August 31, 2016 – York commentary archive site

The future of NHS services in the Acomb area may become a little clearer at a meeting scheduled to take place next week

Acomb Gables (formerly Garth)

A Council meeting will be told that following a building programme at Acomb Gables on Oak Rise Dementia male beds will be re-provided within this unit.

Meadowfields (York) provides female dementia care.

The change will bring all dementia care within the York locality which will be important due to the connection with the acute hospital and physical healthcare. The transfer of the unit is anticipated during Winter 2016/17.

The Community Mental Health Team currently has office space and a small number of clinic rooms at Acomb Gables. Estate works have been agreed as part of the plans to bring Mental Health Older People beds into this unit. As part of these plans additional clinic space has been developed and will be available from Winter 2016/17.

However there is still no real news on the choice of location at which the City’s new mental health hospital will be built.

A group set up to consider what can be done to prevent damage to grass verges in York caused by indiscriminate parking has produced a draft report.

Damaged verges

The lengthy tome can be read by clicking here

It concludes that it is a difficult problem for which there is no easy answer (surprise, surprise!)

The Council is being recommend to take action against drivers who cause the damage with an electronic warning system being developed using the authorities new web based systems.

The report is weak in several areas not least in failing to identify the need to include surface hardening (matrix protection) as a requirement in any new developments. The system allows water to pass through the surface and therefore avoids drainage issues. It can also be retro-fitted to verges where parking space is obviously inadequate to meet modern needs.

There is a lack of management performance information included in the papers. Taxpayers should be told how many reports of damaged verges have been received each year by the Council and what the response has been and to what timescales. It remains unclear whether the problem is getting worse

There is no detailed response to the technology based solutions offered by the private sector.

Matrix protection for grassed areas.

There needs to be a programme for the provision of off street parking spaces (for example near blocks of flats), new lay-bys and subsidised dropped kerbs/verge crossovers. Good progress was being made on the latter programme during the last decade but the work has since tailed off.

It seems that the Council will continue to spend £35 per sq metre having damaged verges repaired and will use “community payback” labour to do some of the work.