2 and 3 bedroomed houses in Foxwood Hill and Woodthorpe sold well in the late summer.

Prices ranged from £135,000 for a 2 bedroomed property on Waterman Court to £197,000 for a 3 bedroomed house on Otterwood Lane. A 3 bedroomed former Council house on Foxwood lane fetched £123,000 while a 3 bedroomed semi on Westfield Place found a buyer for £159,000. Cheapest property was a 1 bedroomed terraced house on Lydham Court which went for £99,950. At the other end of the scale properties on The Mount were selling for over £700,000!

Empty, chain free, properties currently available include a 2 bed flat on Cornlands Road at £109,995, a 3 bed semi in Thoresby Road is advertised at £139,950, a 3 bed detached on Glenridding is priced at £193,500 while moving into a 4 bed home Beechwood Glade will cost £250,000.

There have been some recent price reductions. A 2 bed semi in Wains Road is priced at £137,500; £149,950 buys a 3 bed semi in Slessor Road, Its £180,000 for a 2 bed terrace in Poppleton Road while £259,950 buys a 3 bed semi on Wetherby Road.

The rental market remains buoyant although there are still some bargains around.

A 1 bed flat in Windsor Garth costs £450 a month. A 3 bed in Grassholme will be £950 a month while 4 bedroomed properties range from £895 (Welton Avenue) to £1,200 (Moor Lane).

A 2 bed terraced property on Bellhouse Way is priced at £625 pcm as is a 3 bed in Middleton Road

Other properties available to rent include:

• £675 pcm North Lane, Dringhouses, York 2 Bed Semi-Detached

• £675 pcm North Lane, Dringhouses, York 2 Bed Semi-Detached

• £650 pcm Goodwood Grove, Tadcaster Road, York 2 Bed Terraced

• £650 pcm 63, Beaconsfield Street, Acomb, York 2 Bed Town House

• £625 pcm Carrfield Woodthorpe, YO24 2 Bed Bungalow

• £625 pcm Middleton Road, Acomb, York 3 Bed Semi-Detached

• £625 pcm Bellhouse Way, Acomb, York 2 Bed Terraced

• £550 pcm Chancery House, Holgate Road, York 2 Bed Flat

• £525 pcm Park Street, York 1 Bed Flat

• £460 pcm – TOWNHOUSE APARTMENTS, 98-104 HOLGATE ROA…1 Bed House

• £400 pcm – 11% HOLGATE ROAD, YORK, YO24 4AB 1 Bed Flat

• £385 pcm SECOND FLOOR FLAT, 150 THE MOUNT, YORK, … 1 Bed Flat

• £340 pcm SECOND FLOOR FLAT, 150 THE MOUNT, YORK, …1 Bed

The following web site provides a useful way of displaying all available property in a post code area. http://www.mouseprice.com/property-for-rent

The Council has agreed to write off the arrears of two former tenants.

Totalling £11,675 the two tenants each owed about £6000.

The Council has not revealed how such large sums, equivalent to about 2 years without paying any rent, accumulated.

The Council will decide on Tuesday 4th December whether or not to reinstate the 320 litter bins that it removed from York’s streets in the summer.

Petitions collected by the Liberal Democrats and residents living in Dunnington have prompted the review.

Papers for the meeting (click here http://tinyurl.com/York-Litter-4th-Dec-12 ) suggest that the Labour Councillor who will make the decision does not view avoiding litter as a major concern.

He is pictured left pretending to road test a new £10,000 street sweeper made necessary by the increasing amounts of rubbish being dropped on City centre streets.

Front Street litter

The situation is worse in sub-urban areas like Front Street and Dijon Avenue.

The Council says that it has reinstated or relocated 17 bins but that is a drop in the ocean compared to the demand for improvements.

The 2 changes in the Westfield Ward affect bins in Acomb Green and Askham Lane

See following table for details of the changes that have been agreed.

List of changes made to bin provision

City of York Council is advising pedestrians and cyclists that there will be restricted access alongside York Minster from next week.

As part of the York Minster Revealed restoration and conservation project, in partnership with City of York Council, restricted access will be in place in the vicinity of the South Transept/Minster Gates from Monday 26 November to end of January 2013.

Deangate works starting

The council is supporting the restoration works, which is the largest restoration and conservation project of its kind in the UK. The project will transform York Minster as a visitor attraction whilst conserving its world-class stonework and stained glass for generations to come.

The five-year project is generously supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and is scheduled for completion in early summer 2016.

Temporary traffic management, including signage, will be in place from Monday to advise pedestrians and cyclists that there will be restricted access on Deangate.

The project ties into the Reinvigorate York initiative to improve and enhance the quality of the city’s public spaces.

For more information visit www.yorkminsterrevealed.org

Come and treat yourself or pick up some special seasonal gifts at a Christmas craft fair.

Acomb Explore Library Learning Centre will be holding a Christmas craft fair on Saturday 24 November from 9am until 2:00pm.

At both events, there will be a wide range of stallholders selling all kinds of handmade items, such as knitted, felt and wooden crafts, paintings, jewellery and greetings cards.

After a spot of shopping the cafes at both centres will be offering with a ten per cent discount on a wide selection of freshly-cooked food.

A national campaign launched yesterday warns UK investors they risk falling victim to thousands of pounds worth of fraud if they fail to take simple steps to check who they’re investing with.

A national campaign launched today warns UK investors they risk falling victim to thousands of pounds worth of fraud if they fail to take simple steps to check who they’re investing with.

The campaign, led by Action Fraud, the national fraud and internet crime reporting centre estimates that £1.2 billion is lost nationally to investment fraud every year.

Figures collected as part of the nationwide campaign show that almost half (49%) of the men surveyed aged 36+ (a group most likely to have made investments), admit to having given out personal details before checking the credentials of the person who contacted them and only 57% are confident they can tell the difference between fraudulent and genuine offers.

More here: http://tinyurl.com/Fraud-in-York

National distribution of cuts

A study by the Newcastle Council has revealed that York has fared relatively well over the last 2 years when comparing reductions in government grant support it receives.

York suffered a £42.58 per head of population reduction compared to the national average of £60.90.

The largest cut was in Hackney which lost £266.17 per person.

The Guardian has undertaken an independent review of the data http://tinyurl.com/York-grant-data

The results of the assessment tend to support the view that it is the local Council Leadership in York that is mainly to blame for the decline in local public services.

Their concentration on “vanity” projects and PR stunts, rather than investing in street level public services, is the most contentious issue between the political parties in the City.

Cut in grant to York Council

York’s nationally important city archives, curated by City of York Council, will be moving to York Explore Library Learning Centre in 2013.

Ahead of that, the archives must relocate from their current stores in the City Art Gallery to allow for the Gallery’s major redevelopment by York Museums Trust. The archives will be temporarily relocated to secure off-site storage to protect them from the damage which would occur if they remained in the Art Gallery during its refurbishment. This will unfortunately require a temporary suspension of public access to the original archives from 1 February 2013. However, whilst the archives are in storage, the existing local history library service at York Explore will still be available, including copies of some of the archives on microfilm and in published form.

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City of York Council and First have been shortlisted for a national award, with the chance of winning thousands of pounds to support sustainable travel in the city.

The list of candidates shortlisted in the 2013 Eurostar Ashden Awards for Sustainable Travel was announced yesterday.

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