City of York Council says it is preparing a strong response to a Government consultation, launched today, on the future of local government in York and North Yorkshire.
click image to complete government survey
The Council says, retaining City of York Council alongside a new unitary authority for the rest of North Yorkshire will pave the way to quicker devolution, additional investment into York and minimal disruption to Covid-19 recovery.
The consultation will consider two proposals to remove 2-tier local government in North Yorkshire:
The East/West model proposed by the six of the seven District Councils which removes all existing councils in North Yorkshire and York and merges them into two new unitary authorities;
The North Yorkshire proposal to create a single new unitary authority covering North Yorkshire County Council’s existing footprint, with York remaining as a unitary authority in its own right.
Unfortunately the on line survey form doesn’t make it easy to make out the case for “no change”.
However ,there is an “any other comments” section in which residents can say that they are opposed to handing over powers to a North Yorkshire elected Mayor.
The case can also be made there for no change at least until we are free of the repercussions of the pandemic.
The Council has issued amedia releasesaying that prospective house buyers at the Lowfields development can now take a “virtual tour”
The Council has not commented on the more controversial elements lf the development including the impact that the buildings works are having on neighbouring properties and roads.
Nor has any information been released on when work will start on the the promised community facilities or about the future of the “communal housing” plot, which is located in the south east corner of the site.
It looks like many highways defects have been left waiting for attention for so long that expensive remedial works are now needed.
Many carriageways which needed patching in the summer and autumn were ignored. Now some are worn down to the hardcore base while others have multiple surface defects. Several represent a hazard for two wheeled transport users.
We have reported the following streets (but these may just be the tip of the iceberg).
Walker Drive
Vincent Way
Gladstone Street
Hotham Avenue
Lowfields Drive
School Street
There are also some problems also with leaf and tree detritus. We’ve reported two areas
Green Lane
Kingsthorpe
Finally builders waste has been dumped in the little Green Lane garage area. We’ve asked for it to be removed.
Businesses, residents and stakeholders are being asked to share their thoughts on the future priorities of Make It York.
City of York Council are asking businesses, stakeholders and residents to share their thoughts on how Make It York can best work for the city, whilst the future priorities for the organisation are being considered.
The council-owned organisation carries out destination management and marketing functions on behalf of the city, including tourism, inward investment, business support, culture, events and city centre management.
The council are asking people to share their views through their online survey, which can be accessed online from 19 February until 15 March.
With the future priorities of Make It York currently taking shape, councillors will be asked to approve a finalised Service Level Agreement (SLA) once the feedback from the consultation and stakeholders has been assessed. The Council’s Executive approved the outline terms of an new contract (SLA) for the period of 2021-24 at a public meeting on 11th February 2021.
Cllr Andrew Waller, Executive Member for Economy and Strategic Planning, said:
We are very keen to hear from businesses and residents across York about how they think Make It York can best support the city, especially with a consideration of economic development functions, the city centre and areas outside of the city walls, the visitor economy and York’s cultural offering.
“We are at a critical moment where the future direction and priorities for Make It York are to be set, and we want the businesses and people of York to play a key role in deciding the way forward.”
Millennium Green will receive the first in a series of major improvements as part of the York Central infrastructure works starting on site next week.
Clearance works started last month across the 42 hectare brownfield site, which will provide up to 2500 new homes; up to 6500 jobs as well as vastly improved visitor access experience at the National Railway Museum.
City of York Council and contractors, John Sisk and Son, are delivering letters to neighbouring residents giving full details of the latest works on both Millennium Green and adjacent to Bishopfields Drive. The works include:
Millennium Green
Clearing vegetation and a small number of trees
Improving around 300m of footpath
A new timber viewing platform and renewal works on the pond
3 new benches
Improvements to the southern culvert wall and footpath including replacements steps, and handrail
New fence along the eastern boundary
Temporary fencing and flooring to protect the Millennium Green oak and mosaic throughout the works
Land adjacent to Bishopfields Drive
Removing a small area of treeline essential to allow the infrastructure works, while protecting remaining trees from the works.
The Millennium Green’s lease included a ‘take-back’ option for a small area of land in the north wet to allow the York Central regeneration.
Following consultation with local residents in 2018, the Trust agreed a package which includes a license to use some land during construction, the landscaping of this land when the access road is finished, the provision of alternative land to replace the area taken back and a payment of £375,000 to the Trust to secure its future and fund an ongoing maintenance programme.
Cllr Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council, said:
York Central remains one of the most important and attractive regeneration sites in the country and is an opportunity that many other towns and cities in the UK would envy.
“At the same time as making progress to provide the jobs and houses the city needs, we want to protect and enhance our city’s green spaces. Trees are only being removed where absolutely essential, and will be more than replaced by the 300 mature trees planted during the next phases of infrastructure works. York Central will also include the largest park in the city for 100 years and areas to encourage biodiversity, while the council will plant 50,000 trees in York by 2023.
“The Council will continue to working closely with John Sisk and Sons to limit any disruption to neighbouring residents and businesses, and to keep them informed of any planned works. As ever, we thank all local residents and businesses for their patience.”
All the work has been approved as part of the planning approval on the site.
York Central is being delivered in partnership by Network Rail, Homes England, National Railway Museum and City of York Council. Homes England and Network Rail have supported the development of the site through land acquisition and master planning, and they will now oversee the infrastructure projects.
John Sisk and Son have been appointed as lead contractor for these site clearance works.
This infrastructure work is part of a wider £155m funding pot secured by the York Central Partnership to deliver infrastructure to open up the site for development.
This includes:
£77.1m funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
£23.5m of a total of £37.2m from the West Yorkshire-plus Transport Fund and Leeds City Region Growth Deal, which will also fund the ambitious plans to transform the front of the railway station.
The West Yorkshire-plus Transport Fund has been part-funded through the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Growth Deal, a £1 billion package of Government funding to drive growth and job creation across the Leeds City Region.
The aim is to create around 20,000 new jobs and add £2.4 billion a year to the economy by the mid-2030s. On top of a £6m Local Growth Fund contribution, from the York and North Yorkshire LEP, a further £35m has been secured to be repaid using retained business rates from the York Central Enterprise Zone.
Following a vote of clubs, the National League North and South fixtures for the current season have been declared “null and void”.
Some clubs had been left with an improbable backlog of 30+ fixtures to complete in just 3 months as a result of COVID-19 restrictions and weather postponements.
Clubs also claimed that the government promises, to backfill the income lost from playing behind closed doors, had not been fulfilled.
It means that York City’s fixture against Fylde, which was the first to take place at the new Community Stadium on Tuesday, will be the last until next season.
York City v Fylde
Friendly fixtures may resume on July by which time it is hoped that spectators will be permitted to attend.
The York Knights rugby matches are expected to start on 2nd April although their first fixture, against Toulouse, is likely to be staged behind closed doors at the Community Stadium.
City of York Council is delighted to be working in partnership with Evo Energy to start construction on the largest HyperHub sites in the region.
Artist’s impression of new Hyper Hub at Monks Cross.
The council is investing £2.2m to develop sites, next to Monks Cross and Poppleton Bar Park and Rides, into high quality, high speed electric vehicle charging hubs.
Each HyperHub site will consist of solar PV canopies, battery energy storage, 4 Rapid and 4 Ultra Rapid electric vehicle chargers.
The chargers will help the region to support the next generation of electric vehicles which have significantly larger battery capacities and support higher charging speeds.
Construction on both sites has started, and will be led by EvoEnergy. The new sites at Monks Cross and Poppleton are scheduled for completion in June 2021.
City of York Council is a pioneer in the use of innovative green technology. Over recent years, the council has lead the way in providing a range of public charging facilities for electric vehicles to help reduce carbon emissions and improve local air quality thanks to EV’s eliminating NOx emissions at the point of use.
In addition to generating low carbon electricity on site through PV arrays, all of the electricity supplied from the national grid will be generated by renewable sources providing users with low carbon electricity and ensuring that no NOx emissions are emitted from electricity generation.
The council has successfully secured £1m of European Regional Development Funding and £800,000 from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles, along with £400,000 of the council’s own capital funding to install the first two HyperHubs.
This comes just at a time when the nation prepares to transition across to using electric vehicles with the announcement of a complete ban on sales of new petrol or diesel cars by 2030, with plug-in hybrid sales to end in 2035.
When the council first developed their EV charging network in 2013, there were far fewer plug-in vehicles on the road. However, over the past few years, electric vehicle technology has progressed massively and these vehicles have now become a viable option for many everyday road users.
What is Included?
City of York Council has been able to secure funding from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and European Regional Development Fund.
This largely covers the cost of building the two HyperHub sites, along with a solar canopy system (100kWp) which will generate green electricity and keep users dry and a battery storage solution (348kW / 507kWh), meaning that the council will be able to maintain a lower tariff than commercial operators can offer.
Both of the HyperHub sites will contain 4x Ultra-Rapid (150kW) and 4x Rapid (50kW) vehicle chargers, helping to support the uptake of modern EV’s that have larger battery capacities and are capable of Ultra Rapid charging.
The development of this system will encourage private car owners, taxi drivers and business users to make use of the new facilities, therefore, improving the city’s overall carbon emissions.
Both of the HyperHub sites are started construction in January with both sites due to finish in June 2021.
This investment is just the beginning of the journey for City of York Council as they revitalise their electric vehicle charging network in 2021 ready to support the transition to EV.
In a bizarre twist, the Leaders of 6 District Councils in North Yorkshire have written to York Councillors seeking their support for a reorganisation of Council boundaries.
The Leaders (4 Conservative, 1 Labour and 1 independent) favour a west/east split with York merging with Selby, Ryedale and Scarborough.
The government is expected to publish proposals for consultation next week.
The York Council favours a two way split with the North Yorkshire County Council becoming a unitary authority and York remaining as it is.
The letter from the District Leaders seems to be ill judged.
It pointedly fails to address the underlying threat to democracy – the imposition of a regional mayor – who would have wide ranging spending and regulatory powers. Far from bringing influence closer to local communities, the government plans would impose a remote, and probably insensitive, decision making model on our City.
There is no mention of the future of the long-standing York institutions such as the 800 year old role of Lord Mayor.
Some District Council services are poor. Here litter mounts on the A64 near Tadcaster
But critically, the inexperience of the District Leaders (their councils are not responsible for services such as education, social care and transport) is apparent when they criticise housing and children’s services in the City.
York is unique in the county in retaining a stock of 8000 council houses. The Districts have no experience of managing such numbers while children’s (care) services, outside York, are currently administered by the County Council.
The City Council has responded to the letter, fortunately resisting, for once, the temptation to point out the high Council Tax levels in North Yorkshire.
The latest re-organisation debate is an unwelcome diversion from more important matters.
York and North Yorkshire need all their resources to be focused on recovering from the pandemic over the next few years.
Exchanges of correspondence between politicians, all of whom have vested interests one way or another, simply adds to the confusion.
The media are reporting that Fasil Demsash who stood as a Labour candidate in the Westfield wardat the last local elections in 2019 has been jailed for 9 years following the rape of a teenager.
The offence took place several months before he became a Labour candidate.
Fasil Demsash polled 830 votes in the May 2019 Council elections coming 6th out of 13 candidates in the Westfield poll.
Details of the media report can be found by clicking here
