City of York Council in partnership with York College, Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) and York Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) is running a week-long series of workshops to encourage residents to ‘get online’ this autumn.

The week offers residents an extra opportunity to discover the wealth of information, services and resources that can be found online through a full programme of events held during the week.

On Monday 15 October, beginners can take their first steps to getting online with a drop-in session at York Explore when they can try out computers, learn about computer safety and chat to tutors about what to do next.

(more…)

City of York Council and Yorwaste have teamed up to give local residents free compost this spring and summer.

Green fingered gardeners will be able to collect their free compost from Yorwaste’s Harewood Whin site, on Tinker Lane, off Wetherby Road on:

• Sunday 7 October

Liberal Democrat Transport Minister Norman Baker has backed calls for the York Council and local bus operators to publish details of the reliability being achieved on bus services.

In a letter to Steve Galloway the Minister says, “Surveys have shown that punctuality and reliability are the primary concerns of actual and potential bus users. … It is essential for passengers that the bus turns up, is reasonably on time and arrives at its destination when expected…..We expect Local Authorities to be accountable locally in part through publishing data sets which can be benchmarked”

Letter page 1 clcik to enlarge

Letter page 2 click to enlarge

The response comes following concerns that the York Council is so far refusing to publish the details that it holds on local bus service reliability.

Nor do most local bus operators publish service punctuality data on their web sites as a matter of routine.

We are absolutely clear that passengers should be given the information that the council holds on its contracted services and that it should release, each month, the “mystery traveller” information that it gathers on reliability.

Bus operators also should release the information which they gather from their GPS monitoring systems.

Bus service reliability in York click to enlarge

Bus service waiting time in York click to enlarge

The data already collected by the DfT (see left) actually suggests that – up to March 2012 – bus reliability in York was gradually improving. What has happened since then is a mystery to passengers.

Exceptional circumstances such as the recent floods will, of course, affect services; but that is no reason for secrecy.

Meanwhile a report which was to have included a bus improvement study for the City was quietly removed from the agenda of a Council “decision” meeting which was scheduled for 27th September.

With expenditure of over £200,000 of taxpayers money already committed to introducing a quality bus contract system into the City, passengers will now be wondering when they will see any improvements in return for their investment?

The issue of bus reliability is likely to be raised at the York Council meeting next Thursday by LibDem transport spokesperson Ann Reid.

In the meantime we understand that some passengers are hoping to set up a new bus service watchdog group in the City. More details will be provided when we get them.

NB. First are introducing new bus timetables from Sunday. See http://tinyurl.com/Bus-changes-York-7th-Oct-12

Home security – self assessment click here http://www.northyorkshire.police.uk/homesecurityassessment

Liberal Democrats will next week formally call on Labour to rule out charging for green bin waste collections after over 1,000 residents came out against the plans.

In July it was revealed that Labour run City of York Council was considering introducing a “subscription-based service” and seasonal garden waste collections in a bid to make budget savings. After the resignation of Cllr Sandy Fraser, then Cabinet Member for Environment Services, Labour’s plans were delayed with public consultation now not due to begin until next year.

However, at next week’s Full Council meeting the Liberal Democrats will call on Labour’s new Cabinet Member, Cllr David Levene, to abandon the plans. The Lib Dem petition against charging has already been signed by 1,173 residents. The Group has also raised concerns that charging will lead to a fall in recycling and a rise in landfill tax for the council. Last month, it was revealed that due to missed recycling targets, the Council will pay £3.3 million in landfill tax this year, an increase of nearly £400,000 on last year. A fall in green waste recycling would make the problem worse.
(more…)

York residents give their verdict on public safety and policing

Residents in York are broadly positive about the city in terms of public safety and their attitudes towards the police, according to a new survey.

The survey gave residents the opportunity to express their views on York and their local areas in terms of crime, anti-social behaviour and policing.

Academics at the York Management School at the University of York, led by Professor Kiran Fernandes, devised and delivered the survey alongside City of York Council with the support of North Yorkshire Police and Safer York Partnership.

The survey gathered the views of over 2,400 residents and former residents of York between April and June this year. It revealed that three-quarters of respondents felt that York is a safe place overall and more than 90 per cent of respondents indicated they were satisfied with their local area as a place in which to live.

Approximately 70 per cent of respondents had confidence in the police in York and over 80 per cent felt that they could rely on them to treat them with respect. Most also had positive views about the levels of crime and anti-social behaviour in their areas with the issue of rubbish or litter generally being the biggest cause for concern.

(more…)

It has become clear how the York Council’s controversial £1 million “Delivery and Innovation fund” is being spent. Allocations, of under £100,000, from this fund are made by the Leader of the Council.
Contrary to expectations, most of the money has been allocated to “beer and skittles” style leisure events*.

There is a history going back a couple of centuries of unscrupulous politicians using various transient events to draw the attention of voters from more pressing matters. Cynics called it a “beer and skittles” tactic.

The tradition seems to be alive and well in York.

click to enlarge

Now two bids for larger sums of money are being debated by York’s “Cabinet” next week.

£175,000 will go on consultants fees to prepare a bid for a new transport scheme (Access York phase 2). The Council hopes to get funding of “£millions” from a new West Yorkshire transport budget http://tinyurl.com/West-Yorks-LTB which is being devolved by the Coalition government.

The risk for York is that the new arrangement could see less, rather than more, invested in transport in the City over the next 10 years. No details of any “safety net” on investment levels have been published by the supporters of the West Yorkshire Local Transport Board arrangement. Rather bizarrely the current plans do not to include Selby or Harrogate in the area covered by the Board leaving York as an isolated West Yorkshire enclave.

One problem with taking funding from different parts of the York Council budget is the potential for duplication. The grandly named Economic Infrastructure Fund (EIF) has already allocated £2.5m for park and ride and £1.665m for a “better bus fund” (as well as £0. 430m to cover project team costs).

Access York 2 promises it “will reduce strategic and cross city traffic levels in the city centre by upgrading the Northern Outer Ring Road and improving public transport provision in the city”

The main concerns though will be how any investment is prioritised and to see that York gets a fair share of the available budget.

£330,000 is being allocated to a project with another impenetrable name –the ” Innovation Catalyst Programme”. It is an offshoot of so called “Genius” initiative which a few months ago produced an eclectic mix of proposals ranging from the unlikely (kinetic pavements) to the blindingly unoriginal (a city centre bus).

Innovation doesn’t always mean better.

The scheme is being promoted by Science City York (which in fairness in the past has produced some good projects) but again there is a lack of clarity about objectives, how they will be achieved and how success will be measured.

No experienced Councillor would approve expenditure of this order on the basis of the information currently provided (http://tinyurl.com/1-million-York)

*Beer and skittles’ is shorthand for a life of indulgence spent in the pub.

Programme of essential surfacing works in York

City of York Council will carry out essential surfacing works throughout parts of the city next week.

Starting on Monday 8 October, the council will carry out works to Micro Asphalt the following roads, which will provide a new skid resistant overlay.

• B1228 Main Street, Elvington

• Netherwindings and West Nooks (Part), Haxby

• Melcombe Avenue, Chipstead Walk and Portisham Place, Strensall

• The Village/Sandy Lane, Stockton on the Forest

(more…)

The Council report on the proposed sale of the Councils Hungate site to a developer – who has lined up Hiscox as one of its end users – has now been published.

It produces more questions than answers.

The actual tenders received for the land are not being revealed by the Council.

Part of the reason for the coyness may that the EU has been cracking down on state subsidies for private business. Councils are subject to these restrictions.

On the face of it, the Council leadership is proposing to do just that by selling off a site for less than its market value and not to the highest tenderer. The receipt will fall short of the aspirational value of £5 million which would have been achieved when the economy picked up.

Hungate site. click to enlarge

The Council officer report http://tinyurl.com/Hungate-sale-Oct-2012 reveals that they currently value the site at £3.77 million. This is lower than the aspirational value but is still more than the cost of acquiring the ambulance station part of the site in 2007 (The Haymarket car park and Peasholme building were already owned by the Council).

The report admits that the Councils capital programme – which includes the madly imprudent £20 million “Economic Infrastructure Fund (EIF)” – has assumed a £3.8 million receipt from the site. If there is no sale, then that will mean more borrowing, with income of £90,000 a year required from taxpayers to service every £1 million borrowed.

Borrowing to finance the EIF is set to cost taxpayers £1.8 million a year in debt charges.

The Council was under no pressure to sell. The site brings in £150,000 a year in parking fees. If the car park were extended to include the former ambulance station site, then that income would increase to £300,000 a year – more than enough to pay off the annual principal and interest payments on any capital borrowed to acquire the site in the first place.

This is a highly desirable City centre site. It will certainly increase in value. Virtually every piece of land bought by the Council over the last 3 centuries has soared in value in the medium term.

So why not be patient?

The answer, sucked in by a gullible media earlier this week, was that “up to” 300 additional jobs could be created. The multiplier effect of the income that these jobs generated would help to stimulate the local economy.

That is true. But it is also true of virtually any other type of investment anywhere in the City (The Monks Cross 2 project will create over 600 jobs).
….and there are other development sites in the City that are stalled. Several are within a stones throw of the Councils Hungate site.

The real reason is that the present Council were desperate to record any kind of economic gain that they could claim was down to their efforts. As it happens the developer probably did 99% of the work …..but they won’t let that get in the way of a little political spin!

All the other projects that are coming to fruition – everything from the Community Stadium through to the Sports Village at Heslington – had their genesis in the previous LibDem administration.

All Labour have to show for their efforts over the last 18 months are a string of cuts to the quality of public services in the City.

They badly needed a tangible success.

………..but there is still the issue of planning permission to be addressed. The developer is unlikely to complete the deal until permission has been granted. Early drawings of what is proposed suggest that this will not be a “shoo in”.

One option available to the Council would be to advertise the site on the open market. That would be the only true way to establish its current value. Clearly isn’t going to happen now.

The scale of the gamble being taking will only become clear to taxpayers when the Councils accounts are published at the end of the year. The size of the capital receipt will be revealed then.

If it is significantly less than the current (independent) valuation then it will be another nail in the coffin of an administration that has established new record levels of imprudence and economic naivety.

The Council Leader wrote to the local newspaper yesterday thanking workers and the emergency services for their efforts last week.

He was right to do so.

Council staff from Hazel Court pulled out all the stops to prevent what otherwise would have been a real catastrophe for several business and home owners on the City.

But he also wanted to emphasise his personal contribution to alleviating the flooding. There he would be wiser to have stayed silent.

There were very obvious failing of leadership in the City last week, particularly on Monday and Tuesday. By then it was already clear that record levels of water were entering the Ouse tributaries. It was a vital 48 hours in which advice could have been issued to those in areas likely to be affected. Modern technology means that flyers can be printed in minutes and – particularly in areas of terraced housing – delivered to each residence and business in less than an hour. Local Councillors should have been at the forefront of this communications exercise but was Wednesday – and too late – before they appeared to “inspect” problems.

During Monday and Tuesday the council issued only 2 media releases. One assured residents that the Council Leader was visiting the Veritau organisation (which investigates housing fraud) while another urged residents to stop smoking.

The Council Leader showed incredible insensitivity by devoting his time to making a You Tube video of the flooding in Leeman Road, assuring viewers that 2 Councillors had been in the area all night. (Not entirely surprising as they both live there).

So what went wrong apart from the PR void?

There is emerging evidence that the City was caught on the back foot with inadequate supplies of sandbags readily available in the Skeldergate area (at least).

The Council needs to undertake a candid review of its performance while both the Environment Agency (excellent web site) and Yorkshire Water (responsible for surface water drainage) need to explain to residents how flood protection will be improved in the future.

Generally the local media came out of the episode with some credit. Their web pages were kept up to date and clearly they, at least, had worked out that record water levels at Gouthwaite on the Monday meant major issues in York later in the week.

Shame that, amongst all the doom and gloom sensationalism, the media gave – for 24 hours – the impression that the whole City was coming to a halt.

That was never the case, so we then saw frantic efforts made later in the week to assure visitors that “York was open for business”.

A lot of lessons need to be learned from this episode in York’s history.