York car parks busy as plea made to free up more space

This week has seen the start of the build up to Christmas in York City Centre.

The most popular car park, at Castle, has been packed for most of the week…. & this despite the surface deteriorating until it is so uneven it represents a safety risk for some pedestrians.

The York Council still doesn’t widely advertise its “on line” car parking space availability web site, 4 years after it was “overlooked” when the local authority relocated its HQ.

On line site confirms parking space availability click to access

Street signs, which indicated the number of vacant spaces available, have also now disappeared, meaning tourists will add to congestion as they tour the City looking for spaces.

Reynards Garage site left empty

All in all then, a sad state of affairs.

One simple way of supplementing the availability of shoppers car parking spaces in the run up to Christmas would be to create a temporary car park at the former Reynard’s garage (Airspeed factory) site.

This site was cleared about a year ago and now stands tidy, but inaccessible, in a prime location on Piccadilly. The surface is in good condition and is certainly better than the surface at Castle..

All that is required is the installation of a ticket machine and Council taxpayers could look forward to a welcome financial bonus.

……and visitors to the City would find that there was a bit less pressure on parking spaces.

York Council to up litter bin emptying frequency in City Centre

“Rover” inspects new poop scoop / Litter bin at the entrance to Grange Lane park

New litter bins arriving in Westfield

We understand that the York Council will shortly consider extending the hours that litter bins are emptied in the City centre.

New bin on Chesney’s Field

A meeting taking place on 28th November will consider implementing the trial of an additional litter bin servicing round which will see bins emptied from 06.30 to 21.00.

The objective is to improve the visual appearance of the city centre foot streets.

Litter on our streets seems to have increased in recent months so the new plan is to be welcomed.

New bin in Foxwood Park

The trial is being sponsored by the York BID although the funding only covers the period up to the 31st March 2017, when the success of the initiative will be reviewed.

Meanwhile litter problems in the Westfield area are being tackled.

New and replacement litter/poop scoop bins are being installed at some locations this week.

The bins are being funded by the Ward Committee.

Still a lot of litter on Bramham Road

What’s on in York – Shellshock in Regeneration: Between reality and fiction in the case of A1

York Explore Library :

Thu 27 Oct :

6.15pm – 7.45pm :

£6 (£5 with a Yorkcard)

Join Jessica Meyer from the University of Leeds as she discusses the concept of shellshock in Regeneration, and its roots in historical fact.

For more information click here.

What’s on in York: Acomb Explore Big City Read Family Day

Acomb Explore Library :

Thu 27 Oct :

9.00am – 4.00pm :

Free

Oct 27Acomb Free drop in day for all the family to enjoy.

Drop in for 10 minutes or stay a couple of hours while you try some of the activities we have on offer.

Make a poppy out of children’s books and we will decorate the library.

Drop in between 9am and 12 noon to learn Morse Code and be the ultimate Spy! Then become an even better spy by creating your own Espionage code wheels.

Between 1.00pm and 3.00pm build a World War 1 bunker using Minecraft. We’ll give you 15 minutes to complete your creation and the best designs will be displayed in the library throughout November. Or you can even get creative and make your own trenches out of Lego!

Tickets can be booked

In person: call in at any library in York
By phone: 01904 552828 or 01904 552651
Email: york@exploreyork.org.uk