Its good to see that the potholes on the Morrell Court access road have been patched. Earlier in the year the Council claimed that they were not deep enough to justify maintenance work.
No doubt the Kangaroo that jumped out of one last week managed to persuaded them otherwise!
Disappointing to see litter bins filled to overflowing on the Tadcaster Road entrance to the City. Also some graffiti. We’ve reported both.
Its also disappointing to see that the cycle path near the golf course still hasn’t received any maintenance.
Given that the Council has been rushing around trying to introduce new cycling facilities it seems strange that those which already exist are so badly neglected. Not the way to get people out of their cars and onto their bikes.
Huge amounts of money are on offer to Councils to get issues like this sorted.
A report to be discussed next week reveals how many people have been prosecuted in York for various environmental crimes.
46 people were prosecuted for urinating in public with fines and costs averaging over £400.
At the other end of the scale, only 3 Fixed Penalty Notices were issued for dog fouling offences.
Three people were fined for littering and 20 for fly tipping
14 warnings for fly posting were given together with 12 Fixed Penalty Notices.
There were no notices issued under the “Public Space Protection Orders”. These are the orders that seek to prevent anti social behaviour in specific neighbourhoods.
It looks like the voluntary sector is struggling to cope with increases in the volumes of second hand goods on offer. Several second hand stores have declared a moratorium on new gifts.
That seems to be true of clothes as well with piles developing at the Acomb car park collection point
The Council web site is showing that more Ward committee schemes have been approved for implementation.
In Westfield they include a much needed proposal to upgrade local snickets together with a plan to subsidise the popular Friday surplus food distribution facility at the Foxwood Community Centre.
Building work on the new Centre for the Disabled on Ascot Way seems to be progressing more quickly now. Cladding has been added to the building frontage. The adjacent Lincoln Court sheltered accommodation also now sports a new entrance lobby.
Work can’t be completed sooner enough for the neighbours. As well as disruptions cause by deliveries the bus shelter has been out of action while the nearby public noticeboard was damaged during building works. Both need to be renewed when the project is completed.
Elsewhere inevitable problems with bushes obstructing paths have been exacerbated by recent weather conditions
According to a local community blog published in Brixton, London, the local version of the “container village” hasn’t paid any rent to the Lambeth Council for 5 years.
“Pop Brixton” was used as a paradigm when the York Spark owners were trying to persuade the York Council and its planning committee that siting shipping containers in a conservation area was a good idea.
Like Brixton, the operators offered to rent the Piccadilly site from the Council and to share in the ventures profits.
An FOI response to the “Brixton Buzz“ has revealed that a similar deal there produced no income for the local authority.
Now, like in York, monthly rental payments are being sought by Lambeth Council.
A Freedom of Information request was submitted to the York Council on 25th August asking the authority to confirm that the terms of a new lease – agreed in February – have been fulfilled by the site occupiers.
Spark operated on a “tenancy at will” basis earlier in the summer following its closure during the health crisis. Its original lease expired on 1st July 2020
The York Council will discuss next week whether to continue a trial which is aimed at removing ice from some cycle paths. A report says that a two tractors operated last winter brushing snow and ice for a small number of off road cycle tracks .
None of these were in the Acomb, Westfield or rural areas.
Only a small part of the Tadcaster Road cycle path was treated. “The routes were approximately 18km & 25km long and started and finished at Hazel Court James Street (see map). The service completed 59 runs in total using 9000 litres of pathway KA, the structure friendly non-corrosive solution, and 12000 litres of Probrine, effectively a salt water brine mix”.
The cost of doing the work was £47,000.
According to the report, the City of York Council Cycle Officer says feedback from cyclists can be summarised as “the trial is a vast improvement and that they’d like it extending to other parts of the network which were not included in the trial”.
The winter was (again) relatively mild without sustained periods of sub zero temperatures.
Cyclists in the suburbs and villages will view this report with some scepticism. Once again there seems to have been no objective attempt made to identify the needs of longer distance and leisure cyclists in west York.
Too many off road paths are impeded by weeds, thorn bushes and detritus. Several are now badly rutted. No regular maintenance inspections take place.
The York Council must start taking the needs of all cyclist seriously. Otherwise it will be guilty of posturing.
It should start by increasing the number of inspections that it undertakes.
It should also agree a routine maintenance programme covering sweeping, weed treatment and hedge cutting on off road paths.
It must also acknowledge that periodically it will have to renew notices and refresh white lines. At the moment many of these have just faded away.
Last year the Council agreed to provide external lockers for the flats on Cornlands Road. The flats have limited internal storage and the lockers would provide an opportunity to safely leave bicycles etc.
Initially it had been expected that the lockers would be located to the side or rear of the properties.
Hard-standing has now been provided to the front of the flats but it remains unclear when the lockers will be fitted.
In the meantime the hard-surfacing is being used to accommodate wheelie bins at some blocks
The was some surprise a few days ago when a scheduled report on homeless problems in the City was pulled.
The Council failed to explain why the report was abandoned and it remains unclear what the report contained.
It may be that the Council is embarrassed by the seeming increase in the number of empty homes that it owns.
Two on Foxwood Lane have been empty for over 6 months (i.e. from before the pandemic caused delays) . Both properties are bungalows which are always popular with “downsizers”, so finding new tenants shouldn’t have been a problem.
On the basis of the last published stats, there were 22 homeless households with dependent children in living in temporary accommodation in York.
According to the Councils own figures, the average number of days to re-let empty properties has risen from 27 days to 37 days during the last couple of years.
There are 1597 people registered on the York housing waiting list.
