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A local house builder (Taylor Wimpey) has announced that the Coalition Governments “new buy” mortgage guarantee scheme will be available on it’s Tadcaster Road “Revival” housing development.

The development has properties ranging from flats at £108,000 to 5 bedroomed homes costing nearly £400,000.

The key features of the government scheme include:
 Up to a 95% mortgage
 You will only need a minimum 5% deposit to buy a new home
 The scheme is available across all Taylor Wimpey developments in England
 NewBuy is open to first time buyers and existing home owners

See Taylor Wimpey’s web site for more details http://www.taylorwimpey.co.uk/newhomes

Over 700 residents have now signed the petition.

Volunteers will be out on Front Street today (Wednesday) collecting more signatures

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North Yorkshire Police will be carrying out mobile safety camera enforcement on the following roads in the York area between Wednesday 14 March 2012 and Tuesday 20 March 2012.

•A64 east-bound carriageway Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•A1237 Monks Cross, York
•B1222 Naburn lane, York
•B1228 Main Street, Elvington, York
•B1228 Dunnington Lodge, Elvington, York
•A64 west-bound carriageway, Bowbridge Farm, Tadcaster
•Northfield Farm, Cobcroft Lane, Cridling Stubbs

The mobile safety cameras will be in operation at the above sites at various times during the dates stated. Cameras will not be in use on the above routes all day, every day.

To their credit the Council’s Audit committee last month asked the Labour Leadership to look again at their plans to hold policy decision sessions in private.

The plan had alarmed those residents who wished to make representations to Councillors before decisions were taken. Instead any decision – on whether to hold a public meeting – would have been in the hands of the Labour Leadership prompting fears that controversial items would be buried from public view.

Now the Council Leader has apparently said that the private meetings will still be introduced. He claims that opposition Councillors could “call in” potential controversial items for public scrutiny. The claim fails to recognise that such a cumbersome process could cost more to administer than the present system and would certainly delay decisions.

Another aspect of an officer report, due to be considered by the Audit committee next Monday, appears to misrepresent York resident’s rights. It suggests that the public can make representations on issues which appear on the Councils Forward Programme. This programme is published on the Councils web site but in terms of transparency leaves much to be desired.

The current list includes such gems as:
• Designate Public Place Order Decision maker: Cabinet Member for Crime and Community Safety
• Communities and Culture Qtr 3 Service Plan Progress Report Decision maker: Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture and Social Inclusion
• Response to DCLG consultation on allocation of accommodation. Decision maker: Cabinet Member for Health, Housing and Adult Social Services
• York Museums Trust (YMT) Funding 2013-18 Decision maker: Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture and Social Inclusion
• York Citizens Theatre Trust Funding 2012-16 Decision maker: Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture and Social Inclusion
• Air Quality on Salisbury Terrace Decision maker: Cabinet Member for City Strategy
• Proceeds of Crime Decision maker: Cabinet Member for Crime and Community Safety
• Proposal for the council to provide a commercial loan to Advent Developments to kick-start construction of 37 new homes at the former Shipton Street School site, Clifton. Decision maker: Cabinet Member for Health, Housing and Adult Social Services

Residents are left to guess what the recommended policy might be.

The plan is the latest in a series of blunders which have seen:
• Public consultation on important issues curtailed or missing altogether (e.g. the closure of the Beckfield Lane recycling centre)
• Extra cabinet member positions appointed but fewer cabinet meetings scheduled (26 down to 12)
• The very late publication of the Councils budget proposals (which made it impossible for residents to have their say).
• The late publication on the Council web site of meeting agendas (making it difficult to register to speak at a meeting).
• Dumbing down of agenda reports with an alarming lack of financial analysis in many.
• The effective abolition of resident influence on – much reduced – ward committee budgets.
Labour are also using the Council PR team to promote their policies even to the extent of advertising policy lines which have yet to be even debated.

It is a sorry situation.

With controversy still raging over Labours decision to remove 600 street lights from the City, questions now being asked about the costs and benefits of some of the replacement units.

One type being trialled extensively across the country is the LED light. The unit costs about £700 plus disconnection/reconnection charges. It has lower maintenance costs. The manufacturer’s claim it will last for 60,000 hours compared to the 18,000 hour life of the more common sodium unit.

It is more efficient, using about 25% less electricity; which also means lower CO2 emissions.

It was these figures that led the former LibDem led Council to introduce a lighting modernisation programme which will pay for itself (lower maintenance and energy costs) in less than 3 years.

However, such savings are put at risk if units like this one in Walton Place are allowed to burn during the day time.

ftr bus in York

Long delays have been reported on the number 4 bus route following the withdrawal of the ftr bus.

The replacement double deckers are one man operated meaning that loading times have more than doubled. Long queues have formed at some bus stops. The situation in the evening rush hour is likely to be chaotic.

No proper provision for the disabled has been made, capacity for push chairs has been reduced and, of course, many elderly people are unable to access the upper floor of double deckers.

It signals the end of a progressive public transport policy in the City. If the council had persuaded First to provide modern replacement vehicles with smart card readers then the inevitable criticism of the backward leap might have been mitigated.

As it is, once again Acomb is bearing the brunt of Labours unnecessary cuts to local public services.

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Climate Week is a supercharged national campaign to inspire action on climate change. It culminates in thousands of events and activities, planned by organisations from every part of society. Last year in York public talks, public events, school competitions and a big Climate Week marquee were just some of the great actions that went on to celebrate Climate Week.

As a city, York is committed to tackling climate change, and to significantly reducing carbon emissions by 40% by 2020. In order to achieve this many projects are underway, however, we need everyone in York to play a role in helping to meet this target. Climate Week is a great way to get involved.

You can help accelerate action on tackling climate change by getting involved. The week will see loads of fascinating, educational and fun events and activities to inspire you to take action – and show you how you can save money in the process! So take part in climate action and become a SAVER!

Cutting down carbon means cutting down cost

The really good thing is that most of the things we can do are both good for the planet and the pocket.

Taking just a few practical actions in your home, businesses or when you are travelling about York can help to reduce carbon emissions and tackle climate change.

For example, the average household can cut its annual fuel bills by up to £200 every year simply by using energy efficiently and effectively.

For more details on Climate Week please contact jacqueline.warren@york.gov.uk or telephone 01904 551666.

As previously reported, the Council is taking £1 million from the road and footpath resurfacing budget to pay for the replacement of the lighting columns that were removed last year. The decision to fell nearly 600 lampposts, without making budget provision for the replacement, has been heavily criticised by residents.

Now it seems that a replacement programme will get underway in April although it is unclear whether the procedural difficulties, which often lead to a big delay in getting power reconnected, have been overcome.

For example, new lampposts were installed in part of Front Street 2 months ago but they are still not working.

The Council report talks of “testing and replacing” a proportion of concrete lampposts which are a feature of many residential estates. Thus it appears that the Council has learned its lesson and is returning to a phased programme of “test & modernise” which should mean that we are unlikely to see massive gaps in the lighting network appearing again.

In a media release, the Council claims that the replacement programme is the biggest since “Victorian times”, conveniently forgetting that the conversion of lighting columns from gas to electricity in the 1930’s a was a much bigger programme (although the major cost then was in cabling works as many of the gas columns were simply modernised to take the new power source)

The “spin” continues with a claim that “in order to preserve York’s unique character the Reinvigorate (sic) board will meet shortly to discuss and agree the best approach for the types and styles of streetlights to be used in the city centre and the other 34 conservation areas across the city. The lights in conservation area locations will be replaced within the scheduled time and are estimated to start in June or July”.

Given that the lampposts in the Acomb Front Street Conservation Area have already been installed, this may just be a piece of window dressing, although QUANGOs like these are notoriously insensitive to the cost pressures faced by taxpayers.

The Council should detail the costs of the different types of lamppost available and take into account the views of affected residents and businesses.

A total of 380 users have now signed the petition outside the Beckfield Lane recycling centre.

In addition, 118 have “signed” the electronic support form on the Councils web site (http://www.york.gov.uk/ have your say) while 125 have returned reply slips sent out with the Focus newsletter.

There will be another chance to sign the petition when volunteers will have forms available on Front Street on Wednesday (14th) from 11:00am

The petition will be handed in at the Council meeting on 29th March

Local charities will have to pay £20 to rent a stall at the fairs organised by the Council this summer.
The fairs are held at Hob Moor, Rowntree, West Bank Park, Hull Road and Acomb Green and are a popular event attended by many local residents.

Although no fees for stall rentals were included when the Labour Cabinet agreed it charges for the forthcoming year last December, it now appears that the Councillor with responsibility for Leisure (Cllr Crisp) secretly agreed to levy the new charge. There is no record of this being considered at a Council Cabinet – or any other – meeting and none of the voluntary organisations affected were consulted.

Commercial organisations will be charged a fee of £40. In total around £4000 will be raised by the Council from the new charges.

About 100 different community groups will be affected by the decision together with about 35 commercial organisations.

Although not likely to have as serious an impact on the voluntary sector as the huge reductions in grant aid announced by the Council last month, the secrecy behind the move is yet another example of the widening gulf between the attitudes of some Labour Councillors and the views of the community as a whole.

Summer Fair on The Green in Acomb