The Face of York is revealed

The exhibition of York’s community arts project, The Face of York, launches public viewing at York Explore  from Friday 3 to Sunday 5 July and then at City Screen, Coney Street from Tuesday 7 to Monday 20 July. 

The community arts project was launched in March by York Learning and invited local groups and individuals to submit a portrait of themselves, friends or neighbours.

Over 15 groups took part from different organisations including the New Earswick Under 15’s Rugby League team, a local scout group, Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) classes, Danesgate School, Door 84, Accessible Arts, The Wilberforce Trust and YADDA (York and District

Dyslexia Association) as well as from York Learning’s own painting, drawing and family learning classes.
The portraits have been created in a stunning variety of different media including photos, mono prints, water colours and collages making for a vast, colourful and personal community display.

As part of the project, York Learning held a number of supporting workshops including portraiture photography, textiles and mixed media portraits to equip learners with the skills to produce creative portraits.

Spinach

Spinoff

Councillor Nigel Ayre, Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism said:

“The Face of York project has been a great success, not just because of the huge number of York residents enjoying taking part but because of the superb quality of the portraits.

The display is a wonderful visual census of people in York today.”

Following the city centre exhibitions the display will be dismantled and smaller exhibitions will pop up around different locations in York showing portraits local to that area.

Foxwood residents plan “Britain in Bloom” award bid

Judges will be touring the Foxwood area in July judging the Britain in Bloom contest. The area has done well in the past and residents are hoping for similar success this year.

New Foxwood park notice board

New Foxwood park notice board

Over the last year, improvements have been made to several communal areas like the Foxwood Park, the Community Centre gardens and Chesneys Field.

A new interpretation board has recently been provided at the entrance to the park.

Gardening classes were held at the Community Center last year while this years “garden of the year” contest is due to be launched next week.

New tennis league open to all

Tennis players in York have a smashing new opportunity to play friendly, competitive matches organised by the group Local Tennis Leagues in partnership with City of York Council.

The competition invites adult players of all standards to pick up their racquets and sign up to a local singles league. Participants are organised into groups and then liaise with their opponent to arrange a mutually convenient time to play, at a court in the city to suit them both. Each round runs for eight weeks and round one launches on Thursday 9 July during Wimbledon 2015.

The local league aims to open up competitive tennis to everyone, whether or not they are members of a club. It will make it easier to compete on public courts by matching interested partners of similar standards and will be a way of meeting new people through sport. The initiative is one of many opportunities across the city to encourage residents to play sport more often and exercise for the recommended 150 minutes a week.  

Top spin

Top spin

Cllr Nigel Ayre, Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism said: “Anyone who is inspired by Wimbledon will love this opportunity to play competitively against new opponents in the city. Sporting opportunities such as this are an enjoyable way to build friendships as well as keeping fit.”

The league gives a can of free tennis balls to every player who completes three matches by the half way point and there are prizes for the winners of each group. It is affiliated to the sport’s governing body, the Lawn Tennis Association.

To enter the league visit www.localtennisleagues.com/york and register by Monday 6 July. The entry fee is £15 and further information is available from Local Tennis Leagues members on 07503 281732 or email yorktennisleague@gmail.com

York Police getting ready for anti social behaviour peak

The media are reporting that the police intend to have a major drive against anti social behaviour during the upcoming school holidays.

It will be the first push of its kind since 2009.

Stats released by the Police confirm that incidents of anti social behaviour peak in July and August (an interesting interactive map can be viewed by clicking here – covers all types of crime giving its location down to local neighbourhoods)

click to access interactive web site

click to access interactive web site

More local information can be found here. It details reported crimes at street level. The latest figures are for April 2015 http://www.police.uk/north-yorkshire/york-west/crime/

We hope that the local Police commanders will ensure that sub-urban areas receive a fair share of enforcement resources and that PCSOs patrols are maintained – as a minimum – at historic levels.

We remain unconvinced that the decision to centralise anti social behaviour work into a “hub” at West Offices has worked

The Councils decision to promote York as a “Party City” has also backfired with rowdy groups producing an intimidating atmosphere in some parts of the City centre even during the day (as well as the evening). That policy needs to be reviewed quickly

The Council must also ensure that its activities programmes for younger people are refreshed. The May  issue of their Shine magazine can be downloaded by clicking here

 The last Council drastically cut Youth Services while at the same time removing subsidies from local community centres. The latter decision means that centres are now dependent entirely on voluntary effort to stay open. With potential volunteers often working themselves during the day, that could mean that valuable community resources could lie unused for much of the summer.

All in all, the York Council and its partners need to rethink their approach to crime and the causes of crime.

York residents face price hike for entry to museums and art gallery

Angry mob - museums

A report to a leisure committee meeting taking place on 22nd June confirms that residents will pay for admission to the Art Gallery, and local museums like Castle, in future.

The Museums Trust is launching its own YMT card which will cost £22 a year.

This will offer unlimited access to York Castle Museum, the Yorkshire Museum & Gardens and the newly refurbished York Art Gallery for a year. The YMT Card saves £5 compared to buying individual day tickets for the three YMT charging venues.

It is clear that, if the Council want free entry for York Card holders to these venues, they will have to increase their subsidy to the Trust.

The move by the Trust is being viewed as retaliation for the decision taken by the former Labour controlled Council to cut its grant from £1.6 million to £600,000 pa.

Admissions to the two museums have remained fairly steady over the last 3 years with between 162,000 and 170m000 visitors being recorded each year.

Moment of truth on Grand Departy costs?

Angry mob - money back

After many delays, it looks like a decision will now be made on how to investigate the £187,000 loss that the last Council made on the Grand Departy concert.

There were also safety concerns raised about the event by an independent committee

The event took place in June 2014 but Labour Councillors – many of whom lost their seats in the May elections – tried every manoeuvre possible to avoid being held to account for the failures.

A similar situation exists on money wasted on the Lendal bridge/Coppergate closures and the failed wide area 20 mph project.

An all party scrutiny committee will consider what type of inquiry to conduct into the budget and project management of the York Councils Tour de France responsibilities.

The issue remains a live one as similar events may be suggested in the future. A Tour De Yorkshire event held at the beginning of May produced a mixed reaction from City Centre shopkeepers, several of whom blamed the event for untypically low Bank Holiday takings.

The report into the options available for the scrutiny of the issue can be read by clicking here. The meeting, which will be open to the public, takes place on 22nd June

In total the Tour de Yorkshire event cost local taxpayers £1.3 million.

New York athletics track opened

Over 100 members of the City of York Athletic Club (CYAC) took to the track last night for their first training session at York’s brand new athletics track.

The track has been developed by a partnership of University of York and City of York Council, who have worked together over the past 12 months. The track has been awarded a Class A certificate for a regional centre by UK Athletics.
Athletics track June 2015

The track, built at the University’s Heslington West campus, cost £2 million and was funded by both the council and university. The facility includes an 8 lane synthetic running track, a grass infield for field disciplines like javelin, hammer, discus and shot put and other synthetic areas for pole vault, highjump, long and triple jump. In autumn 2015 additional work will start on a new sports pavilion and covered seating for 500 spectators. In the meantime a temporary pavilion and stand are in place for the summer season. These first class facilities now provide York’s athletes the best possible opportunities to improve their sporting performances.

The facility is the new home for City of York Athletic Club and is also available for use by regional schools, local groups and athletes of all abilities.

Ayre to reconsider role as athletics coach

Ayre to reconsider role as athletics coach

Cllr Nigel Ayre, Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism who was at the track for the session said:

“The opening of this brand new track will greatly improve athletics facilities in York. It has been made possible through strong local partnership work between the council, the University of York and City of York Athletic Club. I originally brought forward plans to fund and build a top-class athletics track at the University as the Executive Member in July 2010. I am therefore pleased that this vision has now been realised and athletes of all abilities can start to enjoy the new facilities.”
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Rediscover York with Sky Ride Local

City of York Council is encouraging residents to get out and about on their bikes this summer and explore the local area with Sky Ride Local, a series of free guided bike rides.

Sky-Ride-Cycling-York-2013-5-©-OneOther-345x230

British Cycling and Sky, in partnership with City of York Council, have scheduled a series of themed Sky Ride Local rides in York for 2015. Guided by British Cycling Ride Leaders along scenic local routes and pitched at three different levels, the rides will explore different themes from Wildlife and Wilderness to City Streets and Park Life.
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Tansy Beetle in a spin

Tansy Beetle LibDemAfter refreshing 8 weeks with no political spin included in media releases issued by the York Council, the humble Tansy Beetle seems to have broken the spell. LibDem Nigel Ayre has been driven to public eulogy about York’s unique insect resident.

It’s an unfortunate precedent as many residents had hoped that the Council would return to its pre 2011 protocol where the media team at West offices concentrated on providing factual information and left politicians to offer any commentary or spin they felt appropriate using their own channels.

The Tansy Beetle issue is largely uncontroversial but it does suggest that the Council needs to review its media protocol sooner rather than later.

The Council press release reads,

“Found along the banks of the Ouse in York, the rare Tansy Beetle has received another boost to its survival in the form of a dedicated Conservation Officer.

Buglife has received funding of £56,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to run the Tansy Beetle Champions project, which will help improve the beetle’s habitat and work with local people to save ‘The Jewel of York’.

The Tansy Beetle is a beautiful, shiny green beetle that feeds on the Tansy plant.  Although the plant is quite common along the banks of the Ouse, the beetles are not great flyers making it difficult for them to get to new areas.  As a result they are now only found in a few small pockets in York which are prone to flooding, putting the insects at risk.

The new Tansy Beetle Conservation Officer Sophie Badrick said ‘It’s a very exciting project which is creating a huge amount of opportunities for people to get involved and become Tansy Beetle Champions.  We’re hoping to get people doing a range of different activities.  From growing tansy plants in your garden; to helping give guided walks; to getting out with Buglife to protect or improve existing habitat, there’s something for everyone.’

The 18 month project aims to get more people involved in helping the Tansy to thrive and expand its current range and will work closely with City of York Council and the long running Tansy Beetle Action Group.

Head of Heritage Lottery Fund, Yorkshire and the Humber, Dr Fiona Spiers, said “Few people realise that every lottery ticket has the potential to save the UK’s landscapes, countryside and creatures, but bats are as important a part of our heritage as Botticelli. Imagine if future generations don’t have the chance to enjoy the sight of the Tansy Beetle because we didn’t do enough to save them now.”

Cllr Nigel Ayre, Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting BugLife’s project to work alongside them and with local people to help save the Tansy Beetle’s habitat here in the city. York is the only place in the UK where the beetle can be found, so it’s critical that we work together to ensure this ‘Jewel of York’ is protected.

“The council is committed to protecting York’s habitat and wildlife from extinction, including endangered species like the Tansy Beetle. Going forwards, the draft Local Plan will play an important role in achieving this by helping us to recognise and respond to the many other challenges to York’s particular natural environment.”

Anyone keen to volunteer or find out more about the project should contact Sophie Badrick on Sophie.badrick@buglife.org.uk or 07880 316027”