York Council reveals number of littering and fly tipping fines issued

The Council says that it only issued two Fixed Penalty Notices for littering during 2019.

13 Penalty Notices were issued for fly tipping.

The information comes from a response to a Freedom of Information request recorded in the “What do they know” web site.

With the Council now only updating its register of responses on its own web site every 6 months (and then with headline information only), the independent site is now the only way that residents can keep up to date with the claims being made by the York authority.

Cost of political advisers

The site also reveals the costs of providing “political advisers” for Council Groups.

The figures reveal that costs have almost doubled over the last decade

The advisers are supposed to undertake background policy research to assist Councillors in their duties.

So just how busy is the York City centre?

Footfall camera in Stonegate

It emerged a few weeks ago that most of the “footfall” cameras in York City centre are not working correctly.

The data from the cameras is used to help plan economic regeneration activities in the City centre.

The cameras do not currently provide any intelligence on who those users are, how they are using the space, or how much they are spending.

The cameras are located in

  • Stonegate
  • Coney Street
  • Parliament Street
  • Micklegate
  • Church Street

A new Council report says, “Footfall counts are provided under contract through a network of cameras at five points across the City Centre in a long-standing contractual arrangement with the data intelligence service provider, Springboard. The company uses its bespoke software to analyse camera data and count people passing those locations. Most of these cameras are not functioning for a number of reasons, meaning loss of consistency in data provision”.

Some of the cameras have not been functioning mostly as a result of interruption to power supply.

Critically two of the most important cameras (those in Coney Street and Stonegate) have not been working since last summer. The Church Street camera hasn’t been operational since June 2017.

The camera on Parliament Street is located at a point where data is compromised when last events like fairs are staged in the area.

In effect, the Council and local traders have no idea how many people visited the City during the important Christmas period in comparison to previous years.

Extrapolation of other data suggested that footfall may have been down by as much as 10% compared to the previous year. Clearly though there were some days when some streets in  the City centre had reached their effective capacity.

The report says “Anecdotally, we are aware that some City Centre businesses use these figures as a guide to buying stock and hiring additional staff, so there is an additional knock on effect at a commercial level”.

More information is available in Bath

A meeting next week is being advised to extend the current contract for another 12 moths while looking at other options.  The City will investigate what is done in other City’s with Bath being evidenced.

The report fails to identify how much the cameras are costing the Council or what the cost of the contract extension will be.

It seems surprising that most of the cameras could be out of service for 9 months without the issue being recognised and remedial action being taken by the Council.

Theatre Royal £500,000 Council grant decision next week – still few details available

The York Council is expected next week to confirm an additional grant of £1/2 million to the Theatre Royal.

The plan – which will be classified as “capital expenditure” and will increase the Councils already large capital debt – was revealed during the recent budget debate.

The report to the decision meeting which take place on 16th March is unsatisfactory in several respects. It fails to include essential information about the Theatres financial performance.

As a minimum the 2018/19 outturn, the 2019/20 and the (draft) 2020/21 budget should be made public. At the moment taxpayers have no idea whether the Theatre is profitable or not (probably not!).

There is no detail of the Theatres medium term business plans. There is no comment from the York Councillors (Crawshaw, Daubeney, Mason) who are supposed to look after the Council and residents’ financial interests on the Theatre Board

In 2015 the Council decided to sell the Theatre Royal building to the York Conservation Trust for £1. The Trust is a benign body which agree to make a major investment in essential repairs. The Council said that it planned to stop its annual support grant to the Theatre but instead agreed to make a contribution of £770,000 towards a £4.1 million restoration project. This project was intended to make the Theatre self-supporting.  The Council’s responsible executive member told the York Press in February 2016 “This funding agreement will strengthen York Theatre Royal’s sustainability for the future”

Theatre Royal refurbishment 2016

The refurbishment overran its timescale and the Theatre was effectively closed for nearly a year.

The most worrying aspect of the new deal is the decision to borrow money to fund it. The Council report says that the £500,000 borrowing will cost taxpayers “£35,000 a year” in interest charges and principal repayments. Only if the Council borrows the money over a 20 year term. Some of the proposed expenditure (IT, box office software) will be on items with an expected lifetime of less than 7 years. Borrowing money over a period longer than the life of an asset would be financial madness.

A more realistic borrowing time-frame would be 10 years, meaning taxpayers would be committed to ongoing payments of around £65,000 a year. 

NB The Council aggregates all its borrowing requirements and currently enjoys interest payments on its borrowings of less than 5%

Then there is the question of whether more investment will be sought in 4 years time?

The Council should not agree the expenditure without publishing a lot more information about the financial trajectory for the Theatre.

In the event of it ceasing trading, most of the taxpayer investment would be unrecoverable.

The demise of the Rose Theatre last year has already left the York taxpayer with a £40,000 plus bill.

It could be viewed by the Council as a timely warning about the need for prudent and well informed decisions.

The good and the bad of decision making at the York Council

The present administration at the York Council was elected on a raft of manifesto promises which included a commitment to improved street level public service standards as well as to more open decision making.

They rightly aimed to achieve this by delegating more decisions so that they could be taken at community level.

In practice ward Councillors were given more neighbourhood responsibilities supported by an enhanced budget.

Additional funding was made available for general improvements. The Housing Estate improvement budget processes were also changed in an attempt to give those areas that did not have a residents association a share of the available resources.

Although progress in delivering schemes which were identified in the summer has been painfully slow, at least some attempt has been made to provide more transparency. The latest list of approved schemes can be downloaded (link). It lacks update information on implementation progress but it is better than was provided by the last Council.

Decisions are now being publicised on a regular basis. The latest was agreed at the end of February (click)

Latest approvals

Its a great shame though that that the new delegated budget – totalling £1 million – and intended for highway, cycle and footpaths improvements has not produced any tangible results. The condition of several local highways is now very poor, yet the budget remains unused.

The Council today published what purported to be a delegated decision (which has apparently been approved by a senior manager) detailing  how the budget will be used. However anyone viewing the Council web site would still be unable to see a list of the roads which might benefit. It simply says that the schemes  are located in the Fulford and Derwent Wards.

There are poorly maintained road surfaces across the City

This really isn’t good enough.

Road requiring attention were identified by local residents over 6 months ago.   That is long enough to allow for resurfacing to be arranged. 

We are now within 3 weeks of the end of the financial year.

New Covid-19 (coronavirus) case in York

It is understood that this case came about as a result of travel to northern Italy.

The individual “followed all necessary health advice and has been in self-isolation at home” and the authorities say “here is a very low risk of the virus having been transferred to anyone in York”.

The Council expects that more confirmed cases in York over the next weeks and months as the virus spreads across the country.

“The council and our partners have well established plans in place and are working closely together to ensure that we are best placed to respond to local issues as they arise”.

No details of which neighbourhood the victim lives in have been released.

Big pothole on A64 near North Lane junction reported

It isn’t just the York Council that is struggling to keep on top of the pothole problem. A large pothole has opened up on the eastbound carriageway of the A64 trunk road near its junction with North Lane.

This has been reported to the Highways Agency via the useful “Fix My Street” web site https://www.fixmystreet.com/

Meanwhile we have been able to report some other issues via local Councillors

  • Missing play equipment on Chesney’s Field
  • Damaged fencing in the same area

Guildhall refurbishment runs into difficulties

A report to a meeting taking place next week highlights several issues which could delay the refurbishment of the Guildhall.

The Guildhall project has a chequered history with plans for the use of the building conceived 10 years ago beset by delays, indecision and escalating costs. Even after the Council made the controversial (and expensive) decision to re purpose the use of the Listed building as a “business club” & restaurant, the first building contract had to be abandoned.

More recently, new contractors have been working on site. They have been using the river for access. Perhaps not surprisingly the recent floods have impeded operations but worryingly the report reveals several other issues which have caused delays.

The report concludes that overall the project is now regarded as “at risk”.

The biggest risk to taxpayers remains the end use of the site. The Council is borrowing heavily to fund the project and any delay could affect its – already marginal – viability. There is a real danger that the Guildhall project will go the way of the Community Stadium for which there is still no agreed opening date (it was to have been completed last summer).

It is further evidence that the York Council has exceeded its contract management capability.

Hopefully they will now pull back from taking on  any further projects (like Castle/Piccadilly) and concentrate available resources on finishing what they have already started.

Battle of the Monsters

Well not exactly Godzilla vs King Kong but fly posters have gone head to head with graffiti artists to see who can make the biggest mess of the abandoned BT telephone kiosk on Beagle Ridge Drive.

Hopefully BT will remove the kiosk along with the advertising quickly now. They disconnected power to the redundant payphone some 4 weeks ago.

Meanwhile, as possibly befits an upmarket neighbourhood, fly posters have appeared on lampposts near the entrance to the All Saints & Millthorpe schools on The Mount.

They are offering the services of a private tutor. No doubt the teachers at the schools will be thrilled by the development.

Residents and businesses to have their say on the future of York city centre

Local people are being invited by the City of York Council to have their say on the future of York’s city centre as a major 12-week consultation is launched today to help the Council create a long term vision for the city.

‘My City Centre’ will build on York’s strengths by seeking the views of residents, businesses, visitors and stakeholders to inform a new city centre vision. This vision will guide investment and shape development and improvement projects in York city centre for decades to come.

An online survey will explore issues ranging from affordability, community and the environment to digital technologies, transport, leisure and culture. It can be completed at www.york.gov.uk/mycitycentreyork.

An exhibition and series of drop-in events are also planned in the city centre and around wider York where the public will be encouraged to share their views on some of the challenges facing the city centre through responding to the questionnaire and other interactive elements. The exhibition starts at York Explore, Museum Street from 2 to 26 March before stints at Burnholme and then Acomb. The first two drop-in events are being held on Saturday 14 March on Parliament Street and Friday 20th March at St Helen’s Square, both 10am-2pm.

On Monday 23 March, a workshop session led by retail expert Bill Grimsey provides a further opportunity to discussion the future of the city centre in more detail. Tickets can be obtained at https://mycitycentreworkshop.eventbrite.co.uk

The full details for the exhibitions are:

Touring exhibition

  • Mon 2 March – Fri 27 March @ York Explore
  • Mon 30 March – Fri 17 April @ Centre@Burnholme/ Tang Hall Explore
  • Mon 20 April – Fri 8 May @ Acomb Explore
  • Mon 11 May – Fri 22 May @ City of York Council West Offices

Staffed drop-in sessions

  • Wednesday 18 March, 11.30am to 1pm and 5.30pm to 7pm @ York Explore
  • Tuesday 7 April, 10am to 2pm @ Centre@Burnholme/ Tang Hall Explore
  • Thursday 30 April, 10am to 2pm @ Acomb Explore
  • Wednesday 13 May, 3pm to 6pm @ City of York Council West Offices

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