Labour media release 15th July
“Labour’s cooperative councils will work with their communities to make sure local services meet the needs of local people. It marks the end of top-down services where people are expected to put up with whatever is on offer. In future, residents, rather than town hall officials, will be in the driving seat”.

The Press 26th July
“THE controversial sale of a York coach and car park is set to be sealed in the face of huge opposition…. it has sparked fierce protests…… Local businesses say their trade would be wrecked, fears have been raised about its impact on York’s tourism, and more than 11,000 people have signed a petition opposing the sale”

DATE: Various, weeks commencing 8th August, 19th September, 31st October and 12th December 2011
VENUE: Energise and Yearsley Pools
TIME: Daytime and evening classes available
COST: £18 for 6 weeks
Targeted adult swimming courses, something for everyone from beginners, welcome back to the pool, learn front crawl and fitness training

Beginner’s classes are suitable for anyone who has never had the opportunity to learn to swim, is frightened of the water or has had a previous bad experience in water. Age is not a limiting factor and all ages are welcome to attend.

Welcome back to the pool is a class for anyone who has been away from swimming for a number of years or has suffered a life changing event, whether an injury, medical condition, disability or emotional trauma and would like to be supported back into swimming.

Learn front crawl aims to teach people the basics of front crawl technique. The class is suitable for people who are able to swim comfortably out of their depth in breaststroke or backstroke and would like to have the opportunity to learn a new stroke.

Develop front crawl aims to help people improve their front crawl stroke technique. The class is suitable for people who can swim a few lengths of front crawl but would like some help with stroke technique to improve breathing patterns, stroke length, speed and stamina.

Fitness Training aims to help you to take your swimming to the next level, and give you innovative ideas and programmes to develop your speed and stamina in the pool. The class is suitable for anyone who regularly swims but would like to push themselves to achieve more fitness benefits from their swimming.

All classes will be taught by ASA level 2 qualified and experienced swimming teachers and class numbers will be kept small to ensure participants receive individual feedback and are helped to achieve their aims.
Course places are available to book via Yearsley Pool and Energise from Monday 11th April 2011. Please call in at reception at either centre to confirm your place with payment (£18) or telephone 01904 552424. or visis: http://www.york.gov.uk/leisure/swimming/lowcost/

If you have any general enquires please contact:
Catherine Butt, Aquatics Community Sports Coach, Sport and Active Leisure
Tel: 07825 863007 / e-mail: catherine.butt@york.gov.uk

DATE: Sundays until end August
VENUE: Energise
TIME: 7pm to 8pm
COST: Free
Try a free, fun introduction to the fast paced and exciting sport of waterpolo.
Everybody is welcome – adults and children.

Passengers may soon be able to travel on York’s buses without the need to fumble around for cash or commit in advance to expensive season tickets.
York’s major bus company are looking to trial the use of charge card enabled terminals which will allow debit card holders to “touch on, touch off” when they use bus services.
The system would allow regular users to be given a discount with daily and weekly ceiling charges introduced to encourage bus use.
The system would also facilitate so called “through ticketing” with no need to purchase a “ticket” for the second leg of an extended journey.
In many ways the new system – which exploits the new technology being rolled out in the latest charge cards and mobile phones – replicates the convenience of the Oyster card system which has been in use in London for some years, although no separate card purchase is necessary.
For operators the new system has the advantage of speeding up boarding times and reducing the amount of cash carried on the buses.
York could become a trial site for the system if the local Council co operates. A similar system is already working in Singapore.
The same technology could also revolutionise payments for car parking. Here drivers would touch their card when arriving and this would – like payments by mobile phone – activate their car registration number on the parking wardens hand held screen. When leaving, motorists would “touch off”.
The advantage of using this system in car parks is that it would be more flexible allowing drivers to stay for as long as they wished and then to pay for the actual time used. It avoids the costly installation of pay on exit barriers and addresses the reliability problems inherent in such mechanical systems.

Tenant satisfaction with Council housing in York is higher than in other parts of the country.
In a postal poll of tenants undertaken in January – the last to test the effectiveness of the Liberal Democrat Councils policies – 86% of tenants said that overall they were satisfied with Council housing services in York.
Council housing in York was substantially better than in other local authority areas on a range of indices. These include overhead costs, the time taken to complete repairs, the quality of repairs, insulation standards, average re-let times, rent costs, the level of rent arrears and satisfaction with complaint handling.
The main area, where tenants thought that the Council needed to improve, was in bringing complaints about anti social behaviour to a satisfactory conclusion.

Its reached the time of year when bushes over growing footpaths can become an increasing hazard.
In addition tree detritus can be knocked or blown onto the highway posing a hazard for cyclists (see below on Tadcaster Road). It is worth taking the time to report issues like this to the local Council at https://www.york.gov.uk/Doitonline/
Can be done 24/7.

Tadcaster Road

In the space of only a few hours, the council has changed its proposals for a 20 mph speed limit trial.
Instead of Bishopthorpe the council now intends to trail its approach in the much smaller village of Murton. Here residents have already petitioned for a lower speed limit although, with average speeds at around 32 mph, it is likely most of the residents will be keener to have the existing 30 mph limit enforced when faced with the reality that a 20 mph limit may be ignored by many drivers. The top speed recently recorded through the village was 68mph.
Labour are now trying to include most of Bishopthorpe Road in the South Bank 20 mph speed limit area. (Bizarrely the shopping area – where 20 mph is certainly a high enough limit – falls outside the proposed trial zone).
This is contrary to the promises made by Labour at the local elections when they said that the main arterial roads into the City would not be included in their 20 mph plans. So they really must now intend to have a general 20 mph limit.
There is no clue yet as to how the Police – who are responsible for enforcing speed limits and who have resolutely said that any 20 mph limit must be “self enforcing” – will react. What is clear is that they struggle to enforce the existing 30 mph limit in some urban streets. Demands for more enforcement action in “residential areas” could mean even less time tracking down the habitual “speeders” who ignore any limit that is imposed.
Elsewhere, the Council has been forced to call a special meeting to discuss the Union Terrace car/coach park sale controversy. Labour have responded by threatening to agree the sale later on the same day at the Council meeting (4th August). Presumably common sense will prevail shortly and a way of continuing the parking provision and giving St Johns the opportunity to expand will be found.
Labour’s leaders were probably hoping that the new development could have provided a new public access, City centre, swimming pool, but with that clearly not viable, their enthusiasm for the sale seems to be waning.

It looks like Labour are going ahead with their plan to introduce a 20 mph speed limit in York. A report due to be approved by the Council’s “Cabinet” tomorrow (18/7) says,
“We will start by putting in place a programme to introduce 20mph limits in residential areas and minimise associated street clutter. By the end of 2011/12 we will implement 20mph speed limits in a ‘first phase’ of residential areas. Following this we will roll out 20mph limits across the rest of the city’s residential areas by 2013”. No attempt is made to define a “residential area”.
York already has 20 mph speed limits near schools and at other potential accident black spots. 20 mph zones have been introduced in Fishergate and the Milner Street areas with a much larger South Bank zone also scheduled for implementation this year.
The intention had been to assess the impact that these trials had on accident rates before reviewing other speed limits.
Now it seems that Labour plan to pilot their plan in Bishopthorpe
The decision to press ahead with a city wide speed limit reduction comes at a time when experts like University of London Professor John Wann have said that “too many 20 mph zones can dilute their effectiveness as motorists fail to recognise that they are in a high risk area”. That view is also supported by the Institute of Advanced Motorists.
The cost of introducing a city wide 20 mph limit in York has been put at £1 million. Much of this would be spent on signs although central government have said recently that speed limit markings can be painted on the road surface. The problem with the later option is that such markings wear out very quickly and can be difficult to see in wet and muddy conditions.
York has seen a 50% reduction in serious road accidents over the last few years. That trend could be reversed if limited resources are spent on a 20 mph limit which is widely abused and largely unenforceable. Labour should rethink their plans.

Milner Street area 20 mph zone