Mildest winter on record but Labour overspend ice clearance budget in York!

No winter maintenance

New figures reveal that Labour run York Council overspent this year’s winter maintenance budget despite it being one of the mildest winters on record.

The council’s 2013/14 winter budget, which funds gritting and salt bins, was £107,000 in the red despite the city seeing no significant snowfall or prolonged frosts this winter. This has led to concerns that recent cuts by Labour have left the budget dangerously low and if next winter sees more typical weather there will be major disruption in York.

Labour has cut the winter maintenance budget every year since coming to power in 2011, and last year took 30 miles of road off the priority gritting list while cutting two-thirds of the city’s salt bins.

Cllr Ann Reid, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Environmental Services, commented:

“It is extraordinary that despite it being the fifth mildest winter since national records began the Labour Council has still overspent its budget.

“Cuts by Labour have reduced gritting routes and salt bins across York and therefore reduced the city’s capacity to cope with bad weather. If we have a more typical winter next year then the budget is just not there to ensure roads and paths are gritted and residents are kept safe.

“Liberal Democrat budget plans called for an extra £30,000 to be put into winter services and an extra £500,000 to be given to communities for local priorities such as extra salt bins or gritting. This would ensure that the resource was there to cope with bad weather.

“Labour got lucky this winter. However, the policy of spending money on city-centre vanity projects like Kings Square instead of on frontline services like gritting roads will catch-up with them.”

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Salt bins – 121 fail to find new parents

snow_wardensThe Council has admitted that only a handful of threatened salt bins have found new sponsors.

The remaining 121 bins are now set to be removed.

  • 31 salt bins are being taken over by Parish Councils
  • 6 are being adopted by Residents Associations
  • 2 others have been sponsored by other groups

Meanwhile the last Council meeting heard that the total number of “snow wardens” in the City has increased to 208.

Their postcodes can now be viewed on a map (click here)

The spread of “snow wardens” across the City is very uneven.

Council gets salt bin calculations wrong

Snow in York

The Council has published the “scores” that it gave when assessing which salt bins should be removed.

The list for Westfield can be viewed by clicking here.

The form used to allocate “marks” can be seen here (same for the whole of the City)

What is immediately obvious from the “scores” is that some potentially very hazardous routes (including St Stephens Mews and the Grove Terrace snicket) fared badly because they were judged to be on the normal precautionary gritting routes.

In reality the gritting Lorries never get near enough to these areas to have any effect on the ice.

Meanwhile our story last month about the poor take up of snow warden posts seems to have shamed some residents into action.

Some Tory Councillors are reported as having volunteered.

This news came soon after a question was tabled at last weeks Council meeting asking whether the responsible Cabinet member (Cllr Levene) would be out and about clearing snow?

Maps showing the general location of snow wardens can be found by clicking here.

Advice on clearing the footpath in front of your own home can be found here

The Council have been out and about replacing some of the grit bins (Linnet Way, Cornlands Road) which they threaten to remove, so the right hand doesn’t seem to know what the left hand is doing.

The Council’s map of salt bin locations can be found here.

All of which may be academic as the long term weather forecast shows mild weather continuing into January!!

Poor take up for York “snow warden” scheme; one salt bin “saved”

snow_wardens

Only 8 volunteers have so far stepped forward in the Westfield Ward to act as “snow wardens”.

 

With continuing mild weather, the effects of Labours decision, to scrap most salt bins in the City, have yet to be felt.

But clearly most people don’t feel that they should be expected to make up for the Councils irresponsible attitude to safety

Many residents do, of course, routinely clear the footpaths outside their homes of snow but others are unable to do so for health or domestic reasons.

“Snow wardens” effectively formalise this tradition.

Snow wardens are given basic training by the Council. Volunteers are provided with a high-visibility vest, snow-clearing kit and grit (salt) so that they are able to make a difference in their neighbourhoods.

If you like to become a snow warden contact Michal on (01904) 551832, or e-mail michal.czekajlo@york.gov.uk.

The next training session is taking place on Wednesday 4th December 2013, 18:00-20:00 (training and Q&A time)

A map showing the location of snow wardens in each ward can be found by clicking here.

The roads on which Westfield 8 volunteers are located are:

  • Bramham Road
  • The Green, Acomb
  • Milner Street
  • Askham Lane
  • Severus Street
  • Stuart Road
  • Willoughby Way
  • Middleton Road

The map currently shown on the Councils web site appears to be out of date.
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NB. The Foxwood Residents Association has “saved” the salt bin which is located outside the shops on Beagle Ridge Drive.

They have agreed to pay for the bin to be retained and have set aside funding which will allow it to be filled twice (if necessary) during the current winter.

Preparing For Cold Weather

City of York Council says that it is is supporting Public Health England’s Cold Weather Plan which looks at ways of reducing unnecessary deaths and illness this winter.

click to access

click to access

That’s a bit rich coming from a Council that has just decided to scrap 2/3 of the city’s self help salt bins and take around 30 miles of road off the gritting schedules!

Alternative view

They say that there are between 2000 and 2500 excess winter deaths each year in Yorkshire and Humber, many of which are preventable.

The Cold Weather Plan aims to prevent avoidable harm to people’s health by highlighting the negative health effects cold weather can have whilst enabling people to prepare and respond appropriately.

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York Council’s £3.5 million payment to local Universities

The York Council has released details of the payments that it has made to local Universities over the last 4 years.

Click to download full list

Click to download full list

In total, payments of around £3.5 million have been made although the vast majority of this (£3 million) was a grant to York University for the provision of a County Standard swimming pool. The scheme – part of the new “sports village” on Hull Road – was agreed after the Barbican pool closed and was paid for from the proceeds of the sale of the land there.

In total £192,519 has been paid to St Johns University. The largest payments were made to an anti bullying campaign although the University receives significant payments from taxpayers for the “Higher York” organisation.

The University of York fee payments range from £170,000 paid for the York Cares organisation (which managess voluntary projects in the City) to £850 for a speaker at a “women’s development session”.

All Council expenditure is now being closely scrutinised following the decision of the Labour Leadership to remove winter salt bins from key foopath locations in the City.

The bins cost only £50 a time to fill.

NB. At the last Council meeting the Labour Leadership revealed that it will pay £31,000 to York Athletics Club as a sweetener to move out of the Huntington Stadium. It had been intended to provide a replacement athletics facility at the sports village but Labour now propose to fund the refurbishment of the existing University athletics field.

Road safety improvements for Joseph Rowntree School

Pedestrians and cyclists will benefit from works to improve access and crossing points in and around Joseph Rowntree School in New Earswick.

jo-ro

Construction of a new zebra crossing and off-road cycle links to the south of the school will start from Monday 28 October for approximately two weeks. To enable this work to be carried out safely and quickly, there will be a road closure on Sunday 3 November

A key aim of the scheme, part of the wider School Safety Programme, is to facilitate and encourage walking and cycling on school journeys, reduce the number of cars on the network at key times, and promote sustainable travel habits at an early age.

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Burton fails Westfield as “adopt a salt bin” scheme launched

The names of the 5 Labour Councillors who voted on Monday to scrap most of the “self help” salt bins in the City have been published. They include 3 Councillors who were parachuted in by the Labour Leadership to replace members who had refused to take part in the highly unpopular decision.

Burton: protesting against cuts 2 years ago

Burton: protesting against cuts 2 years ago

The five Councillors were:

• S Burton (Westfield) Substitute

• N McIlveen (Rawcliffe)

• R Potter (Heworth)

• J Riches (Holgate) Substitute

• N Barnes (Hull Road) Substitute

They endorsed the cuts which were originally proposed by Cllr Levene (Heslington)

The decision of representatives from Westfield and Holgate to endorse the cuts is particularly disgraceful, as those wards will face the brunt of the cut backs, which also involve stopping gritting some bus routes (including the number 24 in Westfield).

Westfield Liberal Democrat Councillor Lynn Jeffries attended the meeting and voted against the cuts.

The Council have now said that residents groups may “adopt a salt bin” if they feel that it serves a particular need in their area. As the salt bins (which cost £300 to provide) already exist, the residents groups would “only” need to find around £50 a time to have each filled. Contact the following Email address if you want to “adopt a salt bin” andy.binner@york.gov.uk

Mini_Grit_Bin

If it is a mild winter, then one fill might be enough.

Another alternative might be to use a private contractor to keep the bins filled.

We have mixed feeling about the scheme which could discriminate against deprived areas.

However it has the advantage of keeping the bins on the streets so that, after Labour inevitably lose control of the Council in 2015, normal winter maintenance services can be resumed quickly by the new Council.

These are the 15 salt bins in the Westfield Ward that the Council propose to remove.

They are:
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Winter de-icing cuts go through by 1 vote.

Labour have forced through plans to cut salt bins and gritting routes in York despite opposition from residents, community groups and local councillors.

Ann Reid with local salt bin

Ann Reid with local salt bin

Earlier this month, Labour run City of York Council decided to cut two-thirds of salt bins and remove nearly 30 miles of roads from priority gritting routes, including on bus routes. Liberal Democrat Councillors Ann Reid, Nigel Ayre and Keith Aspden ‘called-in’ the decision for further review. However, at a special meeting of York’s Corporate and Scrutiny Management Committee last night, Labour used their majority to push through the controversial proposals by 5 votes to 4.

At the meeting, the Lib Dems tabled an alternative set of plans which would have safeguarded salt bins at schools, elderly people’s homes, sheltered housing and community hubs such as local shops and libraries. It also said all bus routes should be on the priority gritting routes; community groups should be consulted before any salt bin is cut; and it called on the Labour Cabinet to review its decision to carry out an online only consultation on the cuts. These alternative plans were defeated by Labour.

Speaking at the meeting Cllr Ann Reid, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Environmental Services, said Labour’s plans were “flawed” and “a substantial number of areas will be left without a regular gritting regime, leading to access problems for public transport and to schools in icy weather”.

She criticised the Labour Cabinet for prioritising schemes such as buying an Arts Barge over delivering frontline services, adding:

“It is a matter of priorities where budgets are spent. It is easy for the Labour administration to blame Government cuts; however, they are still able to find resources for pet projects while street level services like salt bins and gritting, which people pay their council tax for, are cut”.

The proposals have met with fierce opposition from local people with 1,000 residents signing a Lib Dem petition against the cuts. Meanwhile, Kingsway Area Residents’ Association recently said that the plans could see elderly and disabled people trapped in their homes this winter.

It expected that salt bins will start to be removed from the streets of York in the next couple of weeks.

Details of the meeting and decision can be found here: http://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=602&MId=7815

The Lib Dem proposal, tabled by Cllr Carol Runciman and defeated 5 votes to 4, was as follows:

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