With Christmas fast approaching and many of us not wanting to venture out to the shops, some are wary of online shopping. But don’t be. Millions of people buy online every day without any problems. With a bit of commonsense and knowledge, you can avoid problems with all online purchases.

What Could Go Wrong
■Undelivered goods
■Wrong Products
■Problems with the order
■Misuse of your credit or debit card

Which Sellers to Use
■Pick good sellers, especially when buying from private individuals.
■All websites must have an address on them, make sure they have good contact details to follow up.
■A well designed website, does not mean it will be a good or reputable company.
■Be extra cautious when dealing with a company based overseas and even more so outside the EU.
■Check sellers’ privacy policy and returns policy.
■Use an appropriate, safe means of online payment to get some protection against non-delivery (Google Checkout, Paypal)
■Search for the companies name in google and see what feedback they get from other people who have used them. Consider sharing your feedback so others can see if you have a good or bad experience.

Security
■Use a secure website, this will have a ‘https’ at the beginning of an address bar or a padlock located somewhere on the browser (bottom status bar or in the address bar)
■Click on the padlock to check that the seller is who they say they are and that their certificate is current and registered to the right address.
■Don’t be fooled by a padlock that appears on the web page itself. It’s easy for conmen to copy the image of a padlock. You need to look for one that is in the window frame of the browser itself.

Online ‘Bogus Callers’
■Companies that offer a work from home deal are either illegal pyramid schemes or scams that will not pay
■Always look for feedback on a company from places such as web forums
■If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is. Cross-check information on the internet and see if anyone else has had problems.
■Be wary of links sent to you in emails unless they are expected and sent from friends or family

Council officials are recommending the refusal of a planning application to build a modern 64 bedroom care home on Great North Way at the York Business Park.

The plot of land is one of several in the Park which has had outline planning permission for over a decade for employment use (probably the provision of office accommodation). Several of the existing offices on the development are currently empty.

The vehicle and pedestrian access to the proposed care home would be from Esk Drive. The proposed building would be in an L shape with the two wings along the north and west edges of the site There would be a car park in the centre of the plot (18 spaces), as well as a cycle store, together with landscaped gardens. It is proposed to have 1.8 metre high railings to the north and west boundaries with a hedging directly behind the other boundaries would be marked by close board fencing. The plans show the building external materials being ivory, blue, and multi red brickwork with a red roof tile. The building would have a number of feature gables together with three storey glazed feature hipped element to the south east elevation. The elevations show solar panels to the south facing roof slope.

The accommodation would be spread over the three storeys; each room would have en-suite facilities. Each floor would have lounge, dining room, and quiet lounge. The kitchen, laundry, and plant room, small shop, and hairdressers would be on the ground floor of the west wing of the building closest to the boundary with the residential properties.

The care home is to provide accommodation for people with dementia ranging from mild to high dependency and also general residential care. It is expected that the residents will be from the local area. There is a shortfall of 211 dementia care beds within the 3 mile catchment area. 42 jobs would be created.
Officials are opposing the development purely on the grounds that the site is part of the land bank reserved for employment use. However they fail to perhaps to recognise that the new local plan (LDF) identifies additional employment land at the nearby Northminster Business Park.

In terms of traffic generation a care home would have less impact than virtually any other use that could be considered for the site.

The report confirms that an adjacent site is still being considered for use as a garden centre (which also is not technically “employment” use).

As we have seen elsewhere, investment is difficult to get in these times and the planning committee will have to balance the proven need to provide improved accommodation for the large numbers of dementia patients living in the City, with what is – at best – a possible long term employment use for the land.

City of York Council’s waste chiefs have put plans in place to collect green waste that was missed as a result of Wednesday’s national industrial action, at no extra charge to Council Tax payers.

Following concerns from residents, primarily about missed green bin collections, the council’s waste crews will be collecting missed garden waste on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The next scheduled collection would not have been for two months.

Talking today to a well known City figure, I was surprised to learn that he did not know about the Councils annual parking pass (season ticket).

You can buy season tickets lasting for a minimum of one month. Season Tickets are valid from the date of issue. Season tickets cost £120 per month or £995 per year.

Weekly tickets for £48 are available to users of the park and pay by phone system.

If your car is shorter than 2.7m in length or one that is a low emission vehicle with emissions up to 120g/km2 or is electric or LPG powered you will be eligible for a discount

• A discount season ticket is £497.50 per year or £50 per month. For regular users this is a real bargain.

A season ticket allows you unlimited parking in any of the council’s car parks

An application form can be found on the Councils web site at http://www.york.gov.uk/transport/Parking/permits/season/

Reg Turver who lives in the Foxwood Hill area, today officially unveiled a new name plate on one of East Coasts locos.

Reg was the driver of a train which got a similar nameplate in 1983.

He retired some years ago but was looking forward to a ride in the drivers cab of the train as it set off for London this morning.

One of the assumptions made in the “Fairness Commission” report published earlier this week was that residents did support having a fairer society with fewer inequalities.

Maybe.

Here, courtesy of the latest British Social Attitudes survey (published last year) is the answer

What is notable is that whilst overwhelming numbers agree that “the income gap is too large”, and have consistently said so over the last 20 and more years, two of the possible routes to closing the gap have consistently fallen in popularity, namely using taxes or benefits.

Instead, it is policies such as providing better educational opportunities for the least well off (pupil premium anyone?) which best fit what the public says it wants although, as other evidence shows, the case for education needs to be made and can’t just be assumed by default.

It was therefore disappointing that the Commission report said relatively little about Education and the major contribution that it has made to York’s success over recent years.

It is no coincidence that York has one of the best education systems in the country and that it has also one of the lowest youth unemployment rates.

Now more two year olds are to get free early education.

When the dust has settled from the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement I hope that one of the things that York residents will remember will be the doubling of the offer of free early year’s education for two-year olds.

In last year’s Comprehensive Spending Review Nick Clegg announced that the 20% most disadvantaged families would be guaranteed 15 free hours of early education each week. The additional £650m announced earlier in the week will extend that to 40% of families. This will mean that the 260,000 most disadvantaged two year-olds will benefit by the end of this Parliament.

The facts are well known – children from the poorest backgrounds start primary school already behind in their development, in their speech and language ability, and in their capacity to make the most of their school years.

The evidence is well known too – high quality early years education, alongside support from parents and family, can really make a difference in giving a child from a disadvantaged background a good start in life.
The Liberal Democrat Manifesto for the 2010 Election set out an aspiration to move to 20 hours of free childcare for every child from the age of 18 months, as the nation’s finances allowed. We made a start last year, now we’re going further.

……..and that is likely to make a more profound difference to eliminating inequality than an endless argument about benefit levels

The Council will be deciding next Monday the location of the new roads and footpaths that will be needed to access the major York North West (YNW) development site (see site plan above). They are also set to endorse a “Transport Masterplan” which will detail the investment needed in infrastructure across the City to accommodate the addition movement of people and vehicles. These proposals will include changes to the A1237.

The Council has not, however, made public the Transport Masterplan leaving residents to draw their own conclusions and making it impossible for them to make representations before the meeting.

However some details of the councils preferred access routes area now clearer.

Establishing appropriate site access is key to the regeneration of the York Central site (the land behind the station). This is due to the site being bounded by live rail lines. It is currently accessible only via Leeman Road.

Previous modelling work indicated that given the scale of development envisaged at York Central, two new all-mode accesses would be required to the site, alongside some use of the existing Leeman Road accesses and new or improved pedestrian and cyclist routes. A new all-mode access should be created from the A59 Poppleton/ Holgate Road (where 4 options were considered) , and a second from Water End (near Millennium Green).

There are two options being looked at further.
• To use Chancery Rise (near the entrance to the former Carriage works) with the road offset away to protect the Cleveland Street play area and nearby homes. Estimated cost is £9.1 million. The junction with Holgate Road would probably incorporate a roundabout.
• To access from the open space at Holgate Business Park. The nearest residential properties are at Renshaw Gardens. Costs have been put at between £7.2 and £22.7 million (!)

A mini roundabout option is being considered for the Water End access junction.

It is likely that the A59 (Poppleton Road) access will be provided first.

The Council looks set to carry out its threat to close Leeman Road near the Marble Arch bridge. The Queen Street bridge could also be demolished at a cost of £5.5 million.

Cycle and pedestrian link routes to the British Sugar/Manor School site have also been published.

A pedestrian bridge over the Harrogate railway line to the Business Park and then onto Poppleton Ings will be provided at a cost of around £500,000.

Another route is planned linking the site to the City centre. Costs are put at around £1 million.

So hopes of a discrete transport link along the side of the railway line look to have been abandoned.

Those hoping for a Maglev or Monorail link were always likely to be disappointed, but some form of light rail option did for a time seem more likely. Sadly that now looks a long way off.

This is the information available at 17:30 on Tuesday 30th November. See the Councils web site for updates http://www.york.gov.uk/education/Schools_and_colleges/closures/

Headteachers will advise pupils, parents and carers of the detail of any school closures that are required due to industrial action.

Schools expected to be open:

Primary Schools
• Burton Green Primary School
• Carr Infant School (nursery closed)
• Headlands Primary School
• Ralph Butterfield Primary School
• St. Mary’s CE Primary School
• St Wilfrid’s RC Primary School

Schools planning a partial opening (Parents will be advised of specific details):

Primary Schools
• Badger Hill Primary School (open for Year 2)
• Carr Junior School (open for Year 4)
• Danesgate Community
• Derwent Schools (open for Key Stage 1 only)
• Dunnington Primary School (open for Reception, Years 1,2,5 and 6, closed for Years 3 and 4)
• Heworth CE Primary School (closed for class 1 and class 4, open for classes 2,3 and 5)
• Lakeside Primary (1 class closed in Year 2)
• Our Lady Queen of Martyrs RC Primary School (Open for pupils attending Hamilton Drive site with the exception of Year 3, Windsor Garth site closed to all)
• Poppleton Ousebank Primary School (open for reception, Years 1 and 2) (The nursery and Years 3-6 will be closed)
• Rufforth Primary School (Open for Key Stage 2 only)
• St Barnabas CE Primary School (Year 4/5 class and Year 6 open)
• St. Lawrences CE Primary School (Open for Nursery, Reception, Years1,2 and Year 6)
• Westfield Primary Community School (6 classes closed – final details to be confirmed)
• Woodthorpe Primary School (7 classes open 6 classes closed)
• Wigginton Primary (Class R and Class 45J open all day. Classes 1D and 34PR open for the morning only, Classes 6B and 56Br open for the afternoon only)

Secondary Schools
• Archbishop Holgate’s CE School (Years 12 and 13 open only)
• Danesgate Community
• Fulford School (Year 11 open only)
• Huntington School (Years 7,12 and 13 open only)
• York High School (open for Year 7. Year 11 will be able to go in and do individual study in the library and ICT areas)

Schools expected to be closed:
Primary Schools
• Acomb Primary School
• Archbishop of York’s CE Junior School
• Bishopthorpe Infant School
• Copmanthorpe Primary (but Year 6 residential trip will go ahead)
• Clifton Green Primary School
• Dringhouses Primary School
• Elvington CE Primary School
• Fishergate Primary School
• Haxby Road Primary School
• Hempland Primary School
• Hob Moor Oaks and Hob Moor Primary School
• Knavesmire Primary School
• Lord Deramore’s Primary School
• Osbaldwick Primary School
• Naburn Primary School
• New Earswick Primary School
• Park Grove Primary School
• Poppleton Road Primary School
• Scarcroft Primary School
• Skelton Primary School
• St Aelreds RC Primary School
• St Georges RC Primary School
• St Oswald’s CE Primary School
• St Paul’s CE Primary School
• St Paul’s Nursery
• Stockton on the Forest Primary School
• Tang Hall Primary School
• Wheldrake with Thorganby CE Primary School

Secondary Schools
• All Saints RC School
• Applefields School
• Burnholme Community College
• Canon Lee School
• Manor CE School
• Millthorpe School
• The Joseph Rowntree School

This information is subject to change.

North Yorkshire Police will be carrying out mobile safety camera enforcement on the following roads between Wednesday 30 November and Tuesday 6 December 2011.
 A64 east-bound carriageway Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
 A64 west-bound Carriageway, Bowbridge Farm, Tadcaster
 Ryecroft Avenue, Acomb, York
 Temple Lane, Copmanthorpe, York
 A1036 Tadcaster Road, York
 A1237 Monks Cross, York
 North Lane, Huntington, York
 Strensall Road, Huntington, York
 Ox Carr Lane, Strensall, York
 The Village, Stockton-on-the-Forest, York
 York Road, Haxby, York
 New Lane, Huntington, York
 A64 Malton by-pass Malton east and west-bound
 A64 Seamer by-pass Scarborough
 A64 Seamer Road, Scarborough
 A64 between Whitwell Hill and Barton Hill
 A64 between Barton-le-Willows and Jinnah
 A171 Jugger Howe opposite Springhill Farm
 B1460 Castle Road, Whitby
 A171 south of Scaling Dam
 A169 Whitby to Pickering Road near to Goathland
 A169 Whitby to Pickering Road at High Horcum
 A171 North of Whitby at Kempston Rigg
 A171 Mayfield Road, Whitby
 Stoney Haggs Road, Scarborough, south-bound and towards Seamer Road
 A170 Scarborough to Thirsk Road at Snainton
 B1257 Helmsley – Stokesley, Road Newgate Bank
 A19 Crathorne
 A170 at Scawton Moor
 A170 Eastgate Pickering
 A170 Wilton
 A1039, Filey Road at Flixton
 A1039 Filey Road at Flixton
 B1427 Queen Margarets Road, Scarborough
 B1249 at Staxton Wold near Staxton, Scarborough
 A165 Reighton by-pass between Sands Road and Hunmanby Road
 B1249 Foxholes to County Boundary
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. The above locations were accurate when this news release was produced.