Call for volunteers to help shift wood-chip “mountain” in Foxwood

The Foxwood Residents Association is asking for help with a community garden project at the Foxwood Community centre which will see a large amount of wood chippings spread on flower beds. The move is intended to discourage week growth next season when the Association will be entering the “Yorkshire in Bloom” contest.

Some  of the chippings will be spread on a new woodland path

Anyone with some time to spare helping spread the chippings should ring Sue on York 794111

Sue and Neil with the wood-chip “mountain”

Woodland walk taking shape

Sparks occupied Council Piccadilly site without permission

Containers being installed on 4th September

Tenancy agreement only signed on 9th November – 2 months after shipping containers arrived.

A response to a Freedom of Information request, recorded with the City of York Council on 15th November, has revealed irregularities with the lease for the site on which the containers were installed at the beginning of September.

It has emerged that the operator Sparks had, and still has, no lease for the site.

A “tenancy at will” was signed as recently as 9th November 2017.

In effect the company was able to park their assets on Council land for 2 months without permission or payment.

In November 2016 the Council’s Executive had agreed to lease 17/21 Piccadilly for the storage container village. The development was to start trading in May 2017 and the lease would expire in June 2020. The Council agreed to stump up £40,000 to cover the cost of providing water, electric and gas supply.

The Council was to have had a representative on the Sparks Board to look after its financial interests.

The Council expected to receive a basic rent plus a 30% share of “profits” (sic). The minutes of the meeting were clear that a lease (and hence rent payments) had to be in place to underwrite any Council investment.

A year later and the development has not been completed. No lease is in place. The Council has received no rent payments. No business rates have been paid on the site.

Risk warning Nov 2016

The containers have yet to be fitted out.

However, it has also emerged that the Council has already spent £31,500 (of the £40,000 budget) on facilitating the development.

Sparks has said that the earliest the container village could open is in March 2018. That would leave just 2 years for the Council to recover its investment.

The development has been described as an ugly eyesore made worse by its proximity to several sensitive historic buildings

Later this week a Councillor will be asked to extend the area to be covered by the lease to Sparks.  The area has most recently been used for car parking.

No additional payment is being sought from the developer for the extra land.

No rates increase for small business and charities in York

Foxwood Community centre

The Council is expected next week to confirm that a freeze on business rates for small businesses and charities will continue.

In effect this means that £700,000 from central government is being injected into the local economy. The move continues the temporary discretionary rate relief grant and will help to mitigate the effect on businesses of the increased rateable values arising from the business rates revaluation exercise undertaken by Central Government. The scheme was intended to support those local businesses that faced the steepest increases in their business rates bills because of the revaluation

During the current year only 98 applied for the relief, leaving £500,000 unallocated in the current year.

The York Council now intends to allocate the relief automatically to all businesses.  This will see no local business or charity with a rateable value below £200K having to pay an increase in their business rates in 2017/18.

Separately the government has confirmed which charities will qualify for Discretionary Rate Relief next year.

The list of successful applicants includes

  • Acomb Sports Club on Acomb Green
  • Foxwood Community Centre
  • Wilf Ward Charity Trust (Green Lane)
  • Chapelfields Community Association (Sanderson Court)

An application by the York and District Indoor Bowls Club is being declined because the organisation is deemed to have too high financial reserves.