Acomb Explore Library

The Council are consulting on the future of York’s Libraries. It seems that they may be taken out of direct council control possibly using a similar model to those employed when the Museums and Theatre Royal became independent in the past.

There is bound to be anxiety about the future of a service which has gone from strength to strength over recent years. User numbers have increased in the wake of the “Explore” library modernisation programme.

It would be wrong to put that progress at risk.

York Libraries are one of the few Council services to actually publish performance statistics on their web site. As such they already set a benchmark for others to seek to emulate.

There is a feeling in some quarters that the Council just want to reduce expenditure on this service. For example, short term library closures – because of “staffing issues” – have been introduced this week.

Residents can respond to the Councils consultation at the following web site http://www.york.gov.uk/leisure/Libraries/whatson/consultation/

NB. There is a Craft Fayre at the York Explore Library on Saturday 17th November. Contact them if you want a stall.

Around fifty members of the Special Constabulary worked alongside their regular colleagues in a variety of roles, providing an additional 320 hours of policing.

The Special Constables made five arrests, carried out a range of duties which included foot patrol in the city centre, checks on licensed premises, taking witness statements, searching suspects and carrying out road traffic enforcement patrols.

A highlight of the weekend was when a special constable and traffic officer assisted a new mum after she delivered a baby. SC Chris Hartley and TC Alison Travis were on duty on Fulford Road when a man taking his wife, who was already in labour, to hospital asked for help. They escorted the couple through traffic. However, the mother gave birth in the car as they travelled across the city. Following the birth the officers made sure that both mother and child were safe and well before closing a stretch of the road to give them some privacy when the ambulance arrived.

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The Council Leader has apparently!”Tweeted” to say that last year he paid more tax than Starbucks.

3. He hasn’t yet signed this petition http://www.fairertax.org/starbucks

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See for more details of the Fairer taxes campaign go to http://www.fairertax.org

North Yorkshire Police will be carrying out mobile safety camera enforcement on the following roads between Wednesday 17 October and Tuesday 23 October 2012.

•A64 Malton by-pass Malton east and west-bound
•A64 Seamer by-pass Scarborough
•A64 Seamer Road, Scarborough
•A64 Between Whitwell Hill and Barton Hill
•A64 Between Barton-le-Willows and Jinnah
•A64 Between Barton Hill and Whitwell Hill
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Wenlock Terrace is now the only City of York run children’s home for children looked after by the local authority.

It is a six-bedded modern unit with high quality facilities. The statement of purpose of the home is “to provide care for young people for periods between 6-12months by which time they would be expected to be returning to the care of their families or have moved to foster care”.

It now looks like the home will be transferred to a private or charitable sector provider with the intention of reducing costs by £200,000 a year. Around 15 organisations have expressed an interest in tendering to run the service.

A report to a meeting next week, acknowledges that some children may have to be accommodated outside the City.

It also says some of the Council staff currently working at Wenlock Terrace are considering taking voluntary redundancy.

The redundancy costs are not admitted by the Council.

One of the main issues to be considered by the Council will be how to maintain quality standards under any new arrangement.

All clear now

http://www.romneytaxplan.com/

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The government has launched a new web based system which allows residents to track the number of crimes committed in their street and neighbourhood.

The site allows residents who input a postcode to see at street level how many incidents had been reported.

The site can be accessed by clicking here police.uk

The site tells us something about the crime trends in the Foxwood/Westfield area. Taking an area within 1 mile of York High school as an example

In August (the most recent stats available) 322 incidents were reported. Of these the vast majority were anti social behaviour (172 incidents) followed by violent crime (38) criminal damage (34) and “other theft” (24). Barkston Road, Chesney’s field and St Stephens Square were problem areas.

In July the equivalent figures had been 292 total incidents of which 156 were complaints about anti social behaviour, 36 about violent crime and 31 about criminal damage. Cornlands Road was the most frequently reported location.

The site also tells us what the outcome was of the police intervention.

In August, 37 suspects were charged with offences. In 4 cases offenders had been sent to prison.

All in all, this is a welcome initiative and one that will improve transparency for residents. It has been welcomed by North Yorkshire Police http://t.co/928vdo4I

It is an approach which contrasts sharply with the attitude of the City of York Council which point blank refuses to provide taxpayers with information which they may find useful (such as bus service reliability data) but which may cast the local authority in a poor light.

Love your cat

Join volunteers from the Cat’s Protection League and York Libraries for a fun, interactive session to learn all about looking after a cat. Find out what a cat needs to be happy and healthy and how you can take care of it. You don’t need to own a cat to come along as everyone is welcome.

Get busy in libraries during the half term holidays

We won’t have any cats at the session so there is no need to worry about allergies.

Everyone who comes will get a free goody bag to take home.

This event is for 5 – 11 year olds. Places are limited so ask for your free tickets for these sessions from the Library holding the event.

Explore Acomb Library Learning Centre: Saturday 27th October
10.30 am – 11.30 am
Tel 01904 552651 E mail. Acomb.library@york.gov.uk

Get Buzzing.

Join author Anneliese Emmans Dean and York Libraries for a session that is all about bugs, bees and all things wriggly. Anneliese is the author of Buzzing, a book combining fascinating information on a variety of insects and poems. This session is for 7 – 12 year olds. Free tickets are available from Haxby Library.

Haxby Library, Thursday 1st November
10.30 a.m – 11.30 a.m.
Tel. 01904 552660, Email Haxby.library@york.gov.uk

Labour maintains its near 50% cut to York’s salt bin provision after Lib Dem attempts to halt the plans failed last night.

Abandoned salt bin

Under Labour’s plans 170 salt bins across the city will not be refilled this winter. The bins, previously funded through City of York Council’s ward committee system, will be left on the streets but without salt pending a future review of winter maintenance. 199 bins financed from the Highways Budget will still be provided along with a few from Parish Councils and Resident Associations.

Liberal Democrat Councillors Ann Reid, Keith Aspden and Nigel Ayre ‘called-in’ the decision for further review. But last night the Council’s Corporate and Scrutiny Management Committee decided to stick with the original decision. The Committee, on which Labour holds a majority, voted to support the cuts by 5 to 3.

Cabinet member starts search for salt?

At the meeting Cllr David Levene, Labour Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, said that the Ward Committee bins were counted as a “nice to have” rather than a “must have” so they were chopped as part of the Cabinet’s spending plans. The empty bins will only be filled with salt in times of ‘extreme weather’. Lib Dems have questioned this process and argue that the weather might be bad enough to mean salt is needed, but not bad enough to qualify as ‘extreme weather’.

It was confirmed at the meeting that the decision on which bins to cut was based purely on how the bins are funded and not on the provision in the local area – meaning that some areas will be particularly hit such as Foxwood which will lose all its bins and Heworth Without which will lose 9 out of 11 bins.

Salt bins that WILL NOT be filled list click this link http://stevegalloway.mycouncillor.org.uk/2012/10/11/salt-bins-in-york-not-being-filled-%e2%80%93-the-full-list/

Salt Bins that WILL be filled list http://stevegalloway.mycouncillor.org.uk/2012/10/08/list-of-salt-bins-in-york-that-won%e2%80%99t-be-filled-this-winter-%e2%80%93-westfield-area/

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