Temporary accomodation plan for Acomb elderly persons home site

Acomb residents invited to Oakhaven redevelopment event

Oakhaven

Oakhaven

Residents and businesses in the Acomb Road area of the city are being invited to find out more about the short and long term plans for the redevelopment of the former Oakhaven Older People’s Home next week (Tuesday 28 June).

The Councils plans for the Lowfields school site are expected to be published tomorrow

The council’s longer term plans for the site will see the creation of a new Extra Care facility for older people in the Acomb area: part of the authority’s Older People’s Accommodation Project which aims to secure high quality accommodation to meet the needs of York’s ageing population.

If approved, the flexible accommodation will enable residents, including those with complex care needs such as dementia, to live independently in their own homes on the site, with on-site personal care available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, should they need it.

The authority will shortly begin the process to find a partner to develop the facility at Oakhaven and in 2017 will seek planning consent for the new building.

In the immediate short term, the council is proposing to use the building as accommodation for up to 15 local families and individuals who need temporary accommodation. The facility will be managed by on-site staff seven days a week and the proposals will be subject to planning consent.

Local residents are being invited to attend the drop-in event next Tuesday (21 June) at Oakhaven between 4-7pm to find out more about the short and long term plans for the site.

Visit www.york.gov.uk/OPAplans for more information.

Long Ridge Lane, Poppleton being resurfaced next week

City of York Council will be carrying out essential resurfacing on Long Ridge Lane, Poppleton from Monday 27 June.

The work is expected to take ten days to complete, weather dependant. Work will take place between 9.30am-4pm.

In order to carry out the work safely Long Ridge Lane will be closed to through traffic during working hours. The closure will be localised and residential access using alternative routes will be maintained throughout the closure.  (more…)

Help Shape York’s Alcohol Strategy

DrunksCity of York Council along with other partners are seeking views on a new city-wide alcohol strategy for York.

It is hoped that the strategy will influence more people to be aware of how to drink responsibly and to make positive lifestyle choices around alcohol so that individuals use alcohol safely and sensibly.  In addition it is hoped that people will make informed choices about drinking alcohol and approach the issues that alcohol can bring within our communities and families in a positive way.

The York alcohol strategy has been written by colleagues from City of York Council; Public Health England; Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group; Safer York Partnership; Lifeline; North Yorkshire Police; York Hospital Trust.  The strategy covers a five year time period and York’s Health & Wellbeing Board will be responsible for it.

The city currently uses a large amount of resource to deal with alcohol related issues, like the harm that alcohol has on the health and wellbeing of people and the crime and disorder it contributes to.  The ambulance service, the hospital’s emergency department, police, fire service and members of the public routinely deal with the consequences of alcohol.

Harm to families including domestic violence, child abuse and neglect as well as violent crime, binge drinking, absenteeism from work and lost productivity, drink driving, alcohol related accidents and anti-social behaviours such as public urination, litter and vomit on our streets are all issues associated with alcohol.

The alcohol strategy has four aims:
(more…)

Time for York Council to get out the pruning knife

A meeting on Friday will make a final recommendation on the York Council’s tree management policy.

click to read report

click to read report

The proposed policy was amended at a meeting last week but still fails to fully recognise the impact that 5 years of neglect have had on the City’s trees and bushes.

There are simply too many paths and roads obstructed by overgrown trees and bushes.

What is needed is a proactive management policy.

…..and where a dispute, between the Council’s staff and local residents cannot be resolved, then there needs to be an appeal process where conflicts can be settled as amiably as possible.

In the meantime the Council needs to get on and resolve some long standing issues
View from Askham Lane bus shelter. Reported two months ago the shelter is still engulfed by nettles and rubbish. It is impossible to see approaching busses from within the shelter.

View from Askham Lane bus shelter. Reported two months ago the shelter is still engulfed by nettles and rubbish. It is impossible to see approaching buses from within the shelter.

Rubbish accumulating in the shelter

Rubbish accumulating in the shelter

Detritus and weeds still a problem and Ridgeway

Detritus and weeds still a problem on Ridgeway

Meanwhile vandalised trees - which should have been replaced several years ago - are just ignored. This one is on the Tedder Road park

Meanwhile vandalised trees – which should have been replaced several years ago – are just ignored. This one is on the Tedder Road park

We've reported an uneven footpath on Ridgeway

We’ve reported an uneven footpath on Ridgeway

Remain

It seems that some still yearn for the world of 60 years ago.  They would do well to remember that the 50’s and 60’s were unsettled times with two super powers playing a deadly game of roulette with nuclear weapon threats while right wing politicians like Enoch Powel stirred up racial hatred.

 Since then a lot has changed. You can sit in your front room and scour the internet for instructions on how to make bombs, get guns and buy knives. After a period of relative calm, conflict continues in the Middle East and terrorists of all persuasions appear on our doorsteps.WaSHINGTON pOST

Against that, we are more prosperous. Quality of life – for most people – has improved hugely over the last 50 years. In York, unemployment has been below the regional and national average for three decades. Tourism, higher education, technology and financial services are now the City’s core employers.  All need stability and a predictable market to continue to prosper.

One of the most frequent criticisms of the European Community is that is ponderous. Many with have been frustrated by the time taken to negotiate large contracts caught up in the vagaries of OJEC advertising.

But that is also the strongest argument for remaining in the EC. If people are talking then they are not throwing bottles, shooting bullets or launching missiles.

Britain leaving the EU could fuel a rise in extreme nationalism across the world. There are signs of that already in other mature democracies including the States. That is a chilling prospect for those who remember the days of confrontation half a century ago.

So a vote to REMAIN in the EU is a positive vote.

…..& those of us who want to see change to the rules of the European club will continue to use our democratic vote when the next elections come along in 2019

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