Less litter on Cornlands Park
New Doherty Walk parking area completed
Salt bin filled on Tennent Road
Although attention in the City has – rightly – been concentrated on the floods and their aftermath, other areas have also suffered during the recent wet weather.
We have taken up several issues using the Fix My Street web site which we recommend to residents wanting to ask for repairs and improvements.
Several faulty street lights have been reported by Cllr Sheena Jackson over the last few days. These include number 3 in Bellhouse Way. If you report a streetlight please remember to quote the number which is displayed on the lamppost as well as the street name.
A pothole on Foxwood Lane has also been reported by Sheena
Sheena has asked for black bags dumped in the Foxwood Lane hedge to be removed
The wet weather means that more verges like this in Windsor Garth have been churned up
Good news with the salt bin at the junction of Kingsway West and Danesfort Avenue now having been filled
Litter accumulation on the Tithe Close snicket has been reported
Rubbish bag dumped in Teal Drive salt bin
The little Green Lane garage area continues to deteriorate. The lack of action – the problems were reported 4 months ago – will now be referred to the Ombudsman
More damaged verges this time in St Stephens Road
and again in Kingsway West
Still no sign of repair to the carriageway in Windsor Garth
Good news in Ascot Way where an overgrown hedge has been cut back
How events unfolded on “twitter” click to enlarge
A media release issued by the York Council on the afternoon of 26th December assured residents that “provisions were in place to protect the City” from flooding.
Less than 14 hours later the Foss barrier had failed, 700 homes and businesses had been flooded and telecoms were down.
The Council issued a further media statement late on 27th saying “The north east of the city is protected from flooding by a flood protection scheme, called the Foss Barrier”.
Which rather demonstrates the need for prompt and informed communications when a crisis develops.
As one of our commentators points out,
“We seem to receive at least one severe warning each year without a trickle of water being seen in the street (Huntington Road). I guess that it’s institutional ‘crying wolf’. Neighbours say that if there had been a real local warning – from, say, a tannoy fitted to a police car, then they would have been able to save more possessions. We are all going to have to move out of homes for six months for reconstruction”.
Cllr Andrew Waller has agreed to take up any communications issues with the appropriate authorities
Coincidentally the Council will debate next week (11th Jan) a study on “E-Democracy”. The review prompted the so called engagement survey where residents were asked to say how they would prefer to communicat with the Council. Ironically the failure to publicise the survey led to a derisory level of engagement with it!
The study also failed to report on the speed of response to issues reported using existing “on line” systems. *
However, more intelligent and timely use of digital systems is undoubtedly at least part of the way forward.
Real time updates on flood levels should be possible even now, while many organisations in the business support and voluntary sector (and others) need to take a hard look at how well they have supported their clients over the last week.
*It has been confirmed that the much hyped but dysfunctional issue reporting system launched in October is in fact an interim “fix” aimed at replacing a system lost when computer systems were transferred to West Offices 18 months ago.
The new “all bells and whistles” personal account based system – originally promised for introduction in spring 2015 – is now expected to be available later this year and may be soft tested later this month.
The Council has issued a media release saying,
“City of York Council’s Executive is facing some tough decisions in 2016-17. Below outlines why these difficult choices need to be made and why residents’ views are so important.
To help shape the 2016-17 Budget proposals, the council is inviting residents to have their say through a consultation by Wednesday 20 January:
· Online at www.york.gov.uk/consultations/
· By post to FREEPOST RTEG-TYYU-KLTZ, Budget consultation, City of York Council, West Offices, Station Rise, York, YO1 6GA
· By hand at West Offices or libraries/Explore Centres”.
On line consultation questionaire https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/YorkBudget
The Council of course omits to mention many options that many residents might like to take.
Not can you vote to save money through the lower debt (interest) charges which would come if the subsidy was reduced for big investment schemes like the:
There isn’t even a “write in” option for those feeling inventive!
NB It is likely that the cap in increases will be around 3.9% most of which will be ring-fenced for elderly care.
The Council justifies its stance by saying, “This year’s budget proposals will seek to ensure the council’s priorities continue to be delivered, whilst also ensuring the council’s financial position is managed effectively.
(more…)
Local Councillor Andrew Waller audited the effectiveness of drainage systems over the weekend.
The wet weather has revealed several problems all of which have been reported to the Council.
Poor drainage on Askham Lane near bus stop
Blocked gulley at entrance to Gladstone Street
Blocked gully near Green Lane roundabout
Broken drain cover St Stephens Square
Cornlands Road near bus stops
Windsor Garth
Poor drainage and damaged gully Danesfort Avenue
Windsor Garth flooding
Bramham Grove carriageway needs patching
Damage to a telecoms cabinet on Bramham Road
“Fags ends” accumulating outside the shops on Bramham Road
…….and detritus at the former entrance to Lowfields School on Dijon Avenue. Reported 2 months ago but no action by the Council yet
A lot of detritus on the footpath at the entrance to The Wandle
Garage areas still a problem. Now we have dumping in the Kingsway West area.
Detritus , leaves and litter on the Grange Lane cycle path entrance
Dumping at Acomb Car Park recycling point
Fridge dumped in Chapelfields
Can banks on Acomb Car Park full. Cans being hung on skip
Leaf detritus on little Green Lane in Acomb – was reported 3 weeks ago!!
Similar leaf fall on The Green, Acomb
With Christmas approaching here is a timely reminder that most of the City’s sheltered and elderly persons homes welcome participants from the local community.
York Councillors proposed pay increases. About half the Council members are eligible for SRA payments.
If accepted, the rises would far outstrip the increase in pay seen by Council staff over the last 6 years.
In 2008 the Council agreed to tie members allowance rates to average Council staff wage increases, although members decided to forgo an increase during the depth of the recession.
Most Councillors were elected expecting an inflation lift of around 3%. However some, under the recommendations, would get an increase in responsibility allowances of as much as 148%.
The top salary earner would be the Council Leader who would be paid £34,668 a year. There would be no requirement for members to be full time Councillors (several members of the present Council also hold down well paid outside jobs). There is no requirement for Councillors to record the number of hours that they devote to their duties each week (although many do work very hard for their local communities)
The rationale used by the independent panel is that high wage rates are necessary to attract good quality candidates. However, at the May 2015 polls, electors had a record number of candidates to choose from.
There is little evidence to suggest that higher pay attracts better qualified candidates.
The Council does not have to accept the recommendations which, if implemented in full, would add £84,000 (15%) to the members annual wage bill.
Nor do individual Councillors have to accept a pay increase. In the past some have turned down increases and have continued to claim the amount applicable when they were last elected.
The debate comes at a time when the Council is struggling to find additional funding for elderly care as well as a bill for several hundred thousand pounds for changes to the Council Tax Support system.
Any further increase could be delayed until after the next local elections when, no doubt, a ballot paper full of high calibre candidates would be available for selection in all wards!
The Council has published a list of changes to the tenancy rules which will apply to tenants. The major change is that success tenancies (when the tenant dies) will only be available for spouses/partners. Other long term occupants of a property might be offered a tenancy of a size appropriate for their needs.
Most controversial proposal may be a suggestion from a tenants group that there be an outright ban, on tenants living in flats, from keeping a pet. It is likely that existing pets would not be affected.
The Councils permission to keep a pet in any of its properties (click here to read proposals) would be required. Bizarrely this appears to include goldfish. No more than 2 pets per home would be allowed (so bad news for mice and rabbits possibly) .
While a ban on keeping potentially noisy – or aggressive – dogs or more exotic animals, in a particular block of flats, might gain some support, it would seem harsh in the extreme to prevent elderly single people from having the companionship provided by (say) a cat.
Some of the other proposed changes may be more welcome. New conditions proposed include:
Requirement not to excessively clutter the home so as to cause health and safety problems, access to essential services and damage to the property. Note: There has been a big increase in behaviour which can be described as hoarding. Advice that CYC will remove any items left in communal to keep environment sterile in line with current procedures and relevant legislation.Flexible tenancy start dates are proposed along with 52 week rent payments (i.e. no “free” weeks).
The proposals are being discussed at a meeting taking place on 16th December. A 6 week consultation period with tenants – starting in mid December – is promised.
Residents had petitioned the Council to secure the rear entrance snickets which serve their properties. The request followed years of problems with anti-social behaviour in the area (although the report from officials claimed that there had been no recent reports to the police). The snickets are not short cuts and can only, legitimately, be used to gain access to adjacent properties. Requests for prompt action were rejected this week, although the site will join the list, with dozens of other locations where action may be taken at a later date.
Foxwood Community Centre
Each centre will receive a grant of £4000 a year. Although an improvement on what was on offer from the last Council (zero!) it will not be enough to allow the centres to re-employ a part time caretaker. In turn, this means that opening hours will continue to be dependent on the availability of volunteers. The Council have, however, identified a specific fund which will be used to keep the buildings in good structural condition (although, as they own the buildings, they pretty much had to do that anyway).
There are growing concerns that the Council is being unrealistic in expecting volunteers to take on an increasing burden in maintaining local community facilities. Sadly so far the Council have chosen not to consult residents on the options that they are considering. Sources within the Council suggest that it plans to reduce still further the standard of maintenance of public open spaces and that it is expecting local people to fill the gap. We doubt that will happen particularly at a time when the Council continues to waste money on “free” newspapers, “free” bus travel for under 18’s etc while continuing to rack up the amount that it borrows (and hence the interest charges that it must pay each month).
The Council has agreed to close off one of the entrances to the Cornlands Road park. However the area remains insecure and needs further investment if it is to become a well used community asset.
Cornlands park entrance to be closed
