Poor footpaths, litter and dumping – time for the York Council to take notice

Dangerous footpaths

Dangerous footpaths

The York Council needs to get a grip of the growing number of issues affecting the estates that it is responsible for managing.

Litter

Litter

Dumping

Dumping

Dozens of issues are being reported to the Council with little feedback.

A petition has been started in Chapelfields asking the Council to improve parking arrangements and provide better maintenance of communal areas

 

Neglect in City continues

Ouse Bridge 7th August 2014

Ouse Bridge 7th August 2014

A couple of months ago we reported that public service standards in the City had declined.

Ouse Bridge York June 2014

Ouse Bridge York June 2014

One particular problem was weed growth – with Ouse Bridge badly affected.

The weeds were not only a potential threat to the integrity of the bridge but were an eyesore in a particularly sensitive area.

So it is disappointing to find that two months later no action has been taken to address the issue.

 

 

 

Rates discount plan for Acomb may miss target

Dumping on Acomb shops car park

Dumping on Acomb shops car park

The Council may decide on Tuesday to introduce a 50% discount on Business Rates for any “empty” shop brought back into use in “Acomb”. The discount would apply for up to 18 months.

The Council still continues in a state of denial about public service standards in the Front Street area.

Weeds, potholes, litter and graffiti all add to the “run down” appearance of parts of the area.

Weeds taking over several streets in Acomb

Weeds taking over several streets in Acomb

Now the economic recovery is well established  properties are already being brought back into use. There are currently only 3 premises in “Acomb” which have been empty for 12 months or more.

The proposed discount scheme is similar to that introduced by the Coalition Government last autumn which awards 50% relief after a shop, that has been empty for 12 months, is reoccupied.

The Coalition Government had previously given powers in April 2012 to Councils who wished to extend Rate discount schemes to commercial premises. Quite why it has taken the York Council over 2 years to consider using these powers in Front Street has not been explained.

The Council will now consider making the 50% discount available to premises from the moment that they become empty. Although it is intended to fill the gap in provision for the period up to 12 months (when the mandatory government scheme kicks in) there is clearly a flaw in using taxpayers money to subsidise national chains who move into  prime sites immediately leases become available.

No doubt their shareholders would be delighted to receive a profits boost of this sort while existing shops might rightly brand the subsidy as unfair competition.

A more sensible approach would be for the Council to focus its discounts on properties which have been empty for over 3 months.

Business rates are not payable on a commercial property for the first 3 months that it is empty anyway.

Empty properties with a rateable value of under £2,600 are entirely exempt from Business Rates

The terms for the discounts in what the Council labels the “Acomb Business Development District” appear to have been thrown together in some haste.

  • The area that the discount will apply within is not defined (the Council papers refer only to “Acomb”)
  • The Council scheme is restricted to retail premises. The government scheme applies to all businesses
  • It is unclear how the temporary occupation of shops (so called “pop up” units, display only exhibitions and voluntary organisation use) will affect entitlements.
  • Para 15 of the paper suggests that applications have to be linked to “the three ambitions set out above” These refer to young enterprises, listed buildings and re-locations
  • The paper also suggests that applications will only be considered once a year with a September deadline (!)

Footnote

  • Small retailers are entitled to £1000 off their Rates (Rateable value of £50,000 or less) although not all traders have, as yet, applied for this discount.
  • Rates relief is available for existing small businesses (premises with a Rateable value of less than £12,000)
  • Charities and amateur community sports clubs get at least 80% Rates relief

Acomb toilets closed

No progress information from CouncilAcomb toilets closed 2 1400 hours 25th July 2014

Visitors to the ADAM festival last week found that the public conveniences had been closed.

Despite assurances to the contrary no temporary facilities had been provided although a disabled loo was available in the library.

A portaloo has now been delivered but there is no notice displayed saying how long the Council expects the modernisation of the permanent facility to take.

When opened, the new facilities are expected to involve a 40p charge for users.

It is really shameful that a Council which spends hundreds of thousands of pounds on public relations activities can’t even put the toilet modernisation programme target completion dates on its own web site.

Yet it manages to issue media releases with the most anodyne commentary on “cabinet” member “visits”.

It’s time for the York Council to put its customers first.

500 signature petition says “improve our neighbourhood”

 

Acomb residents ask for Council action

Petition June 2014

Over 500 residents living in the Chapelfields, Front Street, Cornlands Road, Gale Lane and Lowfields areas have signed a petition asking for improvements in their local neighbourhood.

The petition will be handed in to the York Council at its meeting later today by Cllr Lynn Jeffries.

The residents are concerned about the quality of public service provided in their neighbourhoods by the Council and particularly highlight issues with roads, footpaths, damaged fences, inadequate street cleansing, increasing instances of anti-social behaviour, inadequate car parking, weed growth in gulleys and on footpaths.

 In some cases resident have added in their own concerns with one recurrent comment being poor access arrangements for people restricted by their use of wheelchairs or mobility scooters.

In this respect poor footpaths/lack of dropped kerbs in the Front Street/Lowfields area has been mentioned by several residents.

The petition will be considered later in the year by the responsible Council committee,

Charitable donation means more trees will be planted in Foxwood area

Another batch of trees funded by The Galtres Festival Charitable Foundation will soon be planted in York, under the festival’s partnership with Treemendous.
tree

The Foxwood area of York has been chosen as the location for this latest planting project, where it is hoped new trees will line public paths and form new areas of woodland.

Ticket-buyers for the annual Galtres Parklands Festival are encouraged to contribute to the event’s plant-a-tree scheme, which Galtres has set up as a voluntary carbon tax – and this week £1425 has been channelled to the city’s Treemendous initiative.
(more…)

Breakthrough in journey planning in York

click to access Google Maps

click to access Google Maps

Google have added a comprehensive bus timetable to their “Google Maps” web and app sites.

The facility allows users to compare the time it would take to use different forms of transport and the length of the journey.

The site gives access to bus timetables and routes across the whole country.

The site already provides details of local cycle tracks and can provide a recommended optimum walking route as an alternative.

Its advantage over previous systems, is that it allows for integrated journey planning across the whole country.

It is also available on some mobiles.

More here

 

 

West Yorkshire Joint Authority – where is York’s money going?

The first meeting of the Joint Authorities investment committee takes place next week. Although an agenda has been published for the meeting which will take place in Leeds, we doubt if many York residents know of its existence.

We believe that the York Council should publicise details of this organisations meetings in the same way that it does its own

closed doorsThe committee will for example discuss a Strategic Economic Plan

Residents, looking for an assurance that the money being invested by York in the regional transport fund will bring early benefits to York, will be disappointed. A report makes little reference to York concentrating on West Yorkshire projects.

A further report on the introduction of superfast Broadband access to York says,

In York the situation is slightly different in that the current programme is being delivered by North Yorkshire County Council by its wholly owned company NYNET which has ownership of the delivery contract with BDUK. The NYNET contract together with BT’s own commercial investment is forecast to achieve 96% coverage in York by the end of 2014. However, as set out below, the proposal going forward is for York to be part of a joint new programme in collaboration with West Yorkshire”

The report is largely opaque failing to identify communities which do have superfast broadband access and the timetable for those that will be added over the coming months (and years).

With York lagging behind the rest of the Leeds City Region in gaining access to 4G mobile phone networks, there will be a fear that the City will not get value for money from its broadband budget.

All the members of this committee are Labour. York is represented by Cllr “Leftie” Levene, the well known Republican, who allegedly needs a Sat. Nav. to find the bathroom.

Meanwhile there has been some speculation in the media that York’s bid for the HS2 rail college could be  unsuccessful with others in the “Leeds City Region” touting for the project. The Joint Authority has not discussed the issue although its transport chair issued a media release in April

Real time maps of York – weather and traffic congestion

Residents can now access a radar map showing current weather conditions across the county. Click map for access. http://preview.wunderground.com/wundermap

click to access

click to access

And a reminder that a real time map is also available showing congestion levels, current and planned road works http://roadworks.org/

click to access

click to access