York Council says parking signs will be fixed by end of March

At long last the Council has responded to our questions about the failure of its parking space availability policies.

Following our article published in December, which revealed that the Council’s web site was out of date and that many street signs were faulty, we asked the Council when repair work would be completed.

On line site parking space availability click to access

The on line map was a particular concern as it had not shown parking space availability for over 4 years and some of the listed car parks had actually closed.

After some delay, the Council has now said that the on line map – in line with a new mobile app – “will be updated by the end of March”.

This will include an update to the listed tariffs.

The delays in restoring the parking space availability feature (known as the Car Park Guidance System) is put down to issues with the slow roll out of the Council’s new fibre optic network. Apparently the car parking counting devices are currently being refurbished in time for the March relaunch.

The Council also confirms that all of the Variable Message Signs which can be seen on the streets of the city were faulty.

The Council says it has

Parking space availability

“taken the novel step of working with a suppler to develop a new ‘technology package’ that can be inserted into the existing sign cases as this is a much cheaper way of renewing the VMS than simply replacing them.

The first four pre-production signs that have been used to test this approach are now operational and under test in the City, and the Heworth Green and Foss Islands Road CPGS signs are part of this group.

Work is now underway to apply this renewal technique to the five remaining City-centre ‘free text’ VMS and these will be back on street and operational by the end of March.

The remaining twenty CPGS ‘Insert’ signs (right) located in the City centre will be refurbished and brought back into use between April and August 2017″.

There are no plans to provide additional VMS signs in the City.

Finally the Council has confirmed that it is working with a number of GPS/SatNav suppliers to include real time parking space availability features on their devices.

More verges damaged as poor parking takes its toll

A combination of wet weather and poor parking practices has seen several verges in the area churned up.

Among the worst is on on St Stephens Road where part the public footpath has been uprooted making it virtually impassible for pedestrians

damage-to-public-footpath-caused-by-vehicular-access-to-29-st-stephens-road-cropped-1100-9th-feb-2017

Last year the York Council received a report on the problem. The report can be read by clicking here

Among other conclusions the report reveled that it costs £35 per sq mtr to repair damaged verges in the City.

We hope that the authorities will take prompt action to prevent damage of this sort and that proposals to provide more lay-bys in the area are implemented quickly

verge-danage

Empty garages costing York Council £25,500 a year in lost rent

489 registered on waiting list for garages in west York

Figures released by the York Council confirm that there is a high level of demand for Council garages in west York.

There are waiting lists at most blocks with the most popular being at (little) Green Lane where 24 residents are seeking a garage. Ironically this is a garage area which the Council have badly neglected. It suffers from an uneven forecourt, overgrown boundaries and occasional fly tipping.

One applicant for a garage in Dijon Avenue has been waiting since 2009!

Waiting list

Despite this the Council records that there are 67 garages currently vacant.

One garage in The Wandle has been unused since 2005!

empty-garages-jan-2017

Part of the problem has been a moratorium on the letting of garages in blocks which may be redeveloped.

This has affected 15 garages in Chaloners Road, which have been empty since 2014, while 21 garages in Newbury Avenue have suffered a similar fate with most empty since 2012. The development plans for Newbury Avenue are still in a state of flux so the Council is losing £500 a month in rent from that block alone.

Proposed new charges for garages have also been announced by the Council (see below)

garage-rents

We think that the Council should be much more proactive in trying to let empty garages. In many areas “on street” parking space is very limited and some residents resort to parking on verges. In turn this causes damage which is both unsightly and expensive to remedy.

The Council web site should be updated regularly with a list of garages that are empty, while Councillors should ensure that a list of garages, which are available, is displayed on local noticeboards

NB. The figures provided cover the Westfield, Acomb, Dringhouses and Holgate Wards. There are a similar number of Council garages on the east of the City

Parking to be banned on Holgate Park Drive

The York Council is advertising its intention to ban parking on Holgate Park Drive. The road provides an access to a development site which is required by Network Rail.

Currently heavy lorries are unable to use the road because of obstructions caused by commuter parking.

Parking for workers at nearby offices is inadequate and it is unclear what the knock on effects may be of additional restrictions.

An order is being advertised and any objections to the plan will be discussed in the spring.

holgate-park-drive

York City centre traders desperate for good Christmas

Visitor numbers were down in September

It’s nearly a year since flooding brought chaos to parts of the York City centre.

Recovery has been slow with visitor numbers down as recently as September (right).

……but there are some encouraging signs.

City centre car parks have been well used this month and particularly over the last few days.

The Castle car park was full again today.

However there is little sign that the York Council has got the message and improved its “on street” and “on line” parking availability information.

St Nicholas Fair has been popular this year

Those who do find a space will find that the St Nicholas Fair is busy.

After a poor start, the “Make it York” organisation, working with the “Business Improvement District” (BID) team, have done a better job this year.

There is something for everyone – including traditional children’s rides in Kings Square – although not everyone will be impressed by the reliance on alcohol sales in Parliament Street.

Some parts of the City Centre are looking neglected

Some parts of the city centre are looking run down.

Coney Street – once the most popular shopping street in the City – has more than its fair share of empty properties since BHS closed its doors.

The Council is also guilty of neglecting some of its street furniture and signs.

Here hopefully the Civic Trusts “York Enhancement Fund” will help to redress the balance. We hope that more people will buy Ron Cooke’s thought provoking book “Changing the Face of the City” . The proceeds go to improving the City

city-centre-christmas-lights ….and the lighting on the Bar walls has been acclaimed by many visitors this year.

2016 may yet go down as the year when things turned for the better in the York retail economy

York car parking chaos – time to act

Saturdays traffic log jam in the City was partly down to lack of information about car parking space availability.

The Council’s “on line” site http://www.yorklive.info/ still does not provide the kind of information that was available 15 years ago, we – together with many other Cities – had a system which showed the total number of spaces at car parks and the number of spaces that were free at each.

Council web site

The web site is still available (click here) but it is not updated and indeed contains details of car parks which no longer exist, while the number of spaces at others is clearly wrong. It currently advises users that the Leeman Road “commuter” car park has -1 spaces.

The “on line” system has not worked properly since the Council moved offices 4 years ago,

Street information boards on the arterial roads, that indicated where parking space could be found, have also been removed.

The result is that large numbers of cars circle the City looking for parking spaces – adding unnecessarily to congestion and pollution levels.

By now the City should have a system linked with satellite navigation services which would guide drivers to the nearest available free space. Far from moving forward with this kind of the improvement, the Council seems to be heading backwards into the mid twentieth century.

Once popular car parks like the 290 space Piccadilly multi storey have seen usage fall since the space available signs were withdrawn

The Council may be reluctant to publicise car parks in the city centre as it – understandably – wants to encourage the use of park and ride, but it needs to make a policy statement quickly on what it is doing, and what it plans to do in the future, to deal with demand peaks.

The Council makes over £2 million a year “profit” on car parking in the City. It would be well advised to plough some of this back into resurfacing the car parks and providing 21^st century standards of information.

Hopefully they will be able to do something before the two busiest days of the year (the Saturday before Christmas and Christmas Eve) when pressure on spaces will peak.

Disabled parking plan for Reynard’s garage site

Opposition to siting of commercial sea containers grows

Sea containers to be parked on Piccadilly?

Objectors have said that a plan to put sea containers on the Reynard’s garage site on Piccadilly is flawed.

“They are visually intrusive and the proposed 3 year lease represents a very short sighted constraint on the, much needed, redevelopment of the Piccadilly/Castle area.

The City should aspire to much higher standards than are implicit in this project. To place commercial containers in a location which has visual links to both the Castle complex and historic buildings like the Merchant Adventurers Hall would be an unfortunate precedent.

It is far from clear, from the published papers, how the Council could hope to benefit financially from what is a high risk, speculative venture. The proposed uses would also be in competition with other existing businesses such as the, still relatively new, Shambles market hospitality area”.

It has been suggested that in the short term, the land be used for blue badge vehicle parking. “It is slightly perplexing why this option wasn’t implemented in the early autumn when the demolition works were completed”.

Allocation of the site as a (free) disabled parking area has the advantage of requiring little investment (save for signage) and would ease the pressures on both the Castle car park – which is busy in the run up to Christmas at least – and some City centre streets.

Reynard’s Garage site

The site is closer to City centre amenities and principal shops than other car parks and would therefore be a boon for the disabled.

Those parts of the former garage site which cannot be used for parking cars (because of the configuration) could accommodate cycle racks – again taking pressure off the oversubscribed facilities on Parliament St. The site has the advantage of CCTV security cover.

The Council has been struggling to find a viable plan to regenerate the Piccadilly area for nearly 20 years.

If the Council cannot bring its “Southern Gateway” project to fruition in less than 3 years, then invitations to tender for use of the land on a medium-term basis should be publicly advertised.

Any proposals can then be properly judged in a transparent way and in the confident knowledge that all businesses and organisations will have had the opportunity to put their case forward and on a level playing field.

York car parks busy as plea made to free up more space

This week has seen the start of the build up to Christmas in York City Centre.

The most popular car park, at Castle, has been packed for most of the week…. & this despite the surface deteriorating until it is so uneven it represents a safety risk for some pedestrians.

The York Council still doesn’t widely advertise its “on line” car parking space availability web site, 4 years after it was “overlooked” when the local authority relocated its HQ.

On line site confirms parking space availability click to access

Street signs, which indicated the number of vacant spaces available, have also now disappeared, meaning tourists will add to congestion as they tour the City looking for spaces.

Reynards Garage site left empty

All in all then, a sad state of affairs.

One simple way of supplementing the availability of shoppers car parking spaces in the run up to Christmas would be to create a temporary car park at the former Reynard’s garage (Airspeed factory) site.

This site was cleared about a year ago and now stands tidy, but inaccessible, in a prime location on Piccadilly. The surface is in good condition and is certainly better than the surface at Castle..

All that is required is the installation of a ticket machine and Council taxpayers could look forward to a welcome financial bonus.

……and visitors to the City would find that there was a bit less pressure on parking spaces.

That was the week that was – west York in pictures

The week started with the Sky Ride. Local Councillor Andrew Waller was near the font of the event as a reprorted 10,000 took park

The week started with the Sky Ride. Local Councillor Andrew Waller was near the front of the event as a reported 10,000 took part

The circus came to the Thanet Road sports area. This prompted complaints about fly posting and damage to recently planted trees. Posters for events like these can be displayed for two weeks in advance but must be removed within 2 days of the event finishing. On one evening there was some disturbance in the Chesney’s Field area and a noticeable increase in litter. The Council are being asked to consider limiting the number of fairs/circuses which are permitted in residential areas in each quarter.

Cllr Sue Hunter and local residents Andrea Cropper cleared potential hazardous weeds for teh Acomb Green access steps

Cllr Sue Hunter and local residents Andrea Cropper cleared potential hazardous weeds from the Acomb Green access steps

Job Done!

Foxwood Residents Association won a gold award at this years Yorkshire in Bloom contest. They outperfromed many institutions who had been able to employ the services of professionals.

Foxwood Residents Association won a gold award at this years Yorkshire in Bloom contest. They outperformed many institutions who had been able to employ the services of professionals.

Foxwood Community centre garden

Cllr Sheena Jackson reported this offensive graffiti in the Tennent Road area. There has been an increase in graffiti issues in the area with some residents blaming the lack of high profile PCSO patrols partly for the decline.

Potholes on little Green Lane are getting bigger. Being followed up by Cllr Andrew Waller

Potholes on little Green Lane are getting bigger. The issue is being followed up by Cllr Andrew Waller

Lampposts on Bellwood drive demolished on Thursday

Lamppost on Bellwood Drive felled on Thursday

Over 30% of residents have returned the survey form issued in the Askham Lane/Grange Lane area so far.

Over 30% of residents have so far returned the survey form issued in the Askham Lane/Grange Lane area earlier in the week.

Main issues raised by residents included car parking and lack of maintenace of trees and bushes. The Grange Lane/Parker Avenue was a particular source of complaint. The snicket is overgrown and subject to littering. Some residents want to see it closed. although this is unlikely as it is a Public Right of Way.

The main issues raised by residents included poor car parking and lack of maintenance of trees and bushes. The Grange Lane/Parker Avenue alley was a particular source of complaint. The snicket is overgrown and subject to littering. Some residents want to see it closed, although this is unlikely as it is a Public Right of Way.

Many residents responding to our survey question about future events at the Acomb Explore Library have suggested Councillors surgeries. We've arranged for them to take place on the second Wednesday in each onth

Many residents, responding to our survey question about future events at the Acomb Explore Library, have suggested that Councillors surgeries be held there. We’ve arranged for Advice Centres to take place on the second Wednesday in each month starting on 12th October.

Damage to grass verges – York Council response published

A group set up to consider what can be done to prevent damage to grass verges in York caused by indiscriminate parking has produced a draft report.

Damaged verges

The lengthy tome can be read by clicking here

It concludes that it is a difficult problem for which there is no easy answer (surprise, surprise!)

The Council is being recommend to take action against drivers who cause the damage with an electronic warning system being developed using the authorities new web based systems.

The report is weak in several areas not least in failing to identify the need to include surface hardening (matrix protection) as a requirement in any new developments. The system allows water to pass through the surface and therefore avoids drainage issues. It can also be retro-fitted to verges where parking space is obviously inadequate to meet modern needs.

There is a lack of management performance information included in the papers. Taxpayers should be told how many reports of damaged verges have been received each year by the Council and what the response has been and to what timescales. It remains unclear whether the problem is getting worse

There is no detailed response to the technology based solutions offered by the private sector.

Matrix protection for grassed areas.

There needs to be a programme for the provision of off street parking spaces (for example near blocks of flats), new lay-bys and subsidised dropped kerbs/verge crossovers. Good progress was being made on the latter programme during the last decade but the work has since tailed off.

It seems that the Council will continue to spend £35 per sq metre having damaged verges repaired and will use “community payback” labour to do some of the work.

« Previous
1
…
11
12
13
14
15
…
18
Next »