Consultation on City centre access arrangements for Blue Badge holders

The formal consultation phase has begun on whether to make permanent some of the changes to the footstreets that were introduced in response to the ongoing Covid pandemic.

The principles of these changes being made permanent were approved by the York Council’s Executive in November 2020, alongside an ongoing review of access to the city centre, with the formal decision delegated to the Executive Member for Transport.

At the Executive Member’s Decision Session on the 22 June, the detailed proposals were considered by the Executive Member, including a number of additional Blue Badge parking locations, and agreed to commence the statutory formal consultation to allow a future decision to be made.

The statutory consultation is around the proposal to permanently remove the Blue Badge exemption which allows vehicles displaying a Blue Badge to use a number of city centre streets between 10:30am and 5pm for access.

The city centre streets where the proposals would apply are as follows:

•   Blake Street
•   Castlegate
•   Church Street
•   Colliergate
•   Goodramgate between its junctions with Deangate and King’s Square/Low Petergate
•   Kings Square
•   Lendal
•   St Andrewgate from the highway boundary line on the north east side of Colliergate and north east for 50 metres
•   St Helen’s Square

The precise locations are listed on the York Traffic Management (Amendment) (No 14/10) Order 2021.

This proposal aims to improve road safety in some of the city centre’s busiest pedestrian streets whilst at the same time balancing the needs of businesses and city centre residents.

Removal of the exemption would reduce the number of cars driving in areas where large numbers of pedestrians gather, and increases the security of the area against the potential risk of hostile vehicles being used in terrorist attacks.

At the same time, we are proposing to introduce additional Blue Badge parking around the edge of the footstreet area. The following locations have been identified as being suitable (subject to approval):

•   Carmelite Street
•   Deangate
•   Duncombe Place
•   Dundas Street
•   St Andrewgate
•   St Saviourgate
•   A shared Disabled Person’s (Blue Badge) Parking Place and Loading Bay on Duncombe Place

This would improve the parking availability for Blue Badge holders on the very edges of the pedestrian area and cater for some loading/unloading activities.

These Blue Badge parking proposals were developed after workshop sessions were held earlier this year, where the council listened to members of the public on potential Blue Badge parking options in workshops.

As part of the consultation, there was also a survey that could be completed by Blue Badge holders.

At the June Decision Session, the Executive Member for Transport also approved further investigation into additional Blue Badge parking areas.

Councillor Andy D’Agorne, Deputy Leader of the Council and Executive Member for Transport, said:

The conflict between pedestrians and vehicle movement on some of the footstreets has been an ongoing concern for a number of years.

“The proposal was developed after initially introducing covid response measures on a trial basis last summer and extensive engagement with York residents, where we consulted on the impacts.

“In April this year, Blue Badge holders were invited to share their views on potential new parking spaces on the edge of York city centre through completing a survey and attending workshops.

“Based on resident’s feedback, these new Blue Badge parking options have been proposed on the edge of the footstreet areas. We will also be exploring additional Blue Badge parking options in York city centre. This will help to ensure that there is an improved quality of Blue Badge parking, alongside the increased availability of Blue Badge parking spaces.

The council response to the issue will also be debated at full council this week.

“We hope that you are able to support the proposals but should you wish to object, you can email or write to us.”

Should you wish to object, please email or write to the contact details below, giving your grounds for objection, to arrive no later than 6 August 2021.

• Postal address: Director of Economy & Place, Network Management, West Offices, Station Rise, York, YO1 6GA
• Email: highway.regulation@york.gov.uk

Community Stadium car parking confusion

It seems that, despite all the delays, the position for those wanting to park at the new Community Stadium car park remains confused

Although “Better Leisure” tell drivers on their web site to buy a match day ticket in advance from either the Knights or (later in the summer) York City FC, there appears to be no on-line purchase option currently available. This could lead to unnecessary parking in nearby residential areas although many will no doubt restrict their stay to the 2 hour maximum currently enforced across the site.

Any issues need to be sorted out quickly now. Not everyone is yet comfortable with using public transport while car parking income from the 400 allocated match day spaces, is needed to help balance the books on the hugely expensive project.

Cliffords Tower work set to begin

The Council has agreed that English Heritage can use part of the Castle Car Park as a building compound over then next few months.

The decision comes as a £4.7 million contract starts which will see external works to Clifford’s Tower including improvements to handrails for existing access stair up the motte, introduction of resting places to the sides of the stairs, internal works within the Tower to include the installation of new staircase, tower floor, walkways, balustrade, plaza and roof deck.

£900K will be spent on the public realm.

English Heritage still plan on providing a hard landscaped plaza with street furniture, in front of the steps leading to the Tower. This would result in the loss of 5 car parking spaces.

A small Piaggio vehicle will be parked there and used as a ticket and information guide point,

The work will take until the autumn to complete

Double yellow lines coming to a street near you?

The Foxwood Residents Association say on their Facebook site that they have responded to a notice placed on a lamppost which advertised plans for double yellow lines on Askham Croft.

They uncovered some maps (below) which give residents more details of what is planned in the Westfield Ward.

*Proposals affect Askham Croft, Gale Lane, Askham Lane, Ridgeway and Grange Lane*

It may be that these plans are relatively uncontroversial.

However, it appears that dozens of other changes to parking restrictions affecting the whole City have also been tabled. We doubt whether local communities will read the lamppost notices in their areas and so may be unaware that they only have until the middle of May to register any observations.

We think that, as a minimum, the Council should alert residents to the proposals using their social media channels.

They should also publish a plain English version together with a map on their web site.

Click the graphic below to download a (not very user friendly) list.

Pay on Exit introduced in Marygate and Coppergate

From this week, Marygate and Coppergate Centre Car Parks (formally known as Piccadilly) now offer new ‘pay on exit’ car parking.

We think that this is a step forward but the top priority remains to improve digital signage and communications to prevent unnecessary trips by drivers seeking parking spaces. That is particularly important at these two car parks which are accessible only by awkward routes.

It is several years since the Council switched of some of its advance car parking space availability signs. A promise that available space information would be integrated into “Sat Nav” systems has not yet materialised., although this si common on electric vehicle charging platforms

The result is unnecessarily long journeys with all that entails in terms of extra pollution.

So now the City of York Council, in partnership with York BID, have introduced the new ‘pay on exit’ equipment, which has been upgraded to enable customers to pay for parking as they leave the car park, in a hope to improve the customer experience.

The new ticketless systems will enable residents and visitors to pay for parking as they leave, rather than in advance.

A successful ‘pay on exit’ trial was undertaken in Marygate car park back in 2016 and the new system has now been expanded to the Coppergate Centre car park too.

The new system uses ANPR cameras to provide ticketless parking at both car parks. ANPR cameras will read the car registration plate on entering the car park. When visitors leave, all they need to do is go to the payment machine and type in their car registration plate.

Blue badge holders are able to scan their barcode or QR code for free or discounted parking at the Coppergate Centre car park. At Marygate, where designated disabled parking bays are outside the car park and occupied, blue badge holders wishing to park inside the car park are able to scan their barcode or QR code for free or discounted parking.

ANPR cameras will read the car registration plate on leaving the car park and all visitors need to do is pay any required charge for their stay.

The ticketless parking system will recognise that payment has been made and the barrier will raise automatically to allow drivers to exit.

The introduction of ANPR systems mean car park scratch cards are no longer able to be used in the car parks.
If anyone holds a parking permit for a car park where ANPR ticketless parking is in place, they’ll still be able to use the car park as normal. To find out more on this visit the page on the council website.

It’s hoped that the ‘pay on exit’ system will be rolled out across other city car parks.

Please note: Marygate car park currently has reduced capacity during the important Environment Agency works taking place in the area, and larger vehicles will be operating/using the narrow access road.

The new pay on exit payment systems have been introduced as the new national restrictions change from 12 April to include:

Non-essential retail reopening
Outdoor hospitality is allowed
Personal care premises such as hairdressers and nail salons can resume
Libraries, community centres and indoor leisure facilities can reopen (but only for use by people on their own or in household groups)
The rule of six or two households still applies and we can only spend time with those we don’t live with outside.

Restrictions remain in place, which means you will still need to sanitise your hands, wear face coverings and keep socially distanced.

The council is continuing to support local businesses and has prepared for the next stage of lockdown rule easing on 12 April. Extra measures introduced in the city will include:

The installation of temporary public toilets, additional litter bins and additional cleaning taking place in the city centre
extending the Covid Support Marshalls programme until the end of June
submitting planning applications required for temporary managed outdoor spaces to help people see friends and family safely
making it easier for people to get tested, offering a collect option at our testing sites and opening up symptom-free testing to all adults and children of secondary school age and above.

Vehicle recharging “HyperHub” plan for Union Terrace car park.

Part of the Union Terrace car park would be converted into an electric vehicle recharging site under Council plans.

Three 50kW Rapid chargers and three 150kW Ultra-Rapid chargers would be installed on a central charging island. Four double headed 7kW Fast charge points would also be installed across 8 parking bays in the main car park, adjacent to the HyperHub.

The proposal, which involve the loss of about 20 ordinary parking spaces, is being discussed next week. It replaces a plan to establish the facility on Bootham Court. This site was subsequently abandoned.

The project is expected to cost £900,000

York’s EV charging strategy includes the deployment of Ultra-rapid charging hubs, known as HyperHubs, at strategic locations around the city. £1.35million funding was awarded by North Yorkshire LEP in June 2020 to develop York’s public charging network, of which £550k was allocated for the construction of a 3rd HyperHub located near the city centre.

There are no immediate plans to introduce “on street” charging facilities in terraced areas. These facilities have been provided in several City’s making use of the power supply to streetlights or bollards.

Two other HyperHubs are planned, located next to Monks Cross and Poppleton Bar Park & ride sites. An update can be viewed by clicking here

Electric vehicle charging policies received a panning by Which magazine recently

They said that

Accessing public chargers was unnecessarily complicated and that universal access was needed
Disparate rapid charging plugs were confusing
Charging by time was also confusing
As was the many variable charging speeds
Brand specific networks were considered to be unnecessarily

They called on the government to introduce a standardised approach.

The York Council could usefully add its voice to the calls for more regulation.

Council stages three on line consultations

Bootham/Gillygate

The promised consultation on changes to pedestrian priority arrangements at this junction started this week.

It asks whether changes could be made as part of a plan to modernise the traffic signals at the junction.

The survey can be found by clicking this link

Option1

This design replaces all signalling equipment at the junction whilst also making slight improvements for pedestrians crossing the junction. Transport modelling of these revisions indicate that the impact to all vehicular traffic moving through the junction is negligible however the improvements to infrastructure at the site make future upgrades and revisions to operation easier.

* A full replacement of all on site traffic signalling technology

* Pedestrian Crossing width increased to 4 metres on the Bootham arm of the junction

* Pedestrian Crossing width increased to 6 metres on the Gillygate arm of the junction

* Tactile paving on the St Leonards Place arm of the crossing to be realigned meet current design standards.

Option 2

This design looks to reallocate space at the junction from road traffic to pedestrians whilst also replacing the required signalling equipment.

Transport modelling of the redesign indicates that the changes would reduce the capacity of the junction by approximately 30%. This would see significant increases in general traffic delay at the junction and a large increase in queues which would impact on adjacent junctions across the network.

* A full replacement of all on site traffic signalling technology.

* Pedestrian Crossing widths increased to 4 metres across both the Gillygate and Bootham arms of the junction.

* Additional pedestrian crossing point introduced from the eastern corner of Gillygate to the western footway of St Leonards Place.

* Removal of the left turn lane from St Leonards Place reducing the highway into a single lane in both directions.

* Highway realigned to the East of Gillygate/St Leonards place to create a more straight ahead route for vehicles travelling from Gillygate into St Leonards Place and additional footway and pedestrian realm adjacent to Bootham Bar.

* Existing Pedestrian Island removed from St Leonards place and crossing realigned as a single stage crossing.

The consultation runs until 31st March.

Dropped kerbs

The Council is also consulting on a revised policy for approving dropped kerb – verge cross over plans.

Lack of on street parking space means that more residents will be likely to seek to make this change in the future. Installation of vehicle charging facilities as the internal combustion engine is phased out, may stimulate demand.

The new regulations are very proscriptive. They don’t permit the relocation of tree or street furniture which may obstruct access to a driveway.

A programme of providing dropped kerbs for Council owned premises has stalled over recent years meaning that verges in several streets are now badly damaged.

The draft policy can be found by clicking here

The consultation closes on 28th April

Homeshare York

The Council is also consulting on the future of its Homeshare services

“Currently Homeshare matches a homeowner aged 55+ who has a spare room and could benefit from some support and/or companionship (the ‘Householder’) with a younger person who will provide 10 hours of support a week in exchange for accommodation (the ‘Homesharer’). Homeshare is free to the Householder and the Homesharer pays £160 towards the running of the match as well as any contributions towards council tax increases. Homesharer’s are fully vetted including two references and a DBS check. Matches are made based on both parties’ personalities and interests and support is offered throughout the match. Matches are expected to last for a minimum of 6 months but can be ended early if a match is not working out. For more information you can visit our Homeshare webpage.“

the Homeshare survey can be accessed here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/2DQNWN8

The survey runs until 22nd March

Work starts on region’s largest EV charging hubs

City of York Council is delighted to be working in partnership with Evo Energy to start construction on the largest HyperHub sites in the region.

Artist impression of new hyper hub at Monks Cross. — Artist’s impression of new Hyper Hub at Monks Cross.

The council is investing £2.2m to develop sites, next to Monks Cross and Poppleton Bar Park and Rides, into high quality, high speed electric vehicle charging hubs.

Each HyperHub site will consist of solar PV canopies, battery energy storage, 4 Rapid and 4 Ultra Rapid electric vehicle chargers.

The chargers will help the region to support the next generation of electric vehicles which have significantly larger battery capacities and support higher charging speeds.

Construction on both sites has started, and will be led by EvoEnergy. The new sites at Monks Cross and Poppleton are scheduled for completion in June 2021.

City of York Council is a pioneer in the use of innovative green technology. Over recent years, the council has lead the way in providing a range of public charging facilities for electric vehicles to help reduce carbon emissions and improve local air quality thanks to EV’s eliminating NOx emissions at the point of use.

In addition to generating low carbon electricity on site through PV arrays, all of the electricity supplied from the national grid will be generated by renewable sources providing users with low carbon electricity and ensuring that no NOx emissions are emitted from electricity generation.

The council has successfully secured £1m of European Regional Development Funding and £800,000 from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles, along with £400,000 of the council’s own capital funding to install the first two HyperHubs.

This comes just at a time when the nation prepares to transition across to using electric vehicles with the announcement of a complete ban on sales of new petrol or diesel cars by 2030, with plug-in hybrid sales to end in 2035.

When the council first developed their EV charging network in 2013, there were far fewer plug-in vehicles on the road. However, over the past few years, electric vehicle technology has progressed massively and these vehicles have now become a viable option for many everyday road users.

What is Included?

City of York Council has been able to secure funding from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and European Regional Development Fund.

This largely covers the cost of building the two HyperHub sites, along with a solar canopy system (100kWp) which will generate green electricity and keep users dry and a battery storage solution (348kW / 507kWh), meaning that the council will be able to maintain a lower tariff than commercial operators can offer.

Both of the HyperHub sites will contain 4x Ultra-Rapid (150kW) and 4x Rapid (50kW) vehicle chargers, helping to support the uptake of modern EV’s that have larger battery capacities and are capable of Ultra Rapid charging.

The development of this system will encourage private car owners, taxi drivers and business users to make use of the new facilities, therefore, improving the city’s overall carbon emissions.

Both of the HyperHub sites are started construction in January with both sites due to finish in June 2021.

This investment is just the beginning of the journey for City of York Council as they revitalise their electric vehicle charging network in 2021 ready to support the transition to EV.

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Residents’ Priority Parking consultation launched

City of York Council will be contacting residents in the areas close to University of York this week to inform them of a new consultation taking place.

The consultation will involve Badger Hill and Newland Park Drive areas in response to parking surveys in the streets close to the campus.

The survey work has been undertaken by University of York to monitor the levels of parking in the areas associated to the University, which has increased non-resident parking in the areas.

The University of York are required to fund this consultation, the introduction of any parking controls and the provision of permits for a scheme due to planning conditions, if it has the support of local residents (meaning that the first permit for each household would be free of charge)

Executive Member for Transport made the decision at the July Decision session (item 11) to take the proposal straight out to consultation of the Traffic Regulation Order to speed up implementation if it has residents’ support.

The proposed ResPark scheme restricts parking within designated areas, known as ‘ResPark zones’, to those people who are eligible to apply for a permit:

residents
residents’ visitors
property owners
local businesses

If your home is in a ResPark zone, you may be entitled to residents’ permits and an authorisation card which will allow you to purchase visitor parking permits.

You are also able to apply for a permit on the basis of a business need, or commercial interest in a property within a ResPark zone.

To find out more about ResPark zones currently in place across the city visit the ResPark and Badger Hill Permit pages online.

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Coronavirus York updates; 15th January 2021

Deaths

ONE additional death announced by the York Hospital Trust today. The fatality occurred on Wednesday.

Test results

ONE HUNDRED and NINETEEN (119) new positive test results announced today. Brings total to 9841

Infection rate continues to decline in the City.

Rate /100k population is now 603.49. Trending down to 500 early next week.

There was a reduction of 114 cases compared to previous days figure.

That is a big improvement but still some way to go before we get back to pre Christmas levels.

Case numbers are continuing to reduce at all levels (City, county, regional and national)

Hospitals

As of 12th January there were 156 Coronavirus patients occupying beds at the York Hospital Trust.

Of these, 6 were in intensive care.

Neighbourhoods

10th January – the latest date on which data was validated – saw reductions in infection levels in many neighbourhoods.

More are now showing in the “blue” category – indicating that they have an infection rate below 400.

There was a reduction in cases in the Westfield area but a small increase in Woodthorpe comparing one day’s figures with the previous.

Residents will be hoping to see a sustained reduction in case levels, in west and north York in particular, next week.

Vaccinations

Across the United Kingdom 3,234,946 people have now had their first dose of vaccine. 443,234 have received their second dose.

Over 300,000 vaccinations are now taking place each day.

No local data has yet been published by the government. The most recent NHS figures (14th Jan) for the regions are

Vaccination centre parking and buses

A new regional vaccination centre is being set up at Askham Bar. It is an extension of the existing facility there and will have extended opening hours

Askham Bar vaccination centre being expanded

First York have issued the following statement about the impact that the centre may have on its services

Askham Bar Park & Ride to help users of new Covid vaccine centre

A section of parking spaces at Askham Bar Park & Ride, operated by First York in partnership with City of York Council, will be cordoned off from Monday 18 January to help users arriving for appointments at a new Covid vaccination centre.

Disabled parking and electric charging points situated immediately behind the Park & Ride building are not affected and the site remains fully operational.

The opening of the vaccination facility, adjacent to the nearby Tesco store, means from today Service 3 buses will begin using the entrance and exit of the main public carpark at Askham Bar as the bus-only lane at the rear of the supermarket will be closed off to allow simpler traffic flow and access to the vaccination point.

Service 3 will use the Moor Lane Car Park bus stop off the roundabout on the A1036 Tadcaster Road close to the Tesco store in both directions and will not use the Tesco Car Park stop. The change will remain in place until further notice.

Marc Bichtemann, Managing Director of First York, said: “This is a minor alteration that won’t cause any delays for our customers and has been planned out carefully. It’s a further example of the close working relationship we have with the council and other partners in the city to help the community manage life in lockdown. It also demonstrates our joint approach with the council to support the tremendous effort to roll-out the vaccine which will provide a path out of the pandemic.”

He added: “Our drivers are there on the frontline, as they have been throughout the crisis, to ensure key workers and anyone making essential journeys can get where they need to be safely.

“Although we are carrying fewer passengers right now, it is important that everyone continues to wear a face covering properly for the whole time they are on the bus and use a cashless way to pay, if possible.”

Cllr Carol Runciman, Executive Member for Health and Adult Social Care, City of York Council said: “It’s great to be playing our part and supporting the NHS with the space for this vaccination roll-out. I would like to encourage residents who have been contacted to attend a vaccination centre that this a safe, quick and easy process.

“As we continue to stay home and follow lockdown restrictions, is it vitally important that we maintain smooth public transport services for those who need them for essential journeys and for critical workers.”

First York drivers and other staff have been involved a variety of initiatives for communities across York during the crisis including hospital fundraising, council refuse collection, shopping and prescription pick-up and at the end of last year the company teamed up with Age UK York to support the elderly who have been isolated due to lockdown and Covid restrictions.

“It’s a testament to the attitude and passion of the team to do what they can to help York and local people through this situation and aid the recovery,” said Marc Bichtemann.

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