New junior parkrun on Sunday sets off young peoples Shine activities

click to download list of events

York’s new Knavesmire junior parkrun is one of the hundreds of workshops, courses, events, clubs and activities featured in the Summer2016 edition of Shine magazine which is celebrating its tenth year

Most of the Shine programme activities are scheduled for the school summer holidays, but for those who can’t wait to get started the Knavesmire junior parkrun starts this Sunday (3 July).

The parkrun is a free, timed two-kilometre run for children of all abilities aged from four to 14 years and is a perfect fit with the expansive programme of fitness activities and sports sessions planned for local young people.

Shine activities are aimed at those aged five to 18, together with their families. The programme offers accessible opportunities to enjoy a summer of activities to keep fit, explore new hobbies, learn exciting new skills such as movie making, and shares information on how to continue sport, play, arts and activities in parks and libraries beyond the end of the school holidays.

Cllr Keith Aspden, Deputy Leader of City of York Council with responsibility for Economic Development and Community Engagement said: “Over the last ten years Shine has grown to an exciting programme of activities for York’s young people, with something to appeal to all interests and abilities.

“The schedule, which includes sessions delivered by a wide range of partner organisations and volunteers, offers young people the chance to develop skills, make new friends and engage in new hobbies throughout the summer.”

Julie Mackenzie, Event Director of Knavesmire junior parkrun said: “We’re really looking forward to helping young people get outside, get active and have fun.”

The Knavesmire junior parkrun will take place every Sunday at 9am (with the exception of race days and other events). To take part children and young people must be registered with parkrun and have their unique bar-code with them. For more information visit www.parkrun.org.uk/knavesmire-juniors.

For more information about the Shine programme look out for the brochure from schools, pick up a copy from libraries or search online at www.yor-ok.org.uk/shine

Action taken on full poop scoop bin, high hedges and overgrown flower beds in Foxwood

Today we’ve reported a full bin in Oldman Court!

We’ve asked for the bin on Oldman Court to be emptied.

Some access paths across the verge on Bellhouse Way are overgrown with grass. We’ve asked for them to be made safe

Verge crossover disappearing do to lack of maintenance

Elsewhere we’ve reported more overgrown hedges and flower beds. We understand that the Council’s garden care scheme is running behind schedule. Andrew Waller is addressing the issue

Flower beds need trimming in Corlett Court

Dumped rubbish reported

Some bushes are overgrown

York residents less happy with care services

Suicide rates up

In York the most recent figures show that a total of 30 people died by suicide in York in 2013, decreasing to 16 in 2014 before increasing again to 28 in 2015.

A report published this week raised other concerns about care services in the City,

“Delayed transfers of care from hospital, and those which are attributable to adult social care of NHS care and those which are attributable to adult social care have risen slightly since last year and, although they have not returned to poor levels seen 2013/14, York remains above (worse than) the national, family and regional average for these indicators”.

The overall satisfaction level for people who use care and support services shows a decrease from last year (64% down from 67% in 2014/15) and a sustained fall since 2013/14, with York performance now slightly below the regional and national averages.

There were two indicators where York had significantly worse outcomes compared with the England average: hospital admissions for self-harm for people aged 10-24 and hospital admissions for tooth decay for children aged between 1 and 4 years.

Available local data on self-harm for this age range shows that 80% of admissions were females, the largest group were females aged 15-19 and there were a number of young people with multiple admissions in the year. A self-harm needs assessment has recently been carried out to enhance understanding of this issue within the City.

There were 117 admissions for tooth decay in York over a three-year period and based on the England average only 83 would have been expected.

The figures are being discussed at a Council Executive meeting later today

Council house account makes huge £4.3 million surplus in York

The Housing Revenue Account was budgeted to make a surplus of £2,624k in 2015/16.

A report to a meeting taking place today says the estimates were badly wrong

“There has been an overspend of £639k on repairs and maintenance, mainly due to the use of sub-contractors for high value repairs to resolve damp issues at a number of properties.

Mixed views from tenants on housing services in York

This was offset by a number of underspends in

general maintenance (£72k),
the painting programme (£150k)
decoration allowances (£49k) plus
£178k on utilities,
£436k from delays in capital schemes that are funded from revenue,
£248k lower than budgeted cost of capital,
£107k of additional interest income and
£257k from lower than budgeted levels of arrears and bad debts.

This resulted in an overall surplus of £4,344k and therefore an underspend of £1,720k”.

Tenants area likely to be unhappy.

There have been complaints about poor maintenance standards on some amenity and garage areas while requests for improved car parking provision on many estates are taking an excessive time to process.

The Council needs to tackle these issues quickly now that it has the funds available

Garage areas are neglected in many estates