Local Group? Looking for a free meeting venue? Gale Farm Court may be the answer

The residents of Gale Farm Court, the sheltered accommodation unit for older people which is located on Front Street, have come up with a novel way of making better use of their community room.Rock band

They are offering free use of the room – which can accommodate up to 40 people – to local groups who need a meeting space.

The residents will permit free use of the room with priority being given to groups who might let residents join in with their activities.

Obviously this offer is likely to be of particular interest to craft, further education and discussion groups who are in need of additional participants, but it may also go some way to satisfying the demand for space at places like Energise and the Library which are sometimes over subscribed.

Any group that is interested should communicate their details and requirements to:

Kerrie Smith|Sheltered Housing Scheme Manager

t: 01904 552298 |m: 07825680637| e: kerrie.smith@york.gov.uk

 

Woodlea Avenue, Acomb – York Carriageway Resurfacing Works

City of York Council is due to resurface the carriageway on Woodlea Avenue during the weeks commencing 24th November and 1st December 2014. road works

The works are programmed to take 2 weeks to complete, working between 8:00am and 5.30pm.

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

In these circumstances, residents should be prepared to use alternative parking.

Small Business Saturday Bus launches York campaign

York will see the  Small Business Saturday Bus  roll into the city on Tuesday 18 November to launch the city’s drive to encourage residents and visitors to show their support for local small businesses on Small Business Saturday, taking place on 6 December 2014.

small-business-saturday-bus-tour

Small Business Saturday is about encouraging everyone in the UK to support small businesses with events and promotions being held on what is one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

The Small Business Saturday bus tour is promoting the campaign in advance to shoppers and also handing out vital promotional material to help businesses be involved on the day. The arrival of the bus offers an opportunity for small business owners to gain advice and tell the Small Business Saturday team and City of York Council’s York Means Business team what they are doing to celebrate Small Business Saturday. The bus will be located in St Helen’s Square from 11am until 3pm.

York will be celebrating Small Business Saturday itself by hosting a market celebrating York’s independent businesses. Located along Duncombe Place (outside York Minster) and organised by City of York Council and the Proudly™ initiative, itself  a collective of York’s independent businesses,the event will feature local businesses selling goods and sharing their unique stories.
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York Council project failures

Calls for system overhaul

With yet another major York Council project falling behind schedule, and hopelessly over budget, there are growing calls for a review of project management processes in the City.

Poppleton Bar Roadworks delays

Poppleton Bar Roadworks delays

The latest budget overrun is reported on the A1237 Haxby – Wigginton cycle path. As well as major delays the project will now cost over £1.3 million compared to a budget of £700,000.

A Liberal Democrat spokesman said,

“It is time re-introduce regular project updates to the Councils monitoring committees.

Any significant delay – or cost overrun – of more than 10%  must trigger a formal report in future.

We’d also like to see more openness in reporting with regular updates being posted on the Council’s web site”

As well as the cycle path, projects which would be subject to review include:

The Press are reporting that the Green Council Group Leader has now decided that there are questions about the Lendal Bridge trial which do need to be answered publicly. Despite voting last week against an Inquiry, he is apparently now saying that the Council’s Chief Executive should be asked to account for the mistakes at a “governance” committee meeting.

NB. The Lendal Bridge situation is also likely to be discussed at the Council meeting which is scheduled to be held on 11th December.

York pilots flexible ‘childcare hubs’ as part of national initiative

Parents in York will find it even easier to find childcare to fit their needs thanks to a new national pilot scheme to create childcare ‘hubs’.

Ten Community Childcare and Early Learning Hubs have been set up across the country by childcare charity 4Children, on behalf of the Department for Education, four of which are in York.

The Hubs consist of a variety of early years settings and schools all working together in a local area to achieve three goals – improving quality, offering blended childcare to parents and supporting the provision of new childcare places as required.

Victims of crime sought for Independent Justice Panel

Julia Mulligan, North Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner and Jonathan Mortimer, the independent Chairman of the Out of Court Disposal Scrutiny Panel, are today asking for victims of crime to come forward to help scrutinise the use of police cautions and other non-court penalties.

PCC logo

The Panel was set up earlier in the year in response to public concern about the use of Out of Court Disposals in North Yorkshire. The Panel has identified that its objectives are to ensure that such penalties are used appropriately, consistently across the county and to make recommendations to North Yorkshire Police.
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Only 7076 new Minster badges sold

98 residents fined for using old badges in evening

Only a small proportion of the 30,000 old style Minster badge holders have opted to pay £20 to get a new badgeMinster Badge

The latest figures released by the York Council suggest that 7076 of the badges have been sold

The badges entitle holders to free parking at Council car parks in the evening.

98 residents have incurred Penalty Charge Notices for relying on the old style badge during September.

It seems though that some are opting to pay the £2 a night evening charge. Evening car park income has increased since last year

  • 2013 £34,042.05
  • 2014 £40,754.50

No assessment has yet been made on the effects of the increased charges on the evening economy.

NB. The Minster badge also entitles users to pay lower day time car parking charges.

Mental Health facilities upgrade in York

Funding to improve mental health services in York has been approved by NHS Property Services.

Cherry Tree House

Cherry Tree House

NHS Property Services and NHS England have been working with local NHS services to address property and facilities issues in York to ensure that all mental health services can be accommodated appropriately within safe, secure and modern environments.

The first of the two schemes proposed will see the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS Tier 4) move out its current base at Lime Trees on Shipton Road into Mill Lodge – a refurbished building that will provide modern and safe mental health facilities for young people.

The second scheme will upgrade Cherry Tree House in the Heworth area of York to provide a purpose built unit for elderly patients currently cared for on Ward 6 at Bootham Park Hospital.

More

LibDems and mental health

Bus use in York stable but fears for subsidised services grow

Some park and ride sites to operate free service on Boxing Day

Labour Councillors have announced that they will be considering reducing subsidised bus services in the City at a meeting which will be held on 11th December.

Labour were criticised during the recent Westfield by election for keeping secret their plans to reduce services like the number 13A which serves the Hamilton Drive area.

There has so far been no consultation on the proposals which will seek to reduce the annual £800,000 spend by the Council on sustaining off peak bus services and those to remoter parts of the City.

The latest crisis reflects problems which started to develop when Labour took control of the Council in 2011.

Bus service usage figures at Nov 2014 2

 

They concentrated their efforts on scrapping the popular (with passengers) ftr service but failed to put anything in its place. Routes were chopped and changed with stability only achieved during the last 12 months.

Now even that seems to be under threat.

Bus service usage peaked at 12 million passenger journeys with the introduction of the ftr in 2006 before declining last year to 10.4 million.

Overall bus usage has held up with a gradual increase in the numbers using Park and Ride services which themselves peaked last year at 4.4 million.

 Further increases are expected this year with the opening of the larger Askham Bar site and the new service from Poppleton Bar.

NB. The Council has announced it’s Christmas Park and Ride services.

A late night shopping service on all six Park&Ride routes will operate every Thursday, with the last bus leaving the city centre on all routes at around 9.30pm (for exact timings visit http://www.itravelyork.info/).

The first extended service will run from the 20 November ahead of the biggest Christmas market in York’s calendar – St Nicholas Fair starting on 27 November.

In addition to this, passengers will also be able to take advantage again of the, now traditional,  FREE travel on Boxing Day on the three key P&R routes which will be operating.

Three Park & Ride services will operate on Boxing Day:

  • Askham Bar (white line – route 3) – First bus at 7am from the site, last bus back from Tower Street at 6.42pm
  • Designer Outlet (red line – route 7) – First bus at 7am from the site, last bus back from Rougier Street at 6.40pm
  • Monks Cross (silver line – route 9) – First bus at 7am from the site, last bus back from Rougier Street at 6.43pm

All three services will operate at a 15 minute frequency throughout the day and will be FREE for all passengers (and will stop at all usual stops along the route).

To find out more about the offer or to find the best bus route through York, try out the council’s new i-Travel York online Journey Planner at http://www.itravelyork.info/