Ouse web cam 0800 28th Nov 12
River levels are high but stable.
Several roads remain closed including the A19 near Fulford.
Water levels are expected to fall gradually over the next 48 hours.
The peak is predicted to be less than the level seen in September.
The Council has revealed the increases in charges that it will levy from 1st January 2013.
Biggest losers are bowlers who face a 100% increase in the charge that applied when Labour took control of the Council in 2011. Pensioners will pay £3 per hour (up from £1-50 an hour in December 2011) while other adults will have to find £4 an hour (a 60% increase).
Anyone following up the Olympic success in tennis will have to have a deep pockets.
Charges per court are going up from £6 to £7 an hour in just over 12 months. That is a 16.7% increase. Concession holders fare even worse and will face a 33% price hike.
Anyone with an overdue library book faces an increased penalty of 16p per day – up by 6.7%. Room hire charges at the Libraries are up by 6% from January making it an 11% hike in just 12 months.
The Councils war against recycling and the responsible disposal of waste continues.
Having closed one of the City’s 3 recycling centres, anyone wanting the bulky waste collection must now pay £35 (a 12.9% increase in a year).
Disposal of “white goods” such as fridges will cost £20 (up 21.2 % since Labour took control of the Council).
Bonded asbestos collection costs are up by 47% in the same period with collections now costing £84.
Anyone thinking of departing the mortal coil could save themselves over £35 if they enter the next life before 1st January.
Bereavement services face the biggest hike in the new year as the York Council tries desperately to balance its books. Increases of 5% from 1st January (10.4% over the 12 month period) are common.
The extra income is needed to help meet the repayment costs of the additional borrowing that the Council has taken on over the past few months
An announcement on the levels of other charges, including those for car parking and social services, is expected in February
City of York Council’s St Nicholas’ Fayre is making a welcome return to York this week for four days of seasonal market trading across the city.
The popular Christmas Fayre is back for its 21st year to offer a range of markets specialising in the very best of gifts, crafts and local food producers from the ‘deliciouslyorkshire’ group.
Parliament Street, St Sampson’s Square and Coppergate will be lined with the eye-catching wooden huts that house a range of traders, each offering up different festive delights.
The Guildhall is the venue of a regional ‘Made in Yorkshire’ art and craft market, whilst Barley Hall will present a special medieval market with craft demonstrations, mulled wine and costumed traders. St William’s College is also hosting an arts and crafts market for handmade items exclusive to the market.
The Fayre also adds another element to York’s evening offer over the Christmas period for those visiting the city to soak up the festive atmosphere.
The St Nicholas’ Fayre started in 1992 with only 20 stalls trading for three days. Today there is over 200 stalls on offer and it is one of York’s biggest visitor attractions of the year.
St Nicholas’ Fayre will run alongside the permanent Newgate Market from 29 November-2 December, between 9am-6:30pm each day.
For more information visit www.yorkfestivals.com
North Yorkshire Police will be carrying out mobile safety camera enforcement on the following routes between Wednesday 28 November and Tuesday 4 December 2012.
•A64 east-bound Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•A64 west-bound Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•Millfield Lane, Poppleton, York
•Beckfield Lane, Acomb, York
•Green Lane, Acomb, York
•A64 east-bound Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•A64 west-bound Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•Temple Lane, Copmanthorpe, York
•A1036 Tadcaster Road, Acomb, York
•A64 east-bound Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•Strensall Road, Huntington, York
•A1237 Monks Cross, York
It is good to see the new Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) publishing on line the details of her decision meetings including the background papers (http://tinyurl.com/PCC-meeting-28th-Nov-2012). The meetings, the first of which takes place in Knaresborough tomorrow, will apparently be open for residents to attend.
Whether residents will be able to make representations at the meetings remains to be seen, although hopefully the system will allow in future for emailed comments to be sent in advance of any decisions being taken.
The secretive City of York Council could take a leaf out of the Commissioners book.
One of the first decisions the PCC will take concerns the use of mobile speed (safety) cameras. http://tinyurl.com/Speed-cameras-North-Yorkshire. The cameras were introduced about 18 months ago following representation from the then LibDem controlled Council. The aim was to address issues at known accident black spots. The likely location of the cameras were announced on the Police web site 7 days in advance.
The trial has been a success with Police officers reporting “a reduction in collisions at identified sites where excess or inappropriate speed was considered to be a contributory factor”
Camera operators noted “a significant change in driver behaviour when revisiting sites, this is borne out by a reduction in high and medium speed offences at a number of locations”
Now the Chief Constable is recommending that the number of mobile speed cameras be increased to three with a significant increase in operational and backroom staffing.
Given the size of North Yorkshire, having two vans might have been understandable but the report quotes anticipated revenue from fines which will alarm some.
o Year 1 £225k
o Year 2 £515k
o Year 3 £447k
The income would be spent on road safety schemes but nevertheless the original objective of the project (to provide a deterrent to ultra speeders) is in danger of being lost.
It is unclear whether the Police will continue to publish in advance details of the sites that they will be monitoring.
It raises once again the prospect of the cameras being used in York to enforce Labour’s ridiculous City-wide 20 mph speed limit. After all, could a politically elected Police Commissioner – in the run up to a General Election – resist pressure to enforce all speed limits in the area?
Other items on the PCCs agenda include:
• Approval to commence ordering of vehicles for the 2013/14 Transport Capital Rolling Programme prior to budget setting
• Introduction of a computer triage system to monitor Registered Sex Offenders
• Employment Monitoring and Diversity Oversight Document
• Service Standards – Q2 2012/13
• Strategic Policing Requirement
• Performance report
The Coalition Government has today announced that York will get £1,186,356 to deliver 15 hours a week free early years education for the poorest two-year olds by 2014.
Not content with a spring holiday in Cannes, members of the York Council Cabinet are now set to buy themselves a pleasure boat.
£100,000 is being reserved to fund a project which would see a redundant barge converted into a floating arts centre.
While many might question whether there is a shortage of arts venues in the City (many secondary schools now have performance space, as do the Higher Education establishments), what must be beyond argument is that anything in York City centre that can float is likely to do so (if only temporarily).
It is difficult to think of a more vulnerable location than a barge given the impact that climate change is having on flooding patterns in the city. Many houseboats have already been cut off for over 3 weeks this autumn and one narrow-boat sank in September; hardly the basis for a dependable entertainment venue.
If there is a need for more space, then the soon to be vacated Guildhall annex or the Bonding Warehouse are more likely venues. The latter at least – although likely to be inaccessible for a couple of weeks a year – won’t sink!
The proposal is that a venue will be created from a reclaimed river barge and will “integrate a café bar with performance and exhibition space as well as retail and workshop activities”. The cost of the renovation project is put at £275,000.
The Council report fails to indentify the income streams necessary to sustain what would be, potentially, a very expensive venue to run and maintain (the last – non floating – arts centre in the City went bust 20 years go)
The money is coming from the “Economic Infrastructure Fund”. Already £12.12 million of this has been spent with most of it being borrowed.
The repayments on the additional debt have already added nearly £1 million a year to the amount that Council Taxpayers will have to find.
It seems that huge increases in the fees for Council services are planned, together with cuts to public services, to help to pay for the new debts.
NB. The Council is also considering using £338,000 from the fund to increase Council wages to the minimum “living wage”.
573 Council employees would have their pay increased to £7-45p an hour. Most are cleaners and mid day supervisors in schools.
This would mean borrowing money to fund ongoing day to day expenditure.
That is halfway down the greasy pole to bankruptcy and a proposal that the District Auditor should be taking an interest in.
click to enlarge
York twinned with Cannes. Improvement in fireworks expected
Just when we thought that it couldn’t get any worse, a report has been published confirming what we – tongue in cheek – forecast last week.
The York Council is to spend £25,000 on trip to an estate agents festival in Cannes.
It forms part of the £150,000 cost of a delegation and exhibition stand which will be badged “Leeds City Region” (LCR).
The LCR has previously been represented at the annual event although no objective analysis has been provided of the benefits that have accrued from participation.
Ironically York’s major competitors for available international investment are likely to include Leeds.
York’s attractions are unique. There is a good case for the City helping property professionals to sell the advantages of the City.
But this needs to be done in a targeted way. Broad brush marketing at international events like Le Marché International des Professionnels de l’immobilier (http://www.mipim.com/en/mipim/exhibit/) is a waste of our rapidly diminishing financial reserves.
Fulford Road likely to close shortly.
Roads in North Yorkshire closed click here – http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=21331
The River Ouse remains below the peak that it acheived in September.
Rainfall is expected to reduce later today.
You can check the position at monitoring sites across the County here for the Ouse catchment area http://tinyurl.com/Ouse-catchment
City of York Council’s award-winning leisure centre Energise has been shortlisted for the second year running for the national ‘best performer’ award for work being carried out in Sports and Leisure Facility Management. Five other leisure centres in the UK have been nominated.
The final results will be announced at the National Association of Public Service Excellence (APSE) 2012 Performance Network Awards annual ceremony on Thursday 6 December, which takes place in Blackpool each year.
