£200,000 for consultant’s report on a York Council housing stock transfer is “premature”

With the York Council showing little inclination or ability to bring several major change projects to a conclusion (Guildhall, York Central, Community Stadium, ring road improvements etc.), you would think that the last thing they would want to do is add another project to a growing list.Facts 4

It seems not, as the “Executive” is set on reopening the debate about whether to hive off its Council Housing activities. It is little more than a decade since tenants rejected the idea of having their tenancies transferred to either a Housing Association or quasi-independent “arm’s length company”.

It’s not as though the Council’s decision to outsource activities like econ
omic Facts 2development/tourism/markets has been an outstanding success. The bodies are largely self-serving and unaccountable (while still sucking in large amounts of public money).

It seems that Tories in the city want to rid themselves of Council housing responsibilities in the wake of the central government decision to reduce rent levels by 1% a year until 2019 (an attempt to reduce the cost of rent rebates). This could eat into the £3 million+ a year surplus that the York housing account currently makes.

Facts 1Confusion also surrounds the government’s plan to force Council’s to sell vacant “higher value” Council houses on the open market, to help to subsidise the sale of housing association properties to their tenants.

The effects of both these policies are far from clear. It is at least possible that social housing sales to sitting tenants will be very low even with the substantial discounts.

Council house management in York is far from perfect. We have often criticised the maintenance regime on communal areas and garage blocks. But that requires a change in management attitudes. It does not suggest a change in ownership and with it a loss of democratic accountability.Facts 3

 Spending £200,000 on employing consultants to engineer change is both profligate and premature.  It won’t produce a single extra affordable rent property in the City.

The effects of government policy will be clearer in a couple of years’ time.  The Council should concentrate its limited resources on other more pressing issues in the meantime.

Report extarct

What’s on in York: Free digital event for young adults

Young adults from across York are invited to a free coding event at the council headquarters.

digital-code-dark-background-business-concept-35307427City of York Council is opening West Offices up to 14-25 year olds on Saturday 8 October for Upload Live, an event being run in partnership between Virgin Media, Freeformers, and the recently NextGen award nominated CodeYork programme.

Upload Live will enable attendees to learn valuable skills such as how to code, understand how to bring an app idea to life and know how to stay safe online. Attendees will also find out which social media sites they should be using to ‘market’ their own skills and how these skills will help them in future careers.

Learning coding not only shows young people how to programme a computer but also build skills in problem solving and logic as well as develop skills that can be used in other activities, hobbies and careers.

Cllr Ian Gillies, Executive Member for Planning and Transport, with responsibility for Digital Infrastructure said: “Coding is a very important skill in the digital age, and it is great as a city to be able to offer young people fantastic opportunities to learn and hone their knowledge and skills, all while having fun. Anyone interested in attending this event should book their place as soon as possible to avoid disappointment”.

For more information or to book your place at this event visit http://bit.ly/uploadyork. If you are not in the specified age range for the event but are interested in attending, please contact the ICT Digital City Team at digitalcity@york.gov.uk who will be able to give advice on suitability.

What’s on in York: British Eventing Horse Trials

British Eventing Horse Trials

October 8 & 9 October 2016
Location: Askham Bryan College, York

250 entries per day, with the first horse starting dressage at 8am and the last horse scheduled to finish the cross country at around 5pm and final prize giving at 5.45pm.
There will be two prize giving ceremonies on the day at approximately 2pm and 6.30pm. The whole day is free to the public, offering a great family day out. Dogs are welcome, however they MUST be kept on a short lead at all times.