatbelt or child restraint offences, it’s clear that people are still taking the chance and driving without ensuring that their passengers and themselves are belted in.

The figures also show that there were 53 child deaths in 2014, 5 more than 2013. The increase is believed to be down to children’s car seats not being fitted correctly, with an estimated 2 in every 3 car seats not being properly fitted.

The campaign, which runs from 7 to 13 September, demonstrates the coordinated approach that police forces across Europe are taking in tackling this issue.
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Survey going well despite confusion caused by local newspaper

Click to complete

Our survey into Westfield residents views and priorities – officially launched on Tuesday – is getting a good response.

No thanks to The Press newspaper which publicised yesterday a link to a similar survey which is apparently looking for the views of residents living in the Acomb Ward. That survey was only made available more recently. The Press confused the issue by using a photo of part of the Westfield Ward to illustrate their story, but failed to provide a link to our survey.

So Westfield residents should click this link to take part in the “on line” survey.

Hard copies of our survey are being delivered to all homes in the Westfield Ward

York Council seeking to help homes which aren’t connected to the gas supply

More than 400 households across the Leeds City Region including up to 20 in York, will benefit from £1.7million of funding to tackle fuel poverty and keep household bills low.

In a competitive bid to government, the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) successfully secured funding to support local people living in homes that are not connected to the gas grid to have central heating installed for the first time. Once installed, central heating has the potential to help households save up to £1,000 a year as well as ensuring their homes become more energy efficient.

In the Leeds City Region, the Better Homes Yorkshire scheme, which launched in March this year, is already supporting residents to carry out energy improvement work to their homes.* This new funding will complement the existing programme and ensure over 400 households across the ten Local Authorities and several Housing Associations within the Leeds City Region will benefit from fully-funded gas connections and central heating systems. In York, Better Homes funding has already included encouraging private landlords to invest in the fuel-efficiency and therefore the quality of the homes they rent out.
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