Coronavirus York updates; 28th September 2020

Deaths and test results

There have been EIGHT additional positive test results announced today bringing the cumulative total number of cases to 1254

There have been no additional hospital deaths

Worst affected neighbourhoods over the last 7 days have been Strensall, Bishopthorpe/Copmanthorpe and Rawcliffe/Clifton South

Picture is slightly better today but it is too soon to say whether the slowing in the rate of new cases identified will be sustained.

Council seeks more funding

With the Council continuing to face significant financial challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic, the council has submitted its submission to the Chancellor’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

The submission urges the Government to ‘Back York’ by seizing the opportunities that are unique to the city and drive recovery in the region.

As part of the submission to the Spending Review, the Council has called on the Government to provide additional funding for York, as part of the levelling-up agenda, as well as urge the Government to continue to work with the Council to relocate a Government department to York.

Since the pandemic was declared, City of York Council has prioritised resources to support the most vulnerable in the city, as well as additionally investing over £2 million to create local emergency funds to support the city’s businesses and residents facing financial hardship. However, whilst demand for services has increased, income has considerably fallen, leaving the Council, alongside other local authorities, with an estimated potential budget gap that could be as much as £20 million.

It is clear that to kick-start the economic recovery of the region, there are opportunities unique to York to build back better.  However, with significant financial challenges in Local Government, the Council cannot unlock these opportunities alone. With additional funding, City of York Council could:

  • Make £25 million available to further support local businesses in adapting to the crisis;
  • Enhance York’s world-renowned culture and heritage by making extra funding available to support local museums, libraries and more – in particular, providing urgent financial support to charitable services who have seen visitor income streams significantly reduced;
  • Scale up the support on offer to residents facing financial hardship, particularly through the use of the York Financial Assistance Scheme;
  • Provide much needed funding for small charities and voluntary sector; organisations who do not have the resources to fundraise themselves;
  • Speed up the delivery of critical regeneration projects and citywide infrastructure schemes, from York Central, to the dualling of York Outer Ring Road;
  • Provide certainty of funding within the Adult Social Care sector, which has been under considerable pressure before the pandemic began;
  • Improve support for York’s climate change ambitions (ranging across service areas), so that York continues to be a leader in climate action.

This submission sits alongside other submissions from organisations representing the wider region and local government, including from Yorkshire and the Humber local authorities, the Convention of the North, Transport for the North and the national Local Government Association (LGA).

Marygate changes – “on line” consultation starts but does anyone know?

The Council has started an “on line” consultation about the changes that they plan to make to the pedestrian/cycle route which links Scarborough Bridge to St Mary’s, Bootham and beyond.

Unfortunately very few people know about the plans or the consultation.

The background information glosses over the future of the Marygate car park.

The main area of concern relates to the possible permanent loss of parking spaces in the car park. The car park has been very popular with visitors and shoppers over recent months. It is vital for the City centre economy.

Unfortunately around 40 spaces at the car park have been unusable since the York Council coned them off in June.

Marygate car park full but empty spaces coned off by Council

The consultation document says “Marygate car park will be relined to enable a modest widening of Railway Walk”

It doesn’t say how many spaces will be lost.

There is no opportunity given on the survey to support or oppose individual sections of the proposal. Instead only narrative comments are invited.

It will be impossible to quantify these, so the final decision on the scheme will rest with one York Executive Councillor (Cllr D’Agorne)

Other aspects of the plans are likely to be less controversial.

These include

  • Construction of a shared-use, low gradient, ramp over the existing short flight of stairs from St. Mary’s to Marygate Lane to enable people travelling by bike or on foot, as well as people with mobility issues to use St. Mary’s as a preferred quiet route.
  • The improvements here will also include some resurfacing of the carriageway.
  • Introduce traffic signals at the junction of Bootham (A19)/St. Mary’s/The Drive to provide a controlled and safer crossing of and exit onto the A19 for people travelling by bike.
  • This will also benefit residents of St. Mary’s by giving them a controlled exit onto Bootham to overcome queues from inbound traffic
  • The existing nearby pedestrian crossing on Bootham will be upgraded and brought into the same control as the new signals. Three on-street car parking spaces on St. Mary’s to be removed closest to the junction to allow the stop-line to be set back into the street.

The consultation is being run by something called the “West Yorkshire Combined Authority ‘CityConnect‘

The budget for the plans is £250,000. It would come from the Department for Transport (DfT) ‘Transforming Cities Fund’,

Subject to approval, construction work on the schemes would likely start during the winter and completed by spring 2021

More details can be found by clicking here

The consultation survey (such as it is) can be accessed by clicking here

£6.8 million extra for highway repairs in York

The York Council has an additional £1.8 million to spend repairing roads in the city. It comes for a central government “potholes and challenge” fund.

In addition, an additional £5 million is available to spend on Tadcaster Road although the carriageway itself there has already been resurfaced earlier in the summer.

Apparently, this additional funding will be allocated to improving drainage systems in the area.

Many roads and footpaths in the City are in poor condition so the extra investment will be welcomed by residents.

However, we are approaching the winter period so the Council needs to move quickly to get the work scheduled.