Development site at The Green Acomb

The planning application to build 12 new homes on a vacant site on The Green, Acomb looks to have hit a barrier with officials blocking the issue of planning permission (see http://tinyurl.com/Green-Planning for previous story).

Although the details of the holdup haven’t been publicised, the planning application has been outstanding for over 3 months since formalities were concluded last autumn.

With only 2 objections registered during the consultation period, the granting of permission had been thought to be likely. Now it seems that talks are still continuing over the design issues.

Elsewhere, York’s longest running sub-urban planning saga is entering a second year of wrangling. The proposal to put car parking spaces on a site at the junction of St Stephen’s Road and St Stephen’s Square was first raised in 2010.

The most recent planning application has been with officials since early last year.

We understand that the delay is over the provision of acceptable drainage works for the site. Elsewhere, where drainage is an issue, matrix type surfaces have been installed allowing rainwater to soak away.

Given that the site is owned by the Council’s Housing Department, it seems surprising that two sets of Council officials have taken so long to sort out the issue.

The meeting to determine the future of the Beckfield Lane recycling centre has been put back to Tuesday 24th April. It will start at 6:30pm and will take place in the Guildhall.

Residents are able to register to speak at the meeting. The agenda for the meeting should be posted shortly on the Council’s web site.

tinyurl.com/Save-the-recycling-centre

A “training” visit by Councillors to the Foxwood Community Centre, which was scheduled to take place tomorrow, has been cancelled.
Apparently no Councillors registered to attend!

Empty shops including the former Council office

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Fly posting on empty shops

Following the disgraceful neglect of the recycling facilities in the Acomb car park, an inspection has revealed a growing number of problems in the Front Street area. It is to be hoped that the Council will now get to grips with these issues.

We’ve reported fly tipping to the back of the Front Street shops.

But we badly need to see an Acomb regeneration programme started. The partnership that was developing between the Council, traders, property owners and the police seems to have collapsed over the last 6 months with nothing replacing the “York Pride” initiative of a few years ago.

Empty property, fly tipping, fly posting, missing street lamps and ingrained litter all lead to a downward spiral of neglect, that will be more difficult to reverse the longer it is allowed to continue

Table top sale and coffee morning Saturday 14th April

9:30am – 12:30pm

St James the Deacon Church, Sherringham Drive, Woodthorpe

Click to enlarge

The Council is considering implementing another “Air Quality Management Area” (AQMA). The latest would be in the Leeman Road area and has been prompted by high levels of nitrogen dioxide which have been monitored in Salisbury Terrace, between its junctions with Lincoln Street and Balfour Street.

The Council has discretion over how large an area should be covered by a new AQMA. Only 69 residents (1.2%) responded to a consultation by the Council with the majority of these favouring a wide area zone including Water End (see map).

The declaration of the AQMA means that the Council must take steps to improve the situation within 18 months. As the problem is related to the use of motor vehicles it is possible that some sort of traffic restriction might be introduced. Elsewhere buses and HGVs have been identified as major contributors to problem.

With the Councils policy on introducing low emission buses now in disarray, it is unlikely that any plan to reroute buses away from Leeman Road would be greeted with much enthusiasm by local residents.

A full copy of the report can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/Strategy-12th-April

In the main, comments concerned possible increases in “through traffic” in the village particularly during construction work’s. The Council consulted seperately 2 years ago about options for dealing with this although generally proposals for road closures received a mixed reception from local residents.

The design has been revised to address concerns in the Cinder Lane area.

Overall the enlarged roundabout is likely to reduce delays for East to West traffic on the A1237 (ring road). The improvements at the A19 junction eased congestion for traffic travelling in the other direction and the change is the last that is possible without the (huge) expenditure necessary to introduce a split level interchange.

Further details of the Poppleton responses, and reactions from Council officers, can be found here.

http://tinyurl.com/Strategy-12th-April

Andrew and Reuban inspect the overflowing recycling bins

Paper bins full and overflowing

Liberal Democrat campaigners Reuban Mayne and Andrew Waller have hit out at the recycling chaos that is hitting Acomb and Westfield. This weekend the recycling banks in Acomb’s Morrison Supermarket car park have been so overflowing that bottles have been left strewn around and a shopping trolley has acted as an overflow for the paper banks.

The need to empty the banks was reported to the council on Wednesday (Report ref 101721085), and yet they have not responded.

Reuban Mayne said “On the closure notice for Beckfield Lane ‘Tip’ the Labour council is urging residents to come to this supermarket car park to leave their recycling yet they cannot get it right even before it is shut. No wonder the petition has now broken the 3,000 signature barrier – the people can see that a proper recycling site is needed in the West of York.”

Andrew Waller said “It is clear that the council has abandoned ‘York Pride’ standards and is in the process of abandoning Acomb. It is unfair to the supermarket, and it is a hazard having all of this paper and glass around in a car park on a Bank Holiday weekend. This is going to put people off when Front Street it needs all the trade it can get. ”

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With the Labour Council keen to implement their manifesto “promises” – no matter what the safety or financial consequences – it seems that they now intend to impose a City-wide 20 mph speed limit.
It is an issue which divides the City although polls reveal that over 65% of residents oppose a blanket speed limit reduction.

At present the council implements what is considered to be the most appropriate speed limit for individual stretches of road. Potential accident risks are taken into account. Most schools and shopping areas now have 20 mph limits. In addition, traffic calming (road humps) were introduced in areas like Foxwood and Gale Lane where accident levels were high.

The policy has contributed to a gradual reduction in the numbers killed or seriously injured on roads in York. Very few of the accidents occurred in residential areas and those that did were distributed on a random basis. In no case could any be traced to an endemic problem with high speeds.

The pros and cons of a blanket reduction in the speed limit have been debated at length. But the most telling point is that the Police have consistently said that they simply don’t have the resources to routinely enforce such a limit. Instead they intend to concentrate their resources on accident black spots. They have had a lot of success with their mobile speed cameras which initially revealed a shocking disregard for the speed limits (60/70 mph) on some of our major roads (the A1237 and the A64 for example).

Against that background a trial of 20 mph zones in various areas was introduced. These included an area in Fishergate and the Milner Street/Gladstone Street area in Acomb. In both cases vehicle speeds were already very low. (more…)

Consultation summary. click to enlarge

62 responses were made to the recent consultation on the design for the new Park and Ride site at Askham Bar.

In the main residents supported the scheme.

One of the main concerns (see right) related to the awkward access for cyclists. This is now to be replaced by a single crossing of the access road.

Good news is that the existing bus stop on the old Park and Ride site will be retained.

Many residents wanted a pedestrian and cycle route via the Tesco site. This has been turned down by officials on cost and safety grounds. There was a similar fate for a suggestion for a split level junction at the College on Tadcaster Road. This was aimed at eliminating the delays caused by the constantly changing Toucan crossing traffic lights.

The report is due to be considered at a meeting on Thursday 12th April (4:30pm Guildhall).The meeting will also consider arrangements at the new Poppleton Park and Ride site as well as a proposal to declare an air quality management area on Salisbury Terrace.

Full reports can be accessed here: http://tinyurl.com/Strategy-12th-April

The proposed revised new layout is shown below