In York, 5 schools will be opening their doors this summer to help some of the most disadvantaged pupils in our area with the big step up from primary to secondary school.

Many pupils find the move to a bigger school and a more challenging curriculum daunting and this can lead to falling results and they often never catch up again. To help pupils who are especially vulnerable to falling behind, those on free school meals (FSM) or looked-after children, Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg launched the first Summer Schools programme this week.

Liberal Democrat Councillors outside Joseph Rowntree school

1. The schools offering a Summer School in York are:

• Archbishop Holgates School
• Canon Lee
• Huntington School
• All Saints RC School
• The Joseph Rowntree School

2. Children who are eligible for FSMs regularly under-perform compared to more well-off classmates. At the end of primary education, just under 58 per cent of disadvantaged pupils achieve the expected level of attainment, compared with almost 78 per cent of other pupils. These attainment gaps often widen as pupils progress through secondary school.

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Cllr Ann Reid who is leading the anti charging campaign is interviewed by a regional TV team

Residents anger grows as Labour prepare to charge for emptying green waste bins

National media attention has been focused on York, as the Liberal Democrat campaign to oppose any attempt to charge for green waste bin emptying gains momentum.

According to our surveys, over 98% of residents are opposed to the charges which Labour are proposing to consult about “during August“

We will be campaigning against their proposal.

Residents already pay, through their Council Tax, for bin emptying and setting up a separate charging system for green bins would be both costly and ineffective.

Many residents have already said that they would use their grey bins for garden waste – a move which would see landfill tax charges increase with Council taxpayers picking up an even bigger bill.

Where Labour have tried their charging policy in other parts of the country most residents have refused to pay.

The Council have revealed that they intend to take the most expensive tender for writing and designing the Council tenants “Streets Ahead” magazine. The magazine is normally produced 4 times a year.

One tender, to produce a 12 page edition, was from a company called “RED” for £3,000. This compared to the lowest tender, to do the same work, for £1,300.
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To these figures can be added the costs of printing and delivery (a separate contract)

Details can be found here on the Councils web site: http://tinyurl.com/York-Streets-Ahead

The decision comes a few days after RED added the following comment to its web site.

19 July 2012 9:38am PublicationsRED: Attended and enjoyed the Leader’s @jmalexander1982 inaugural speech last night. He’s proud of York’s heritage and ambitious for the future.

Quite so!!!!

Fuel cell bus under test in London. Zero tail pipe emissions

The Council is contribution £20,000 towards the cost of promoting the new “All York” use any operator bus ticket.

The Council revealed at its last meeting that a staff member would be responsible for apportioning any fare income between participating bus companies (50% would be retained by the operator who took the fare).

It remains unclear how much time officers will have to spend administering this ticket scheme or indeed how many passengers are actually using the option.

A couple of years ago it was estimated that only 4% of passenger journeys involved the use of services provided by different bus companies (pass holders excepted).

Several weeks after the council was advised of a potential security breach in its new graffiti reporting mobile phone “App”, it has still not taken action to have the loop hole closed.

At a recent Council meeting the Leader was asked:

“Is the Leader aware that the names of residents reporting issues via the Smarter York system is accessible for anyone to view via the public web site.
As many of the reports concern illegal activities such as incidents of graffiti, would the Leader agree that residents registering to use the system should in the future have the option of keeping their personal details confidential?”

The response was:
“the email address is present, yes. As far as I am aware we have received no complaints from anyone on this issue.

I am afraid I do not believe the national system allows this distinction. It hasn’t been a problem in London where the scheme has been taken up by Boris Johnson (!).”

The concern is now likely to be referred to the Information Commissioners office.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-ohThnJpmI

Former ambulance station site next to Haymarket car park

The Council have blamed archaeologists for a delay in re-opening the Haymarket car park. It has been closed since January.

“The Council are planning to sell the site but before any disposal could take place an archaeological dig was required on the former Peasholme Hostel site and the entrance way to Haymarket Car Park, plus the northern fringe of the former ambulance station site”.

At a recent Council meeting the responsible Cabinet member claimed,

“The dig was initially due to be completed by Easter but burials were discovered very close to the surface. In places remains were found only just under the tarmac and substrate. This means that the remains have to be removed before any development can take place on this part of the site. The current plan is that the archaeological dig will be completed by the end of July, following which the reinstatement works will be carried out, with a view to the car park being reopened sometime in mid to late August”.

The Cabinet member claimed that there had been no loss of income as “parkers would have used on street spaces at Dundas Street orin the Castle/Picadilly car park”. We think that it is much more likely that motorists will have used the privately operated car park at Garden Place.

In most of the last 10 years the Haymarket car park produced an income of around £150,000 for the Council.

The ambulance station site has been unoccupied for 2 years and could, in the view of most motorists, have been used for parking in the interim.

The Council has also been criticised for not displaying progress reports at the entrance to the Haymarket car park.

A man who conned three York businessmen out of £850,000 pleaded guilty to 13 counts of fraud at Southwark Crown Court this week.

His pleas follow a protracted enquiry by North Yorkshire Police’s Major Fraud Inquiry Team which began in 2009 following complaints by the owners of a York investment company.

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Castle car park

Predictably the Council Leader failed to give a convincing response when tackled at the last Council meeting about the “subsidy” he is considering making to the stalled Castle/Piccadilly development.

He was asked by the LibDem Leader, “On Castle/Piccadilly, would the Leader confirm precisely what form of “subsidy” he is considering making to the private sector to underwrite this project and would he say how such a subsidy could legally be made given EU procedural restrictions that exist?”

The response was that the negotiations were confidential and the results wouldn’t be revealed until they were concluded!

Worrying given that a lot of time and money can be wasted pursuing policies which are either impractical or illegal (or both).

It really is time to come clean on what deal is being talked about? If taxpayers are to be asked to foot the bill then transparency is essential at all stages of any negotiation.

The Leader displayed similar lack of candour when asked how he intended to ensure that York receives a fair share of the resources that the Government has made available for investment by the Leeds City Region Amalgamated Authority, how he intended to involve the people of York in the development of policy for the Authority and whether he would indicate whether he was planning to introduce a supplementary levy on the City’s Council Taxpayers to assist in funding the Authority’s work?”

The response was effectively that he had no idea how to measure the benefit that York residents would derive other than via a general improvement in “Gross Value Add”.

There will be no consultation with residents, the governance structure of the new joint authority remains unclear and he failed to rule out a surcharge on York Council Taxpayers to fund the new organisation!

With the summer holidays upon us, a range of activities for children can be found here http://www.yor-ok.org.uk/Shine/events/events.htm

Launch of air coach in 2007

It seems that the Councils claims to be promoting a new coach link to the airport from York have been exaggerated.

An express coach service to Leeds/Bradford Airport was first introduced in February 2007 offering a direct 55 minute duration trip to the airport at a fare of £15 return with an hourly frequency. The original route was from York Rail Station, via Upper Poppleton, St James Retail Park (Knaresborough), Weeton Station & Leathley Lane End and on to Leeds Bradford Int. Airport

Usage on the First service was very low and even re-routing the service to pick up passengers from Leeds failed to prevent it being abandoned a couple of years ago.

One of the main problems was the need to link feeder buses to the 24/7 service. Essential if holiday makers were to be attracted to what was promoted as a cheap alternative to car & taxi.

Currently the recommended public transport route is by a half hourly shuttle to Leeds railway station and then by train to York (not much more than an hours journey if you are lucky with connections)

At the last Council meeting the Leader indicated that a new service would be more frequent and suggested that the 55 minute journey time could be reduced. It remains unclear how this could be achieved without a massive investment in road improvements.

It also appears that the aspiration to provide a rail spur from the York/Harrogate/Leeds railway line to the airport has been quietly shelved.

The one piece of good news recently, for York’s air travellers, is the government’s decision to invest heavily in the trans-Pennine rail network which should substantially reduce journey times to Manchester airport.