3690 potentially contaminated land sites in York

A York Council report claims that there are 3690 potentially contaminated pieces of land in the City.

Top-secret-stamp-006The report goes on the record that there were 88 high priority sites requiring investigation with most scheduled to receive an assessment ahead of any development in the area.

However, it claims that 6 categories A sites have still not been inspected 16 years after legislation was introduced to deal with the issue.

13 sites were investigated (including those near Foxwood Lane/Gale Lane  and Westfield Place) but were not found to require attention.

There are currently no sites on the Councils contaminated land register.

While the detritus from three centuries of industrial activity in the City will lead to some residual issues, the risks do appear to be low.

Nevertheless, the Council should have revealed all 88″at risk” locations and, in particular, the 6 sites which still require an inspection.

City of York Trading

secret-meeting-safe-picWe revealed last September that secret payments had been made to various Directors at the City of York Trading company.

This is the Council owned company which “sells” surplus resources mainly to Council Departments and schools.  It was an invention of the last Labour administration and replaced an internal system where, potentially redundant, surplus staff were used to back-fill vacancies.

The Council tonight will consider tonight an auditor’s report into discrepancies with the payments.

Effectively the report simply confirms what most residents had worked out. That, by 2014, the governance systems of the York Council had broken down.

No officer or Councillor has accepted responsibility for the irregularities which seem to have arisen over a misjudged attempt by the Council Leadership to buy the loyalty of senior officials.

The new regime – elected last May – was very slow to recognise the inadequacies of its relationships with its QUANGO partners. It even made the mistake of endorsing a new one (Made in York) without setting up adequate performance monitoring arrangements.

Now the agenda for a York City Trading shareholders meeting has been published.

Unfortunately all the information reports are marked as “confidential” and are not available to taxpayers

So it seems little has changed!

Restrictions on gangs and alcohol consumption on Acomb Green proposed

The Council is to consult residents on introducing Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) to tackle the problems caused by youths in West Bank Park and Acomb Green.

The proposal will be considered on 4th April.

Acomb Green Play area group in 2011

Acomb Green Play area group in 2011

Options that the Council could look at introducing, through a PSPO, include:

  • A ban on drinking alcohol in both areas;
  • The ability to remove large groups of 3 or more people who are causing anti-social behaviour for both sites;
  • Banning the possession of lighters by under 16’s in the play area.
  • A ban on people riding bicycles or motorised bikes through West Bank Park;
  • Ensuring that dogs are kept on a lead at West Bank Park (current position) or relaxing this at certain times;

The proposals have been prompted by an increasing number of complaints about anti-social behaviour during the summer months. Between April and September, the police responded to 33 complaints about gangs gathering on the Green together with 4 about drunken behaviour and a further 4 where an attempt was made to set fire to the play equipment.

Similar issues arose at West Bank Park

If supported, the restrictions – which can be enforced by one the spot penalty notices – would also apply to the streets surrounding The Green.

Crime levels have been creeping up in York recently and residents will be expecting to see some effective remedies proposed by the candidates who are standing in the crime commissioner elections which are taking place in May.

What’s on in York: Major new exhibition – Shaping the body

Date : Fri 25 Mar
Time : See website
Venue : York Castle Museum
Cost : Free with YMT card

York Castle Museum : Fri 25 Mar : Free with YMT card

Shaping The Body 25 MarThis major new exhibition looks at how our bodies have been shaped and designed through choices we make and the consequences of our lifestyles.

York Museum Trust’s extensive collections of costume, social history, archaeology and art will highlight how the perfect height and weight have fluctuated in different periods, and how economic circumstances and cultural ideas impact on fashion.

Meet the people who have pushed their bodies to the limits to gain the look they crave and find out about dangerous fashions such as extra tight corsets, high heels and even poisonous dresses!

This thought-provoking and fascinating exhibition will challenge the notion of the perfect body.

Free with YMT card or see www.yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk

What’s on in York: The biggest exhibition of World War I art in nearly 100 years

Date : Fri 25 Mar – Sun 4 Sept
Time : See website
Venue : York Art Gallery
Cost : Free with YMT card

York Art Gallery : Fri 25 Mar – Sun 4 Sept : Free with YMT card

Truth and Memory: British Art of the First World War

Truth And Memory 25 MarIWM London’s Truth and Memory is a major retrospective that comprises over 60 works and features some of the most iconic images to emerge from the First World War, including paintings by Paul Nash, Percy Wyndham Lewis, CRW Nevinson, Stanley Spencer and William Orpen.

The exhibition will assess both the immediate impact and legacy of British art of the First World War.

Comprised predominantly of works from IWM’s Art Collection, the exhibition will show how artists of all ages, traditions and backgrounds, strived to represent the unprecedented, epoch-defining events of the First World War, which ultimately helped shape the nation’s perception of the conflict and of warfare itself.

York is the only gallery other than IWM London to host the exhibition.

Entry is free with a YMT card or see www.yorkartgallery.org.uk