Planning permission was granted at last nights Planning Committee meeting (20th Sept) for a range of developments in York. They included:

• An athletics track and a closed road racing cycle circuit – with ancillary parking, lighting and fencing – at the Sports Village on Hull Road

• The Water End Flood Alleviation Scheme which will provide additional protection for the Leeman Road area

• A reserved matters application for the Monks Cross 2 development covering appearance, landscaping, layout and scale for the retail and restaurant part of the previously approved outline application site.

• Substitution of apartments for some of the housing units on the Hungate site and an extension of time before the development has to be completed

In addition minor changes were agreed for the Poppleton Park and Ride site and the “go ahead” was given for an extension to the “Creepy Crawlies” child care business at Clifton Gate Business Park.

Details of all the applications considered can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/York-Planning-20th-Sept-12

Today’s Press (20th September) is reporting that Hull Road Labour Councillor Neil Barnes had no adverse comments about proposed access arrangements for the Derwenthorpe development.

A row broke out following a public meeting held on 13th September which was to have discussed the plans which affected Temple Avenue, Ingleborough Avenue, and Lang Avenue.

The meeting was told that Labour Councillor Dave Merrett had taken a decision on changes to the road layout 2 days previously, despite over a dozen objections from residents to the Councils plans.

He was supported by local Councillor Barnes who, in closing ranks, claimed “had received no objections to the traffic proposals and they would “improve the safety of residents in the area” and be “considerate to the environment”.

Strange that as when the decision was taken a week earlier officials reported that no representations had been made by Cllr Barnes either in favour or against the plans.

This has emerged now that the minutes of the behind closed doors meeting have been published on the Councils web site http://tinyurl.com/Derwenthorpe-access.

Additional flood prevention works in the Leeman Road area are recommended for approval at today’s Planning Committee meeting.

The Flood Alleviation Scheme will improve the level of flood protection to 393 residential and commercial properties in the vicinity of Water End.

The works include:

(a) Installing a 15m-wide and up to 1.2m-high demountable flood barrier across Landing Lane at the junction with Water End;

(b) Constructing a 300m-long and up to 1m-high flood wall on the riverward side of Water End road embankment;

(c) Raising a 150m-long section of the existing Leeman Road embankment by 1.1m. A ramp and timber steps would be provided to enable the public to cross the embankment from Lincoln Street to the river.

d) Constructing a new 400m-long flood embankment around St Barnabas’ School to connect with the raised Leeman Road embankment. The embankment would be 2m above ground level where it joins the existing embankment and 1.2m above ground level where it meets Cinder Lane;

(e) Raising ground levels (by up to 0.5m) and flood walls along the western-most section of Cinder Lane at its junction with Jubilee Terrace to tie-in with the new embankment;

(f) Provision of a kick-about pitch in the area of open space to the north of the raised section of Leeman Road embankment.

(g) Temporary use of the former bowling green off Salisbury Road as a construction compound and reinstatement after construction.

Some additional minor works would be carried out under the Environment Agency’s permitted development rights, in particular the provision of three storage cabinets within the Holgate Beck Pumping Station compound at Landing Lane.

Nationally, there has been an increase of over 30% in the number of over 85’s between the 2001 and 2011 census data.

With life expectancy continuing to grow there has rightly been a new focus on ways of meeting the escalating bill for the care of the elderly.

As a result the York Council recently decided controversially to remove care facilities from 184 elderly local residents who were judged only to have “moderate” needs http://stevegalloway.mycouncillor.org.uk/2012/08/10/bid-to-save-care-services-for-184-elderly-people-in-york/ .

Residential care costs

Now the fees paid to private sector care homes are set to be increased for the second time in a year.

A recent report examining the UK market for long term care of the elderly stated that despite an increasingly ageing population and a growing demand for care services, the residential care and nursing home sector had been significantly affected by the economic downturn. Between 2006 and 2010, the long term care market for elderly and physically disabled people grew by 14.9% to nearly £14bn. The sector continues to be dominated by private providers which accounted for 84.6% of the total provision in 2010.

Over the same period the number of long term care places provided by the public sector declined from 58,700 to 46,200.

Following a 1% increase in fees in April the amounts paid by the York Council to providers each week are:
• EMI Nursing £540.44
• Nursing Care £524.92
• EMI Residential Care £391.02
• Residential Care £375.50

An additional 1% increase would add £122,000 a year to the taxpayer’s bill. A more fundamental review of fee levels is proposed for next year.

The Council is right to undertake (in conjunction with the North Yorkshire council) such a review. Residents of all ages need to understand the true costs of elderly care.

Homecare – the unanswered questions (more…)

The Council as revealed that it is tracking the movements of people between the station city centre gateway and areas at Monks Cross during September “to help get a better idea of pedestrian and cycle movements in York”.

A Council report admits, “As this is a free trial the number of devices are limited but this will show how effective (or not) tracking people through their bluetooth enabled mobile phones is”.

No consultation took place before the trial started.

The Council has also implemented a new web site which is apparently aimed at explaining travel choices in York. www.itravelyork.info

It offers a travel planner which compares the time taken to complete a journey using different types of transport. Given the compact size of the City, and the differing factors which can influence how long – say – a bus can take to complete a journey, many will be sceptical about the benefits of such a site.

One example plugged into the journey planner revealed that the Foxwood Lane to York University bus trip should take “37 minutes” compared to 20 minutes by car. (In August the actual bus journey time for this trip peaked at 90 minutes).

The site fails to indentify the time taken to walk (about an hour), to cycle (about 35 minutes) or by moped (15 minutes), although this may be a module that is added at a later date.

In most tests done in the City battery powered bikes turned out to be the quickest way of getting from A to B for most journey types.

But it all depends on how much you are carrying and how many destinations you have to visit before you return home or to the workplace.

Real time information provided via the web to mobile phones and displays at sub-urban bus stops would be higher priority for many travellers.

York is currently benefiting from high levels of government transport grant. These include
• Local sustainable transport grant of £4 million
• Better bus fund £3 million

Little of this funding is scheduled to be invested in the Westfield/Acomb side of the City.

Labour are, however, still threatening to go ahead with their 20 mph speed limit covering the whole of the area despite recent accident statistics for City’s like Portsmouth which showed that –following the introduction of wide area 20 mph limits – the numbers of people killed or seriously injured increased significantly.

The Council should rethink this policy

City of York has won gold in this year’s Yorkshire in Bloom competition!

The results were announced at York Racecourse and confirmed the city was a gold award winner in the city category together with five other individual entrants.

Gold awards were also won by individual entries from across the city and the winners were:

Dunnington in the small town category;

Middlethorpe Hall and Spa in the large hotel category;

Homestead Park in the parks and gardens category;

Naburn Lock Caravan Park in the camping and chalet parks category; and

Rosevale Care Home in Wigginton.

York’s other top category performer was Earswick Scented Garden which in the It’s Your Neighbourhood Award, secured an Outstanding judgement.

North Yorkshire Police will be carrying out mobile safety camera enforcement on the following roads between Wednesday 19 September to Tuesday 25 September 2012

•A64 east-bound Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•York Road, Haxby, York
•A1237 Monks Cross, York
•A64 Malton by-pass Malton east and west-bound
•A64 Seamer by-pass Scarborough
•A64 Seamer Road, Scarborough
•A64 Between Whitwell Hill and Barton Hill
•A64 Between Barton-le-Willows and Jinnah (more…)

On the face of it, at a time when most workers are not expecting any increase in pay, a recommendation from an independent body that a Council chief should get a £9000 a year pay increase would be greeted with incredulity.

But that is what is being suggested in York by a group of high profile establishment figures in the City who have reported on the level of remuneration that Councillors in the City should receive for their efforts

In fairness the 8 member panel has done what they were asked to do. They were guided by previous reports which had sought to link Councillor pay to the “average wage” (actually the median male non manual wage, which for Great Britain is £152.77 per day).

Significantly the panel has failed to list the actual remuneration received by Councillors in their last “normal” job.

And that is where the mistake is made.

The worker getting “average wages” will have some qualifications – if only experience.

To seek election, Councillors need no qualifications.

As with all professions there will be the lazy and the feckless as well as the dynamic and hardworking. There are no performance statistics to help electors when they are asked to re-elect a Councillor or alternatively to select someone new. Most therefore vote for the party rather than the person. (more…)

The annual York Food and Drink festival returns next week with a special York 800 twist – this year it will be celebrating 800 years of food and drink – past, present and future.

The festival will run from Friday 21 – Sunday 30 September and will showcase all that’s best of Yorkshire Food and Drink.

For more information and a programme of events visit www.yorkfoodfestival.com

(more…)

For more information on events in York please visit the following web sites

1. Barbican http://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/ tel. 0844 854 2757

2. Early Music Centre http://www.ncem.co.uk/?idno=152
tel. 01904 658338

3. Grand Opera House http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/grand-opera-house-york/
tel. 0844 847 2322

4. Minster http://www.yorkminster.org/whats-on.html
tel. 0844 939 0015

5. Racecourse http://www.yorkracecourse.co.uk/
tel. 01904 620911

6. Theatre Royal https://www.yorktheatreroyal.purchase-tickets-online.co.uk/public
tel (01904) 623568

7. Visit York http://www.visityork.org/seeanddo/whats-on/
tel. 01904 550099

8. Yortime https://www.yortime.org.uk/eCommunityEvents/yortime/Default.aspx

9. York City Football Club http://www.yorkcityfootballclub.co.uk/
tel. 01904 624447

• Loneliness long distance runner 18th/29th Sept Theatre Royal

• Singin in the rain 17th/22nd Sept Grand Opera House

• Stories from around the world 19th Sept Wed Theatre Royal

• Medieval Murderers 20th Sept 7:00pm Explore Library Join a trio of master storytellers for the finale event of this year’s Big City Read.Accompanying Susanna Gregory on the panel is Michael Jecks, bestselling author of the Medieval West Country series of novels and Ian Morson, author of novels featuring William Falconer.

• H.M.S Pinafore 20th/22nd Sept Theatre Royal

• The meaning of Riff 20th Sept Theatre Royal

• Tailcoat cabaret 21st Sept Theatre Royal

• Founders and Benefactors Evensong 21st Sept Fri 5:15pm Minster

• York Food Festival 21st/30th Sept Various The Festival is a showcase for Yorkshire Food. For 10 days, York city centre will have stands from farms all over Yorkshire, but you will also find stands from local delicatessens, ethnic food producers as well as national and continental guest producers. For more information visit: www.yorkfoodfestival.com

• Football City v Cheltenham 22nd Sept Bootham Cres

• Dragon Boat racing 22nd Sept River Ouse

• 8 Wonders Tour 22nd Sept Minster Investigate how the number 8 has shaped York Minster through technology and design, from 1212 to 2012

• Prom Praise 22nd Sept Sat 7:30pm Barbican

• Speak of me as I am 22nd Sept Theatre Royal

• A look back in vehicular time 23rd Sept Sun Knavesmire Over 600 vehicles will be there together with stalls, autojumble and refreshments

• Mysore Melodies 23rd Sept 4:00pm Early Music Centre

• Antiques Fair 23rd Sept Racecourse

• Martin Carthy/Dave Swarbrick 25th Sept Tues 7:30pm Early Music Centre

• Mark Watson 26th Sept Wed Grand Opera House

• Rapunzel 27th/13th Sept/Oct Theatre Royal

• The Upbeat Beatles 27th Sept Thurs Grand Opera House

• Comedy Night 28th Sept Racecourse

• Farmers Market 28th Sept Parliament Street

• Jason Byrne 28th Sept Fri 8:00pm Barbican

• Motowns Greatest Hits 29th Sept Sat Grand Opera House (more…)