York trio highlights city’s apprenticeships strength at regional awards

Clifton Green Primary School has won the small business category at the regional National Apprenticeship Awards.

The school, which has 11 apprentices out of a total of 80 staff, will go forward to the national finals in London on 27 November after being recognised for its work supporting apprentices.

Natasha Palmer, Minster FM’s Digital Content Producer, won the Higher or Degree Apprentice of the Year category.

Alan Milner, a Digital Content Executive from LNER, who completed his apprenticeship at City of York Council, was highly commended for his work in championing apprentices.

Lisa Green, Business Manager at Clifton Green Primary School, said: We are thrilled to be recognised for our work with apprentices. Apprenticeships offer us as a school, the opportunity to find the best people for the role, to upskill existing members of staff and support our local community in to work. This recognition and the chance to travel to the national awards compliments our motto ‘Better Never Stops’.”

Cllr Andrew Waller, Executive Member for Economy and Strategic Development, City of York Council, said: “We have a really strong track record of creating high quality apprenticeships in York and I’m delighted that this has been reflected with local success in the regional awards. Apprenticeships can provide a stepping stone to a wide variety of different careers and are a great way for businesses to develop local talent in-house. 

“I’d like to wish our ‘York’ finalists the very best of luck in the national finals.”

Anyone wanting further information in recruiting apprentices or finding an apprenticeship in York should contact York Apprenticeship Hub on 01904 553732 or email york.apprenticeships@york.gov.uk

Continuing concerns over Chief Executives health in York

It is nearly 6 months since the Chief Executive of the City of York Council went on sick leave. The problem arose shortly after the May local elections and left the largely inexperienced new Council with inadequate senior management capacity.

The result was that there was a lack of direction during the summer period with the standard of several public services noticeably falling.

The Council drifted into several decisions, including a £20 million Guildhall redevelopment contract, without the rigorous reappraisal that a new administration, acting with the advantage of experienced advisors, might have chosen to approach differently.

The Council must now consider whether to continue with a temporary Chief Executive – a senior officer “acting up” – or whether to move to something more permanent.

Long service Chief officers in local government are entitled to 6 months sick leave on full pay followed by 6 months on half pay. So potentially if the Chief Executive continues to be absent there will be funding available in the budget to cover any backfill.

Not an easy decision and the health of employees must always be a paramount consideration.

But York taxpayers will now expect to see a roadmap published which shows a way back to having a full management team in place in the City.

There are simply too many decisions coming along (including the completion of the Community Stadium, the Guildhall, York Central, York Bypass improvements etc.) to allow a continued policy drift.

The York Council will consider the future of its Chief Executive post next week

What’s on in York: Linda Green – The Last Thing She Told Me

York Explore Library

October 1st @ 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

 £5

Even the deepest buried secrets can find their way to the surface…join Linda Green as she talks about her latest psychological thriller The Last Thing She Told Me, a Richard & Judy 2019 Book Club choice.

Moments before she dies, Nicola’s grandmother Betty whispers to her that there are babies at the bottom of the garden….

Linda Green is the bestselling author of nine novels. She is an award-winning journalist and has written for The Guardian, the Independent on Sunday and the Big Issue. Linda lives in West Yorkshire.

Tickets

How will York tackle weed growth in the future?

The long awaited report, into the collapse of weed control activities in the City this summer, has now been published.
Key routes into the City were disfigured

The report lists several actions which might be undertaken to prevent a repetition of the problems.

It was clear as long ago as June that something was seriously amiss with the Council contract.

A contract has been let which had omitted several key roads like the A59, as well as many back lanes and paths. Gutters and paths rapidly become overgrown. In some cases, because of restricted sight lines or trip hazards, there was an unnecessary risk to public safety.

Amongst the worst affected were major entry points into the City which gave visitors an early impression of neglect (It became clear later, that former trunk roads were amongst these omitted from the contract)

The Councils reaction to the problems was highly complacent. It was two months before they admitted that the list of streets to be treated by the contractor was out of date. They blamed the weather (too much rain) and turned a blind eye to the fact that the “quad bike” contractors were missing out large areas altogether. Treatment, where undertaken, proved to be ineffective.

It was Septembers before the failings were finally acknowledged. Contractors were asked to add a blue dye to the chemical so it would be clear which areas they had treated.

To this day, residents continue to search for the illusive blue dye trail.

Another problem was the choice of weed killer. Glyphosate, which is a contact weed killer, has no residual effect, so it only kills weeds present at the time of application. It is an industry standard product, but it failed to act on deep rooted weeds. Alternatives were available but not used.

The Council claims to have “deployed additional resource to focus on removing detritus which collects in kerb lines, particularly on the offside of traffic islands where sweeping is more difficult and less effective. The detritus build up is greater when weeds are present”.

The report doesn’t analyse how the Council came to issue an incorrect contract specification, doesn’t reveal the results of supervisory checks on the contractor, offers no update on the September recovery programme and fails to review “difficult to reach” locations such as bridge parapets, snickets, back lanes and garage forecourts.

The contract required certain outputs to be achieved. These included a 98% weed free appearance on treated areas.

No KPIs are quoted.

The Council has however listed 10 initiatives (see right) that it could take to improve the appearance and safety of the City.

 All, and more, will be required next year if the reputation of the City is not to be further damaged.

Missed bin collections – latest

Slightly better performance today although several streets in Rawcliffe, Fulford and Clifton didn’t have their grey bins emptied.

Garden waste collections were missed in parts of Rawcliffe and Fishergate. They, and the still outstanding collections in Haxby, Wigginton and Strensall, will be collected tomorrow (Saturday) according to the Council.

Many of the delays over the last few weeks have been due to vehicle breakdowns on a fleet which includes some plant which is 10 years old. A message to a York Councillor from a senior official earlier today suggests that replacement vehicles haven’t even been ordered yet. More on that to come.

Last minute reprieve for number 12 bus service?

Reports are emerging from the Council which claim that the 12 bus service, which was to have terminated in Woodthorpe from next Sunday, will now continue to serve the Acomb Wood Drive, Bellhouse Way and Foxwood Lane loop.

The decision – which is understood to involve a Council subsidy – was taken in a behind closed doors decision. No advanced notice of the proposal was published by the Council.

The service will run on an approximate 40 minute frequency.

The original plan would have left most of the 500 homes on the Acomb Park estate without an accessible bus service for large parts of the day.

A copy of the Mon-Fri First timetable, which will operate from 30th September, can be downloaded by clicking here

A copy of the Saturday timetable, which will apply from 5th October, can be downloaded by clicking here

Changes to service 14 were announced earlier in the summer.

More disruption on Bishopthorpe Road as resurfacing works start

City of York Council will be carrying out overnight roadworks to resurface Bishopthorpe Road over two stages.

The first stage will take place over four nights between 30 September and 4 October. The second stage will take place over four nights between 15 October and 19 October (weather permitting) between 7pm till 5am.

For the overnight works on 30 September, crews will be resurfacing of the Bishopthorpe Road / Scarcroft Road junction.

This is following the completion of the junction improvement scheme to replace all the ageing traffic signal equipment, create a new pedestrian crossing, remove the small central triangular island on Bishopthorpe Road and widen/resurface the footway. Find out more about this scheme here: www.york.gov.uk/BishyRd

For the overnight works from 15 October, a temporary road closure from Church Lane to Middlethorpe Hall Hotel will be necessary whilst works are taking place, in order to carry out these works safely.

During this time there will be no access to or from the car park.

A clearly signed diversion route will be set out for through traffic. All on street parking will be suspended at these times but any specific access requirements may be arranged. Any vehicle remaining on the street during the suspension time may be liable to a parking fine and removal costs.   

Household waste and recycling collections will take place as normal.

Bus Service 11 will to divert via Tadcaster Road, Sim Balk Lane, Main Street, resuming normal route at Acaster Lane. Returning to York it would turn left from Appleton Road into Sim Balk Lane rather than continuing along Main St.

In addition to the above, the council will be carrying out kerbing and drainage works on 9 to 11 October working 9.15am – 4pm. These works will be carried out under local traffic management and will not affect access on this road, which will be open as normal.

Emergency services will be permitted through the works at all times. Cyclists will have to dismount and use the footways.

As with any construction work, there is likely to be a certain amount of disruption and inconvenience to the public, however the council will try at all times to keep any disruption to a minimum.

For more information about roadworks in York visit: www.york.gov.uk/roadworks

Die Horibilis

Been a horrible day for the Council with many more missed bin collections.

Recycling collections were missed in Haxby, New Earswick, Strensall and Wigginton.

Green waste bins weren’t emptied in Haxby, Wigginton and Strensall. The bins not emptied in Woodthorpe on Tuesday still haven’t been collected.

Household waste wasn’t collected in part of Holgate (blocked access).

Sources inside the Council point to continuing difficulties in recruiting staff including drivers. There has still not been any statement from the Council leadership about this issue or why replacement vehicles haven’t been introduced into the fleet.