A week’s a long time in …York

The decision by York Tory Councillors to ditch the Council Leader last week wasn’t entirely unexpected. Cllr Carr blundered in the summer when he unilaterally sacked two LibDem members of the Executive. At the time the local standards board had not had the opportunity to investigate the allegations that had been made against them.

The arbitrary action set a precedent, so when a Tory Executive Councillor was accused of failing to declare a pecuniary interest in the Local Plan, the Council Leader had little option to sack him as well.

Whether any of the three have committed any offence has yet to be determined, although the Police have said there is nothing to investigate in the case of the two LibDems.

So where does that leave the York Council?

Cllr Ian Gillies is expected to be installed as the new Council Leader on 22nd February.

He will be the fifth Council Leader that York has had in just over 4 years (Alexander, Williams, Steward, Carr, Gillies).

That is frankly a ridiculous rate of attrition and is damaging not only to relationship within the City but also to York’s reputation at regional and national level.

It takes a new Leader – no matter how experienced – at least 18 months to establish good working relationship both within and outside the Council. Only then can the real work begin.

Cllr Gillies starts with the advantage of being well known in the City. He has a recent successful year as Lord Mayor behind him. He was a major influence in the years between 2007 – 2011 when the Council was also balanced. His view then was that the City should come above politics. He tried the same approach when Labour had an overall majority, facing some criticism from his own side in 2013 when it was becoming clear that the Alexander regime was doomed.

But with scarcely 15 months to go before the next “all out” Council elections, Cllr Gillies effectively faces a damage limitation challenge. Whether he will even be able to repair relations with the LibDems remains to be seen.

So why have things gone so badly wrong over the last few years?

It is mainly a system problem. All out four yearly elections tend to promote a rapid turn over of Councillors.  Fewer these days seem to survive for the 10 years or necessary to build the experience necessary for high office.

Recently few have been able to muster more than 4 years’ experience when they became Leader. Cllr Carr set a record, for inexperience, though, taking the most demanding job at West Offices scarcely 18 months after he was first elected.

Annual elections – where a third of the Council is up for re-election each year – would avoid the extreme shifts in support which usually reflect short term disillusion with whichever party is in power nationally.

The other system failure is the Leader model itself.

The model gives substantial powers – including on the spot “hire and fire” arrangements of the executive committee – to one individual. Effectively if Executive councillors don’t follow his or her instructions then an excuse is found to sack them.

The system simply doesn’t work on a balanced Council. Here the subtleties of discourse and compromise are needed to move forward. Unilateral action by an individual simply promotes mistrust.

There is a warning here for those seeking a Yorkshire Mayor. If she or he chooses to, then they could spend 4 or 5 years completely ignoring the wishes of residents, while pursuing policies based on a fundamentalist ideology or sectional interest.

Recent events are likely to lead to a call for the reintroduction of the “committee system” at Council level. Here all issues are debated openly by committees which reflect the overall political balance of the Council.

It promotes openness and consensus decision making.

It won’t come quickly but perhaps by 2019 electors will be ready to accept that the present system simply isn’t working in York.

 

Safety concerns raised about new York spy camera site

With the new ANPR enforcement cameras now in use on Low Poppleton Lane, a response to a Freedom of Information request has revealed that safety engineers raised three significant concerns about the project.

In a report dated as recently as 18th December 2017 – three months after the go ahead for the scheme was given – engineers say that there will be a potentially hazardous pinch point on the cycle path, that the priority signage may be confusing and that the location of the “bus gate” on a bend may result in sight line problems

The review team go on to say,

“Additionally, the new signage refers to a bus lane but there are no traditional bus lane markings provided and as far as the audit team are aware this would be the only bus lane in York which is not usable by taxis and motorcycles”.

Notwithstanding the concerns no significant amendments were made tot eh design before it was implemented a couple of weeks ago. Drivers and motorcyclists using the road will receive on warning letter before any subsequent infringement will result in the issue of a PCN and a potential £100 fine.

A separate risk assessment was made of the railway crossing last June when removal of the rising bollard was being considered.

It concluded, “We consider that the proposal to increase the traffic over the crossing by the local highway authority will significantly increase the public risk at the level crossing. We do not support the implementation of the trial of the temporarily removal of the bollards to allow through traffic due to the risks outlined above”.

The current Automatic Half Barrier (AHB) crossing is ranked at number 23 out of 2139 safety risk crossings across the London North East & East Midlands Route.

On the highway, an accident record review revealed that, during the last 3 years, there had been only one slight accident on the section of Millfield Lane affected by the restrictions.

One slight accident had been reported on Low Poppleton Lane – involving a cyclist entering the former school car park.

The Council had quoted excessive volumes of traffic using Low Poppleton Lane because of failures in the rising bollard system.

The information response indicates that there are around 5000 vehicles movements on the whole of Millfield Lane on a typical day.  This is relatively low for a street which includes an industrial estate and school.

No figures for Low Poppleton Lane are provided but they are thought to be very small.

Mean vehicle speeds on Millfield Lane are around 32 mph (just above the speed limit).No figures for Low Poppleton Lane have been provided, although again vehicle speed is unlikely to be an issue on what is a short stretch of road.

The Council has promised to review its policy which would see the users of mopeds having to dismount and push their bikes along the cycle track.We think riders are unlikely to do so.

The alternative route (via the ring road and A59) would be particularly hazardous for riders of light weight machines.

The nature of the information now revealed suggests that the decision to go ahead with the camera installation should have been subject to prior public consultation with a decision being taken, at on open meeting, attended by the responsible Executive member.

We hope that such a meeting will happen quickly now.

The project is currently subject to a 18 month trial.

York named as future technology hub

 York is the only city in the north of England to make it on to a top-ten-list of towns and cities that are expected to dominate the UK’s tech scene in the future.

Compiled by job search engine ‘Joblift’, the list includes cities with populations under 200,000 that have both high numbers of tech jobs and a high percentage of tech jobs compared to the wider market place.

Cities also scored extra points for having a university which is listed in the top 500 universities worldwide for Engineering and Technology degrees.
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