Where the skips are on Saturday

The skips below are funded by your local residents association using their Estate Improvement Grant. The skips are removed once they are full so please make sure you arrive in good time if you intend to make use of them.

1. Please remember to take your waste to the site only on the dates advertised

2. If the skip is full or not on the site, please do not leave your waste. This is classed as fly tipping and is illegal

3. Bulky items including furniture, fridges and freezers are not accepted. To arrange disposal of Bulky items including furniture, fridges and freezers are not accepted. To arrange disposal of one of these items please ring York (01904) 551551.

Click the following links for more information

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Community Centre users fight cuts

Users of the Burton Stone Community Centre have joined their counterparts in Foxwood, Chapelfields and Bell Farm in criticising Labours plans for the future of their facilities.

Burton Stone community centre future unclear

A petition from the York Coronary Support Trust is being considered at a decision meeting on 27^th November. The petition expresses concerns that the Council plan, to outsource the management of the centre, could lead to the organisation’s 4 fitness sessions each week being interrupted.

As at other community centres around the City, Labour are planning to eliminate all support subsidies by 1^st April 2015.

In the case of Burton Stone, the centre will in future by predominately used to provide “a day activity programme for over 60 adults with a learning disability and/or autism between 9:00 – 5:00 Monday & Friday”.

New LibDem Councillor Andrew Waller has been leading the campaign to have Council grants to the City’s community centres restored.

A grant of £15,000 a year to each would allow a part time caretaker to be employed, raising the possibility of increased opening hours and hence community use.

Most York Community Centre rely heavily on volunteers to manage and sustain them.

Vesper Drive – York Carriageway Resurfacing Works

City of York Council is due to resurface the carriageway on Vesper Drive during the week commencing 24^th November.

The works are programmed to take 3 to 4 days to complete, working between 8:30am and 5.00pm.

Area of Vesper Drive to be resurfaced

To carry out the works safely, a road closure will be in place on Vesper Drive.

Due to the nature of the works and the size of the machinery required to undertake the works, there will be periods of time when it will not be possible for residents to gain vehicular access to their properties during the works. In these circumstances, residents should be prepared to use alternative parking.

Pedestrian access will be available at all times. Cyclists will have to dismount and use the footways when travelling through the affected areas.

Fresh call to repay all Lendal Bridge fines

Liberal Democrats are making a fresh call for all Lendal Bridge fines to be repaid following the resignation of council leader James Alexander.

Lendal bridge – always been busy at 5;00pm

Lib Dem Group Leader Cllr Keith Aspden will move a motion at next month’s Full Council meeting (11th December) calling for all fined motorists to be automatically refunded. He will be seeking support from other councillors to back the move in the coming days.

Cllr Aspden says the refunds need to be part of a wider rethink of council policies following the resignation of the Labour council leader yesterday.

Cllr Keith Aspden, Liberal Democrat Group Leader in York, commented:
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“Grand Departy” Inquiry agreed

Only minutes before the York Council Leader resigned, a Council scrutiny committee had agreed to hold an Inquiry into the Grand Departy shambles.

Sparse crowd for Grand Departy

The event lost £187,000.

Officials attending the meeting admitted that mistakes had been made.

The Culture Scrutiny committee agreed to look at the processes – including decisions on marketing and safety – connected with the event as well as the operation of the spectator hubs and camping arrangements.

All the opposition parties supported the review although two Labour Councillors at the meeting opposed holding an inquiry.

A report will also go to the Cabinet in January.

The meeting was held in public and can be viewed on the Council web cam.

Where now for York Council?

The resignation of York Council Leader James Alexander brings to a conclusion one of the unhappiest periods seen in local government in the City.

Elected on a mood of anti government rhetoric the reality of the job proved to be too much of a challenge for Labours new, inexperienced, Council team.

In fighting resulted in 5 of the 26 Labour Councillors, elected in 2011, quilting the party, with others set to stand down at next May’s elections.

James Alexander isn’t a bad person. With 10 more years experience under his belt he could have been an asset to his party and to the City. And he can take some pride in having turned an unlikely “living wage” campaign into a reality for some less well paid workers.

But in the flush of victory it is easy to be over ambitious and the cracks soon began to show.

Rather than admit mistakes were being made, a culture of half truths and posturing started to dominate the administrations public comments. Later it seemed that some members had started to believe their own propaganda.

Next came the secrecy. An almost pathological reluctance to provide answers to a growing mountain of questions. It was a stance that left ordinary York residents having to resort to Freedom of Information requests to find out how their money was being spent.

There were, of course, also a lot of bad decisions.

The tone was set early on by an ill judged attempt to sell off the Union Terrace car park. Valuable local facilities like the Beckfield Lane recycling centre were closed with no real consultation.

Local Community Centres were starved of funds yet…

….money could be found for the unnecessary (20 mph speed limits) and the ill considered (Lendal Bridge closure).

The Council’s debts spiralled, central government money (aimed at freezing Council Tax levels) was spurned and improbable vanity projects like the £187,000 “Grand Departy” were quietly authorised.

Major investment schemes overran.

New Park and Ride sites opened 6 months late, the Community Stadium is two years behind schedule and the Lowfields Care Village three years late.

Perhaps most significantly, Labour unveiled a Local Plan which would have seen the City increase in size by over 20% during the next 15 years. It was a prospect that thousands of York residents could not understand, much less support.

All in all, change became inevitable and the electorate took the first opportunity presented to them in the Westfield by election last month to give Labour the thumbs down.

Council are elected for fixed terms. That means that Labour must find a new Leader who has the interpersonal skills – and inclination – to forge a working relationship with all members of the York Council.

It will not be easy in the build up to what will be difficult budget decisions in February.

Now is the time for all parties to put the good of the City first. It will require a change in mood.

The current York Council can’t afford to fail another test.

NB. Westfield Councillor Dafydd Williams also announced today that he is quitting the area and will seek a seat, in what he obviously considers to be safer territory, in Heworth. Whether anywhere is safe for Labour we will see next May.

Williams is replaced in Westfield by a Huddersfield University student who currently lives in Bishopthorpe. It seems that Labour have not yet learned any lessons.

Crunch meeting to decide on ‘Grand Départy’ Inquiry as cost of stilt walkers revealed.

Liberal Democrat calls for an inquiry into the ‘Grand Departy’ music concert are to be heard at crunch scrutiny meeting tomorrow.

Cllr Ian Cuthbertson, Lib Dem Spokesperson for Leisure, Culture and Tourism, last week submitted a request for a review into the “planning, promotion and delivery” of City of York Council organised events for the Tour De France, including the £187,000 loss-making ‘Grand Departy’ concert.

A decision on whether to proceed with the review will be taken at tomorrow’s Learning & Culture Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

Since the review request was submitted new concerns have emerged over public safety at the Grand Departy. Minutes from the July meeting of the council’s Safety Advisory Group (which took place just days after the event) have highlighted problems.

These included locked fire exits, blocked emergency exits and no licence to allow people to use covered seating areas. The Group said it would not support a similar event proposed at such late notice.

“Until these budget and safety issues are properly addressed many people will have little faith in the council to successfully run any large-scale cultural event.”

click to enlarge

The meeting comes as the York Council has been forced to reveal more detailed costs of the Grand Departy. Details can be downloaded by clicking here. The papers reveal that the costs of the stage, amplification and lighting alone cost more than total ticket sale income.

The Council have also released details of how over £60,000 was spent on other aspects of the “cultural festival”. Click here to download

. Details of the scrutinty meeting can be found here: .

The Committee is made-up of 3 Labour councillors, 1 Lib Dem, 1 Conservative, 1 Green (Chair) and 1 Independent.

Cllr Cuthbertson, who will make the case for an inquiry at tomorrow’s meeting, commented:
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York Christmas lights switch on this Thursday

A sparkling evening in York is promised for Thursday 20 November, when the Christmas lights will be switched on by the Lord Mayor and younger members of his family, as well as favourite characters from this year’s pantomime at York Theatre Royal. The event will be compered by Adam Tomlinson and Anna Wallace, presenters at BBC Radio York.

The Lord Mayor will be joined in St Helen’s Square by his four grandchildren who will together perform the countdown to illuminating the St Leonard’s Hospice Light up a Life Christmas Tree and Christmas lights around the square. Panto favourites funny-man Martin Barrass and much-loved baddie David Leonard will also be on hand to add to the fun and bring a little of York Theatre Royal’s Mother Goose style to the evening.

Frank Woods, Chair of the York Retail Forum said: “Here we are again, on the verge of Christmas, and approaching the start of the festive period with an official switch on of the lights at St Helens Square. This is a fabulous time of year, hard work in the retail sector, but very rewarding as we all see our clients leaving the shops happy with the purchases, ready for placing under the tree. It is, of course, also a vital time for retailers, which can make a trading year really successful. The lights switch on, and St Nicholas Fair/festival is the perfect way to kick-star Christmas, especially as, this year, the St Nicholas Fair is to be extended over a month.”

Retailers throughout York will be open until 8pm on the evening of 20 November and on each Thursday evening up until Christmas.

Approximate timings for the switch on will be:

· From 5.30pm: The University of York Brass Band play Christmas carols and favourite Christmas music in St Helen’s Square
· 6.10pm: The Lord Mayor and pantomime characters will be briefly interviewed by BBC Radio York and will start the public countdown
· 6.15pm/6.20pm: The St Leonard’s Hospice Christmas tree lights will be officially switched on. The University of York Brass Band continues playing and local choirs, including Haxby Road Academy, Supersingers and York Music Centre Girls Chamber Choir will sing around the city throughout the evening, bringing musical magic to different retailers.

Residents and visitors can also see the new Christmas lights at the Coppergate Shopping Centre which promise to thrill and delight whilst also raising money for York based charity, Jessie’s Fund. A magical, musical Christmas tree comes alive each hour and, on receipt of a donation, will play music and change colours. On Sunday 30 November from 3pm shoppers and families who have benefitted from Jessie’s Fund together with local retailers will be celebrating Christmas with singing around the tree.

Meanwhile, Gillygate is organising more Christmas celebrations when the street is transformed into ‘Jollygate’ between 5pm and 8pm on Thursday 11 December. The Gillygate Traders association, in partnership with Access to Music, will be presenting an extravaganza of sound and shopping as shops come alive with the beautiful sounds and talent from Access to Music students past and present. Shops will host their own bespoke gigs and the musical mayhem culminates in a headline act at The Gillygate pub after-party from 8pm onwards. Everyone’s welcome!

89 per cent of York secondary schools ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’

89 per cent of York secondary schools and 87 per cent of the city’s primary schools are classed as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, according to the latest Ofsted inspections.

The figures will be presented to City of York Council’s Learning and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee later this week (19 November) together with other schools’ data for 2014. (more…)