Invasive weeds on the march again

We hoped that we had seen the last of the damaging weed growth that threatened to wreck footpath and forecourt surfaces  last summer.  

The Council’s weed control programme failed last year but there are hopes that things will be better this year.

We were advised that a first application of weed killer to paths and gutters  took place in April.

Recent damp but warm weather has encouraged plant growth and the inevitable appearance of weeds. There seems to be little evidence in some streets and back lanes of “die back” from the application.

However weed control operatives have been seen in various parts of the City so it may be too early to draw conclusions.

One worrying trend has been the reappearance of  tough weeds like “Horses/Mares Tail”. There have been sightings of this pervasive and destructive weed in several locations including Windsor Garth, Green Lane, Kir Crescent and Marston Avenue. In each case damage is being caused to footpath or road surfaces. This is likely to be expensive to repair.

There is a proprietary “diamond” weed killer which eliminates weeds like this as well as nettles and thistles. It is not clear whether the Council has specified the use of this product in problem areas.

If it hasn’t then it needs  to get a move on with applying the chemical quickly to avoid further damage and expense.

Kir Crescent
Little Green Lane garage area
Weeds growing on back lanes
Another problem location near Sandown Close

“Cut your hedge”, say York Council

The Council has tweeted today asking people to ensure that any boundary hedges are trimmed back from public roads and paths. They say this will help with “social distancing”.

The Council is right to do so.

Many people will have time to undertake the chore during the bank holiday weekend.

The Council also rightly asks hedge owners to be careful not to disturb any birds which may be nesting in the hedge.

Hedges overgrowing back lanes are a particular issue in some areas

Meanwhile there has been rapid grass growth this week with several verges and amenity areas becoming overgrown. We have reported several.

Some cul de sacs are in need of a “deep clean”
Weed growth in Holgate Beck could affect drainage flows during periods of heavy rain

Major waste collection problems in York UPDATED

Council update published

“Wednesday 20 May

Household waste

We were unable to collect household waste from the following areas due to access issues:

  • Dale Street
  • Moss Street

We were unable to collect household waste from the following areas due to capcity issues:

  • Ashley Park Road
  • Cedar Grove
  • The Glade
  • Hazel Garth
  • High Oaks

This household waste will be collected on Thursday 21 May. Please present your containers for collection by 7.00am.

We were able to recollect all outstanding household waste from Tuesday 19 May.

Recycling

We were unable to collect recycling from a number of areas due to capacity issues.

Missed recycling collections will be collected as soon as possible. Please present your containers for collection by 7.00am.

Garden waste

We were unable to collect garden waste from a number of streets in the following wards due to capcity issues:

  • Heworth
  • Heworth Without
  • Holgate
  • Huntington and New Earswick
  • Westfield

We will attempt to collect missed garden waste on Thursday 21 May, but may not be able to revisit until later in the week. Please leave greens bin out and we’ll get to you as soon as we can”

EARLIER: For the first time in several months the York Council failed to update its refuse collection report page yesterday. This prompted speculation that there were too many roads missed to be able to list them all.

The failure to list those streets where bins hadn’t been emptied also prompted questions about whether the promised “next day” emptying will actually take place.

Worst collection problems since 2012

There is a danger of a bow wave of failures extending into next week. Residents who have been storing green waste in gardens, pending the resumption of the emptying service, may already have refilled their bins.

For a Council which has been quick to issue “sound bite” media releases even when it had little of interest to report, this communications failure – on a key public service which everyone uses – is disappointing.

As well as the backlog in green bin emptying (put down to heavy bins) social distancing measures are blamed for a growing backlog in collecting recycling.

Recycling in over 10 streets in the Westfield/Foxwood area alone was not collected yesterday

Litter Bin Sticker GIF | Gfycat

Previously the Council had blamed vehicle failures and capacity issues for problems with the waste collection reliabily.

There have been calls for a change in top management at the Council or even for the service to be outsourced (AMEY provide the service in the Selby area)

Ironically, at the peak of the corona virus scare, household waste and recycling collection systems worked well.

Deep clean for York streets, squares and snickets during pandemic

Nice Work GIFs | Tenor

Over 50 streets, squares and snickelways across York’s city centre have been deep cleaned by frontline crews.

City of York Council is taking the opportunity to do a deep clean whilst the city centre is quieter than normal – so as and when the city is allowed to welcome back visitors, please help by keeping our streets clean and putting litter in the bins.

This also takes into account recently changed government guidance that allows residents to spend more time exercising during the day.

Cllr Paula Widdowson, Executive Member for Environment and Climate Change: “Our front line crews have been doing a fantastic job to cleaning our city centre of weeds, cigarette butts under benches and all those nooks and crannies. 

“They’ve been working round the clock to make our city centre cleaner and safer during the pandemic. Please help them by putting your litter in the bin and making sure we keep our city clean.”

Frontline crews are working 7 days a week to carry out mechanical sweeping (using a small ride on sweeper and various pedestrian controlled machines), litter bin emptying, weeding and manual litter picking.

Staff were previously redeployed to assist the waste services team but have now re-joined the public realm service.

The deep clean includes:

  • the removal of detritus (dust/silt), weeds and cigarette butts from building lines, under benches, nooks and crannies
  • the removal of cable ties and expired notices, stickers etc.
  • cleaning the interior and exterior of litter bins.

The council is also identifying/removing graffiti on council owned buildings, which will also be removed.

rain-water-pothole-jump-fail | Funny gifs fails, Funny whatsapp ...

All council car parks are also being deep cleaned!

The council has worked hard to ensure crucial frontline services can continue despite the pandemic.

All crews carrying out the works will be operating under strict social distancing guidance due to the current Coronavirus restrictions.

The council has worked with trade unions to develop new ways of working and has ensured works can happen in a safe way for front line operatives and the public, whilst the city centre is quieter than normal.

Residents will hope that the teams now move on to deal with the overgrown hedges, weeds, potholes and detritus that impede paths particularly in the sub-urban area.

Mixed picture on public services standards in York but some impressive progress

The lower tree branches that were impeding the cycle path on Thanet Road were trimmed back yesterday. Less than 24 hours from a report being made to action being taken. Impressive.
Grassed area opposite Foxwood shops clear of litter for the first time in over a year. Partly down to dedicated cleansing operative who is doing a sound job in this area.
Extension to Lincoln Court independent living flats completed. Suggests that much missed children’s play area could be reinstated when builders leave?
Slower progress on the Centre of Excellence for disabled children on Ascot Way. The project was never likely to meet its June target completion date even before the health crisis intervened.
Weeds are already overgrowing the little Green Lane garage area. This was problem last year. We expected that the garage owned site would be added to this years treatment list although there is no sign of “die back” yet. A builders skip has also appeared on the site.
We’ve reported the potholes that have appeared ion Windsor Garth

Good work by Highways England

Highways England removed the carcass of the dead badger from the A64 yesterday. The response was very swift.

The dead badger removed from the A64. There is a continuing debate about where responsibility rests for cleansing the cycle path along the A64 and on into York. Currently there is a lot detritus on it in places which restricts its width.
On Moor Lane in Dringhouses, the Council has removed the cats eyes from the highway prior to resurfacing on Sunday. The surface dressing process – which arrests wear on the road surface -, will involve one way working so some delays can be expected. Alternative routes are unlikely to be busy.
The Council have agreed to cut back the branches from the tree that is blocking the Thanet Road cycle path. They say they will do so when labour becomes available.
The York Council has promised to repair a section of carriageway on Bradley Lane near Rufforth

Recycling centres to reopen?

Speculation is mounting that the government will ask local Councils to reopen civic amenity (recycling) sites where they have been closed. York’s Hazel Court facility has been closed for several weeks now – something which has been a particular issue since green waste bin emptying was also suspended. There are problems with fly tipping in some neighbourhoods.

Several local authorities have kept their amenity sites open and have also continued green waste collections.

Elsewhere some other public services such as street cleaning have generally been improved since the lockdown with hand sweeping being reintroduced on some estates.

We’ve reported several issues for attention

The carcass of a dead badger has been left on the A64 road margin for about a week now. Cleansing responsibilities on trunk roads are shared between local authorities and Highways England but no one has so far sorted out what may become a health issue.
Nearby there is a lot of tree detritus on the A64 cycle path. Makes “social distancing” more difficult. Highways England claims that the York Council is responsible for cleansing this and other similar paths.
We’re still awaiting the first sustained rainfall of this spring. When it comes you can expect hedges to grow quickly. This one near London Bridge on Tadcaster Road is already impeding the path. It has been reportsd to the York Council.
Not just hedges, This tree on Thanet Road is obstructing the cycle path.

NB. We have been told that the York Council will be publishing its highway programme for the current year “in the near future”.

Air quality in York – web site

esidents wushing to see how changes to movement patterns impact on air quality in the City can now go a web site which revleals ral tie and trend information

The DEFRA web site can be found here http://www.airqualityengland.co.uk/local-authority/?la_id=76

Not surprisingly, in the light of the economic shutdown, pollution levels in the City are very low at present.

The data may however provide ammunition for those hoping to see the City’s next Local Transport Plan include a proposal for a Low Emission Zone at least within the inner ring road.

Weed spraying programme published by York Council

York Council contractors are spraying weeds across the City over the next 3 weeks. A programme has been published (below).

They are making an early start this year to try to avoid the problems of last year.

The contractors are scheduled to be in the Westfield and Dringhouses areas a week on Friday (16th April).

Weed growth summer 2019

York Council recruiting more drivers and loaders for waste collection teams

City of York Council is bolstering all its front line teams together so that it can continue providing essential services across the city, including collecting your household waste (black bins), recycling boxes, cleaning York’s streets and collecting litter bins, carrying out pothole repairs and maintaining public toilets.

Unfortunately, we have experienced a reduction in our frontline workforce and this is having an impact on some services, including recycling collections. The council is doing everything it can to ensure collections continue and is working weekends to collect missed recycling where possible.

To make sure services can keep running we need to recruit more drivers and loaders in our waste services team so we have enough people ready and able to do the job.

We’re working with Work With York to recruit drivers and loaders now. Find out more by calling 01904 554234 or visiting www.workwithyork.co.uk/jobs/

Cllr Paula Widdowson, Executive Member Climate Change, said: “It’s really important that we keep essential services running across the city such as household waste collections. We’re doing our best and have tried and tested measures in place, such as we did during Storm Dennis. But the reality is that these services like many others will face significant challenges. So we’re calling out for anyone who is physically fit, available and wants a temporary job. We want to help you so please contact Work With York and we’ll get you on our books and into our team as soon as possible.”

These are unprecedented times and this will mean some non-essential services will need to be temporarily suspended so that we can redeploy all our staff into keeping essential services running.

During Storm Dennis and Storm Ciara front line teams were redeployed into different services so that they could focus on protecting the city. This meant they had to ‘down tools’ temporarily on other work, and the same thing will happen again here.

As works are almost complete on the repaving scheme for Stonegate and the roadworks on Monkbar, we are aiming to complete these as planned. Other non-essential roadworks schemes will be temporarily suspended.

Check when your bins will next be collected, get the latest service updates and order a new bin – all online! www.york.gov.uk/waste