Vivienne Faull

Vivianne Faull, who is currently the Dean of Leicester, is to take over as Dean of York in succession to Keith Jones. She will be the first woman to hold the position.

The appointment is an important one as it comes only a few months before the “Minster Revealed” project opens to the public.

Vivianne Faull was educated at The Queen’s School, Chester and St Hilda’s College, Oxford. Ordained deaconess in 1982 and priest in 1994,] she served first at St Matthew and St James, Mossley Hill and then as Chaplain at Clare College, Cambridge. From 1990 to 2000, she was on the staff at Gloucester Cathedral before moving to Leicester. On 13 May 2000,[4] she was installed as Provost of Leicester Cathedral – the first (and, due to the Cathedrals Measure 1999 redesignating all cathedral provosts as deans, only) female cathedral provost in Church of England history. Since later that year, when her job title (but not the essential nature of the role) changed, she has been the Dean of Leicester – with that change of title, she became the first female Dean in the Church of England.

Lib Dem Minister Vince Cable

The Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable, Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills visited York today (5 July) and met with City of York Council to discuss the economic potential of one of the largest brownfield development sites in the country -York Central.

Situated next to the railway station, the site offers a great opportunity for development of a high quality, mixed use development with efficient local, regional and national connections. Focusing on York’s proven growth sectors of creative and knowledge based industries, business services and financial/insurance services the redevelopment of the site could create over 7,500 new jobs.

Network Rail have recently secured planning consent for a state of the art training centre within the site and the council are preparing a planning and delivery framework to guide public and private sector investment in the site.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “The Government is committed to help close the gap between North and South and encourage strong and sustainable growth across different industries. Today’s visit to Yorkshire highlights how different sectors and companies are playing their part from greener manufacturing to exports.”

City of York Council Chief Executive, Kersten England, said: “York has successfully reinvented itself from a railway and confectionery manufacturing city into an international hub for science and technology and a national centre for financial and business services. We are the third fastest growing city in the UK and we need to continue to evolve and develop our assets, such as York Central, to remain an attractive proposition for investors and competitive in industry. ”

Vince Cable has today also opened a new centre to help develop renewable products, such as chemicals, from plants at the University of York.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) awarded the university a £2.5 million capital grant to create the Biorenewables Development Centre, a pilot centre for industry and academics to work on new processes to convert plants and biowastes, such as agricultural and food waste into products, such as chemicals.

The European Regional Development Fund also invested about £1 million into the centre.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg

The government is today announcing that over £1 billion will be made available to York and Leeds to boost employment opportunities and to tackle transport issues.

The funds bring with them additional powers and responsibilities.

As well as the central government funding, local Councils will be able to charge a new levy on Council Tax bills and will also have a power to borrow against future revenue.

New apprenticeship hubs are expected to be established locally with the intention of bringing together buoyant small businesses and unemployed young people. Transport investment may concentrate on rail development – in itself good news for the many rail based companies in York – but offering little early relief to local road congestion issues.

Whether York residents will see the full benefit of the plan therefore remains to be seen.

http://www.dpm.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/news/city-deals-announced-allow-cities-go-growth

The local Council Leader has today used his 3 monthly report to Council to blame the Liberal Democrats for cuts to Council services in York – conveniently forgetting that the most criticised local cuts could have been avoided if the, carefully costed, alternative budget put forward by the party in February, had been adopted (see http://stevegalloway.mycouncillor.org.uk/2012/02/22/halting-the-worst-of-labours-cuts-programme/).

………….And there is even talk of scrapping the York Council with decisions being centralised into a Leeds Super Authority. That could be a heavy price to pay for the further erosion of the powers that York people have to influence what happens in their City and their neighbourhoods.

It will require a responsible approach to debt management if the power to borrow against income is to be used prudently (not something that is a strength of the current York Council Leadership) while the temptation to levy a supplementary Council Tax bill is one that should be resisted at least until the use for the funding has been identified and residents have been consulted properly on the advantages that would result from such a move.

Council staff removing litter bins

The Liberal Democrat Group will formally call for 349 litter and dog bins to be returned to the streets of York at a Council meeting next week. The demand follows the removal in recent weeks of 1 in 3 of the city’s litter bins by the Labour run City of York Council. A move that has sparked anger amongst local residents and opposition councillors.

Cllr Ann Reid, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Environmental Services who will move the motion, commented:

“Councillors across the city have been contacted by residents annoyed that bins disappeared overnight and demanding that they be put back. Labour took the decision to remove 349 bins without any consultation with residents, councillors or community groups and the backlash has been clear. We are asking Labour to listen to residents and restore the bins in all areas where there is a demand to do so. Residents seem particularly concerned about bins being cut outside shops or near bus stops and it is clear that these should be put back immediately.”

The Liberal Democrat Group will suggest that the move be funded through a reduction in cabinet members. When Labour took control of the Council in May 2011 they controversially added an additional cabinet member to take the overall number to 8.

Cllr Reid commented:

“Last year at a time when the number of directors and assistant directors in the Council was reducing and those remaining were being asked to take on more responsibility, Labour decided to increase the number of the highest paid councillors. It would appear that Labour are prioritising their own pay packets over basic services while trying to blame the government for any cuts. Our motion suggests we remove the extra paid position that Labour added and further reduce by one the number that was previously in place.

“It is quite clear at this time the priority of the Council should be maintaining a clean and attractive city and providing basic frontline services for residents, it should not be underserved pay increases for Labour councillors.” (more…)

Following strong interest from across York, our survey about the popularity of Labours cuts programme is now available “on line”
Click here to take survey

City of York Council has announced today that it will be offering another five apprenticeships.

This comes in addition to the 30 apprenticeships already offered, for which a staggering 200 applications were received, bringing the total number of apprenticeships on offer to 35.

The council is now on the hunt for two road workers and blacksmith (deadlines 8 July), a heating engineer and an electrician (deadlines 15 July) to join their group of apprentices starting in September.

The additional apprenticeships are advertised on the National Apprentice Service (NAS) website, details can be found on www.apprenticeships.org.uk

How much has been spent by your council area on maintaining roads in 2010/11 and 2011/2012 (per financial year)? How much was your budget in 2010/11, 2011/12 and 2012/13 for
maintaining roads per financial year?

Answers
I can confirm that the budget and spend for each of the years are similar:
2010/11 £3,334,200 (LibDem Budget)
2011/12 £3,892,350 (LibDem budget)
2012/13 £2,357,650 (Labour budget)
The figures above include programmed and reactive maintenance,anti-skid and road markings.

Whether your budget for maintaining roads is at an emergency level for 2012 (this financial year)?
No – although our budgets have been reduced, we are able to carry out limited programmed works.

How many claims for compensation were lodged by drivers as aresult of damage to their car due to the poor state of the roads in2010/11 and 2011/12?
2010/11 – 111;
2011/12 – 27

The total cost your council area has paid out to drivers in compensation due to the poor state of the roads in 2010/11 and 2011/12.
2010/11 – £11,607.20;
2011/12 – £0.00

Crime rates: Click to enlarge

With anti social behaviour and vandalism in the Westfield area above the average for the City, residents are calling for a re-think on Council priorities.

The scrapping of the Community Ranger security patrols coupled with cuts to Ward Committees, York Pride, litter bins and other “street level” budgets, have been cited as contributors to the decline in standards.

A few days ago it emerged that local Councillors and officials were no longer routinely liaising with neighbourhood policing teams under the “Capable Guardian“ banner.

A modest grant of £50 to the Community (Neighbourhood) Watch scheme to cover the cost of producing crime advice leaflets – although well supported in a ballot of residents – was also turned down by local Labour Councillors.

York remains a Safe City. It has a good Police Force with low crime rates compared to many other parts of the country.

………….But it won’t remain that way without a proactive and coordinated approach from all sections of the community.

North Yorkshire Police will be carrying out mobile safety camera enforcement on the following roads between Wednesday 4 July and Tuesday 10 July 2012.

•A64 west-bound Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•A64 east-bound Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•Brayton Lane, Brayton, Selby
•Barff Lane, Brayton, Selby
•Grange Farm, Wheldrake Lane Elvington

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Playday – the first Wednesday in August – is 25 years old this year. For a quarter of a century, the UK has marked Playday by a celebration of children’s right to play, as proclaimed by the United Nations.

York has been active for many years in celebrating Playday. In this special year for the city, City of York Council and local organisations will be linking their Playday activities to the York 800 celebrations. Children have been playing in York ever since the city existed – which means the city can now celebrate at least eight centuries of play!

A clutch of exciting events have already been planned in York, but more are needed for Playday to reach families in all parts of the city. Co-ordinators are appealing to all children’s and youth organisations, community groups and even just families and neighbours in York to organise their own local Playday event.

(more…)