Deaths and test results
Eight additional positive test results announced today bringing cumulative total to 991. Largest 7 day rolling average at 3.86 since beginning of June.
27 cases in 6 days. Likely to hit 1000 cases before end of the week.
Still no statement from authorities
No additional hospital deaths
The York Council is asking residents to support them by making representations to the government about a possible local government reorganisation.
They have point about unnecessary change being debilitating at a time when all resources should be focused on the recovery from the health crisis and the possible downside from BREXIT.
Most attention is focused on Council boundaries. The biggest threat to accountability is however posed by the introduction of a Mayoral position covering the whole of York and North Yorkshire.
Local government reorganisations in 1973 and again in 1997 were debilitating with new structures and personalities taking many years to come to terms with roles, geographies and priorities. The post reorganisation periods were not ones that will be recorded in history for dynamic and decisive decision making. Rather they were periods where individuals and political parties jockeyed for position and advantage.
We now enjoy a settled structure with which everyone is familiar if not universally comfortable.
Some will say that there is no right time for system reform. That may be true.
But there is certainly a wrong time and we are clearly in the middle of it.
There has been little debate about the powers and responsibilities of an elected Mayor. While the achievements of the, hitherto largely urban, mayors attract mixed reviews, few argue that the system gives the average person any greater say over decisions affecting their local community.
The system is untested in a predominantly rural area of the size of North Yorkshire. The nearest parallel we have is the directly elected Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner. Turnout in the elections for that post was only 23%. There was no mandate for the creation of the position and therefore people have not engaged with it. The underlying concern – absolute power corrupts absolutely – although an exaggeration in this case clearly has some relevance with many PFCC and Mayors displaying, after a few years, a tendency towards directional rather than consensus government. For this reason, the NYPFCC was eventually discarded by her own party and clings to power only because of the pandemic which caused elections to be suspended.
For that reason we hope that any move towards creating a Mayoral post will be subject to a referendum of those living in the area.
They should be given a chance to choose between the change and the status quo.
That would be in line with the government’s stated intention to apply the principle of subsidiarity to local decision making and not to impose change on an unwilling community.
NB. In the period up to October 2016, there had been 53 referendums on the question of changing executive arrangements to a model with a directly elected mayor. Of these, 16 resulted in the establishment of a new mayoralty and 37 were rejected by voters
According to a local community blog published in Brixton, London, the local version of the “container village” hasn’t paid any rent to the Lambeth Council for 5 years.
“Pop Brixton” was used as a paradigm when the York Spark owners were trying to persuade the York Council and its planning committee that siting shipping containers in a conservation area was a good idea.
Like Brixton, the operators offered to rent the Piccadilly site from the Council and to share in the ventures profits.
An FOI response to the “Brixton Buzz“ has revealed that a similar deal there produced no income for the local authority.
Now, like in York, monthly rental payments are being sought by Lambeth Council.
A Freedom of Information request was submitted to the York Council on 25th August asking the authority to confirm that the terms of a new lease – agreed in February – have been fulfilled by the site occupiers.
Spark operated on a “tenancy at will” basis earlier in the summer following its closure during the health crisis. Its original lease expired on 1st July 2020
It seems that work on the LNER Community Stadium has finally been completed. With York City’s 20/21 fixture list due to be published on Tuesday, fans will be wondering how many will be able to get into the stadium from 3rd October start date?
No details of the required “test events” have been published and it is also unclear when the sports centre will open.
It is 16 years since the football club were given notice to quit Bootham Crescent by the then owner.
  We are delighted to announce that Fairfax House is reopening its doors again from Saturday 5th September after eight long months of hibernation. Opening times will be 11-3, Tuesday to Sunday. Using our time away productively, we have conducted some exciting archival research that has unearthed new information about our collection, the Fairfax family and the history of eighteenth century Castlegate. The layout and content of the house reflects these new discoveries, and we can’t wait to share them with you! Opening safety is our paramount concern, so we will be admitting visitors at 15 minute intervals in households/bubbles of up to 6 people. Face masks are required and regular sanitising points will be available throughout the visit.You can read a full list of the safety measures in place on our website. Click HERE to pre-book your slot. We can also now officially introduce you to our latest project, A Character of Home – an intimate promenade performance staged in Fairfax House featuring Anne and Viscount Fairfax – the characters of course! |
6th – 31st October 2020
Step back in time to the sumptuous world of 18th century York for an intimate performance staged in the finest Georgian townhouse in England.
Charles Gregory Fairfax bestows a magnificent gift upon his only surviving daughter, Anne. He builds her a resplendent house filled with beautiful things so that she might have a bright future in a glorious society…but, this place is wrestling with darker concerns and the household is haunted by the ghosts of its past.
Your task is simple. Enter a room and choose an object. Each object triggers an alternative version of the past and from a different historical perspective. Your choices not only change the drama but will even change your route through the house and the order of events.
Written by Paul Birch. Directed by Thomas Frere
320,000 discounted meals were claimed in the York area under the governments “Eat Out, to Help Out” scheme.
252 restaurants in the York central area registered to participate in the scheme as did a further 70 in the York Outer area.
On average diners benefited from a discount of £4.94 for each meal.
Full details of the results of the scheme – which has now finished – can be found by clicking here
The subsidy was aimed at providing a stimulus for restaurants and cafes in the difficult post lock-down trading period.
Nationally the scheme has cost the government a whopping £296 million with 56,959 restaurants participating.
A tree has fallen blocking the York – Selby cycle path. It is not thought that anyone was injured.
Cyclist currently have to lift their bikes over the obstruction which is located near Escrick.
The issue has been reported to SUSTRANs who manage the path.
There was a good attendance today at the cycle security marking event held at the Foxwood Community Centre. Over 20 bikes were marked.
The event was organised by the Foxwood Residents Association and the local neighbourhood policing team
Have your bicycle security marked by the Police today at Foxwood Community Centre between 9:30am and 11:30am
Also plant sale and free surplus food distribution.
City of York Council is asking disabled people across York to let them know how city centre changes made in response to coronavirus have affected accessibility.
In June 2020 the council executive agreed to emergency measures to expand the number of pedestrianised ‘footstreets’, which now run for an extra three hours until 8pm, to allow more space for social distancing and for cafes and restaurants to take advantage of pavement trading.
“The actions are designed to support the council’s Economic Recovery – Transport and Place One Year Strategy, adopted by the Executive on 24 June 2020. This aims to build resident, visitor and stakeholder confidence that York is a safe, healthy and attractive place for everyone”.
Replacement blue badge parking has been added at different locations around the edges of the city centre, with more added this week*. A free taxi service – set to continue until at least 20 September – has been available between Monk Bar car park and St Andrewgate.
The council want to hear from all disabled people in York, whether they use a blue badge or not, and any other residents who feel the footstreets extension has affected their ability to access the city centre.
The council wants to hear from disabled people, blue badge holders, carers and anyone else who feels the footstreets changes have affected the ease with which they can access the city centre.
The results of the engagement will:
1. Provide ways to improve the existing alternative access arrangements
2. Give the council’s Executive a full understanding of the impact of the footstreets extension and provide options to increase accessibility to the city centre if the extension continues.
With public gatherings difficult during the current restrictions, the council is using a survey approach – available online and hard copy – as well as talking to disabled groups across the city to reach their members.
The council is also scheduling an online workshop in Mid-September to explore the challenges.
You can join the conversation in a number of ways. You can fill in a survey by Monday 28 September at www.york.gov.uk/OBCAccess, A hard copy of the survey along with a freepost return address will also be included in the September edition of the council’s Our City publication, distributed to York households from 7 September.
If you are interested in taking part in an online workshop to explore the challenges around accessibility and footstreets and ideas please email OurBigConversation@york.gov.uk .
The changes
