Spark set to get government lifeline?

Containers arrived in Sept 2017

The controversial Sparks container village development on Piccadilly looks set to benefit from a government planning decision.

The temporary planning permission for the site – granted 3 years ago- included the following condition

“This (approved) use (of the site) shall cease and all associated structures shall be removed from the site by 1 July 2020; unless prior to that date the consent of the Local Planning Authority has been obtained to extend the period of the permission”

The containers should, therefore, by today have been off the site.

Officials at the Council have – not for the first time – failed to enforce the conditions attached to the planning permission.

They say that on 22nd June, the government issued a press release that stated

“Sites with consent that have an expiry date between the start of lockdown and the end of this year will now see their consent extended to 1 April 2021”.

Officials go on to say, “At the time of writing (the planning report) the associated legislation regarding this is not yet in force (and consequently we do not know the details of this change). It is assumed this legislation will extend the lifetime of the existing permission into next year”.

Council planning officials go on to say,

“However should this legislation not be in force by the time of committee, the recommendation will be approval subject to the legislation coming into force to automatically extend permissions that have expired during lockdown”

The meeting is taking place (remotely) on 9th July. Background papers can be viewed by clicking this link

There are continuing concerns from neighbours about noise at the site while objections about the appearance of the  development also continue to be lodged.

Whether the managers of the site will be able to satisfy the conditions placed on an extended lease – which include financial sureties – remains to be seen.

Much of Sparks incomes derives from alcohol sales. The hospitality sector in York, and elsewhere, is facing a difficult 12 months.

Some sources speculate that as many as 40% of city centre cafes and bars may close unless there is an sustained (and unlikely) increase in visitor numbers.

We may, therefore, yet see the site become available for early redevelopment although major investments are going to be difficult to broker in the wake of the coronavirus crisis and the expected economic recession.

NB. The meeting is also being recommended to approve plans for a 168 bedroomed hotel on the other side of Piccadilly. Click

£5 million Tadcaster Road repairs budget?

The government announced yesterday an allocation of £5 million for road maintenance on Tadcaster Road York. The local LibDem leadership promptly issued a statement saying that the money would be spent on “repairs”.

“There will be £5m each for plans to make the key route network in Liverpool more resilient, to begin further maintenance on the Swanswell Viaduct in Coventry, and for road maintenance on the Tadcaster Road in York“. – Boris Johnson

This will come as a surprise to many. Tadcaster Road (between Middlethorpe Drive and Knavesmire Gates) was resurfaced last month at a cost to local taxpayers of £600,000. This brought over a mile of carriageway up to standard.

That left a ½ mile stretch between Middlethorpe Drive and Sim Balk Lane to complete. Even taking into account the Tesco roundabout and adjacent off road cycle track (which does need to be reconstructed because of tree root damage) we wouldn’t expect resurfacing this section to cost more than £300,000.

There are many other carriageways in York which are in a much worse condition.

We hope that the Council will move quickly to confirm that the funding is intended to deal with the congestion black spot near the College entrance. There are unnecessary tail backs along Tadcaster Road at peak times as a result of large numbers of people leaving the college and using the pelican crossing.

College pelican crossing on Tadcaster Road

This is compounded by on carriageway bus stops and traffic lights at the Sim Balk Lane junction.

Even the provision of a footbridge would look like an expensive solution to this problem (and not necessarily a facility that everyone would choose to use).

So some further explanation is needed.

Mystery deepens as Poppleton COVID 19 test results leaked to media

As recently as 21st June the York Council said that it hadn’t been given the results of COVID 19 tests carried out at the Poppleton Park and Ride testing centre.

The centre had opened on 24th April.  Almost immediately there were claims that the test results for local centres “were disappearing into a black hole”. Around 5000 tests were carried out during the first 10 days of operation of the new centre. Officials remained tight lipped about the outcomes. Local MPs were urged to lift the blanket of confidentiality and some local reporters also lobbied for more openness

Yesterday, the local York Director of Health confirmed to the media that they had received the figures.

She revealed that as of June 27 there were 424 positive coronavirus tests confirmed through, what is known as, the “Pillar 2” testing programme. Added to the lab test reports already published, that meant that there had been a total of 887 cases in the City.

Significantly there were nine positive test results recorded through Pillar 2 data in the past week.

The Council didn’t say how well its contact tracing service was performing.

The Financial Times has said that Pillar 2 results now comprise the largest proportion of positive tests across the country

This is the latest in a series of communications failures by central and local government. It was several weeks into to crisis before  daily updates were provided on deaths and test results (Pillar 1) . Both sets of stats are now updated at Council/Hospital Trust level each day.

The absence of  data from the commercial test sites and home testing means that residents still have only a partial picture.

It is not surprising that there were many positive results at Poppleton. The centre initially started out testing key workers and then moved on to test those who were suffering from COVID symptoms.

What is extraordinary is that it has taken so long for a glimpse of the results to leak out.

We have seen a copy of an email in which a Council official had yesterday  said to a resident

“Although we now have access to pillar 2 data, as a council we are not allowed to publish it. It is to be used for internal planning purposes only”.

A couple of hours later, the Council was forced to release a comment after the figures were leaked.

Some other Councils are believed to be routinely publishing the information while MPs are now also being briefed. They may be the source of the leaked information

Whatever the source, the time has come for the Council leadership to allay growing concerns that the secrecy covering this issue has a sinister motive.

The infection rate in York is below the regional and national averages. That is good news which should be shared

The Council must agree to update residents on the progress being made in tracing the contacts of the recently revealed cases.

They must also ensure that local daily briefings on all test results (Pillars 1,2,3 and 4) are made public  and quickly.

Latest waste service update from York Council

Tuesday 30 June

All scheduled household waste collections have been made.

We were unable to collect all recycling waste from parts of Osbaldwick, Huntington, Dunnington, Wheldrake and Deighton. We’ll return for collections on Wednesday 1 July. Please present your containers for collection by 7.00am.

We were unable to collect all garden waste from some properties in Acaster Malbis and Wheldrake due to vehicle breakdowns. We’ll attempt to collect this on the evening of Tuesday 30 June. Please leave your green bin out for collection.

We were also unable to collect all garden waste from some parts of Dunnington and Huntington, due to vehicle capacity.. We’ll attempt to collect this on the evening of Wednesday 1 July. Please present your containers for collection by 7.00am.

We have collected all outstanding missed recycling and garden waste from Monday 29 June.