Now another Labour Council Leader quits in York

“and I anoint…”

Less than 12 months after taking over as the Leader of the Labour Group on the City of York Council Dafydd Williams has resigned.

He quotes personal reasons for the decision although it comes in the wake of an extraordinary few months of turmoil in the Labour party nationally.

Dafydd Williams, although far from being a favourite on the west of the City, was more moderate and inclined to be discursive than his predecessor (James Alexander) – qualities that a party needs after suffering a crushing electoral reverse.

It leaves the 14 strong Labour Group with a very thin field of potential replacement candidates. Many have only been members of the Council for a few weeks and lack the experience necessary to lead one of the larger political groupings.

Others are in an age range which means they are coming towards the end of their political careers.

Several experienced Labour Councillors, of course, resigned from the Labour Group in the run up to the last Council elections. Others were thrown out by the electorate

The upcoming internal election raises the intriguing prospect that the so called “£3 members” may, having elected the extreme left wing Corbyn to office nationally, try to do the same locally.

Step up any Councillors with a UNITE connection?

Councillor’s declarations of Trades Union and other membership can be found on the Councils web site.

So perhaps, in future, we can expect a few more questions to the Executive from “Malcolm of Tang Hall”

NB One Tory Councillor, upon being told the news, announced that a £3 investment in associate Labour membership looked to be a bargain if it meant that he could vote Cllr Crisp into the vacancy.

Bid to unlock £100m to help deliver York Central site

Public consultation results – York central access options 2011

City of York Council and the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership have announced that today that they submitted a bid to government which could unlock over £100 million to help deliver York’s largest brownfield site.

However, the bid doesn’t seem to have been approved by any of the York Councils decision making bodies.

No copy of the bid has been published either on the Councils web site or on that of the LEP.

It therefore remains unclear how much the York taxpayer might be expected to contribute towards the costs of the project. The last Labour Council courted unpopularity by allocating £11 million for the provision of a road bridge into the site from Poppleton Road.

The media release claims,

“If successful, York Central could be designated as an Enterprise Zone which will mean all of the business rates for the site, which would have gone back to government, will be retained in the area. This will provide the funding to be able invest in the infrastructure required to unlock the site and encourage business investment.

Prospective businesses locating on York Central would also get full business rate relief for the first five-years, providing an incentive for inward investment and business growth.

Estimates in the bid suggest this could help to create up to 6,600 jobs in the city, and over £1.1 billion value for the region’s economy. The jobs created would be high-value office based jobs, helping to grow York’s economy by an estimated 20 per cent and increase average wages in the city.

Enterprise Zone status will also support the infrastructure for housing elements of the site, helping to create new homes on brownfield land and protect the greenbelt.
(more…)

Is this the York street with the most road work closures?

Work has stared on replacing a sewer in Micklegate. The work is expected to last for 10 weeks.

It comes only two years after the last major closure on the street, when gas main repairs brought major delays and inconvenience to neighbouring shops and their customers. Many of the shops depend on passing trade and on street car parking space availability can be limited by works.

A Freedom of Information request has revealed that Micklegate has been either been fully or partially closed on 26 occasions during the last 5 years.

Some of these closures have been caused by “special events”, such as the visit of the Queen, but most can be traced to utility works.

Special events are responsible for some closures

In total there have been restrictions in place for 250 days, of which 14 have been due to the activities of Yorkshire Water or their contractors.

Yorkshire Water will now close part of the street for 70 days to allow for the sewer repair.

It seems a shame that, with the repairs to the gas main still sharp in the memory, the utilities couldn’t have coordinated their projects more closely.

One of the problems on the street is that part of the surface of the carriageway contains traditional cobbled setts, which take longer to reinstate.

A full list of the Micklegate closures can be downloaded by clicking here.

What’s on: York Irish Culture Night

Sat 19 Sept: York Barbican : 7.00pm: Tickets £16.00

The York Irish Association are proud to host this night of Irish culture featuring a variety of performances including singer and songwriter John Spillane as the headline act.

On the night there will be an Irish dancing performance by the O’Connor Academy of Irish Dance, a talk by the Irish Ambassador to Britain, Daniel Mulhall, and music from local traditional Irish musicians such as Paula Ryan.

The headline act is acclaimed Irish Singer and Songwriter John Spillane who celebrates 33 years of an ever-consistent vastly illuminating and exciting career within the world of music.
Having sold over 100,000 albums in Ireland, John has also been awarded with two Meteor Irish Music Awards for ‘Best Folk Act’ and ‘Traditional’ act.
His songs have been covered by many Irish folk lumineer’s such as Christy Moore, Sean Keane, Karan Casey, Pauline Scanlon, Solas, Mary Black, Méav, Sinead Lohan Sharon Shannon.

Elly Fiorentini from BBC Radio York who herself has Irish ancestory will be the MC for the night.

The York Irish Association is a community organisation which was was set up last year with the aims of celebrating Irish culture and tradition in the city and bringing together the Irish community and anyone with an interest in all things Irish and related to York.

For more info see www.yorkirish.co.uk.

To book, please go to the Barbican website: http://tickets.yorkbarbican.co.uk/single/eventDetail.aspx?p=30137

What’s on: Summer Craftology

Sat 19 Sept : Clifton Library: 10.00am – 1.00pm

Come along to our library craft fair, browse the stalls, treat yourself or your family and friends to hand crafted items.

Have a coffee and cake, borrow a book.

Free entry to the craft fair. Stalls already include jewellery, cards, knitted goods, gifts, cakes, fabric goods and more. Refreshments and home made cakes are available at a small charge.

If you are a crafter and wish to try selling there are still some stalls available, please contact Explore Clifton Library, 01904 552662 clifton@exploreyork.org.uk to book a space.

Also for part of the Over 50s Festival Thursday October 1st is our Pamper session, Drop in from 2.30pm – 7.00pm to be pampered. So far there are henna tattoos, head massages, reflexology, and hand massages available. All for a small charge. Plus Forever Living and the Body Shop will be here too.

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