Lendal Bridge – Council closure case published

The York Council has finally published the presentation which apparently led to Labour Councillors abandoning the traffic restrictions on Lendal Bridge.

click to download full presentation

click to download full presentation

The papers have crept into the daylight following a vigorous campaign by Liberal Democrats and residents for a full scrutiny review of the fiasco.

The presentation is not the final report, which is still scheduled to be considered by the Cabinet on 6th May.

However there are some glaring anomalies in the claims made by officials.

In claiming that hotel and bus use had increased, they have failed to include benchmark comparisons; preferring just to assume that any favourable trend is a result of the Lendal Bridge restrictions.

In truth the economic recovery and good weather have played a part in attracting more visitors to the City over the last few months.

& First buses claimed in September that their new fare pricing and routing policies, would attract more passengers (as appears to be the case although robust bus reliability measures are missing).

Also missing are details of the number of PCNs issued during the period between the end of the trial and the decision to abort the traffic regulation order.

York road repairs list “missing in action”

The York Council has issued a media release claiming to list the streets that will benefit from this years highway resurfacing programme.

The list is a supplement to the base programme which was agreed in March. It will add £2 million worth of work and bring expenditure back up to the level inherited by the Labour Council, in 2011. During the last 2 years the highways resurfacing budget had lost nearly £4 million in much needed investment.

Footpath and verge repair needed in Little Green Lane in Acomb

Footpath and verge repair needed in Little Green Lane in Acomb

Interested residents who would like to know whether their roads is included on the list will be disappointed.

The list is missing from the Couincils web site!

It is the latest in a series of irregularities which has seen

  • a report on Lendal bridge supressed,
  • key” decisions reclassified to prevent an all party public debate,
  • an attempt to sabotage the independent report writing protocol,
  • misuse of taxpayer funded equipment to promote party political objectives,
  • misuse of the Councils media team to promote a “decision” (free parking) which hadn’t even been taken together with
  • the publication of incomplete/inaccurate information about the Local Plan.

The base highways resurfacing programme was first published last November and confirmed at a meeting held in March.

A copy can be read here.

Merrett sacked

Dave Merrett has been sacked from his transport responsibilities in York.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

He has been heavily criticised for poor execution of traffic restrictions on Lendal Bridge and more recently for an email exchange, about the controversial introduction of wide area 20 mph speed limits, in which he abused Opposition Councillors.

He will retain his Cabinet pay as he takes over responsibility for environmental services. He will also be responsible for York’s Local Plan – another shambolic situation.

He is replaced by Cllr Levene who recently was forced to announce a budget overspend on ice clearance last year despite having had the mildest winter on record!

Tracey Simpson Laing is also demoted losing  responsibility for health matters.

The Council Leader has said the changes have been made as he “didn’t want to lose control of the Council in the 2015 local election to a LibDem/Tory coalition” (!)

Lendal Bridge – Council process blunder?

Council Forward Programme click to enlarge

Council Forward Programme click to enlarge

The Council published late yesterday their decision notice on lifting the Lendal bridge traffic restrictions. It referred to a meeting which had taken place a week earlier.

The notice that the meeting would take place was also published yesterday (which is no help for residents trying to follow the Byzantine meanderings of the Councils processes)

The Council claims that the decision was taken under “delegated powers” by the Council Leader acting alone.

The decision notice does not include any background report (which is in itself highly unusual given that the last Council meeting was prevented from discussing the issue because “all the facts weren’t available”)

The Decision has not been labelled as “key” meaning that it cannot be called in for consideration by an ”all party” committee.

However a decision on the Lendal Bridge issues was, and is, due to be made by the Cabinet on 6th May 2014.

Key decision items have to be included in what is known as the Forward Plan and an entry was made for this policy item.

It confirms that it is a “key” decision.

The Councils Monitoring Officer needs to explain these inconsistencies, and pretty quickly.

No one doubts that officers could have switched off the ANPR cameras at least when their use was found to be unlawful.

But a decision to revoke the traffic order required an approach in line with the published Forward Programme.

It is likely that the Local Government Ombudsman would take a dim view of the Councils manoeuvres.

In the meantime the Council should agree to set up a scrutiny committee to look into the irregularties.

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.”

(more…)

City leaders back High Speed Rail College for York

York central site

York central site

York’s political party Group Leaders have backed calls for the Government proposed High Speed Rail College to be situated in York.

The college, expected to deliver specialised training and qualifications needed to construct high speed rail, will not only benefit HS2 but other future infrastructure projects in the region.

The first new incorporated further education college in over 20-years, it will offer technical training ensuring HS2 can be built by skilled British workers including; rail engineering, environmental skills and construction.

York Central site proposed

York Central has today been put forward for consideration for the new national high speed rail college.

The proposed hub would be located on a site next to the rail station in York, on land owned by Network Rail, yet harnessing the strengths of employers and skills providers from a broader geographic region through the rail connectivity this location affords, up and down the East Coast Mainline, and across to West Yorkshire through the Transpennine route.

(more…)

Lib Dems oppose blanket 20mph roll-out

Liberal Democrat councillors have opposed plans for a blanket 20mph roll-out in the north and east of York.

20 mph At a meeting tonight Labour’s Cabinet Member for Transport, Dave Merrett, approved spending £235,000 on the next stage of the controversial 20mph project despite public and political opposition. Labour’s plans will eventually see 20mph blanket limits across York.

 York’s Liberal Democrat Group say the money should be targeted on accident blackspots and say residents want existing speed limits enforced. A council survey on Labour’s proposals for west York last year was sent to 13,000 homes with only 7 residents supporting the scheme. Labour Councillor Anna Semlyen said recently there was “little point” in consulting residents on proposals for blanket 20mph limits.

(more…)

“Retain Minster Badge petition” – only 1 week left to sign

Residents only have until 18th April to “sign” a petition on the Councils web site asking for the retention of the Minster badge.

parking-charges-car-park-ticket-machine-149887544

The badge entitles York taxpayers to discount car parking during the day and free parking in the evening.

It is due to be scrapped under a Labour proposal which would see a new badge introduced which anyone would be able to buy.
The petition can be accessed by clicking here

The petition reads,

We the undersigned petition the council to continue to supply Minster car parking badges to York residents free of charge. As one of the few councils in the country who have suffered council tax rises every year under the Labour council while the rest of the country hasn’t. We propose that residents have already paid for this right.

The many businesses that rely on local trade within the city centre are already dwindling. Also many businesses like restaurants and cafes rely on local trade throughout the winter months when there are few tourists. A further reduction in the number of residents visiting the town centre could prove fatal.

Lendal Bridge – no retrospective fines

The Council have now confirmed that no fines will be issued to drivers who disobeyed the Lendal Bridge access restrictions in the period since 1st April 2014.

“Following the statement issued by Cllr Alexander on 8 April 2014, we can confirm that we will not be issuing Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) to drivers of vehicles who have travelled over Lendal Bridge as of 1 April”.

They, however, also say that they will continue to enforce the Coppergate restrictions.

This may mean an expensive court battle is still in prospect.