Some progress but more local issues reported in west York

The hedge which was obstructing the snicket linking Gale Lane and Bachelor Hill has been trimmed back.

Unfortunately the potentially hazardous thorn hedge branches on the Tithe Close snicket (they are at eye height) still need to be cut back from the footpath in two locations

Ideal growing conditions mean that hedges and bushes can quickly obstruct footpaths. This one is near the Dickson Park. We hope that all residents will check their boundaries

We’ve reported littering of the children’s playground at the Cornlands Park. Mostly beer cans! Unfortunately the spring closing mechanism on the fence gate is not working. This means that dogs can access the area. This may lead to fouling problems. We ask users to make sure that the gate is kept closed./

Continuing problems with litter on some snickets in the Thoresby Road area. There is a growing need for some enforcement action.

Some Councillors are now pressing for the Councils weed treatment schedules to be made public. Scenes like the above on The Reeves are not uncommon these days.

Post Office statement on Woodthorpe Post Office reopening

The Post Office say they are proposing to re-open the above Post Office branch in the new location – Martin McColls, 51 Moorcroft Road, Woodthorpe, York, YO24 2RQ on Friday 20 September 2019

It would change to one of their new “local style branches”.

The previous branch closed in May 2019 therefore they had to identify an alternative location to continue to offer Post Office services to the local community.

New Post Office branch plan

“Customers would access Post Office services at a low-screened, open-plan, modern serving point that’s part of the retail counter. Working with the postmaster, we’d adapt the current store layout, fixtures and fittings to accommodate the Post Office till if needed.

The branch would offer a wide range of Post Office products and services over longer opening hours, so customers can access their Post Office when it’s convenient.

Customer satisfaction with local style branches stands at 96 per cent, and nearly 20 per cent of local branch customers visit outside traditional opening hours” click

York Council stops publishing Freedom of Information responses

The York Council has stopped publishing its responses to FOI requests on its web site.

For many years the authority made information publicly available on this web site https://www.york.gov.uk/info/20219/freedom_of_information/1535/freedom_of_information_responses

No FOI responses for 2019 published by Council

That practice stopped last summer although there was no consultation or publicity given to the change of policy.

The new LibDem administration has apparently gone along with this change of approach.

The Council is not required by law to publish responses but it is regarded as good practice. Most Councils do publish this information and it has the advantage of helping to discourage duplicate requests,

Some responses are published when a request has been submitted via the independent web site “What do they Know” However this is not the York Councils preferred channel for submitting and answering information requests.

It provides is own “on line” information request form (click)

The Council received 2068 requests under FOI and Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) during the last financial year

News blackout

The Council has also scrapped its “Ward News” web pages.

For many years the authority provided web pages which told local residents what was going on their local neighbourhoods. These were linked to background pages for each ward (click for example)

The pages typically carried “what’s on” lists and event posters. These have now been binned by the local authority.

The Council is also refusing to publish, on individual Residents Association web pages (example), details of their meetings. Copies of agendas and meeting minutes had been published by the Council for several years but,
in a recent decision, these have now been black-listed, ,

This seems to be part of a deliberate strategy aimed at reducing resident influence at West Offices. Half a dozen residents associations have been forced to disband in recent years while the overarching York Residents Federation was also ditched last year.

Liberal Democrat Councillors had previously promised more support for residents organisation.

Unfortunately things now seem to be getting worse rather than better.

What’s on in York: York City F.C. kick-about on Chesneys Field tomorrow (Wednesday)

City centre economy facing a challenge

City centre traders are likely to be looking with concern at the numbers of people who are visiting the City centre. New footfall figures have been published.

The figures suggest that visitor numbers to the City may have plateaued.

Long periods of hot weather haven’t, in the past, been good for York with some tourists preferring to visit coastal areas.

This years weather has been mixed.

Special attractions like the Rose Theatre, although generally successful, are not sold out while interest in events like the current “Great Yorkshire Fringe” are at best comparable with last year.

During June several York streets saw a 10% drop in visitor numbers in 2019 compared to the same month in 2018.

Early figures for July in Parliament Street suggest a 4% drop in visitor numbers during July.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the number of empty shops on Coney Street, that area has seen visitor numbers drop from 812,808 in June 2017 to 713,762 in June of this year.

There is no shortage of excellent “Festivals“ in York while the work of the BID has seen several parts of the city centre tidied up.

The most important time for many City centre traders is the period between now and Christmas.

Lets hope that the City continues to be “best day out” in the region

Gradual decline in visitor numbers to Parliament Street.

Smaller shopping streets are doing better with visitor numbers to Stonegate stable and numbers in Micklegate increasing.

Covert cameras may be used to identify litter louts in York

The York Council is understood to be testing the use of covert surveillance cameras in a bid to deal with increasing problems with fly tipping, littering and dog fouling.

The latest figures reveal that only 6 people were fined for littering offences in the City during the last financial year.

Even fewer were issued with a ticket for allowing their dogs to foul a public area. Only one was issued last year.

Some snickets in York are littered every day

We understand that a new model of portable CCTV camera is now being piloted. The camera is fully GDPR compliant

Some ward committees have allocated funding in the past with the intention of providing surveillance for streets subject to anti social behaviour. The plans have never come to anything.

Now it seems that some Councillors are prepare to call time on activities which are costly to clean up and, in the case of dog fouling at least, may be a potential public health risk.

The Council have not provided details of where the trials are taking place or what their priorities might be if the scheme is extended to cover the whole City.

Fixed penalty notices issued in York for littering

Fixed penalty notices in York for dog fouling

Graffiti update in August

The York Council is due to receive an update report on the problem of graffiti in the City when its Executive meets in August.

Graffiti on the Ouse still visible from trains entering and leaving the City

First quarter performance stats will be published by the York Council.

Residents will be looking to see whether the increase in reports of graffiti, evident in March, has continued.

Following recent publicity, the York BID team vowed to tackle the issue in central York, while a couple of weeks ago the Council itself made budgetary provision for a clean up.

Figures on the “open data” web site suggest that around 20% of residents believe graffiti to be a problem in their neighbourhood. The volume of complaints has fluctuated over the last 8 years, but showed a big increase in March.

The Council has not published any recent figures indicating the number of successful prosecutions for graffiti/criminal damage

Trends in graffiti reports in York. Last published figure showed a sharp rise.

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Well done to Cllr Mark Warters who has today challenged the Council on the effectiveness of its weed killing programme. He believes, as do we, that many areas have not been treated by the Councils contractors.

Cllr Warters photo which evidenced the lack of weed killing on public paths

Not sure this Gillygate closure has been well publicised?

Starts tonight

Gillygate will be closed for a few days because of sewer works. The Council normally issues a media release detailing significant road works but that doesn’t seem to have happened here.

A full list of road closures can be found via this link