Marygate car park barrier problems to be questioned.

With the barriers at the Marygate car park apparently out of action again, Liberal Democrat Councillor Keith Hyman has tabled two questions for the Council meeting on Thursday.

The £100,000 scheme was controversial from the start with no provision being made for card payments.

Currently the barriers are raised allowing free car parking.

It is unclear what damage this is doing to the Councils income or whether Labour Councillors will be forced to increase charges at other car parks to make up for any deficit.

The two tabled questions read:

(xxv) “How does the income derived from the Marygate car park, since it had a barrier system installed, compare to the equivalent period last year?”
(xxvi) “How many faults have occurred on the new barrier/ticketing installation at Marygate car park and does the Cabinet Member judge the barrier system to have been a success?”

The same cabinet member will be asked to reveal how many drivers have taken advantage of the “free” parking made available, on 3 mornings a week, at some of York’s car parks.

Morning congestion levels have increased recently on routes such as Water End and Fulford Road, with the Councils decision to encourage more rush hour car journeys using the free parking incentive being partly to blame.

It is hoped that the impact on other car parks – and Council income – will be revealed.

Grand Departy costs – York Council says it won’t release details until after the Westfield by election poll has taken place

Sparse crowd for Grand Departy

Three months after a party took place at the Huntington Stadium, the Council still claims that it does know how much income it received from ticket sales.

The budget costs of the 5 hour event were revealed as £228,000 in a response to a Freedom of Information request in August.

It beggars belief that the Council does not yet know how much the event cost and what bill Council Taxpayers will have to pick up.

In an internal review, of responses to an FOI request from former Council Leader Steve Galloway, the Council has admitted irregularities with officials apparently having incorrectly quoted national legislation to justify a cover up.

They have also apologized for delays in dealing with correspondence.

But they now say that a report will only be made to the Council’s Cabinet on the details of the flop in November; 2 months after it was originally scheduled.

A question on ticket sales has been put on the agenda for the Council meeting taking place on 9^th October by Cllr Nigel Ayre.

This is the kind of obstructive secrecy that will be swept away if Labour lose their majority after the by election poll which takes place on 16^th October.

The Council’s email to Steve Galloway says;
(more…)

Labour planning new household waste site charges

Reliable sources in West Offices have confirmed that Labour intend to impose new charges – for non recyclable rubbish -taken to sites like Hazel Court.

Bed dumped in field off Askham Lane

At the moment residents can take items to the “tip” free of charge.

The proposed charge – unlikely to be admitted by Labour until the Westfield by election is out of the way – follow on from the closure of the Beckfield Lane household waste recycling site and an 13% increase in the cost of having up to 10 bulky items removed by the Council.

Bulky waste removal now costs £36.75p

Second green waste bins are now charged for and Labour are understood to be on the on the brink of introducing charges for emptying all green bins

The consequences of these misguided polices are clear to see with fly tipping an increasing problem across the City (see photo)

Labour challenged over Library closure

The beleaguered Labour Leadership have been challenged over rumours that they are intending to close at least one library under their 2015 budget plans

Bishopthorpe Library

Usage of libraries varies greatly across the City but Labour are likely to target those in areas represented by opposition Councillors.

Those that look to be vulnerable include Bishopthorpe where some Councillors apparently have hopes of building social housing on a cleared site.

Libraries were one of the City’s success stories during the last decade with use increasing from 750,000 a year in 2003 to over 1 million in 2011.

Bishopthorpe library attracts over 20,000 user visits each year.

Labour then outsourced the management of the libraries to a social enterprise company but retained the right to force library closures by reducing service grant levels.

They hope that any public odium will then fall on the “Community Interest Company” rather than their paymasters.

We suspect that library users are rather too sophisticated to fall for that line.

York Council struggles with £3 million overspend prediction

A Council report has pointed to a possible £3 million overspend on its budget this year.

The main area of concern is a potential over spend on the direct provision of care packages to vulnerable residents.

These include Non Residential Care Packages (£649k), Emergency Placements (£92k) and Short Term Breaks (£116k).

The Council intends to throw the whole of its budget contingency (£600,000) into this service area but is showing little sign so far of being able to recover from the financial breakdown revealed by auditors earlier in the year.

There is also a continued shortfall from parking income of £400,000.

As the published figures cover the period up to the end of June, they do not include the impact of current parking initiatives, including the charges for Minster Badges, the free parking introduced in late June and pay-on-exit at Marygate.

All of these are now expected to further reduce car parking income

York party bill could cost taxpayers over £100,000

Sparse crowd for Grand Departy

The York Council is resisting attempts to discover the true cost of the Tour de France party (“Departy”) that it held at the Huntington Stadium.

It has invoked a littler known clause in the Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation which allows it to withhold information if a report on the issue is due to be considered by a Council committee.

It invoked the same legislation a couple of years ago to delay the publication of bus service reliability statistics in the City (although the subsequently report, when it did appear 6 months later, actually gave very little new information on the issue).

The Council has, however, confirmed that the budget for the event was a whopping £220,000 and that they hoped to generate income of £260,000.

It appears that the income figures were based on selling around 10,000 tickets at a face value of £25.

The Council have refused to say how much income was generated for ticket sales although this figure must be known by now. The responsible Councillor (Crisp) also refused to answer questions posed at the last Council meeting about the event.

In the end only a thousand or so spectators turned up, hence the concern that taxpayers will have a large bill to pick up.

There was no public discussion of the advisability of holding such an event or of the risks that taxpayers might face.

If the promised report is not published on 1^st September then the matter can be referred to the Information Commissioner. The Commissioner has been ruling against the York Council on an increasing number of occasions during the last couple of years and some enforcement action may now be in prospect.

Interestingly there is no entry on the Councils forward plan covering a review of the Departy or indeed any other aspect of the Tour de France programme

NB. A FOI request about library services in York was recently refused on the grounds that the service is now run by an independent company. Other services like the Museums Trust have also been taken out of the reach of FOI requests over the years with several other partnership bodies in a grey area.

We believe that any body which relies for a significant part of its income from the York Council taxpayer, should voluntarily apply FOI protocols to the information that it holds.

Small business rate relief – non claimers in York

Power company fails to cash cheque

The Council has published a list of the business premises where the occupier may be able to claim Small Business Rates Relief but who had, by the end of July, not done so.

The list of properties with a Rateable Value of less than £12,000 can be accessed by clicking here

NB. Small businesses can only claim relief for one premise.

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The Council has also published a list of Business Rate refunds where the cheques have not been presented.

Click here for the list of un-presented cheques which includes, as well as companies that went into administration, some big names such as NPower, the Theatre Royal and the District Valuer (!)

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