A Council meeting today will consider an update report on the work being undertaken to avoid flooding problems in the City.
Flooding
in late December 2015 followed an intense period of rainfall across November
and December due to the impacts of Storms Desmond and Eva.
Record
river levels were observed in many river catchments across the north of
England. More than 4000 homes and 2000 businesses flooded across Yorkshire with
453 properties and 174 businesses flooded in York.
Funding
has been allocated to the Environment Agency (EA) following the floods to renew
existing and provide new flood defences across the city, £17m has been
allocated to the Foss Barrier improvements and £45m to the wider flood defences
across the city.
Funding has been awarded to City of York Council by the Environment Agency to lead and develop a property flood resilience pathfinder project to enable better uptake of resilience measures across Yorkshire. Details of the pathfinder project can be viewed by clicking here
A copy of the full report can be read by clicking here
Residents from the Huntington and Heworth areas have added their voices to the criticisms of the Council’s performance in keeping local streets clean and tidy. Although, like Woodthorpe on the west of the City, some streets in Huntington appear to have been well swept, they are outnumbered by those where even basic weed clearance has not taken place this summer.
One again it is the main entry roads into the City which are most neglected. It presents a poor image for visitors
Weeds block gutters and paths on Malton RoadPaved area on Huntington Road near Bell Farm has not been sprayedWeeds engulfing street furniture on Jockey LaneA blocked gully on Heworth Green. These need to be cleared before wetter weather arrives with winter. Long term build up of detritus around traffic island build outs on Malton Road
The new York Council has rightly decided to plant more trees and expand the areas devoted to wildflowers with good propagation features.
More trees will help , in a modest way, to offset the losses both locally and internationally which have occurred over recent years.
The plight of bees robbed of propagating flowers in urban environments, because of increased hard surfacing and use of herbicides, is well documented.
The Council does however need to understand that such a policy is not a cheap alternative . The authority will need to plant the right species of trees to match the needs of specific locations. Too many well intended “plant a tree in 83” type schemes resulted in the wrong type of tree being planted in the wrong location.
This is particularly true in the case of highway trees (those in verges) where lack of regular maintenance has meant that many have grown the point that they interfere with passing vehicles, overhead plant or neighbouring properties. The only pruning that they get is from high sided vehicles which sooner or later impact on branches often sending them crashing down onto the highway.
High winds can have a similar effect.
The problem can be traced to an inadequate maintenance budget. This was given a modest boost in the Council most recent review.
Before planting more trees – there are plenty of spaces where new mini forests could be created in and around the City – the Council should first sort out its existing stock
On Balfour Street a (self seeded?) tree has been allowed to spread to the point where it is absorbing the adjacent railings and destroying the public footpath. It has been reported on several occasions with out a response from the Council. An obvious case for the local ward committee to use its delegated budget to tidy up the area.
For some people wildflowers are synonymous with pervasive weed growth. We have seen the neglect of highways over the summer although some lobbyists have argued that the weed growth will at least be “good for nature”.
We doubt that, with damage to paths and drains likely to pose an expensive hazard.
But there are locations where the Council could proactively plant low maintenance flowers which would greatly increase propagation opportunities.
The authority will need a proactive programme which will need to include a commitment to the long term maintenance of any planted areas.
This area next to the Leeman Road cycle track is actually paved. Neglect means that is has gradually become overgrown. If it serves no landscaping purpose, then the paving could be removed and a good propagating, low maintenance, plant such as lavender, could be substituted.
