City of York Council and Badminton England have come together to launch Brunch Badminton for people over 50 in York. This is a sport which you can play for fun and for fitness, so it’s an ideal choice for older people.

The sessions will take place every Tuesday from 10am to 11am at York Railway Institute, Gymnasium, Queen Street. A coach will be on hand throughout to give tips and advice to improve the game of those taking part.

The sessions will cost £3.50 per person and places will be limited to 12 each week so to book or for further information please contact David Dewey on 07901 005316 or daviddewey@badmintonengland.co.uk

Stand-up comic Nick Helm has got something to laugh about after one of his gags was named the best joke of the Edinburgh Fringe. He won for the joke: “I needed a password eight characters long so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.”

A1 Tornado – An Extraordinary Ambition, Thursday 1 September
To construct a brand new Peppercorn Class A1 Pacific. Critics said it could never be done but after 19 years of co-operation, and sheer hard work, the ‘Tornado’ was built. Alexa Stott from the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust will give an inspiring talk on the locomotive and project.
Explore York, Thursday 1 September at 7.30pm. Tickets are priced £4 with a YorkCard or £5 without. For further information or for tickets call (01904) 552828 or exploreyork@york.gov.uk

An evening with Peter Robinson – Tuesday 6 September
Join us for a night of crime with bestselling author Peter Robinson. Peter joins us to chat about his latest novel set in the Yorkshire Dales, ‘Before the Poison’. Peter is the author of the crime series featuring Inspector Alan Banks.

Explore York, Tuesday 6 September at 7pm. Tickets are priced £7.50 with a YorkCard or £9 without. For further information or for tickets call (01904) 552828 or exploreyork@york.gov.uk

The media are reporting that a new “app” for iPhones is being launched by the council to make reporting problems with graffiti and fly tipping easier. They claim that this will reduce the number of problems that residents see.
This seems unlikely as residents are already able to telephone in problems using the York Pride Action Line (York 551551 – although you now initially get through to someone telling you about “Smarter York”) or “on line” at the Councils web site.
The key to a cleaner enviroment is respect and prevention.
Once a problem has occurred then the Council response has to be prompt.
All the problems in the photos were reported “on line” on 23rd Auguast

We understand that the “Chapelfields Community Association” are planning an open day at Sanderson Court on Saturday 10th September
The day will start at 11am and the building will be open until 4pm.
During the day there will be refreshments, live music, face painting, story-times, a bouncy castle, and other activities for children and adults. There will also be the launch of the Chapelfields Archive which is a project to gather memorabilia about the estate to preserve its history for future generations.

The global organisation has been working in the Acomb Green area over the school holidays. Global generally do an excellent job in the local community. Their website can be found at http://www.globalyork.com/
They are now advertising a “Carnival” with “birds of prey” at their Boroughbridge Road HQ – the former Manor School – on Sunday 4th September.

There is a growing amount of leaf mould and tree detritus on our streets and gutters this summer. Most seems to be a result of the changeable climatic conditions that we are experiencing. It will be a few weeks before the Council gears up for the autumn leaf fall. So in the meantime we recommend reporting problems using the Councils on line system.http://www.york.gov.uk/ report it

The new short cut into the railway station car park from Holgate Road/Lowther Terrace is now open. The route is safer than the Blossom Street alternative and should cut a couple of minutes off some journey times.
A similar access has been constructed to the east of the station.
I’ve asked for better direction signs to the new access points to be provided.
The access is open from 5:30am to 10:30pm each day.

It’s nearly 6 months since the last Council working group meeting took place to discuss the Local Development Framework. This is the detailed plan which will chart the city’s future for the next 20 years and more.
A “core strategy” is due for independent public examination later in the year. By the time of this Inquiry the response to government changes to planning guidance may be known. These may make it easier to develop greenfield land with major implications for the City particularly in the Osbaldwick and Huntington areas.
Of equal concern though will be the lack of progress on establishing detailed plans for the City centre and key development sites like York North West.
The later includes the 100 acre former British Sugar site part of which was slated to be an “exemplar” urban eco village. The “village” was to offer more energy efficient buildings, on-site renewable energy generation and the provision of improved access to open space. But all has gone quiet on that plan.
Similarly the promised response to the public consultation undertaken on the future of the site – which concluded on 26th January. – has still not been published.
The Council was also promising at public meetings that a planning application for the redevelopment of the site would be submitted during 2011.
That seems increasingly unlikely now as there has, as yet, been no consultation with residents by the site owners (ABF) who promised to make quick progress on a “Masterplan” for the area. They appointed architects PRP in April 2010 to move the site forward claiming that 1400 family homes could be provided there over the next 15 years.
The next meeting of the Councils working group is scheduled for 5th September and it is to be hoped that the new Council will have got its act together by then.
Residents need to know what is going to happen and when. Following the fiasco at Union Terrace they also need to understand what public consultation, if any, is planned?

York University has announced that all its places for the forthcoming year have been allocated. St Johns only has a handfull of vacancies left.