Labour highways maintenance scam revealed.

Labour are planning a “surprise” announcement next month, when they will “reveal” that they will spend an additional £2 million on highways resurfacing during the next financial year.

Highways expenditure Click to enlarge

The announcement will be in response to the pressure, put on them by residents and the Liberal Democrats, who have criticised the cuts made in road and footpath repairs budgets over the last 2 years.

In total, £4 million has been cut from the repairs budget in an attempt to find funding for schemes like the repaving of Kings Square and the, largely unnecessary, £1 million street lamppost replacement programme.

Now Labour – for one year only – hope to return the budget to the £5.5 million level that they inherited from the last LibDem administration.

However, they intend to pay for the programme by borrowing more money. Already residents are facing over £1 million a year extra in interest payments – making Council Tax rises inevitable.

The figures also reveal that investment on de-icing roads and footpaths has fallen by more than half since Labour took over. Fortunately we have – so far – had a mild winter but we may not be so lucky in future years.

We hope that roads like Vesper Drive and footpaths like those on Huntsman’s Walk will now get, long overdue, resurfacing.

Rubbish skips this weekend Saturday 15th February

Although the Council has cut back on the number of amenity skips it provides, several residents associations continue to run programmes aimed at making it easier for tenants to get rid of unwanted items.

The skips are only in place for a few minutes and residents must ensure that they put any rubbish into the skips and do not leave it on the path or highway.

1 Morrell Court 08:30 09:30

3 Vincent Way 12:30 13:30

4 Rogers Court 08:30 09:30

5 Corlett Court 10:30 11:30

York “rewiring” plan; Cliff Richard, Fred Smith Electrical or City of York Council?

The York Council has said it will spend £10 million over the next 5 years on IT equipment. Their intention is to force residents to use electronic communications to communicate with the Council.

Cliff Richard – rewired for sound

They promise (or threaten) that each local resident will have their own web page account.

The move comes following our revelation that the number contacting the Council by telephone or through a personal visit has spiralled since their move to the “West Offices”.

They have dubbed the scheme as service “rewiring” – a piece of jargon guaranteed to pass over the heads of most residents.

A report, nodded through by the Labour leadership on Tuesday, fails to make any kind of business case for the huge expenditure.

The report is riddled with management jargon and hyperbole plus much conjecture about what residents want.

Attached to the report is the 6 monthly review of service quality.

This revealed that many targets are already being missed by the Council with recycling rates reducing and the numbers using the bus service in sharp decline since Labour meddled with the services when they took office.

Confidence in the Councils ability to deal with reports and complaints has already been damaged.

The “app” launched to allow smart phone reporting of issues has flopped, some reports made using proprietary web tools were lost by the Council while frustrated residents – seeking information through Freedom of Information requests -frequently do not attract answers within legal target times.

But the main concern will be the implications for residents if the Council and its officials hide behind an electronic defensive barricade.

The plan will mean more outsourcing and local jobs will be lost as techno bureaucrats take over.

Public services will become DIY as residents are forced to fill in the gaps left by a retreating public sector.

………..and the march of more CCTV surveillance will continue in the background!

Vehicle charging points used only 60 times in 3 months

The York Council has confirmed that its 6 electric vehicles charging points were use only 60 times (in total) last year.

The charging points cost £30,000 to install.

The Council has been criticised for not running – in conjunction with the trade – an effective campaign promoting the use of electric vehicles.

Indeed its latest budget proposals could see the parking charge discounts, currently available for low emission vehicles, further eroded.

Lendal Bridge/Coppergate camera fine victims now exceed 60,000.

60,414 drivers have been issued with penalty notices for driving on Lendal Bridge and Coppergate since new restrictions were introduced in August.

Of these 46,323 were caught by cameras on Lendal Bridge while 14,091 were photographed on Coppergate.

The numbers being caught in both locations increased towards the end of January.

The complete figures can be downloaded by clicking here.

Meanwhile the media are reporting that the Council has received £1.3 in fine income.

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Mobile safety camera routes week commencing 12 February 2014

Below are the enforcement locations for North Yorkshire Police’s mobile safety cameras for week commencing Wednesday 12 February 2014.

The safety cameras are now more visible then ever before with each of the three vehicles bearing the same hi-vis livery as North Yorkshire Police’s marked vehicle fleet.

All safety camera locations are published on the force website along with an explanation of the various route types.

Click here

Flooding in York – dredge the Ouse?

River Ouse web cam Click to access latest information

A flood warning has been issued by the Environment Agency. River levels are not expected to increase to those encountered in 2012.

Detailed river levels can be found on the EA web site http://tinyurl.com/Ouse-catchment

The best indicator remains the real time CCTV camera which records river levels on Kings Staith.

There is a significant risk If the top of the no entry sign disappears under water!

The devastation caused by flooding in other parts of the country is likely to reopen the debate about whether the river Ouse should be dredged.

Although dredging might increase the river capacity (and speed) where the work could be completed there would be other implications. Not least amongst these are the fact that more water would arrive in greater volumes at vulnerable downstream locations.

Potentially this could mean more, rather than fewer, homes being flooded. There are also concerns about the impact that dredging can have on the foundations of bridges. on river banks and on wildlife habitats.

The policy introduced a few years ago – of planting near the upper reaches of rivers to help control the speed that water runs off the land – has merit, while the York Council is rightly making provision, in its forward budgets, for the improvement and maintenance of water courses.

Nevertheless the dredging arguments do now need to be revisited and we would like to see a committee set up to publicly consider all the issues involved.

“Big Brother” fears as more invisible policemen set to come to York?

ANPR camera use to be extended

The Council has announced that it will use camera cars to enforce zig zag parking restrictions outside schools.

This is likely to be of limited value at some schools where some parents park on yellow lines, verges and block access driveways.

Use of such camera cars has been controversial in other towns and cities but the vehicle may give some comfort to schools and their immediate neighbours.

Ironically the DfT is just completing its public consultation on car parking. One of the options being considered is to limit the use of CCTV cameras near schools!

More significantly in York, Labour Councillors are now proposing to extend the use of number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras in the City.

ANPR cameras have been responsible for identifying over 50,000 drivers on Coppergate and Lendal Bridge, with fines totalling around £1 million already issued.

Clearly this potential cash cow has proved to be attractive to the Council.

It will decide later today to introduce camera enforcement of more bus lanes later this year with a target income of £50,000.

It is also budgeting to receive an additional £100,000 in 2015 from the “Further introduction of ANPR enforcement measures across the City where network congestion can be improved”.

The budget papers published by the Council make no mention of how much revenue they except to raise from the continued use of the Coppergate (or Lendal Bridge) cameras during the next financial year.