Hedgehog Awareness Week 2017
Hedgehog Awareness Week runs from 30th April to 6th May 2017 and events are being organised all around the country already!
Hedgehog Awareness Week is organised by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and takes place every year. It aims to highlight the problems hedgehogs face and how you can help them.
This year efforts are focussed on a strimmer campaign. The society has produced water proof stickers that they are sending to councils, tool hire companies, grounds maintenance teams, etc free of charge on request (email info@britishhedgehogs.org.uk).
The stickers remind operatives to check areas for hedgehogs before using any machinery. Once the group have received the stickers and sent us a pic of them in action, we can add them to our Hedgehog Heroes Roll of Honour! 
See http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/hedgehog-heroes-roll-honour/ which, following action by local Councillor Sheena Jackson, includes the City York Council
As well as checking areas before cutting there are other things we can do to help too:
30 young people in York to be stripped of housing benefit
Over 30 young people in York central constituency will be affected by the Conservative government’s decision to strip 18-21 year olds of housing benefit, research by the House of Commons library commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has shown.
In total 18,000 young people across the country expected to be affected. The Liberal Democrats have committed to reverse the cuts, which came into force at the beginning of this month.
York is already suffering from homelessness, with official figures showing there were 18 rough sleepers in 2016. Charities have warned that stripping 18-21 year-olds of housing benefits could push more young people onto the streets while research has shown it is likely to cost taxpayers more than it saves.
Figures from the House of Commons library showing the number of 18-21 year olds in receipt of Housing Benefit who will be impacted can be found here (link)
The latest figures on rough sleeper by local authority can be found here (link)
Charities have warned the policy will risk pushing thousands more young people onto the streets. Research by Heriot Watt University has claimed the policy will save just £3 million. This means if just 140 more young people were made homeless, the policy would actually cost taxpayers more money overall than it saves. (link)
£1.5m investment to preserve York’s 1,900 year old walls
City of York Council is investing £1.5 million to preserve and protect York’s medieval city walls, which are renowned as being the finest and most complete walls in England.
Stretching over 3.4 kilometres, they are also the longest historic walls in the country too. With five main ‘bars’ (big gateways’), one postern (a small gateway), one Victorian gateway and 45 towers, it takes around two hours to walk the entire length of the walls.
The council already invests around £100,000 a year on routine monitoring and inspection, but more funding is urgently needed to ensure the 1,900 year old walls can be preserved for years to come.
Approval was given back in February to invest council capital funding into a five-year programme of works.
These works are now set to get underway this spring to make further and much needed improvements to:
- Monk Bar steps: which have become sunk and twisted
- Replacing Micklegate roof: in addition to the new roof, two new walkways gates will be installed. This will allow the museum to remain open when we close the walls for operational reasons. Road closures will be in place for traffic. Pedestrians will continue to have access. More details to follow.
Repair and restoration works at:
- Tower 39, tower 32, tower 2, Bootham Bar to Robin Hood Tower, Anglian Tower and Red Tower utilities.