Recovery fund made available for flood affected businesses in York

A partnership between City of York Council and Make It York has secured funding from the Local Enterprise Partnership for businesses affected by the recent floods.

A grant of up to £2,500 per business has been made available by the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) for flood incurred damage costs that are not covered by business insurance policies.

Council officers are going door-to-door, visiting businesses who have been affected by the recent flooding to provide an update on the current situation in York and answer any potential queries.

As part of the engagement, businesses are being notified of the additional funding to support the clean-up and help alleviate costs incurred by flood water.

The business recovery fund is open for application for flood affected businesses and eligibility will be determined by evidence provided. Funding is not guaranteed for flood damaged businesses.

To submit an application form via Make It York, please visit: www.makeityork.com or email business@makeityork.com

Businesses and residents are also invited to attend flood drop-in sessions to discuss support before, during and after a flood in the near future:

  • Tower Gardens and King’s Staith

16 March | Quaker Meeting House, YO1 9RL | 5-7pm

  • Naburn

17 March | Naburn Village Hall, YO19 4RS | 5-7pm

  • Fulford

18 March | Fulford School (Main Hall), YO10 4FY | 5-7 pm

  • Skeldergate and Clementhorpe

23 March | Southlands Methodist Church, YO23 1NX| 5-7pm

  • Acaster Malbis

24 March | Acaster Malbis Village Hall, YO23 2TR | 5 -7pm

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York’s new green fleet plan

 

City of York Council is set to transform it’s fleet of vehicles and become a leader in the fight to reduce the city’s carbon emissions with an ambition to be carbon neutral by 2030.

The council will be taking a report outlining the full details to an Executive meeting on 19 March.

This includes reducing the carbon emissions from the council’s fleet (of 535 vehicles under 3.5 tonnes) by a third.

The fleet is valued at £15.3 million and includes 180 vehicles that are under 3.5 tonnes and 153 which are currently due to be replaced over the next three years. Together they emit a total of 1,763 tonnes of CO2 every year.

Under the new proposals, the council would like to transition to a green /electric fleet over a four year phased period.

This will include:

Year one: securing the infrastructure to enable an electric fleet to operate at council sites. Ordering three electric waste vehicles.

Year two: services that are ready for an electric fleet now can make the change as the infrastructure will now be in place.For those services that require some changes to the way they operate, a third of the vehicles will move to electric.

Years three and four.Those services that need a phased approach will be progressed to a 100% electric as quickly as possible.

The financial implications of moving towards an electric fleet would vary depending on the size and type of vehicle and would need to factor in the infrastructure costs to support the green fleet too at council sites.

In order to achieve this, a fleet replacement programme is proposed which will be considered on an annual basis as part of the annual capital programme. However, as option three is the preferred option – this is estimated to cost in the region of £2.22 million.

The council has already implemented a number of measures to address these challenges including introducing a clean air zone for buses and the transition of the Park & Ride fleet of buses to electric double decker buses will be completed this year.

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Bleak outlook on Ascot Way

Contractions working on the new Centre of Excellence for Disabled Children on Ascot Way have demolished the local residents noticeboard. It has been left lying on the grass verge. No prior warning of the removal was given.

There are places where the noticeboard could be reinstated with a few minutes work.

The access arrangements for the site are also proving problematic A one way system for heavy plant was supposed to be in operation but this wasn’t working well today. Buses struggled to get by

One piece of good news is that the temporary bus stop is now accessible again

York residents invited to share their experiences at flood drop-in sessions

Residents and businesses in York are invited to drop-in sessions in their local neighbourhoods to discuss recent flooding events.

As the city continues the clean-up operation following the rise in river levels caused by Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis, local residents and businesses are encouraged to share their feedback and experiences of recent events to help the council build upon the city’s resilience and improve local preparedness for the future.

Representatives from Emergency Planning, the Flood Risk Management Team, Community Involvement Officers and Councillors will be among those representing the council at the events across the city.

The upcoming drop-in sessions will be held in the following venues:

Fishergate: 11 March | Christian Science Church, YO10 4DE | 6-8pm

Tower Gardens and King’s Staith: 16 March | Quaker Meeting House, YO1 9RL | 5-7pm

Naburn: 17 March | Naburn Village Hall, YO19 4RS | 5-7pm

Fulford: 18 March | Fulford School (Main Hall), YO10 4FY | 5-7 pm (Presentation by the Environment Agency about Fordlands Road area at 6pm)

Skeldergate and Clementhorpe: 23 March | Southlands Methodist Church, YO23 1NX| 5-7pm

Acaster Malbis: 24 March | Acaster Malbis Village Hall, YO23 2TR | 5 -7pm

Cllr Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council said;

“I look forward to meeting residents and business owners across the city so we can listen and learn from the recent flood events.
“This is a great opportunity to share with us what you thought worked, how we can improve protecting the city, or the best way we can keep you up to date with the latest information.
“We recognise different areas have very different experiences and concerns, so we are holding drop-ins at key locations across the city so local residents can share their local and specific concerns.
“Thank you to all the residents and businesses who have already shared their positive encouragement and useful feedback with us.”

Across the three week period of high river levels the council had:

  • crews focusing on community areas to start the clean-up operation – crews have washed down areas using sanitising disinfectant where appropriate
  • dealt with over 60 dangerous or storm damaged trees since Storm Ciara
  • deployed over 6,000 sandbags and 200 one-tonne sandbags across the city to help protect the most vulnerable properties.
  • installed around 25 pumps to clear water across the city
  • recycled any plastic sandbags. Contaminated sandbags will be disposed of through our contaminated waste removal. Sand will be reused at the council depot
  • cleared over 300 gullies, swept roads and cleared drains.
  • tankers were on standby for any surface water flooding incidents that occurred
  • regularly updated the www.york.gov.uk/flood page to share the latest updates and advice

York Council reveals number of littering and fly tipping fines issued

The Council says that it only issued two Fixed Penalty Notices for littering during 2019.

13 Penalty Notices were issued for fly tipping.

The information comes from a response to a Freedom of Information request recorded in the “What do they know” web site.

With the Council now only updating its register of responses on its own web site every 6 months (and then with headline information only), the independent site is now the only way that residents can keep up to date with the claims being made by the York authority.

Cost of political advisers

The site also reveals the costs of providing “political advisers” for Council Groups.

The figures reveal that costs have almost doubled over the last decade

The advisers are supposed to undertake background policy research to assist Councillors in their duties.

Battle of the Monsters

Well not exactly Godzilla vs King Kong but fly posters have gone head to head with graffiti artists to see who can make the biggest mess of the abandoned BT telephone kiosk on Beagle Ridge Drive.

Hopefully BT will remove the kiosk along with the advertising quickly now. They disconnected power to the redundant payphone some 4 weeks ago.

Meanwhile, as possibly befits an upmarket neighbourhood, fly posters have appeared on lampposts near the entrance to the All Saints & Millthorpe schools on The Mount.

They are offering the services of a private tutor. No doubt the teachers at the schools will be thrilled by the development.

More graffiti

The Council will decide today whether to extend its graffiti removal service to include utility boxes. We hope that they will. The professions service introduced 4 moths ago has made a major diffidence to the appearance of parts of the City.

But we would like to see progress made in prosecuting those responsible. It should not be up to taxpayers (or utility company customers) to fund clean ups like these.

Some Councillors apparently want to use “community payback” to do the graffiti removal. From time to time, this might be an option but it does depend on a steady supply of offenders and there would be a supervision cost.

Probably best to give someone a full time job. There are plenty of other clean up tasks to do if, as we hope, graffiti volumes fall..

York Council blocking new applications to Flood Relief Fund?

No new applications are being considered for the York Disaster Fund. The Fund was set up after the 2000 floods and is understood to have several hundred thousand pounds available to help those whose homes have been flooded.

It was last used after the 2015 floods although it was then criticised for a lack of urgency in deploying the resources available. Homeowners needed help in the hours and days immediately following the flood but it was to be several weeks before any payments were made.

Thankfully this year relatively few homes have been flooded. Enquiries are referred to the Two Ridings charity web site.  https://www.tworidingscf.org.uk/news/ Their website is short on information while the Councils web site lacks advice for on the financial support available for flooded businesses.

Meanwhile one Councillor has had the foresight to remind Yorkshire Water that they will need to re-bait their sewers and drains to prevent rat infestations. The old bait is likely to have been washed away in the floods with some rodents being forced into gardens and homes.