St Lawrence’s Primary School take Walk to School week in their stride

St Lawrence’s Primary School have walked away with the 2015 Jack Archer award and £400 to spend on sports equipment at the school after 99.8 percent of pupils took part in Walk to School week.

The Jack Archer Award, which is in its twelfth year, is awarded to the school that encourages the most pupils to walk, scoot or cycle to school. Over 9,000 pupils from thirty one schools took part in the 2015 Walk to School Week.

Bishopthorpe Infant school won Scoot to school Wednesday with 105 children choosing to scoot to school on the day.

It is recommended that children aged five to sixteen do at least sixty minutes of physical activity that gets their heart beating faster than usual and they need to do it everyday to burn off calories and prevent them storing up excess fat in the body.

Regular activity is also important for adults and it is recommended that adults make sure they’re active for just 30 minutes each day, or 150 minutes a week.

Cllr Ian Gillies, Executive Member for Transport and Planning, said: “St Lawrence’s Primary School have once again put in a fantastic effort to get 99.8 percent of pupils walking, cycling or scooting to school. I hope that everyone who took part in Walk to School week will carry on to make more sustainable travel choices when possible.”

Jane Nellar, St Lawrence’s Primary School Head Teacher, said: “We are delighted to have won Walk to School Week for the third year in succession. The effort from everyone was amazing and shows what a difference we can make as a community when we all pull together.”

For more information on sustainable travel in York visitwww.itravelyork.info

Champions to deliver ‘Parenting our children online’ workshops in York

Twelve ‘champions’ have been trained to deliver ‘Parenting our children online’ workshops across the city.

Woman talking on phone and using laptop computer

Part of the ‘It’s not OK’ campaign to raise awareness of child sexual abuse and exploitation being delivered by City of York Safeguarding Children Board and the NSPCC, the ‘champions’ will deliver free workshops to parents providing information and practical tips about keeping their children safe online.

The workshop will address some of the online issues that parents say they are concerned about including online bullying, sexting, excessive gaming, setting boundaries and where to go for further help and support.

Schools, community and faith groups, sporting organisations and others such as Brownies and Beavers groups will be able to arrange for workshop facilitators to come to a venue of their choice to deliver the 45 minute workshop to a group of parents.

Helen Westerman, NSPCC Campaigns Manager, said: “The ‘champions’ have a great mixture of skills, experience and knowledge and all work with children and families as part of their ‘day jobs’. They’re looking forward to working with parents and carers across the city to help them gain more confidence and knowledge about keeping their children safe online.”

Workshops will be starting in October and run until the end of the campaign in April 2016.

For more information about the workshops visit www.yor-ok.org.uk/parentingonline or to book a session for your organisation or group email hwesterman@NSPCC.org.uk

Crunch time for Council as officials recommend borrowing £7 million to spend on Guildhall project

Heritage Lottery Fund refuses financial help

Senior York Councillors are being recommended to let York taxpayers bear the bulk of the risk in a new Guildhall office project.

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Although the redevelopment has shed its pretentious “media centre” label – attached by the last Labour administration as they adopted a £9 million development scheme – the new project seems to be a case of the “Mayors new clothes”.

Little has changed as the rookie administration is asked to plunge the City further into debt. Each York residents already owes £1326 each following previous Council decisions.

The Council have clearly failed to find a public sector partner who was willing to bear the financial risks involved in converting the complex into a “serviced office venue with virtual office and business club facilities”.

There is welcome news that the Councils traditional civic headquarters – the Guildhall itself and adjacent Council chamber – will continue to be publicly accessible. Officials project income of £80,000 a year from these facilities although this is likely to be dwarfed by ongoing maintenance, energy and caretaking costs.

The project also incorporates a restaurant and café/bar.

The main criticism, of the new Council approach is likely to be that it has failed to test the market for the site. While for many, retaining the historic building in public ownership was a “given”, the so called review process undertaken in the summer turned out to be little more than a cosmetic exercise. Despite the obvious access difficulties for commercial use, alternatives such as hotels or residential were neglected.

York Guildhall

Apartments in the City centre are fetching astronomical prices and the offer of a river view would be irresistible for many. In Clifton Moor the owners of offices have found it impossible to let them. Ironically, many are now being converted into flats.

If the Council has to borrow £7 million to fund the scheme, then debt repayment costs of around £600k a year – for 30 years – will have to be paid. The recommended scheme generates only an estimated £362k in annual rental income and that assumes a high occupancy level.

The Heritage Lottery Fund has now formally turned down a request for a grant so that is one source of funding which has disappeared.

So York residents will be hoping that subsidies from the LEP and similar bodies will offset the burden.

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