“Visionary” needed at York Council – no pay

Stonebow

Hot on the heels of yesterdays decision to appoint internally to a £70,000 a year “non-job”, the York Council is now trying to find someone who will work for free.

Applicants who are prepared to work for at least 2 or 3 days a week without pay to establish a new company aimed at promoting the City, only have until 7th January to do so.

Advertising any sort of opportunity over the festive period pretty much minimises the likely field so the suspicion will arise that someone’s name is already” in the frame”.

The Council says that it and partners including Visit York are looking to recruit a ‘visionary’ transitional chair to lead the creation of a new agency which will be responsible for marketing, tourism, cultural and business development for the city of York.

Reporting to CYC initially and working closely with partners including Visit York, Science City York and the two universities, as well as members of the private sector and the cultural community, the transitional chair will be an ambassador for the new agency. He or she will lead the creation of the new board and executive team and will also produce a five-year business strategy for the agency to deliver new branding, generate cultural activity, build the business and leisure visitor economy and support business development.

The post holder will be paid expenses. How the post fits into the Councils living wage policy is a mystery.

Details click here

Narrow vote but £70,000 “non job” gets York Council “go ahead”

Labour Councillors today voted through (by 3 votes to 2) the appointment of a new £70,000 a year “Interim Assistant Director Transformation and Change

You did waht

The post has been described as a “non-job” with vague objectives

A variety of questions were asked by opposition Councillors, including why just an internal advert, about the pool of people who could apply, about constituency of recruitment across the council and why if they could save money from a Children’s Services post did they need even more than the £500k set aside for transformation.

The post will be recruited internally. Only existing Council staff will be able to apply.

Two other posts are also to be advertised. An Assistant Directors for School Improvement and Highways/Waste will be advertised externally.

Unlike other Council meetings this committee’s debates are not transmitted over the web. Nor is an audio recording made available for residents.

Apparently some agricultural language was used by one of the participants!

Salt bins – 121 fail to find new parents

snow_wardensThe Council has admitted that only a handful of threatened salt bins have found new sponsors.

The remaining 121 bins are now set to be removed.

  • 31 salt bins are being taken over by Parish Councils
  • 6 are being adopted by Residents Associations
  • 2 others have been sponsored by other groups

Meanwhile the last Council meeting heard that the total number of “snow wardens” in the City has increased to 208.

Their postcodes can now be viewed on a map (click here)

The spread of “snow wardens” across the City is very uneven.

West York housing market picking up

Local house sales are picking up.

Selling prices remain competitive in west York with a 1 bed property in Invicta Court recently fetching £99,000, a 2 bedroomed terraced property in Walker Drive going for £112,000, a 3 bedroomed property in St Josephs Court going for £140,750 while a 4 bedroomed property  in Huntsman’s Walk reached £190,000.

There are still some bargains around.
—–

click for details

click for details

———–

Properties for rent include

2 bed semi in Tedder Road at £650 a month

A 3 bed in Glenridding is advertised at £895

Waste collection reminder

The York Council is distributing a leaflet to each household explaining how they plan to schedule waste collections over the Christmas period.

Bins in Foxwood 2012

Bins in Foxwood 2012

Last year the service deteriorated in to chaos during the same period.

This year some recycling collections are being cancelled. There will be no collections on New Years Day but there will be a “catch up” on the following Saturday.

The Council have issued the following advice.

(more…)

MEP delighted by record increase in apprentices

Yorkshire MEP Edward McMillan-Scott is ‘delighted’ with the increase in people in apprenticeships in York and North Yorkshire, he said during a recent visit to York College.

 

Megan Geyerhosz, Hannah Smith, Edward McMillan-Scott MEP, Denise Morrison, Cllr Keith Aspden and Cllr Ann Reid at York College

Megan Geyerhosz, Hannah Smith, Edward McMillan-Scott MEP, Denise Morrison, Cllr Keith Aspden and Cllr Ann Reid at York College

Edward visited York College following the announcement that almost 860,000 people were on apprenticeships in the UK in 2012/13. This means that more people than ever before are in apprenticeships and that the government has created over 1.5 million new apprentice places since 2010.

 

Edward McMillan-Scott MEP, Cllr Keith Aspden and Cllr Ann Reid visited York College, one of Yorkshire’s major apprentice providers, on Friday to learn more about their efforts to increase the number of people in York and North Yorkshire who are in apprenticeships.

 

During the visit they met with Denise Morrison, assistant principal for employer engagement at York College and Finance Assistants, Megan Geyerhosz (aged 20) and Hannah Smith (aged 18). Both Megan and Hannah studied an apprenticeship in Level 3 Business Administration and are about to embark on a course in Book Keeping and Accounts to help them in their roles in the Finance office.

 

Edward McMillan-Scott, Liberal Democrat MEP for Yorkshire and Humber and Vince-President of the European Parliament, commented: “I am delighted that over 25,000 apprenticeships have been created in York and North Yorkshire since 2010. Apprenticeships are a crucial part of the Liberal Democrat strategy to build a stronger economy. I congratulate York College for their efforts towards increasing the number of apprentices in our region. I hope that many more businesses in York and across North Yorkshire will be encouraged to employ apprentices as a result of the success that both employers and trainees locally are achieving.”

 
(more…)