The course starts at Burnholme Community Sports Hub (formerly Burnholme Community College) on Monday 23 February from 7pm to 8pm and will last for five weeks. If demand proves to be high a second session from 8 to 9pm will be introduced on the same night.
(more…)
Sparse crowd for Grand Departy
Sceptics expect many of those responsible for the financial disaster to stand down from the Council – or be defeated at the polls – meaning that they may escape the consequences of the their negligence.
Cllr Ian Cuthbertson, Lib Dem Spokesperson for Leisure, Culture and Tourism, had submitted a request for a review into the “planning, promotion and delivery” of City of York Council organised events for last year’s Tour De France.
These included the £187,000 loss-making ‘Grand Departy’ music concert at Huntington Stadium.
Originally, a review was given the green light last year. However, at this week’s Learning & Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee Labour and Conservative councillors supported moves to delay the inquiry until after May’s local elections and after that month’s inaugural Tour De Yorkshire.
Cllr Ian Cuthbertson, commented:
(more…)
Date: Thur 22 Jan 
Time: 10.30am – 11.30am
Venue: Explore Acomb Library
Cost: Free
Come celebrate International Hug Day with a special Under 5’s Hugless Douglas day!
Come join in the fun with songs, stories and fun activities!
Don’t miss it! More
An article in “Construction Enquirer” has claimed that the new Community Stadium will be built by ISG.
ISG is a Yorkshire based company.
The article claims that the stadium will be completed in “Autumn 2016”.
That conflicts with the July 2016 occupation date previously publicised by the York Council and means that the football club may not be able to move home until the 2017/18 season.
The delays will come as no surprise to the many commentators who have queried the 15 month construction timetable.
The scheme has yet to get planning permission while the future of the Knights Rugby team is under question following a very public disagreement between a senior Council official and the Knights chairman.
The Enquirer article reads;
ISG has been confirmed as the preferred construction partner for the £41m York Community Stadium and Leisure Complex scheme.
ISG will be part of the successful consortium bid by Greenwich Leisure Ltd to build a new home stadium for York’s professional football and rugby teams including leisure, retail, office and community facilities.
The new 8,000 all-seater stadium will include hospitality and conferencing facilities, a new 25m six-lane swimming pool, fitness and active play facilities and a community hub.
Work is expected to start on site this summer with completion scheduled for autumn 2016.
ISG is believed to have beaten rivals Carillion and Barr to the deal.
Danny Murray, ISG’s Northern regional managing director, said: “Our involvement in the York Community Stadium project extends back to 2012 and we have worked closely with GLL and our consortium partners to bring the vision for this keynote regional leisure scheme to reality.
“ISG has exceptionally strong leisure sector credentials, delivering iconic sporting venues like the Olympic Velodrome and the National Football Development Centre in Newport, and we are looking forward to working with our consortium partners to create superb new facilities for York.”
In a media release from Sarah Tanburn – who was appointed by the now defunct Alexander regime to supervise the adoption of their “Big City” Local Plan and drive through major projects – says that the Council “no longer has the necessary confidence in the working relationship with Mr Guildford or trust in his good faith to enable negotiations with him on the Community Stadium development“.
She effectively says that the Club must now make their own arrangements with third part facility owners.
The change in pollcy is entirely contrary to the ethos of the community stadium project which, since agreement was reached in 2010, was always intended to provide a home for both football and rugby clubs.
While accepting that legal issues between the Club and the Council were resolved in December, the Council now seems to have rejected an opportunity to get round a table and thrash out a deal.
it is unclear what involvement key Labour politicians (Cllrs Williams and Crisp) had in authorising the public attack, but it is likely to inflame the already shaky view that rugby fans have of the Council leadership.
John Guildford has made clear publicly that his main concern, about the deal offered by the Council, was that – contrary to the agreed planning permission – it did not guarantee that the Club could play games at Bootham Crescent until the new stadium opened.
It looks like any opportunity for the Knights to play at the Community Stadium will now rest on the results of the Council elections in May. The Liberal Democrats – who devised the stadium plan 5 years ago – remain committed to involving both sporting codes at the stadium.
There is now a major question mark about Labours attitude.
Master plan for Haxby Road sports centre
The sports hall will be the equivalent in size to 5 badminton courts and will incorporate changing rooms, a “strength and conditioning” suit, flexible teaching space and catering facilities.
The proposal is the third part of the development of the sports park on the 24 hectare site on Haxby Road
It was granted planning permission 2 years ago
Full details of the current application can be found by clicking here
Ironically both the planning applications make mention of the York Knights RFL side saying that they are users of the facility.
There were indeed high hopes of a link up in 2013 as part of the Community Stadium deal but that relationship seems to have gone sour.
The York Council is apparently refusing to talk to the Knights owner following an acrimonious legal wrangle which ended a couple of months ago.
The Knights in turn are saying that they want a guarantee of being able to play games at Bootham Crescent until the new Community Stadium is completed.
Given that the Community Stadium project is already 2 years behind the schedule agreed in 2010 that may not be an unreasonable request.
It is about time that both sides sat down and talked through a solution.
Yearsley Pool
LibDem councillors have proposed that a review begin straight away giving managers the maximum time possible to find alternative sources of income and savings prior to the summer 2016 cut off date.
The early review has the backing of the Yearsley Pool Action Group which has submitted a 4,500 signature petition supporting the retention of the pool.
Although the Council had agreed to hold talks in early 2016 about the future of the pool, these would be held in private. They would also have presumed that no ongoing subsidy would be available.
One of the factors bedevilling the process is that with Council elections in May, it is likely that the majority of existing Councillors will not be re-elected to the new authority (many have said that they are standing down).
As the decisions of the present Council cannot bind the new one, priorities are likely to change.
Both LibDem and Tory Councillors have said that they want to move resources away from prestige projects preferring instead to improve funding for basic public services. These would include existing leisure facilities.
In 2007, the last LibDem Council invested over £1 million in upgrades to the Yearsley pool. It was expected that this would give the pool a life of over 20 years before additional investment was required.
In January 2011, before coming to power, Labour began to question the future of the facility.
York Theatre Royal was built in 1744 on, and among, the site of the medieval St. Leonard’s Hospital. Immediate repairs (roof replacement) are estimated to cost around £320k with significant further works needed in coming years
Separately £4.1m is being spent on a programme of refurbishment and improvement
The York Citizens Theatre Trust has a 25 year lease on the property at an annual rent of £27,250 with a 2 year rent free period during the refurbishment, It achieves a significantly higher proportion of earned income (around 75%) than similar theatres elsewhere and requires below average local authority funding in both the amount and proportion of turnover (around 7-8%). The Council provides a subsidy of around £250,000 a year to the theatre but has said that this will gradually reduce over the years.
Uniquely for a City the size of York, the Theatre Royal faces commercial competition from both the Barbican and the Grand Opera House
The Conservation Trust is a charity and was set up in 1976 as the successor to Morrell’s “Ings Property Company Ltd”. This company had been established by the Liberal supporting family in the 1940’s with the intention of securing York’s historic building heritage. It is run by Directors who are all related to the original family.
Together with the York Civic Trust, it can claim to be the principle reason why we are still able to enjoy a large number of, generally well conserved, old buildings. Another reason is, of course, that most are “Listed” meaning that they cannot be demolished and that any alterations are subject to restrictive conditions.
The York Council has also accepted over the years a responsibility to maintain buildings like the Mansion House and Guildhall. That sense of responsibility has been undermined recently, not least by the Labour group’s decision to spend £9.2 million converting the Guildhall buildings into a “media centre” (currently subject to a policy review “call in”).
The York Guilds – essentially craft based trades organisations – also take responsibility for maintaining three ancient halls in the City, with much of their income derived from private lettings and (high) membership fees.
Finding uses for buildings, which are expensive to maintain and heat, will always be difficult. Currently there are at least three historic buildings with a question mark about their future use. St Anthony’s Hall (soon to be vacated by the Quilters Guild), St Williams College (where the Minster Trustees are seeking uses that could offset large repair bills) and the Guildhall.
The York Conservation Trust has already acquired two former Council owned buildings near to the Theatre (The Assembly Rooms and the De Grey Rooms).
While many York residents may feel, in an ideal world, such assets would remain in public ownership, the actions of the Council over the last 3 years is a reminder that public election does not automatically bestow either wisdom or financial acumen.
On the other hand, the negative side of large parts of the (former) public realm falling into the hands of a Charity – no matter how benign – is that public accountability all but disappears.
Residents of York will be dependant on the Charity Commission and the constraints of the planning system to ensure that the Trust continues to fulfil its founder’s altruistic aspirations.
Cornlands Park entrance closure proposal click to enlarge
The proposal comes after complaints about noise and vandalism from some residents.
Closure of the access would remove one of the potential “escape routes”
Following the work of the local residents association in getting new play equipment installed, the park is beginning to be more of an asset for the area.
However there are still problems with litter and the poop scoop bin needs to be replaced.
Some residents wish to see the area secured after nightfall.
