Foxwood Residents will be having a Teddy Bears’ picnic at the Foxwood Community Centre summer fair on Saturday 22 June from 11am to 3pm.
The first 18 children who come along with a teddy bear will get a free goody bag.
There will also be the opportunity to adopt a bear from the teddy bear orphanage and a tombola for the adults.
If you can help on the day, then please contact Shirley on 793437.
The Foxwood Community centre is located on Cranfield Place just off Bellhouse Way
Residents have only got until 5:00pm today (Friday 21st June) to record a formal objection to the plan to impose a wide area 20 mph speed limit in west York.
This can be done by Emailing highway.regulation@york.gov.uk or 20mph@york.gov.uk
The LibDem campaign to scrap the speed limit proposal, and replace it with targeted measures aimed at reducing accident levels, gained widespread support earlier in the week when it was publicised in the local media.
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Incredible insects 22nd June click to enlarge
Shelter are reporting that it could take a couple 12 years to save up enough to climb onto the housing ladder in York. This is in line with the average for the whole country.
It compares to 11.3 years in other parts of North Yorkshire.
Elsewhere in the country the shortest time is in Durham (7.5 years) while in Cornwall the time to save is over 16 years.
In London you could wait 29 years in Camden before being able to buy.
The shelter data can be accessed by clicking here.
In York, following a housing price peak in 2008, average prices have fallen while average wages have risen.
In the City at the moment, there are several 1 bedroomed “starter” flats advertised at around £120,000. The average wage is about £24,000 a year in the City. Most mortgage agencies are now requiring a 20% deposit.
If the current Local Plan for York is implemented then house prices AND THE VALUE OF EXISTING PROPERTY could fall by around 10%. With around 10% of homeowners already in negative equity (their home is worth less than their outstanding mortgage) 100’s more could be plunged into this debt trap.
Falling house prices could lead mortgage companies to demand higher deposits as they seek to ensure that their loans are secured by the property value.
Kingsway West £85,000
So what are house prices like in the real world in York? (Shelter uses average values and average wages to make their comparisons)
In March a 2 bedroomed house in Moss Street was sold for £135,000 while a 1 bedroomed terraced house in St Pauls Terrace fetched £125,000
Amongst those currently on offer are a 2 bedroomed flat in St Stephens Square for £70,000 and a 2 bedroomed house in Kingsway West at £85,000.
A 3 bedroomed house in Spurr Court is advertised for £125,000.
On the private rental market, £400 a month secures a 1 bedroomed flat in Holgate Road
2 bedroomed flats start at £495 pcm in Front Street
However, the cheapest 3 bedroomed property is in Beagle Ridge Drive (£795 pcm)
The average value of property in the YO24 area is £173,000. This is less than the national average (£188,000)
A new report has been published this month which looks into “what we all can do to ensure that York’s habitat and wildlife, including endangered species, are protected from extinction”.
The York Council says, “Residents can help by completing fact sheets about wildlife activity in their gardens at www.york.gov.uk/localplan– in the ‘download documents panel’.
You’ll be hard pressed thought to find a form see here Clearly, after recent events, spotting Great Crested Newts these days earns rather fewer ISpy points than might have been the case a couple of decades ago.
Reports are coming in the that the “Local Plan” consultation leaflet hasn’t yet been delivered in parts of York.
Several Chapelfields residents apparently only found out about the plans – which include a controversial proposal to build a Showman’s Yard on nearby Wetherby Road – when the Residents Association delivered a public meeting invitation last week.
It is unclear whether any other areas have also been excluded from the delivery which was made with a “Local Link” magazine in early June.
More details of the Council’s plans can be found on their web site www.york.gov.uk/localplan and a public exhibition is taking place at Acomb Library tomorrow (Thursday) between 2:30pm and 7:00pm
The York Council is easing its regulations on the mutual exchange of socially rented homes (sometimes referred to as “Direct exchanges”)
City of York Council currently uses the Homeswapper service to bring customers wanting to exchange together. This is a web based service which is free to tenants.
Customers can also find others wanting to exchange using less formal means such as adverts in shop windows and word of mouth.
Housing Services currently have 823 (at 07.05.13) tenants registered on Homeswapper with 104 of these under occupying with 155 being overcrowded.
There have been 141 exchanges in the last 12 months, 26 of which were previously under occupied and 50 previously overcrowded. Homeswapper indicates that this is above the national average of sites that use this software.
803 tenants now having their housing benefit entitlements reduced because they have unused bedrooms. Around 200 of these are actively seeking to “downsize”
The main changes seem to be that, non rent, debts may be disregarded when officials assess a tenant’s suitability to exchange.
This looks to be positive response as not only will those under-occupying homes have to pay a lower rent on a smaller property, but also overcrowded families will get a property which better meets their needs.
The decision was taken behind closed doors earlier this week.
Detectives in York are appealing for two vital witnesses to come forward following an attempted robbery in the city.
It occurred between 5pm and 5.15pm on Monday 17 June 2013, as a woman walked through Museum Gardens.
(more…)
The largest total of speeders ever to be caught by mobile speed cameras in York were recorded last week (9th – 15th June)
A total of 280 offences were recorded. Of these 250 drivers were invited to attend speed awareness courses although 30 faced more severe penalties.
Once again the road with the worst record was the A1237 near Monks Cross where 62 offenders were identified.
Other roads with a poor record included Beckfield Lane (44), York Road Haxby (32), Strensall Road Huntington (30) and Towthorpe Road Haxby.
The full details can be found by clicking here
North Yorkshire Police mobile safety camera routes 19 to 25 June 2013
Below are enforcement locations for North Yorkshire Police’s mobile safety cameras for week commencing Wednesday 19 June 2013.
• Beckfield Lane Acomb York
• Main Street Askham Richard
• Millfield lane Poppleton York
• Tadcaster Road Dringhouses York
• Temple Lane Copmanthorpe York
• Greenshaw Drive Haxby
• Towthorpe Road Haxby
• York Road Haxby York
• Church Lane Wheldrake
• Grange Farm, Wheldrake Lane, Elvington
• Malton Road York
• Murton Way Murton York
• Strensall Road Huntington York
• The village Stockton-on-the-Forest York
• (more…)
As we forecast in January, the Labour run York Council has now been forced to admit that the new Community Stadium will not be ready for occupation before 2016.
The development contract is due to be awarded in November but it has been clear for some time that the original target date, of an August 2014 opening, would not be achieved.
The delay has little to do with the need to re-house a colony of Great Crested Newts as has been claimed in the media. Complex tendering negotiations under European regulations were always going to be taking place at the present time. Local wildlife housing needs have no effect on this part of the stadium development timetable.
The procurement process for the new Community Stadium was expected to take 15 months with the contract being awarded in November 2013.
The Council are still claiming that this will include the appointment of a new operator to take ownership of the daily operation of Energise and the Yearsley Pool as well as the Huntington stadium leisure complex with effect from early in 2014.
Those watching the stadium web site will have been first disappointed, and then uneasy, to see no recent update reports.
A working group, which was monitoring progress on the project, was disbanded when Labour took office in 2011. There have been no recent statements from the Council Leadership on the Community Stadium, its associated developments and the way that the business plan for the project is maturing.
The delay is one of many that are dogging the increasingly accident prone York Council.
The modernisation programme for elderly person’s accommodation has slipped by 3 years, while many of the Council’s transport projects are now running 12 months behind schedule.
