Small grant allocated to Westfield Ward

The Council has allocated (at a behind closed doors meeting) what it describes as a “credit pot” to “deprived” wards.

The allocations are

Behind closed doors logo

  • Westfield – £4260
  • Clifton – £4241
  • Heworth – £4296
  • Hull Road – £3342
  • Guildhall £2818

 

The Council says that on 6 March 2012 the Cabinet established a “credits pot” to be allocated only to wards with the highest levels of deprivation to be used in line with the criteria for ward funding, to deliver on the ward priorities.

No-money-clipart

This decision distributes the pot to the 5 wards in proportion to their population.

The amount compares to the £60,000 made available each year to wards like Westfield when the Liberal Democrats were in control of the York Council.

NB.  Labour are scrapping all financial assistance to local community centres in 2015.

Kings Square knees up Saturday June 14th

Kings Square old
Retailers, businesses and street performers are staging a one-day festival on King’s Square to celebrate and welcome residents and visitors to enjoy the new-look public area.

One of York’s most popular squares, King’s Square is the first scheme to be transformed through the Reinvigorate York initiative.

During the one-day festival retailers will be offering a special store discount, free samples and other treats.

Entertainers and street performers from far-and-wide including international stunt acts, escape artists and knife jugglers will also be joining regular performers to mark the occasion.

For more details about the scheme including full FAQs please visit http://www.york.gov.uk/reinvigorateyork

Compost Giveaway dates 2014

City of York Council and Yorwaste Ltd are giving away compost for free again this year.

2014 dates are confirmed as:

  • Sunday 1st June
  • Sunday 13th July (expected)
  • Sunday 3rd August

The site will be open from 8am – 3pm on collection days. Please bring a shovel and suitable container to put the soil improver in.

Location: Harewood Whin (Yorwaste’s waste management site) Tinker Lane, off Wetherby Road, Rufforth

Directions: From Acomb, the site is located on the B1224 on the right hand side, just before you enter Rufforth Village.

If you need any further information please contact us on 01904 551551″

 

Fracking in York

Fracking 1

The York Council has released, under Freedom of Information legislation, copies of correspondence its Labour Leadership has had on the subject of Fracking

The Emails can be read here:

With York environment Forum

York Environment Forum policy statement

Local Plan Minerals policy extract

York Council internal briefing on Fracking

The Labour Leadership have yet to make clear their policy on the use of fracking techniques in the York area

York “Fairness Conference” fails fairness test!

york-fairness-conference-logo

A “Fairness  Conference” – beng promoted by the York Council – has been criticised for being “unfair”.

Critics say that the conference – taking place at York University on 9th June – is unbalanced as it features only Labour party speakers.

They include the Labour leaders of four Councils as well as no fewer than three Labour MPs.

The nearest that the conference gets to political balance is in the introduction on a flyer which refers to the inspirational work of Liberal campaigner Joseph Rowntree.

While the Labour Party are free to debate whatever issues they wish – and this topic is a worthy one – they should not use public money to promote their spokespeople.

The Conference is also being attended by the Archbishop of York and several academics.

Concern about Hob Moor development

York-20140522-02012

After only a few days work on site, residents are already raising concerns about the timing and scale of work being undertaken on the development at the former Our Lady’s school site.

Most concerns related to the removal of mature trees during the nesting season. It appears though that the trees removed so far are in line with the permission granted by the Planning Committee for the scheme, although confirmation of that – and any impact on bats which are known to roost in the area – is awaited.

Some work was apparently taking place on Saturday afternoon. Working hours were restricted by the planning permission.

Another issue raised was the width of the access road from Windsor Garth which is currently narrower than is normally required for access to new developments (5 metres).

Former Council Leader Andrew Waller has written to senior officials at the York Council raising concerns.

The former school buildings are due to be demolished over the next few weeks.

 

 

Lendal Bridge and Coppergate – York Council stopped issuing fine notices at the end of March

Coppergate restrictions still not being enforced

ANPR fine notices issued Click to access

ANPR fine notices issued Click to access

A Freedom of Information response has revealed that the York Council stopped issuing Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) – using its ANPR camera information – on 30th March 2014.

That is a week earlier than they admitted in the media at the time.

The figures cast doubts on the claims being made by Labour Councillors early in April when they said the controversial restrictions were still being enforced.

A few days later, senior Council officials clamed that the number of notices issued had been “scaled back” but declined to say by how much or in what way.

In reality it seems that the camera enforcement was abandoned even before the Lendal Bridge restrictions were formally jettisoned on 12th April.

The situation on Coppergate appears to be different, at least  in so far as the restrictions remain in place.

However no PCNs have been issued on Coppergate for over 6 weeks.

Contrary to claims made in the media (that the number of drivers ignoring the restrictions was reducing), the latest figures reveal that during March around 50 motorists a day were still being fined on Coppergate.

Things were little better on Lendal Bridge where 2135 motorists were caught on camera during March alone.

The Lendal Bridge trial closure had been due to conclude at the end of February and the Labour Council leadership was heavily criticised for not suspending camera enforcement until the results of the trial had been assessed.

In total 74,000 transgressions had been identified by the cameras before they were abandoned at the end of March.

Coppergate

Coppergate

The Council is now awaiting the results of its appeal against the Traffic Adjudicators ruling that both sets of restrictions were unlawful.  If the Council fails to win, then it could face costs of over £1 million with many drivers likely to seek the return of unlawfully imposed fines.

The Appeal could take several more weeks to be concluded.

An Inquiry into the collapse of the whole project is expected to start in the summer using the Council’s “scrutiny” mechanisms.

Although the camera evidence is no longer being used on Coppergate, the restrictions there could – in theory – be enforced by a uniformed police officer.

Appeal to trace silver 4 x 4 following Carr Lane Acomb collision

 

York police are appealing for the occupants of a silver 4 x 4 vehicle to contact them following a collision in Carr Lane, Acomb.

 They are also appealing for witnesses to the collision and to anyone who knows of such vehicle which has recently sustained damage.

The collision occurred at around 1.30pm today (Friday 23 May 2014) when the silver vehicle collided with two parked cars, a silver Citroen and a grey Ford Mondeo, causing damage to both.

(more…)