North Yorkshire Police will be carrying out mobile safety camera enforcement on the following roads between Wednesday 19 September to Tuesday 25 September 2012

•A64 east-bound Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•York Road, Haxby, York
•A1237 Monks Cross, York
•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 (more…)

On the face of it, at a time when most workers are not expecting any increase in pay, a recommendation from an independent body that a Council chief should get a £9000 a year pay increase would be greeted with incredulity.

But that is what is being suggested in York by a group of high profile establishment figures in the City who have reported on the level of remuneration that Councillors in the City should receive for their efforts

In fairness the 8 member panel has done what they were asked to do. They were guided by previous reports which had sought to link Councillor pay to the “average wage” (actually the median male non manual wage, which for Great Britain is £152.77 per day).

Significantly the panel has failed to list the actual remuneration received by Councillors in their last “normal” job.

And that is where the mistake is made.

The worker getting “average wages” will have some qualifications – if only experience.

To seek election, Councillors need no qualifications.

As with all professions there will be the lazy and the feckless as well as the dynamic and hardworking. There are no performance statistics to help electors when they are asked to re-elect a Councillor or alternatively to select someone new. Most therefore vote for the party rather than the person. (more…)

The annual York Food and Drink festival returns next week with a special York 800 twist – this year it will be celebrating 800 years of food and drink – past, present and future.

The festival will run from Friday 21 – Sunday 30 September and will showcase all that’s best of Yorkshire Food and Drink.

For more information and a programme of events visit www.yorkfoodfestival.com

(more…)

For more information on events in York please visit the following web sites

1. Barbican http://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/ tel. 0844 854 2757

2. Early Music Centre http://www.ncem.co.uk/?idno=152
tel. 01904 658338

3. Grand Opera House http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/grand-opera-house-york/
tel. 0844 847 2322

4. Minster http://www.yorkminster.org/whats-on.html
tel. 0844 939 0015

5. Racecourse http://www.yorkracecourse.co.uk/
tel. 01904 620911

6. Theatre Royal https://www.yorktheatreroyal.purchase-tickets-online.co.uk/public
tel (01904) 623568

7. Visit York http://www.visityork.org/seeanddo/whats-on/
tel. 01904 550099

8. Yortime https://www.yortime.org.uk/eCommunityEvents/yortime/Default.aspx

9. York City Football Club http://www.yorkcityfootballclub.co.uk/
tel. 01904 624447

• Loneliness long distance runner 18th/29th Sept Theatre Royal

• Singin in the rain 17th/22nd Sept Grand Opera House

• Stories from around the world 19th Sept Wed Theatre Royal

• Medieval Murderers 20th Sept 7:00pm Explore Library Join a trio of master storytellers for the finale event of this year’s Big City Read.Accompanying Susanna Gregory on the panel is Michael Jecks, bestselling author of the Medieval West Country series of novels and Ian Morson, author of novels featuring William Falconer.

• H.M.S Pinafore 20th/22nd Sept Theatre Royal

• The meaning of Riff 20th Sept Theatre Royal

• Tailcoat cabaret 21st Sept Theatre Royal

• Founders and Benefactors Evensong 21st Sept Fri 5:15pm Minster

• York Food Festival 21st/30th Sept Various The Festival is a showcase for Yorkshire Food. For 10 days, York city centre will have stands from farms all over Yorkshire, but you will also find stands from local delicatessens, ethnic food producers as well as national and continental guest producers. For more information visit: www.yorkfoodfestival.com

• Football City v Cheltenham 22nd Sept Bootham Cres

• Dragon Boat racing 22nd Sept River Ouse

• 8 Wonders Tour 22nd Sept Minster Investigate how the number 8 has shaped York Minster through technology and design, from 1212 to 2012

• Prom Praise 22nd Sept Sat 7:30pm Barbican

• Speak of me as I am 22nd Sept Theatre Royal

• A look back in vehicular time 23rd Sept Sun Knavesmire Over 600 vehicles will be there together with stalls, autojumble and refreshments

• Mysore Melodies 23rd Sept 4:00pm Early Music Centre

• Antiques Fair 23rd Sept Racecourse

• Martin Carthy/Dave Swarbrick 25th Sept Tues 7:30pm Early Music Centre

• Mark Watson 26th Sept Wed Grand Opera House

• Rapunzel 27th/13th Sept/Oct Theatre Royal

• The Upbeat Beatles 27th Sept Thurs Grand Opera House

• Comedy Night 28th Sept Racecourse

• Farmers Market 28th Sept Parliament Street

• Jason Byrne 28th Sept Fri 8:00pm Barbican

• Motowns Greatest Hits 29th Sept Sat Grand Opera House (more…)

The Council has received an application to covert 48/50 Beaconsfield Street into residential accommodation. The property has been used as a betting office for many years.

The proposal is to convert number 48 into one 2 bedroomed terrace house and to convert number 50 into 2 two bedroomed and two one bedroomed apartments.

While the return to residential use is likely to be broadly welcomed, the proposal does raise significant issues about parking provision. The 5 individual accommodation units could generate another 5 cars (or more) on what is already a congested street.

The application would see the back yard converted into a garden but no cycle storage facilities are currently shown.

Details of the application can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/Beaconsfield-Street

Residents have until the 5th October to make representations on this application.

The application is part of a developing trend in the Front Street area which is seeing some commercial property converted into living accommodation.

Police in York are making an urgent appeal to locate a woman who has gone missing from home.

Stacey Ruth Phillips, 23, of Fossway, has not been seen since leaving her house at 11am on Saturday 15 September 2012.

Officers are concerned for Stacey’s wellbeing and fear that she may present a danger to herself after a recent bout of depression. (more…)

Since this edition of the Foxwood Focus went to print, First have announced the details of their proposed changes to the number 4 (and 5) bus service.

See details at http://stevegalloway.mycouncillor.org.uk/2012/09/13/first-announce-new-bus-routes/

The changes will be implemented on 7th October.

First have also now announced that the new 4/5 route will be operated by single deck vehicles.

In itself that is not a problem and might marginally reduce the time spent at bus stops (the driver would not have to wait until passengers climb the stairs as sometimes happens in a double decker).

But the single deck vehicles on the number 5 service (necessary because of low bridges on the route) are getting on in years, while the 6 year old double deckers on the 4 route were described at their launch in January as “a modern fleet of easily accessible double-decker buses, with lower carbon emissions than the ftr’s that they replaced”.

The Press newspaper, which had fuelled the anti ftr campaign, described them in an editorial as “a modern fleet of low-carbon, accessible double-deckers” and said “sounds just the thing to us”.

Experience demonstrated that the B9 Volvo double deckers, with a passenger capacity of 90 compared to the ftrs 100, had their own problems with long delays at bus stops, a lack of space for wheelchair users and those with buggies, complaints about poor air conditioning and lack of journey information.

They are now being moved onto the number 1 Chapelfields service.

Passengers had hoped that the new 4/5 service would use a fleet of modern low emission buses, with improved capacity, easier access and adequate space for all users.

Sadly, with relations between bus companies and the York Council at record low ebb, it appears that some of the replacement single deckers could be as much as 10 years old, with outdated passenger facilities (and inevitable reliability issues).

Not good enough for what is one of the busiest bus services in the region.

First and the York Council need to make a clear commitment to get together and restart the bus modernisation programme in the City. A major Council report on the bus service is promised for discussion on Thursday 27th September.

Hopefully it will pave the way for a more open and co-operative approach putting passenger needs back at the heart of public transport policy in the City.

The numbers of 4 bedroomed town houses in the Hungate development are to be reduced.

The £450,000 homes have been difficult to sell and 6 of them are to be replaced by 12 two bedroomed duplex apartments. The latter will sell for less than £300,000 each.

The Planning committee is being recommended to approve the change and a copy of the report from Council officers can be found here http://tinyurl.com/Hungate-change-Sept-2012

The planning committee is also being asked to renew the permission for the site which was first granted in 2006.

Under the proposal – which is also recommended for approval – the developer would have up to 10 years to complete the building work.

The Council have confirmed that they have not received any Dangerous Wild Animal applications in the last 5 years and there are no such licensed premises at present time.

Separate reports that a group of Meerkats have escaped from Askham Bryan and have set up a settlement on Hob Moor have been discounted as a hoax.

The Council have responded to our story of a couple of weeks ago http://tinyurl.com/Com-Stad-Sept-2012) by advertising for a developer/operator.

The contractor will manage not just the Community Stadium, but also several other leisure facilities in the City.

These include the highly successful “Energise” sports complex on Cornlands Road as well as the Yearsley Pool.

There has been no consultation with users about the implications of the Councils decision which was, of course, taken behind closed doors.

This means that taxpayers could lose their influence over how these facilities are managed.

The Council statement reads,
“York’s new Community Stadium has moved into its next major phase.
An Official Journal of the European Community (OJEU) Procurement notice has been placed by city of York council to start the procurement process to appoint a contractor to design, build and operate York’s new Community Stadium.
The procurement process for the new Community Stadium is expected to take 15 months with the contract being awarded in November 2013. This will include the appointment of a new operator to take ownership of the daily operation of Energise, Yearsley Pool, and Huntington stadium leisure complex early in 2014”.

The Community Stadium project has been dogged by delays since Labour took control of the Council 18 months ago.

It could now be 2016 before the stadium is actually up and running.