Several areas in York may be subject to flooding during the next 24 hours. Click on the graphic for updates
Flooding mapKings Staithe live cam. If the top of the no entry sign submerges then properties are likely to be floodedThe highest level forecast in the next 36 hours is 4.75m at 2:30am Friday 22 January 2021. Highest level recorded at this location was 5.40m
Above 2.20m flooding of low-lying land may occur in these areas
LIVE Q&A TONIGHT With river levels expected to peak between 4.4 and 4.8m tonight our #AskTheLeaders session will focus on answering your questions about flooding. E-mail your question in advance to YourQuestions@York.gov.uk or ask them live on our facebook live steam.
The recent media focus in York about the new Community Stadium has tended to draw attention away from the City’s leisure centres. The future needs to be clarified as the pandemic seems likely to prevent their early reopening.
The centres have been managed by GLL “Better Leisure “ since 2017.
They took over the “Energise” facility on Cornlands Road, the Yearsley swimming pool and – more recently – the new Burnholme and Monks Cross centres. For a short time they had managed the “Waterworld” facility at Monks Cross but it had closed against a background of declining attendances.
The decision to outsource the Council owned facilities was a controversial one. Essentially what had been a Labour controlled Council wanted to minimise the financial risk for taxpayers. The deal that was set up gave the social enterprise provider ample scope to make profits from its new estate.
There have been continuing grumbles about the Energise/Better site with many feeling that charges are too high to be attractive in one of the less well off parts of the City.
In common with similar facilities elsewhere, GLL have been forced to close due to the lockdown (s).
This has presented them with the problem of ongoing expense but no customers. Most of their staff have been “furloughed” and buildings mothballed. The much-delayed opening of the Monks Cross Community Stadium site has added to their woes.
It remains to be seen whether compensation could be payable – and to whom – for the delayed building works.
The Council pays GLL a management fee. Sources within the Council have said that GLL are now seeking compensation for their ongoing losses.
Apparently, the Council have submitted a claim for £399,000 to Sport England who had offered to support leisure operators. This may not be enough to cover the deficit. The Council and GLL are currently undertaking an “open book” review.
Any decision to provide additional financial support from the Council would require a decision from Councillors. Several Councillors – as users of the leisure facilities – would be debarred from voting on any such decision.
There is another body of opinion which thinks that the local authority should bring the facilities back under its direct control.
It seems that the Community Stadium saga has allot further to run.
There has been some persistent rain in York. This has brought some issues with flooding and surface water.
Ponding near the shops on Cornlands Road. Possible blocked gulley makes access difficult for pedestrians Verges are vulnerable to vehicle over-run damage when waterloggedWeather a challenge for building works in the areaPerhaps not surprisingly given the pressures on Council services, some autumn leaves haven’t been swept up yetThe former play area on Kingsway West has now been grassed over but access barriers are still in place. Still no sign of progress on a replacement although the Council has made provision for the project in its budget for the next financial year.
Please take the opportunity to report any blocked drains or other issues which may be a hazard for residents. Click here
ONE additional death announced by the York Hospital Trust today. The fatality occurred on Wednesday.
Test results
ONE HUNDRED and NINETEEN (119) new positive test results announced today. Brings total to 9841
Infection rate continues to decline in the City.
Rate /100k population is now 603.49. Trending down to 500 early next week.
There was a reduction of 114 cases compared to previous days figure.
That is a big improvement but still some way to go before we get back to pre Christmas levels.
Case numbers are continuing to reduce at all levels (City, county, regional and national)
Hospitals
As of 12th January there were 156 Coronavirus patients occupying beds at the York Hospital Trust.
Of these, 6 were in intensive care.
Neighbourhoods
10th January – the latest date on which data was validated – saw reductions in infection levels in many neighbourhoods.
More are now showing in the “blue” category – indicating that they have an infection rate below 400.
There was a reduction in cases in the Westfield area but a small increase in Woodthorpe comparing one day’s figures with the previous.
Residents will be hoping to see a sustained reduction in case levels, in west and north York in particular, next week.
Vaccinations
Across the United Kingdom 3,234,946 people have now had their first dose of vaccine. 443,234 have received their second dose.
Over 300,000 vaccinations are now taking place each day.
No local data has yet been published by the government. The most recent NHS figures (14th Jan) for the regions are
Vaccination centre parking and buses
A new regional vaccination centre is being set up at Askham Bar. It is an extension of the existing facility there and will have extended opening hours
Askham Bar vaccination centre being expanded
First York have issued the following statement about the impact that the centre may have on its services
Askham Bar Park & Ride to help users of new Covid vaccine centre
A section of parking spaces at Askham Bar Park & Ride, operated by First York in partnership with City of York Council, will be cordoned off from Monday 18 January to help users arriving for appointments at a new Covid vaccination centre.
Disabled parking and electric charging points situated immediately behind the Park & Ride building are not affected and the site remains fully operational.
The opening of the vaccination facility, adjacent to the nearby Tesco store, means from today Service 3 buses will begin using the entrance and exit of the main public carpark at Askham Bar as the bus-only lane at the rear of the supermarket will be closed off to allow simpler traffic flow and access to the vaccination point.
Service 3 will use the Moor Lane Car Park bus stop off the roundabout on the A1036 Tadcaster Road close to the Tesco store in both directions and will not use the Tesco Car Park stop. The change will remain in place until further notice.
Marc Bichtemann, Managing Director of First York, said: “This is a minor alteration that won’t cause any delays for our customers and has been planned out carefully. It’s a further example of the close working relationship we have with the council and other partners in the city to help the community manage life in lockdown. It also demonstrates our joint approach with the council to support the tremendous effort to roll-out the vaccine which will provide a path out of the pandemic.”
He added: “Our drivers are there on the frontline, as they have been throughout the crisis, to ensure key workers and anyone making essential journeys can get where they need to be safely.
“Although we are carrying fewer passengers right now, it is important that everyone continues to wear a face covering properly for the whole time they are on the bus and use a cashless way to pay, if possible.”
Cllr Carol Runciman, Executive Member for Health and Adult Social Care, City of York Council said: “It’s great to be playing our part and supporting the NHS with the space for this vaccination roll-out. I would like to encourage residents who have been contacted to attend a vaccination centre that this a safe, quick and easy process.
“As we continue to stay home and follow lockdown restrictions, is it vitally important that we maintain smooth public transport services for those who need them for essential journeys and for critical workers.”
First York drivers and other staff have been involved a variety of initiatives for communities across York during the crisis including hospital fundraising, council refuse collection, shopping and prescription pick-up and at the end of last year the company teamed up with Age UK York to support the elderly who have been isolated due to lockdown and Covid restrictions.
“It’s a testament to the attitude and passion of the team to do what they can to help York and local people through this situation and aid the recovery,” said Marc Bichtemann.
We understand that building works have started at the Acomb Cricket Club site which will see a new clubhouse erected for the York Bridge Club.
The Club says, “The dream of building purpose-built premises in now becoming a reality for York Bridge Club. Work has now commenced in January to build new premises in the grounds of Acomb Sports Club”.
The Club has been based in Holgate Road since 1999 but has outgrown its current premises. The Trustees have been looking to relocate the Club since 2014 but realistically could not compete on the commercial property market.
There are several examples of bridge clubs across the country that have gone into partnership with Sports and Recreational Clubs. In May 2019 the Club speculatively approached Acomb Sports Club to see if they may be interested in going into partnership by providing land to build a new Bridge Club. The response was positive and after lengthy and productive discussions, both the Sports Club and Bridge Club are pleased with the resulting outcome.
Proposed layout
Both parties strongly believe the fit between the two clubs will benefit all current members and enlarge the opportunities in the local Acomb area and wider community. Stuart Kay, Chairman of the Bridge Club Charity, told us “new purpose-built premises provide a unique opportunity for the Bridge Club to extend its reach and promote the game of bridge. We welcome new members and will provide courses teaching bridge to encourage more people to learn to play bridge or improve their game”.
Acomb Sports Club, an affiliation of Acomb Cricket Club and Acomb Hockey Club, welcomes the build commencement of new premises for the York Bridge Club and their members to the Association. The York Bridge Club will become a third affiliation, furthering the long-term sustainability of the Sports Club.
It is the Sport’s Club’s 95th and the Bridge Club’s 75th anniversary year, so 2021 is an important year in the history of both clubs. Dave Sykes, Chairman of Acomb Sports Club told us “whilst there might be some short-term disruption during the works, the long-term gains for both club’s in the future will be significant”.
The Bridge Club expects completion of the works and to open the new Bridge Club premises in late 2021.
It looks like the government’s announcement in November of a £600,000 grant for cycling and walking in York has strings attached. A “matching” amount is required from local taxpayers.
The York Council had bid for a share of what was termed an “Emergency Active Travel Fund”.
Controversial road closure
It was originally designed to promote social distancing and reduce pressure on public transport. Early examples if the kind of scheme supported by the York Council included the controversial Bishopthorpe Road one way system (since abandoned) and The Groves Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme. Several foot streets were also extended.
Now the government (rightly) says greater weight should be given to consultation, with Local Authorities required to publish a consultation plan for their programmes by 11th December 2020. Details of York’s Active Travel Fund Tranche 2 application and the Consultation Plan are available as downloads at:https://www.york.gov.uk/lets-york/active-travel-bid/1
The costs of the individual schemes have now been revealed.
The most expensive is the proposal to construct a cycle path from Wheldrake village to Heslington.
This comes in at an eye watering £550,000.
There has still not been any attempt made to estimate the likely use of such a path although the Councils origin and destination surveys make a cost/benefit analysis relatively easy to produce.
Existing infrastructure is neglected
Ironically, this project does not even appear in the list of cycling schemes that the Council has built up over the years. This is reproduced in a report being considered later this week. (click).
At least that list attempts to assess what impact the investment would have on transport choices. The top-rated improvement locations are
St Leonards Place / Museum Street / Lendal Bridge / Station Road
Micklegate / Bridge Street / Nessgate / Coppergate / Pavement / Stonebow / Peasholme Green
Improvements to Station Road / Station Avenue gyratory
Route through former British Sugar site
Castle Gateway Foss Bridge
York Central – link from Chancery Rise
Bar Lane / Toft Green / Tanner Row
Footpaths have been blocked
The Council is being urged to develop a new “walking and cycling strategy”. Certainly, those who walk will feel somewhat neglected by current York Council policies. Even more so when they see the lack of progress being made on determining 19 outstanding Public Right of Wayapplications. Some have been outstanding for over 20 years.
The main issue remains a lack of investment in maintaining the existing transport network.
The endless pressure to borrow more money simply sucks resources from the Councils maintenance budget. The results are deteriorating cycle and footpath surfaces coupled with potholed highway margins.
This neglect poses an increasing hazard for pedestrians, cyclists, and other road users.
The trial of e-scooters has been operating in York since the 12th October.
According to a Council report, “the e-scooters are being introduced in a phased approach, gradually increasing the service area and number of e-scooters available.
This has split the city broadly into 5 sectors. Currently e-scooters are available in Sector 1 and 2, which includes e-scooter provision at the University of York, York Hospital, York St John’s University, and city centre locations.
In the first six weeks of the trial, 10 parking locations were available for scooters with 116 e-scooters available for hire.
Over the first six weeks of the trial, 3,822 trips were taken, with a total of 25,012km travelled on e-scooters. During this period, no incidences (collisions) were reported”.
The report says, “other local authority areas participating in the trial have noted an increase in use of private e-scooters which remain illegal to ride on the public highway. Whilst their use has not been as prevalent in York, as the trial continues we may see a similar increase in use of private e scooters”.
The organisers of the scheme (TIER) now want to expand the scooter numbers to 700 and add in some electric bikes.
The rental of e-bikes would follow the same model as for e-scooters, with riders unlocking and paying for usage via a mobile phone app. In line with government regulation, the maximum speed-assist of the e-bikes would be 15.5mph, with the power not exceeding 250 watts. Geo-fencing technology would be used to ensure a user cannot end their trip outside of designated parking locations and will continue the hire cost if left outside of these locations.
Pricing for e-bikes would be at the same cost as e-scooters, with £1 to unlock and £0.15 per minute to ride. (Thus a 20 minute ride from Acomb to the City centre would cost more than the equivalent bus fare)
Communal use transport, of course, presents its own issues during the pandemic.
The proposal is to expand use as follows;
Sector 3 to include Clifton and Rawcliffe in January;
· Sector 4 to include Southbank and Heworth in February;
· Sector 5 to expand to the rest of the city from March 2021.
A meeting next week will decide whether to agree to expand the number of e-scooters available to 700. It is unclear how many e-bikes might be deployed.
There have been many previous attempts made to establish casual bike hire services in York. None have been successful, possibly because of the compact nature of the City which makes walking a viable option for many “journeys”.
Joint Statement from York City Football Club and City of York council about the York Community Stadium
“We are delighted to announce that an agreement has now been reached between City of York Council and York City Football Club. The club will occupy the new stadium with effect from Monday 11 January 2021, with their first game due to be held on Tuesday 19 January as they take on Gateshead in a National League clash.
Both parties have worked extremely hard to overcome any obstacles in the delivery of the project, with the aim of having York City Football Club in their new home as soon as possible.
Both parties would like to make clear that all recent issues have been resolved and our primary focus is on readying the stadium for fixtures this month.
The Council recognises that recent public statements regarding elements of the YCFC lease were unfortunately misrepresented and we look forward to building on this positive working relationship moving forward.
Cllr Nigel Ayre, Executive Member for Finance and Performance, said: “We would like to thank York City Football Club for their input and involvement in the project and we look forward to a very bright future for both of the cities sporting teams. We look forward to welcoming Gateshead FC later this month. Our aim throughout our work on the York Community Stadium project has been to deliver an incredible stadium and wider leisure facility for supporters, residents and the wider York community. The new stadium boasts 8,500 seats and has already been recognised by the FA and RFL as one of the finest smaller stadiums in the country, with both organisations looking to use the site in the future, not just for the Rugby World Cup later this year!”
Jason McGill: “On behalf of everyone at York City Football Club, our staff players and supporters, we thank the Council for delivering this great stadium and look forward to our next chapter, with the LNER Community Stadium as our home.”
The crime busting scheme was one of the first initiatives announced by the new LibDem/Green administration in July 2019.
Use of ward budgets for “target hardening” works over the last 2 decades had been a popular choice by local residents.
Stronger fencing, ,CCTV cameras, more robust street furniture, anti climb paint, snicket/alley closures, improved lighting and many other improvements had been funded from this source.
A reportlast year explained the purpose of the new Fund.
As part of the council’s Supplementary Budget Proposals agreed on 17 July Council, £250k was awarded to wards as a “Safer Communities Fund”. The allocation of this funding, in proportion to population in the normal way, is shown in Annex 1.
Building on the success of the Community Care fund it is proposed that the Safer Communities Fund is operated in a similar way in that it is added into ward revenue funds so that it can be used flexibly by wards on any projects that meet residents’ priorities in terms of creating safer communities.
It is suggested that the planned impact of the spend should be set out in advance and the subsequent outcomes evaluation (see para 25 below concerning evaluation).
Evaluation could be developed in partnership with the Community Safety Team who would also be able to provide evidence-based examples of good practice so that we are able to encourage community groups to put forward good proposals within a flexible budget regime which is operated in line with policies and procedures for ward funding.
PCSOs could also be consulted as part of the ward team as they will be able to bring useful views to the table and this will provide an excellent opportunity to strengthen ties between wards and the police.
While it is fair to say that the new scheme has remained something of a enigma to most residents, concerns about crime levels generally – and anti social behavior in particular – remain a high in several neighbourhoods.
In recent years, the Councils attempt to delegate spending power to local communities has been flawed.
A £1 million ward highways budget was divided between equally highways improvements and walking cycling schemes. The latter was spent almost entirely on projects in the south east part of the City.
A year later it is difficult to identify any roads or paths that have benefited. This may partly be because the Council fails to maintain a list of schemes on its web site with appropriate progress reports.
There is a stronger sense of local community in the wake of the pandemic.
People do want to be involved in decision making.
But the current processes used by the Council fail to fully engage people.
Perhaps the increased use of social media seen during the Lockdowns offers a clue as to how engagement levels can be raised in the future.
In the meantime, the Council must explain how it will improve the level of support that it offers to those policing our streets.
The proposal to build a multi storey car park on the St Georges Field site received planning permission yesterday. The car park is intended as a replacement for the Castle Car park which would be grassed over.
Castle car park last summer
We have said before that we believe this site is too far from the City centre shops to help to sustain the retail economy.
The Castle car park is the most heavily used in the City. One key reason is that it is within comfortable walking distance for those carrying heavy items of shopping.
The drift to out of city retail centers would continue with the City centre left as a visitor attraction hub sustaining only, what is left of, the pubs and restaurants that may survive the pandemic
The pandemic has changed all the numbers.
It now simply makes no sense to spend £55 million on a scheme which could lose the City much needed jobs
The Council should shelve the plans. They should not be bought off by government financial bribes. The country needs to invest wisely to maximise economic recovery.
The City can tolerate the Castle car park for another decade.
In the interim, the Council can make plans which recognise that personal transport will remain a popular method of moving people from the suburbs and region into the City centre. It is a matter of individual choice.
In future the vehicles used may, however, be battery powered.
The idea of having the area, within the inner road road, designated as an Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) may well be one that has now found its time.
The move to home working – and with it greatly reduced congestion and emission levels in the central area – provides the Council with some thinking time.
A quieter City centre would be bad news for many service based shops, hair dressers etc., They will be hoping that visitors would expand to fill the gap in trade left by office workers.
The Councils draft budget for 2021/22 anticipates a £375,000 saving on office costs– a clear indication that the authority itself believes that many staff will never return to West Offices. The same will be true of other City Centre companies
The Councils budget also contains a commitment to borrow £2.5 million to spend on the Castle Piccadilly scheme. In addition the £28.2 million proposals to construct flats at Castle Mills are budgeted separately
That would simply add to the additional interest and redemption costs of £1.6 million which will account for much of the 1.9% increase in Council Tax levels from 1st April. (The remaining 3% hike is earmarked for social care).
So time now for some prudent revisions to the Councils investment plans.
