On Bank Holiday Monday, 6 May, the following arrangements will apply for First buses:
Park & Ride services 2, 3, 7, 8 and 9 – Normal Monday service
Main network services 1, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12 & 13 Sunday service
Main network services 11, 14, 15 & 16 No service
Just a couple of weeks after announcing that new cycle lockers were to be provided at one of its park and ride sites, the York Council has introduced a new charging regime.
Cycle locker
In the past, commuters who wanted to park and then use a cycle to continue their journey into the City Centre had been able to “rent” a secure locker by providing a £15 key deposit.
A deposit will still be required but in addition a £10 monthly (£100 a year) charge will also be payable.
The Council claims that this will increase the turnover of the lockers.
The Council is also increasing the number of lockers at the sites.
• Rawcliffe Bar – increase from 10 to 20 lockers
• Grimston Bar – increase from 4 to 12 lockers
• Monks Cross – increase from 20 to 30 lockers
• Designer Outlet – provide 10 lockers
In addition to expansion at the existing sites there are proposals to provide 24 lockers at each of the two new Park & Ride sites at Poppleton Bar and Askham Bar. This will provide a total of 120 lockers across the city.
The level of charges will be amongst the highest in the country.
Predictably the decision on introducing the new charges was taken behind closed doors.
No public consultation was undertaken
The York Community Fund 2013/14 has been launched by Your Consortium to “help fund high-impact projects by community and voluntary groups across the city”.
The fund “brings together a number of existing funding streams from City of York Council for voluntary sector organisations in the city”, and is administered by Your Consortium, a social enterprise specialising in managing grant programmes.
Staff commended for metal theft operation as metal crime decreases across the region.
Inspector Rob Thorpe of North Yorkshire Police was among officers and staff from two regions who received certificates for their part in Coast to Coast Tornado, the successful metal theft operation executed at the end of last year.
More click here
Many residents are backing the LibDem campaign to get the Council to rethink its plan to establish a 20 plot “showman’s” campsite on Wetherby Road.
These are sites where “showpeople” take a break from travelling and where fairground equipment is maintained & stored
The suggested location for the campsite lies between the A1237, Wetherby Road and Knapton. (It is not suggested that the whole of this field would be hard-surfaced or that fairs would routinely be operated at the site).
The field has been in the draft green belt for several decades.
It was described by the Council as recently as 2011 as “contributing towards the rural setting of the City”.
Residents believe that the activity will adversely impact on the rural nature of the area and are particularly concerned about the noise and pollution which will be caused by the maintenance of fairground equipment.
Traffic levels and speeds on Wetherby Road are already a problem.
The site would mainly be used in the winter as a “lay over” site for fairground workers.
But the chosen site is in the middle of a flat plain and stored equipment would conflict with the setting of this approach to the City.
Liberal Democrats will be collecting a petition over this weekend proposing that the field in question be retained in the Green Belt.
The site was included in the Green Belt when the Council published a Local Plan in February 2011 (when it was under LibDem control).
We accept that the Council has to make provision for showpeople but we feel that the nature of their business suggests that a less intrusive site, possibly adjacent to an industrial or commercial estate, would be more appropriate.
The petition reads:
We the undersigned object to the proposals in the council’s Local Plan for the development of land lying between Wetherby Road and Knapton village.
We believe that the site should continue to be included in the Green Belt as it protects the rural setting of the western approach to the city which would otherwise begin to merge with the outer ring road.
Development plans near Acomb/Poppleton
The Labour Council’s new Local Plan proposes the following developments:
* Northminster Business Park (west of Acomb) : Research and Development (R&D), light industrial, and storage and distribution. 60,000sq.m/15ha
* York Business Park (East of Acomb): R&D, light industrial, storage and distribution. 14,270/3.5 ha
* Civil Service sports ground on Boroughbridge Road 308 homes (in addition to the 989 planned for the British Sugar site)
Taken together, these developments are the equivalent of building on an area twice the size of Poppleton.
The effect on local traffic congestion levels will be catastrophic.
Dualling of the A1237 is not planned before 2024 at the earliest.
Would-be glass-engravers or book-binders can snap up the last few places left on City of York Council’s taster workshops to be held at York Explore, from Friday 24 to Sunday 26 May.
The six creative ‘Inspirations’ workshops give a flavour of some of the courses on offer and have been organised as part of Adult Learner’s Week which starts on Monday 20 May.
The taster courses in the Inspirations programme are:
• Let’s start Rag-Rugging
• Bookbinding – Concertina books with a modern twist
• Felt Making, contemporary landscapes
• Glass engraving introduction
• Stained glass, sun catchers
• Chinese brush painting.
click to enlarge
The York Police have revealed that another 101 drivers were caught exceeding the speed limit in the York area last week.
The worst roads were Strensall Road in Huntington and Tadcaster Road in Dringhouses. Most of the drivers wee asked to attend a speed awareness course and escaped further penalty
The information can be downloaded from the Police web site by clicking here
The mobile cameras will be in action over the next week at the following locations
• A64 east-bound, Tadcaster
• A64 west-bound, Tadcaster
• Beckfield Lane, York
• Temple Lane, Copmanthorpe, York
• A1036 Tadcaster Road, York
• Main Street, Askham Richard
• A1237 Monks Cross, York
• B1228 Dunnington Lodge, Elvington, York
• York Road, Haxby, York
• Towthorpe Road, Haxby, York
• Greenshaw Drive, Haxby, York
• Murton Way, Murton, York
• Strensall Road, Huntington, York
• The Village, Stockton-on-Forest, York
• A1036 Malton Road, York
• Skipwith Road, Escrick
• Brayton Lane, Brayton, Selby
• A19 Selby Rd, Whitley
• Millfield Lane, Chappel Haddlesley
• Church Lane, Wheldrake
• Millfield Lane, Poppleton, York
(more…)
A brand new visitor attraction is set to open at York Minster on Saturday 25 May 2013, the largest set within a cathedral in the UK. ‘Revealing York Minster’ tells the story of the last 2000 years at the historic site, from the Romans to its modern day custodians.
The contemporary chambers of the Undercroft are built in a space created in emergency excavations during the 1970s which uncovered a hidden history of the site, including the remains of a Roman barracks, an Anglo-Saxon cemetery and the foundations of the Norman Minster – the forerunner of the present cathedral. The new attraction weaves the story revealed by these discoveries into an immersive and interactive journey through two millennia of York’s history, featuring artefacts never before on public display. Visitors will be able to see, touch and hear 2000 years of history.
18th May Herbal Medicine evening. click to enlarge
