Coronavirus York updates; 14th May 2021

Deaths

No further hospital deaths announced today

Test results

Five additional positive test results today. Brings cumulative total up to 12,339.

One additional case at City level brings total to 38.

Rate /100k population rises to 18.04. Small reduction expected over the weekend

Small increases in infection levels at North Yorkshire, Yorkshire and England level today

Neighbourhoods

Vaccinations

Tests

4110 PCR tests were conducted during the week ending 13th May 2021
Of these, 0.7% were positive. This is slightly lower than the previous days figure of 0.8%
In addition, 2721 “lateral Flow” tests were conducted on 13th May 2021.

You can now get symptom-free testing at:

Acomb Explore Library,
Foxwood Community Centre
University of York
York St John University
York Stadium Leisure Complex
St William’s College

You can also collect at home testing kits from Acomb Explore Library, Foxwood Community Centre, University of York, York St John University and York Stadium Leisure Complex, or order them to be delivered to your home by visiting https://www.nhs.uk/get-tested or calling 119.

Hospital

Highways repairs – Ward plans published

One of the positive actions taken by the present Council was its decision to delegate to local Ward Councillors a budget to be spent repairing local roads and footpaths.

The Councils main repairs budget – which is inadequate to maintain standards – is focused on the busiest highways.

Some sub-urban roads haven’t been resurfaced for over 60 years.

Against that background, local Councillors have found it increasingly difficult to justify to local residents the growing number of potholes and ruts often found on local roads.

In 2019, they were given a modest “pot” which could be used to address the worst of the complaints.

It has taken a long time for the programme to get going, but now a series of “decisions” on how the funding will be spent are finding their way on to the Councils web site.

It has to be said that the process is largely impenetrable with no central schemes list being updated (and viewable by residents).

The latest list of proposals covers several wards. The investment decisions are likely to be of more interest to local taxpayers than many more high profile issues which seem to exercise the Councils media relations team.

In Westfield, the local Councillors have opted to allocated £20,000 towards the repair of back lanes in the Beaconsfield Street, Milner Street and Gladstone Street area.

They are right to do so.

A resurfacing programme, which was started some 20 years ago, stalled leaving the lanes very uneven and with a patchwork appearance. The lanes are mostly paved with traditional setts. These are very hard wearing but hugely expensive to relay.

We suspect that the available budget will allow only the worst of the uneven stretches of lane to be resurfaced probably using a bitmac overlay.

One other consequence is likely to be that the poor condition of the main highways in the area will become more apparent. School Street has been a particular embarrassment for some years.

*Back lanes and carriageways are in poor condition in parts of Acomb.*

Hopefully more funding will be found for the resurfacing of minor roads in future years.

Recycling – public have their say

The Council says that it has received over 7,000 responses and 22,000 comments during the recent recycling consultation

It faces a major dilemma now as it tries to reconcile its wish to reduce the costs of the waste collection service with residents aspirations.

Waste collection has consistently rated as the top public service when residents have been asked to rank the services provided by the Council.

*Councillors know that the existing refuse collection service gets good approval ratings in the surveys that they conduct.*

The key question – so far unanswered – is “if it ain’t broke, why fix it”?

The Councils media release reads “City of York Council would like to thank all residents who provided their feedback during the recycling changes consultation

The consultation has seen one of the largest responses to-date, with over 7,000 submissions and over 22,000 comments.

The 6-week consultation ended Tuesday (11 May) and will now be taken to an Executive meeting on 20 June, after collating the responses.

In addition to the online survey, the council commissioned a series of independently run focus groups to ensure as many residents’ view could be reflected in the final findings.

The focus groups encompassed views from residents across the city, including residents living in terraced properties, and were staggered over a period of time to ensure key themes emerging from the online consultation were able to be explored further.

The proposals come at a time when the focus on improving our environment has never been more important. The council wants to explore how it can collect recycling in a way that minimises our impact on the environment, improves the service on offer for residents and maximises our opportunity to recycle.

Recycling waste is cheaper than collecting items in black bins (household waste) and therefore residents can help the council save money whilst protecting the environment. The proposals also include the order of new waste and recycling fleet”.