Fuel cell bus under test in London. Zero tail pipe emissions

The Council have launched an “on line” survey which is apparently attempting to discover resident’s views on emission levels in the City. We think that residents should take very opportunity to make their views known on local issues, not least because the opportunities are very rarely offered these days and “silence may be taken as consent”.

The results of the survey are likely to be taken as an endorsement of the Council’s plan to exclude vehicles (of all sorts) from neighbourhoods that it has designated as low emission zones. The full impact of such a policy has never been explained (or thought through?) given that buses are currently some of the worst contributors to the levels of nitrogen dioxide in the City.

The Councils recent form is poor.

The low emission bus trial undertaken on 2010 has not been followed up and the Lord Mayor’s new Limo has a large conventional engine (another decision shrouded in secrecy).
Provision of electric charging points for plug in hybrids (and battery vehicles) are rarer than hens teeth.
The nearest hydrogen refuelling point is 200 miles way.

The Council indicates some of the proposed methods which might be used in a low emission strategy include:
• Minimising the volume of vehicles and ensuring only the lowest emission buses, lorries and taxis available can access the areas of the city with the poorest air quality
• Promoting and incentivising the use of low emission vehicles, particularly those which run on electric, compressed natural gas (CNG), bio-methane and /or make use of hybrid technologies
• Investigating freight transhipment and electric vehicle deliveries for the city centre
• Promoting York as a centre of excellence for low emission technologies, attracting new businesses and industries

The supporting information fails the usual key test. It does not reveal how much each change could cost and how could it be funded?

This is particularly true of the concept of a transhipment depot to serve the City centre. It would be hugely expensive.

So we recommend that residents do complete the questionnaire but in doing so they retain a certain sense of scepticism about some of the statistics and health claims made in the supporting documents.

In addition everyone should make the point that financial costings are essential if respondents are to make an informed judgement.

The survey can be found here http://tinyurl.com/York-Emission

York’s market will be held in Parliament Street on Monday 23 April to celebrate St George’s Day.

Traders in smart dress will be joined by face painters and musicians, and Parliament Street will be decked with flags and bunting

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The annual survey of Council tenants in York has confirmed that the vast majority remain happy with most aspects of the service.

The biggest change came on replies to a question which asked tenants whether they were satisfied with opportunities to be involved with management and decision making.

This fell by 5 points with only 53% now satisfied with arrangements.

Although the survey was aimed specifically at relations with the Councils Housing Department, the poor response is likely to reflect a more general anger with the council about consultation arrangements – most of which have virtually collapsed over recent months.

When last in power, in the early part of the last decade, Labour started a process which might have led to Council Housing in York being hived off under an independent management arrangement.

In Leeds, Labour implemented their plans in 2003. The responsibility for managing homes owned by Leeds City Council transferred to an ‘Arms Length Management Organisations’ (ALMOs).

An Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) is a not-for-profit company set up by the Council to manage and improve the housing stock. Although an ALMO is a company wholly owned by the local authority, it is an autonomous self-governing organisation. The organisation operates under the terms of a management agreement between the Council and the ALMO.

In York the local authority passed into Liberal Democrat control in 2003 and plans to set up an ALMO in the City were scrapped. The Council went on to modernise all their properties before the 2010 deadline for “decent” homes.

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The last tenant satisfaction survey published by Leeds revealed that 71% were satisfied with the services provided by the ALMO. This compares to an 89% satisfaction rating with Council housing in York.

It remains to be seen whether the Labour administration in York will resurrect their plans to hive off local Council housing into either an ALMO or a Housing Association.

NB. The Council survey asked respondents about their race, religion etc. The majority of respondents were white British females. 37% had a disability and 34% were aged over 65. 2/3 described their religion as Christian.

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Planning applicants who appeal against the decision of the Local Authority on their proposals have a 25% chance of success if they take their case to the planning inspectorate.

Only small numbers take this course of action and judgements are made based on planning law and guidance.

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A planning application will be considered on Thursday for a vacant,” unkempt” site between Carmelite Street and the Shambles multi-storey car park. The site is at the edge of the Hungate site, which is currently being developed in phases.

According to the approved Masterplan the proposed building would front onto St John’s Square, a public space and focal point at the centre of Hungate, across Carmelite Street would be a 4-6 storey (6-storey facing the application site) building comprising of shops and business at ground floor level and residential above. To the southeast would be a 5- 6-storey residential building and a 4-storey car park.

The site is outside the Central Historic Core Conservation Area which terminates at the River Foss and includes the land to the west of the telephone exchange building. The site is designated as an area at high risk of flooding and is included in the Hungate action area, where the local plan seeks to deliver 1 hectare of premier employment land and a mix of residential, retail, community, cultural and leisure uses.

The application proposes an 8-storey building that would provide student accommodation, 258 bedrooms in total. There is an extant permission to develop the site for offices and the proposed building retains the building height approved in that scheme.

Officers are recommending approval of the planning application which will be considered by the Planning Committee on Thursday

Poppleton garden centre site plan - click to enlarge

The Councils Planning committee will be asked to agree to the erection of sales building and canopies, restoration of nursery growing area and new landscaping following demolition of buildings and removal of hard standings at the Poppleton Garden Centre.

The application is for the erection of a sales building following the demolition of the existing garden centre building. The rectangular building measures 56.4 metres along the north and south elevation and 74.4 metres along the east and west elevations. There would be two canopies; to the north and east elevations. The garden centre building would include a restaurant/cafe area. The footprint of the building would be 4688sqm; including the canopies it would be 6116sqm. The external plant sales area excluding the canopies would be 2850sqm. The existing garden centre building has a footprint of 3760sqm and the canopies are 515sqm.

In addition it is the intention to use the land to the south of the building for the growing plant stock for the garden centre. There would be a reduction in the size of the car park from 266 spaces to 246 spaces to provide more landscaping in the north western corner of the site adjacent to the vehicle junction. The site plans shows trees planted within the car park. In addition a pedestrian access point would be added in the northern boundary next to the existing crossing island on the A59.

The site is within the Greenbelt and just outside the Poppleton Settlement Limit. There are dwellings and a plant nursery to the north and east. There is a restaurant and veterinary practise to the west of the site. Park and Ride facilities have been granted planning permission to the west of the site on the other side of Northfield Lane. To the south of the site are fields.
Officials are recommending the approval of the planning application subject to a referral to the Secretary Of State as the site is within the green belt.

North Yorkshire Police are continuing to investigate the suspected drugs-related death of a 16-year-old girl in York.

Paramedics were called to a house in the Tang Hall area at about 11.25pm on Thursday (19 April 2012). The girl was taken to York District Hospital where she was pronounced dead in the early hours of Friday (20 April 2012) following attempts to resuscitate her.

A 21-year-old local man, believed to be connected to the incident, is in a serious but stable condition. He was taken to York District Hospital by a friend.

A 23-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman, both from York, have been arrested in connection with the investigation and remain in custody for questioning.

Police enquiries have been ongoing in and around the address at Tang Hall as officers work to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.

Witnesses or anyone with information that could assist the investigation are urged to contact North Yorkshire Police on 101 and select option 1.

Information can also be passed on anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Please quote reference number 12120062307.

Safety warning…

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North Yorkshire Police’s Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) team have again proved why the technology is one of the most effective tools available to the police service.

In the last financial year, the force’s ANPR team have seized £1,350,160 worth of stolen property, vehicles and drugs, summonsed 1,588 people to court and have made 88 arrests.

•1,025 fixed penalty notices have been issued by the team, mainly for motoring offences.
•523 vehicles have been seized for having no insurance, or because the driver using the did not have a valid licence.
•88 people were arrested for offences including theft, drugs, burglary, motoring offences and people wanted on warrants.
•Over 700 vehicles or people have been searched.
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Having messed up the introduction of a new system which allows residents to use smartphones to report issues (see http://stevegalloway.mycouncillor.org.uk/2012/03/28/not-so-smart-red-face-as-council-leader-flunks-it-test/) it is disappointing to report that the system isn’t producing results.

Fly tipping in Front Street back lane 20th April 2012

We have reported fly tipping using the system on several occasions over the last 3 weeks. Automated reports assured us that the tipping had been dealt with.

But today, far from being cleared, the tipping is still there and growing in size (see photo right).

As we said when the system was introduced, the problem with tackling street level problems does not rest with reporting systems. The web based channel advertised on the Council web site as “report it” works well. The issue relates to having the right level of resources dedicated to identifying and eliminating the root cause of fly tipping and the like.

In the past the Council had a dedicated team of Street Environment Officers who followed up issues like these. They were particularly effective in dealing with problems on private land. But it seems that they are now being starved of resources.

The Council needs to get control of the fly tipping, fly posting and graffiti problems before they reach a level which could permanently debase the image of our City.

It’s just part of the continuing decline in public services in the Acomb area. It makes the “love York” publicity stunt, which is being covered by sections of the media today, look increasingly out of touch with reality.