The black farce that is the York Local Plan process has taken a step sideways.
A letter from the appointed inspectors has ordered the Council to consult on the recent changes it has made to documents which should by now have been formally approved and implemented.
The consultation will take up to 6 weeks to complete.
It can only start as and when the Council gets round to publishing details of the latest changes that it proposes to make to the City’s Green Belt boundaries.
The letter concludes by saying that the examination in public will not recommence until June at the earliest. It will probably be held as a “virtual” (on-line) meeting.
We have said before, the Local Plan process is fundamentally flawed.
It is based on the proposition that it is possible to predict the economic and social changes which will occur over a 20 year period.
BREXIT and the pandemic have put paid to that notion.
We would all struggle to predict how the York economy will look this time next year, let alone in 2040.
Yet the Local Plan could see vast swathes of the City blighted as planners seek to allocate sites to house 790 additional families each year.
That level of job growth to support such inward migration is simply is not going to happen in the post pandemic world.
SIX additional hospital deaths have been announced today.
They bring the cumulative total number of fatalities at the York and Scarborough hospitals up to 283 since the start of the second wave of infections.
Test Results
FORTY SEVEN (47) additional positive test results announced today. Brings the cumulative case total to 11,136.
Rate /100k population has now reduced to 205.12. Trending to fall below the 200 case benchmark tomorrow.
The case rate in York continues to reduce more quickly than is being seen in other parts of the country
Neighbourhoods
There are now three neighbourhoods with a case rate of below 100. They are Dunnington/Elvington/Wheldrake (6 cases), the City Centre (12 cases) and Poppleton/Rufforth/Askhams (5 cases).
Haxby remains the only area with a rate over 400 (400.4 with 23 cases).
Vaccinations
National
Nationwide 9,296,367 people have now received their first vaccinations. 494,209 have also received the second dose.
319,038 people were vaccinated yesterday 31st January (first dose) . This was lower than the rate achieved during the previous three days.
3156 people received the second dose.
Regional
Local
According to a post by Nimbuscare on social media
“Over 12,000 patients received their Covid vaccinations at the York’s National and Local Vaccination Centre between the 25th and 31st January.
In the over 80s group Humber, Coast and Vale (which includes the York area) had vaccinated 68% by 17th January and 87% by the 24th January.”
Testing
Number of tests
5,431 PCR (laboratory) tests were conducted in York during the week ending 27th January (the latest figure available).
Of these, 9% provided to be positive .
That is the lowest positivity rate found since 24th December 2020.
In addition, 1526 lateral flow tests were completed on 31st January. That brings the total number of such tests to 35,270.
Sites
A TEMPORARY Covid testing site will be set up next week in Haxby which has seen high infection rates in recent times.
The testing will be held by appointment only at the Ethel Ward Playing Fields in Calf Close, Haxby, from Monday until Sunday February 6, from 9am to 3pm.
Tests can be booked by going to www.nhs.uk/Coronavirus or by phoning 119 and selecting the option that you were asked to attend by your local council.
The facility is similar to the one operating on the Thanet Road rugby club car park tomorrow.
It also was set up when virus infection rates in Woodthorpe and Westfield were very high.
York Council staff absence
A York Council committee will be considering the levels of sick absence at the authority. next week.
“At the start of the pandemic staff absence increased significantly with a number of staff not available to work. This was directly linked to coronavirus where staff were displaying symptoms and self isolating and unable to work from home. The sickness absence rates across the council follows the national and local infection rate patterns, as can be seen, with a slight peak in wave 2 October time and then wave three being end of December into January 2021.
There is some confidence though that whilst rates have increased since end of December, they are not near the level we experienced in March / April. There are staff that are self isolating but are able to work fully from home and therefore those will not appear in the figures, also those staff who have tested positive for covid but are well enough to continue to work from home”.
Around 900 staff working in the social care sector are being vaccinated.
Schools
The same meeting will hear that there are pressures on some schools. All York schools are still open catering for the children of some critical workers.
The meeting will be told that the number of teaching staff absent since January 5th has fluctuated but has been between 95- 85, with the numbers absent due to being Covid positive being under 10 individual cases on any given date.
“The staffing levels in individual schools have not so far reached a level where schools have been unable to deliver on site provision or their remote learning offer”.
The impact on schools varies according to their size, staffing structure and the physical space within their buildings.
In particular, small primary schools are finding it more difficult to manage high numbers of children on site and to manage the remote learning offer.
During the first week in January, a small number of parents contacted the Council’s education team to highlight problems with accessing school places, each case was worked through and solutions found.
Below are the latest planning applications received by the York Council for the Westfield ward.
Full details can be found by clicking the application reference.
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9 Front Street
9 Front Street York YO24 3BW
Proposal Conversion of 2no. retail units to form single retail unit with external alterations to include replacement shopfront, external seating area to front and replacement door and external condenser to rear at 7-9 Front Street
City of York Council says it is seeking a specialist to build and operate a new development at Lowfield Green. The council is planning a new independent living scheme with extra care. People who live there will have on-site support and, when and where it is needed, carers will be available to visit the residents in their own homes.
It is over 10 years since a similar proposal to construct a older persons village on the site of the former Lowfields school buildings was first discussed.
Planned Lowfields Care Village 2010
Since then, the Council has been hopelessly indecisive about how such an ambition might be fulfilled.
It remains to be seen whether any social landlords will have the ability to fund older persons accommodation as the effects of the pandemic remain unclear.
There is an area reserved for housing with extra care on the site. This will be in addition to Lowfield Green’s 18 apartments for people aged over 55 and its 26 bungalows.
The tender is proposing a development with a minimum of 40 one- and two-bedroom apartments where residents can access on-site 24-hour care if needed.
The Council says that the delivery of the scheme must be by a Registered Social Landlord (RSL). and that “a number have already expressed an interest in the opportunity”. The care provider will be registered with the Carer Quality Commission (CQC) as ‘Support in Your Own Home’ and graded as ‘Good’ or above.
The tender document is now live, and developers and operators are invited to consider and apply to construct and operate an extra care housing development.
For more detail, please go to www.yortender.co.uk and search for tender reference: DN518540. The closing date for selection questionnaire (SQ) submissions is 22 February 2021 at 12 noon.
An additional seven deaths have been announced by the York Hospital Trust today. Three occurred yesterday and four on Tuesday.
It means that 68 people have lost their lives to COVID-19 at the York and Scarborough hospitals over the last two weeks.
Test results
SIXTY THREE (63) additional positive test results were announced today. Brings the cumulative case total in the City to 10,918
The case rate /100k population has reduced to 269.22
Infection rates are continuing to fall at all levels across the country.
Neighbourhoods
Only three neighbourhoods now have very high infection rates (Haxby, New Earswick and Westfield).
Woodthorpe/Acomb Park has dropped below the 400 case rate benchmark for the first time since 22nd December 2020.
Four areas are now below the 200 case rate benchmark (Dunnington, the City centre, Huntington and Poppleton/Rufforth/Askhams).
It is likely that one of those neighbourhoods will become the first to fall below 100, and be marked as “green” (below average), since 28th December when Heslington recorded a 93.8 case rate.
Huntington has fallen from having 45 cases to just 10 during the last eleven days
Vaccinations
Nationally 282,812 people received a first dose of vaccine yesterday. That brought the cumulative total to 7,447,199.
2,142 people received the second dose bringing the cumulative total to 476,298
Vaccination numbers have been lower this week
Hospitals
According to government figures, there were 215 COVID-19 patients being cared for by the York Hospital Trust on Tuesday 26th January
The were 11 patients in intensive care
Fixed Penalty Notices for COVID offences
The Police have issued 19 fixed penalty notices in York over the last week to people who have been found breaking COVID restrictions.
Most were for unlawful indoor gatherings.
The breakdown across the county is;
North Yorkshire Police say that they have issued a further 87 FPNs for breaches of the Coronavirus regulations since the 19 January 2021.
This takes the total number of FPNs issued since the third national lockdown began on 6 January 2021 to 328 . NYP have issued 2216 COVID notices in total since March 2020.
Virus in the community
NEW: Latest REACT study from @IpsosMORI and @ImperialCollege on behalf of @DHSCGovUK shows high prevalence and an R rate of 1 – A worrying combination but there is a suggestion of a downturn in prevalence. Check out the thread for more ? pic.twitter.com/TtKCCH0KGe
However, there is a growing likelihood that the season will be abandoned altogether, with must clubs in the league very unhappy about the government’s decision not to underwrite the additional costs of playing games behind closed doors.
Grants were made to cover costs during the autumn period. The expectation at that time was that the virus would be under control by Christmas. For a time small crowds were allowed back into some grounds.
However soaring COVID-19 cases led to a further lockdown, with fans having to watch games via streaming services.
Most clubs at National North level exist on modest budgets and depend on the services of part time players. Most players have other jobs (York is a full-time outfit).
The government offered loans to clubs to cover lost revenue. Most indicated that they could not legally continue trading at a loss, which would have been one of the consequences of the loan idea.
Last week 12 clubs wrote to the National League saying that the season should be abandoned if the government did not change its approach.
Chester City Chief Executive on Twitter
One club chairman pointed out that if the season were halted – and players and staff put on furlough – then this would cost the government more than extending the grant system until grounds were able to reopen.
Money is not the only issue.
Some clubs are having difficulty accessing COVID testing facilities. That is something that the government could and should fix quickly.
Another club Chief Executive said,
“With the fact that there is no testing paid for, unlike higher in the pyramid, it was not fair to put players, staff & their families at risk. Although a separate issue to the club funding it was equally important to get that resolved if by some miracle the season does continue. Some players have pregnant wives, live with older parents etc… Putting them & their loved ones at risk. Plus of course interaction in players workplaces again adding to the chance of infection”.
While there may be some element of brinkmanship from the clubs as they seek to get the best deal possible, the government should recognise that it is their decisions that have caused the problem.
They should quickly agree to continue the grants system agreed last summer.
Ironically, if National League football is halted, then the first competitive game to be played at the new Community Stadium may feature the York Knights Rugby team! They are hoping to start their fixtures on 21st March 2021.
The level of the River Ouse now appears to have peaked. It should return gradually to normal levels over the next few days, although some additional snow and rain is forecast.
Think we can safely say that it may be some time before Naburn fully dries out
The revised highest level forecast for the River Ouse in the next 36 hours is 4.74m at 12:30pm Friday 22nd January 2021.
