Labour in disarray as 6 more York Councillors set to quit

Backstabbing

The Labour Party in York is currently in disarray with a total of 6 Councillors now saying that they will stand down from the Council next year, while a further two have quit the Labour Group altogether (Cllrs Jeffries – who joined the LibDems – and Watson who now sits as an Independent).

Last week 3 other Labour Councillors were not re-selected to contest their seats in Clifton.

They were replaced by a party hack from M.P. Hugh Bayley’s office and an unknown “businessman”.

Dringhouses Labour Councillor Ann Semlyen is one of those that has announced that she is quitting the York Council next May. The Fishergate based representative has endured a troubled term of office and has been blamed by many for the introduction of the controversial wide area 20 mph speed limits. The Dringhouses ward is highly marginal with the area being represented by one LibDem and two Labour Councillors at present .The fate of the other Dringhouses Labour Councillor (Hodgson) is unknown.

Labour have refused to confirm that Heworth based Dafydd “two jobs” Williams will seek to retain his seat in Westfield.

The other local representative (Burton) – who also lives on the other side of the river – has gained an unfortunate reputation as one of the least effective elected representatives that the City has ever seen.

No freebies for York Labour Councillor

 At least one member of the Labour Cabinet is apparently now showing restraint in accepting hospitality.

According to the Councils web site serial party goer Cllr Crisp hasn’t received any hospitality since October 2013.

In the same period Council Leader has declared 23 instances of hospitality

The Deputy Leader Cllr Simpson Laing has accepted a similar number of freebies including two meals from John Lewis. She makes no declaration for foreign travel although it had previously been reported that the British Council was picked up the tab for her trips to Strasbourg.

With dozens of Tour de France VIP tickets having been available recently, residents will be keeping a close eye on declarations made by both Councillors and officers over the next few days.

At the other end of the scale Cllr “two jobs” Williams has not received any hospitality at all during the 3 years that he has been a Councillor. Probably doesn’t have time, given that as well as being a Cabinet member, he tries to hold down a full time job and is also a magistrate.

Senior Officers also now publish a list of expenses that they receive from the Council. The May list can be found on their web site and is unexceptionable part from one air flight costing over £300.

The Council hasn’t published details of Councillors travel expense claims since March.

Kings Square launch

Serious accident levels in 20 mph zones still on increase

New government statistics say there were 521 accidents on York’s road during 2013.

There were no fatalities although there were 58 serious and 463 minor accidents.

Although the wide area 20 mph speed limit was introduced towards the end of the year and will have little impact on the numbers, elsewhere in the country serious accident levels in 20 mph limit area increased by 29 per cent while slight casualties went up by 19 per cent. 

This confirms a trend form previous years.

In the same year, there was a decrease in the number of serious and slight accidents on 30mph roads and 40 mph roads. 

Serious accidents went down nine per cent on 30mph roads and seven per cent on 40 mph roads.

There was a five per cent reduction in slight accidents on 30 mph roads and a three per cent decrease on 40 mph roads.

The York council has always claimed that the main aim of the new 20 mph speed limits – which are widely ignored by drivers – was not to reduce accidents.

They have always failed to explain why they think the £0.6 million cost of the schemes could not be more usefully spent at accident blackspots.

The Institute of Advanced Motorists chief executive Simon Best commented:
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Tour de France: First bus service changes and camping advice video for visitors

With millions expected to line the route of the Tour de France this weekend, First is putting in place the final preparations for the local bus and Park&Ride network around York on Sunday 6 July.

Bus stuck during previous TdF race

Bus stuck during previous TdF race

Due to road closures some routes will also need to be diverted or altered and customers are encouraged to plan well ahead by visiting firstgroup.com/tourdefrance for all the details. Details of changes to routes, stops and services can also be seen around the city centre on notices at bus stops and information displayed on real time screens.

As a result of the route taken by the race, First’s cross-city services will be split and some will be diverted with buses starting and finishing at one of three bus hubs, Fishergate, Hungate & the Station.

First has worked closely with City of York Council to also provide more Park & Ride journeys with services starting from 6am – three and a half hours earlier than on a normal Sunday. In addition, Askham Bar, Grimston Bar and Rawcliffe Bar Park & Ride sites will open from 4am to allow people to arrive early.

Park&Ride sites provide services every 10 minutes with great value fares (returns costing £2.70 from the terminal to the city centre, with up to 2 children travelling free with each adult). More information is available yorkparkandride.co.uk. Due to the route taken by the race the Poppleton Bar Park&Ride will not be operating on Sunday 6th July..

First is also providing extra buses across the York network on existing routes providing more capacity and allowing for slightly longer journeys in some cases to take into account diversions and additional road traffic. Many services will also start earlier on the morning of Sunday 6 July to accommodate the extra demand.

As well as additional driving roles, First staff will be working across the network and behind the scenes to ensure the event is a success. First is also preparing spare buses ready at key locations across Yorkshire to meet any other transport requirements.

Tour de France camping

Additional late evening services will operate on the Monks Cross Park & Ride on Friday 4th July to cater for the ‘Grand Departy’ concert at Huntington Stadium. The last bus back to the City will depart from Monks Cross Park & Ride site at 11.30pm. Services will run as normal on Saturday 5 July and Monday 7th July.

Customers are encouraged to keep in touch with travel updates over the weekend by using twitter on @YorkTravel

Will Pearson, Business Manager of First in York added: The Tour de France, Grand Depart is a fabulous opportunity to showcase Yorkshire and we’ve worked closely with partners including City of York Council to support our existing bus network and introduce extra services to help transport existing and new customers. There will be some disruption to the bus network but by planning ahead customers can find out what alternatives are available and ensure they enjoy this

Tour de France update

Council frantically planting marigolds on A59 roundabout

The York Council has abandoned any hope of getting the Poppleton Bar Park and Ride site finished before the Tour de France riders pass the site on Sunday morning.

Poppleton Bar park and ride site

Poppleton Bar park and ride site

They are currently desperately planting yellow flowers on the nearby roundabout no doubt to mollify the sponsors who are probably seething at the delays. The work is adding to the high congestion levels on the A1237.

The Council is likely to be asked to publish the minutes of any contract progress meetings that responsible Cabinet members (Merrett and more recently Levene) have held since February when it became clear that the original target completion date of 1st April would not be met.

Elsewhere the Council says that sales of Grand Departy tickets for Fridays concert are “brisk”. However they have reduced the number available from 10,000 to 5000 and now say that you can turn up and pay on the day. There has been no comment from the Cabinet member (Crisp) who is responsible for this particular flop.

Otherwise York residents have been advised to brace themselves for 3 hours of fame and turmoil on Sunday morning.

Where to see it

The timetable of events suggests that the cyclists will leave the racecourse at 11:00am.

The Spectator Hubs are situated at Huntington Stadium, Rowntree Park and the Designer Outlet and all are free and unticketed. Tickets for a fourth Hub at York Racecourse were issued earlier this year and were snapped up within hours. The Hubs will open at 8am (7am at the Racecourse) until approximately 7.30pm and all will have catering, entertainment, a Sports Activation Zone to explore York’s cycling and other sporting opportunities as well as large viewing screens for the sporting action.
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Community hub set to grow in Acomb

City of York Council is starting new drop-in sessions as part of its support for a very successful community-led project being run from a church in Acomb.

Lidget Grove

The sessions will be held at Lidgett Grove Methodist Church which is developing into a community hub. There, council officers will offer information and advice to local people on housing issues, anti-social behaviour or housing-related debt, as well as offering advice and information to anyone wanting to get more involved in the community. These will run on Wednesday mornings between 9.30 and 11.30am from Wednesday 9 July.

 

The church’s work started by setting up a very successful Community Café inspired by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s work on loneliness: what causes it and how to combat it. In Carr the main causes of loneliness were aging, family issues, not knowing neighbours, a lack of community facilities and chances to get involved with the community. Among the solutions identified were establishing a central location where people can find information, meet others and get support and services.

In summer 2013, a community café offering company and activities started up as a pilot scheme. It was so well-supported and popular that it carried on and now runs every Wednesday from 9:30 to 11:30am.
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How to get York residents attention? Call your project something impenetrable

York Council reduces opening hours

order chaos

The Council is being asked to approve the next stage in it’s, ludicrously titled, “rewiring” project.

The project has nothing to do with moving electricity supply cables in the Councils West Offices!

It is just a euphemism for another reorganisation; but the non de plume will effectively raise a barrier to resident understanding.

A report to a meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) proposes to reduce the hours of opening of the Councils contact centre.  In future it will open between 9:00am and 5:00pm (Mon-Fri)

Although it is claimed that this is a response to resident contact patterns, the reality is that the centre is hopelessly overloaded with IT systems unable, after 6 months, to even provide complainants with an issue reference number.

The Council report also makes much of devolving management of public services to local communities.

 Incredibly it talks of the need for “local buildings to be multi agency focal points”.

This is the same Council which has cut Community Centre support –all of which are located in the least well off communities – to the bone.

Two face closure.

It comes from a Council which has off loaded, to an independent trust, local libraries – one of the few successful public services provided in the City over the last few years.

The programme aims to facilitate cuts of £5.5 million in the Councils budget.

The largest part of these will come from Social Care. The Social Care budget overspent by more than £1.3 million last year.

While some change is inevitable, the Council would be wise to provide more details of the implications of its plans for residents and in plain English.

Dropping gimmicky titles would be a good start

CCG invite public to get involved in shaping local health care

healthcare2
Patients and members of the public are invited to NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG’s) next Patient and Public Engagement Forum in York.

Full details as follows:
Where: Friargate Meeting House, Friargate, York, YO1 9RL
When: Wednesday 9 July, 6pm

The event is an invitation for patients and members of the public to be part of the conversation with the CCG and local authority representatives about Health and Social Care service delivery with a particular focus on urgent care in the area.
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