York Dial and Ride fleet extended to serve Monks Cross, John Lewis etc

York’s Dial & Ride service has been expanded thanks to a new bus which gives passengers more opportunities to travel to Vangarde and Monks Cross shopping parks.

dial and ride bus

Over 15,000 journeys were made last year on Dial & Ride buses by residents who may find it difficult to use standard buses due to age or mobility issues. The new bus, with full wheelchair accessibility, will allow even more residents to get out and about thanks to the personalised service that it provides. Dial & Ride drivers are trained to give assistance to passengers tailored to their needs.

Cllr Ian Gillies, Executive Member for Transport and Planning, said: “Dial & Ride allows residents who may not be able to use standard bus services the opportunity to move in and around the city easily. The addition of an extra vehicle will allow even more people the chance to use this fantastic service.”

The new bus has been funded by the  Oakgate Group, developers of the Vangarde Shopping Park

York’s Dial & Ride is operated by York Wheels on behalf of City of York Council. York Wheels’ operations manager, Ruth Potter said: “We are all really pleased to have the new bus. The extra capacity means that we can now offer runs to all the shops at Vangarde. Our new timetable also has a run to a shopping outlet or into town every day in every Ward in the City and we have also increased the choice of destinations for many wards.”

Dial & Ride places are limited and must be booked at least 24 hours in advance by calling 01904 551441. Lines are open 9am – 12 noon, Monday to Friday. Bookings can be made up to two weeks in advance.

For more information on Dial & Ride services call 01904 551441, email dial&ride@york.gov.uk or visit www.itravelyork.info/dial-and-ride

Spending review – how it may affect York

Policing

There will be no cuts to government funding for the Police. North Yorkshire police however already employ fewer officers than they have budget for, so we hope those vacancies will be filled quickly now. What is less clear is what impact the Chancellors statement, that Police Commissioners would have flexibility to raise the police precept, will have locally.

Tax Credits

The Chancellor has scrapped plans to reduce working tax credits. The move has been welcomed by Local LibDem Cllr Sue Hunter

Jobs & housing

The York central site has been awarded “Enterprise Zone” status.  This means all business rates growth generated by the Zone, will be kept by the relevant local enterprise partnership and local authorities for 25 years to reinvest in local economic growth. However, there are fewer planning controls in these Zones. The York Central site is expected to provide 2000 new homes and around 80,000 sq m of office space.

£50 million will be invested in the agri-tech centre at Sandhutton

Elderly care

The Chancellor has said that Council can increase Council Tax by 2% “to help pay for increasing elderly care costs”. This means that the Tories have abandoned their policy of freezing Council Tax. However, income for Council Tax is not hypothecated to individual services, so it remains to be seen whether the government will condition this power by ring-fencing social care expenditure.

The spending statement indicates that there will be increased funding available for the NHS and for Mental Health

Pensions

Basic state pension to rise by £3.35 next year to £119.30 a week

Schools

The statement says that big regional variations in grants to schools would be removed. Historically York schools have been more poorly funded than those in other areas.

Transport

The Chancellor has promised major capital investment including HS2 and electrification of the Trans-Pennine route.

However the revenue budget has seen major cuts so there is likely to be less for public transport subsidies and maybe road repairs.

Council Tax

As well as the proposed 2% increase this year, the proposals imply that York will retain more of its Business Rates (it has always been a net contributor to the national pool) but will continue to see reductions in government support grant.

The way that the York Councils budget has been funded has changed a lot over recent years.

York Council chnages in source of income

Cornlands Park entrance to be gated as process to close Bachelor Hill snickets is considered

One of the entrances to the Cornlands Road park is recommended for closure in a report to be presented to a meeting next week (see plan).

Cornlands park gate Nov 2015There have been few objections to the plan which will use new Public Space Protection Order legislation. The legislation allows access to be restricted to areas which have a poor crime record.

Last year the Cornlands Park was the centre of increased anti-social behaviour in the area and Police hope that restricting the number of access points to the park will make enforcement easier.

Many residents though would like to see the whole of the park secured after dark.

Bachelor Hill

The same meeting will consider a petition presented by local Councillor Sue Hunter to the last Council meeting.

It requesting the alleyways between 30-38 Gale Lane,1-9 Bachelor Hill and to the rear of 11-15 Bachelor Hill be gated for reasons of security.

Back snicket closures Bachelor Hill

A report by officials to the meeting claims that there have been no reports of anti-social behaviour in the area during the last 12 months and that therefore the Public Space Protection Order legislation cannot be invoked in this case.

Not with standing recent statistics, over the years’ rowdy behaviour has been a recurrent issue in the area.

The snickets concerned are not short cuts. They are only used – legitimately – to access the rear of the terraced properties.

The Council should agree to consult with residents about the options for installing lockable gates

The snickets, which are both on Council Housing Department owned land, could still be closed but funding would be needed from either the estate improvement budget or the Ward committee.

Elderly care figures cause for concern in York

Independent checks reveal over 52% of care homes in York require improvement

Care home quality performance Nov 2015

 

The latest reports into the quality of elderly care being provided, in both Council and privately run homes in York, are being discussed next week. Copies of all CQC reports can be found at www.cqc.org.uk

York falls below the national average in having 9.5% of inspected homes rated as inadequate with a further 42.9% listed as “requiring improvement”.

Only 43% were rated as being “safe” – an assessment which covers such items as the management of medicines.

81% were however rated as “caring”.

So far only 21 (26%) of homes in the City have been inspected by the CQC

Of the two homes rated as inadequate an FOI response yesterday revealed what action the York Council had taken to resolve issues.

South Park – “An improvement plan has been created with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), City of York (CYC) Council and the home to address the issues in the CQC report. Regular monitoring visits from CYC are taking place with the home to ensure that the plan is being addressed”. (Next week’s report however comments “Unfortunately, these improvements have not been sustained of late, but the provider again has shared the plans they have in place for substantial investment in the facilities“).

Haisthorpe House – “An improvement plan was created with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), City of York (CYC) Council and the home to address the issues in the CQC report. Regular monitoring visits from CYC have taken place to monitor progress on this improvement plan and ensure suitability of placements for the residents involved.  The home has now been purchased by a new operator, and CYC will continue to monitor to ensure further improvements are made and sustained under the new provider”.

The Which (https://twitter.com/WhichUK) consumer magazine has recently published a report which may help users of care facilities, and their relatives, when making a choice of home.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

The Council pays for the residential care costs of over 500 elderly people at present. The amounts paid to care home owners varies:  

  • Residential (Ordinary) – £435.45 per week
  • Residential EMI – £460.30 per week
  • Nursing (Ordinary) – £549.85 per week
  • Nursing EMI – £571.45 per week
  • City of York Council Owned EPH – £542.99 per week
93% of customers said they were satisfied with the Council’s home care arrangements.

The Council’s report concludes saying,

“A number of the capacity and quality concerns identified of late are linked to the recruitment and retention of care staff across the city and the sector in general. Providers are facing difficulties in terms of recruiting suitable carers across home care, residential and nursing care services”.

According to another report being considered next week, York is performing relatively poorly on delays in transferring elderly people from hospital to community care. “Reablement” services also take longer to provide in York than elsewhere in the region. The full performance statistics can be viewed by clicking here

Performance elderly Nov 2015