Labour plan to abandon community centres in York

The latest in a long list of poor decisions by the Labour Council could see four community centres in York close.

The provisional budget for next year sees all the community centres (Chapelfields , Foxwood , Tang Hall , and Bell Farm) lose their Council grants.

Typically a community centre costs around  £50,000 a  year to run with most income generated from hiring rooms.

The Council are to cut their financial support entirely leaving some of the centres with a 5 figure budget deficit.

Already the community centre caretakers have been issued with redundancy notices (although they are likely to be redeployed within the Council).

The Council says that it wishes to see the buildings transferred into the ownership of a voluntary committee with a community asset transfer by April 2015

This seems to be what has prompted the Tang Hall centre to announce that it is changing the legal status of its voluntary committee.

The voluntary committees undertake a thankless task and deserve Council support.

The Foxwood and Chapelfields centres depend  entirely on the resources of  local residents to continue, while Tang Hall was only kept going when Labour Councillors were parachuted into key roles.

Burton Stone community centre future unclear

Burton Stone community centre future unclear

Burton Stone is a larger building and its future is much more unclear.

Without caretakers, the buildings will be closed to general callers reducing their use as a focal point for neighbourhood communications. One Community Centre (Tang Hall) has already leased office space to an outside organisation.

All the Community Centres are located in what the Council regards as “deprived areas” .

The Council hopes to save £180,000 through the cuts. Most of this will come from the Burton Stone centre.

NB. The Council is planning to spend £1.6 million hosting just one day of the Tour De France cycle race.

Click here to download a full list of proposed cuts (see ref Can 12)

Christmas skill courses announced

Christmas skills courses click to access details

Christmas skills courses click to access details

Courses include glass engraving (snow flakes), felt making (Christmas robins), stained glass (Christmas Stars), willow weaving (Christmas decorations), flower arranging (Christmas wreath and table decoration), dance (Christmas social dance workshop), photography (Christmas lights workshop), cooking (a freezer full of Christmas).

Click graphic to access full list of courses

 

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Friends of York Minster 2013 Christmas Cards

Friends of York Minster 2013 Christmas Cards

The Friends of York Minster have unveiled their 2013 Christmas cards.

Costing£4.00 for a pack of 10 cards, they can be purchased from the Friends Office (Tel: (01904) 557237).

They are also on sale in the Chapter House on Sunday mornings until 8th December.

Licensing application for Front Street premises

Conlans Café at 6a Front Street

Application for the grant of a premises licence to allow for

  • Recorded Music Mon – Sat 07:00hrs-23:00hrs      Sun  08:00hrs-22:00hrs
  • Supply of Alcohol – On and off sales Mon – Sat  12:00hrs-23:00hrs       Sun 12:00hrs-22:00hrs
  • Opening Times Mon – Sat 07:30hrs      – 23:00hrs Sun 09:00hrs-22:00hrs

The last date for representations is 26/11/13. Quote reference CYC 0227496a

All applications can be viewed in full at the council offices with prior notice.  Contact the licensing section on 01904 552512 for an appointment to view.  Representations must be made in writing in and sent to the Licensing Office, Hazel Court EcoDepot, James Street, York YO10 3DS.

Representations must relate to one or more of the 4 licensing objectives of the Act namely, prevention of crime and disorder, public safety, prevention of public nuisance and the protection of children from harm.

York is first city in the UK to get electric bus makeover

Sight seeing bus on Lendal Bridge

One of York’s renowned City Sight Seeing buses will become the first double-decker bus in the country to get an electric makeover, thanks to a grant made by the Coalition government.

Reliance buses will also benefit from the same pot of funding, with the installation of new exhausts that will help reduce poor emissions in the city.

Details of the supplementary allocation were released 3 weeks ago.

A City Sight Seeing bus, operated by Transdev, will become the first double decker in the UK to be converted from diesel to pure electric with lithium ion batteries, similar to those used by mobile phones.

Converting from diesel to electric will have substantial benefits for air quality as the bus is used intensively in the city centre. The cost of the conversion will be £75k, but will save an estimated £15k a year in fuel costs.

The remaining DfT funding will be used to retrofit two diesel buses operated by Reliance, along the A19 route,with Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) exhaust technology which reduces emissions of small particles.

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Rubbish skips this weekend Saturday 2nd November

Although the Council has cut back on the number of amenity skips it provides, several residents associations continue to run programmes aimed at making it easier for tenants to get rid of unwanted items.

The skips are only in place for a few minutes and residents must ensure that they put any rubbish into the skips and do not leave it on the path or highway.

1 Bramham Rd 08:30 09:30 Community Centre

2 North Lane 10:30 11:30

3 Bramham Rd 12:30 13:30 Grange Lane

4 Don Ave 08:30 09:30

5 Stuart Rd 10:30 11:30

6 Windsor Garth 12:30 13:30

7 Kingsway West 08:30 09:30
8 Hebden Rise 10:30 11:30

Ban freebies!

Tour de Freebie reaches Paris

Tour de Freebie reaches Paris

We hear that Labour Cabinet members have been offered free entrance tickets for the Illuminating York event.

With their £20,000 a year salaries Councillors can well afford to pay the normal entrance  charge.

Unlike some children in the City who face a price hike from £1 last year to £5 this year.

Half the adult fee (£3) would have been more reasonable.

York market may close earlier in winter

York MarketAccess times for market vehicles entering the area at the end of the day have been relaxed for the winter to take account of outdoor trading conditions.

Working with the agreement of the City Centre Manager, traders are now able to load up an hour early on Sundays through to Fridays, whilst the access time for Saturday business remains at its usual time.

The arrangement will start from Sunday 3 November until Spring Half Term, Sunday 23 February.

Like most City centre traders, market stall holders have been badly hit by the Labour Councils 36% increase in car parking charges while new traffic restrictions in the City centre have been the final straw for some.

Newgate Market is situated in the heart of York, just off The Shambles. For further information about the market and York’s specialist markets visit www.york.gov.uk/markets.

For information on planning your journey into the city centre visit www.itravelyork.info.

 

Hundreds in York could add years to their lives

More than 750 people in York joined a quarter of a million people across the nation in turning their back on cigarettes this month in the mass 28-day stop smoking challenge, Stoptober.

Stop-Smoking-Aids

Research shows that stopping smoking for 28 days can extend your life by up to one week if you remain smokefree.  The new ex-smokers from York are therefore celebrating their first steps towards a healthier, smokefreelife, and if they succeed in quitting for good, they could collectively add more than 14 years of life to the city’s population.

Taking part in Stoptober has reaped additional benefits:

·The average smoker has 13 cigarettes a day, which equates to 364 cigarettes every four weeks.  Stoptober would have saved them £141 each over four weeks and if they remain smokefree they could save £423 by Christmas and £1,696 in a year. 

Collectively, if all Stoptober participants in York quit for the 28 days this month they would have saved £106,314.

·With the average cigarette taking approximately four minutes to smoke [5], this Stoptober could have saved the average smoker over 24 hours by not smoking; and cumulatively the nation’s Stoptober participants would have gained over 680 years in spare time.

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