Lendal Bridge and Coppergate fines – York Council acted unlawfully rules independent adjudicator

Call for resignations at Council

Lendal Bridge signs

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for York’s Labour Council it has.

Reports are coming in that the governments independent adjudicator has ruled that fines issued using ANPR cameras on both Lendal Bridge and Coppergate are unenforceable.

The consequences for the Council which has raised around £1 million from fines levied in both locations are likely to be far reaching. Any driver who chooses to appeal against the fine is now likely to have the charge refunded.

In some cases the Adjudicator has the power to order the Council to pay the appellants costs.

In the main, the adjudicator has criticised the signage used to advertise both orders.

He also concludes that Lendal Bridge could not reasonably be regarded as a “bus lane” given the number of exemptions given by the Council.

We have said all along that the Council closed the wrong bridge, in the wrong year and using the wrong method of enforcement.

They compounded their mistakes by failing to consult properly and by relying on inadequate signage.

The Cabinet members with responsibility for the scheme should now resign.

The ANPR cameras should be switched off immediately.

A more measured approach to improving transport systems in York in the future is required.

The full test case adjudication result can be downloaded by clicking here

West Yorkshire combined authority – Transport chair to net £29,000 pa!

Those celebrating the first meeting of this authority – which includes York albeit with limited powers – may wonder about openness and accountability.

Labour leaders 2 west Yorks combined authority

The shadow authority last met in March

But very little information has been published about the new authority – which the Labour Leadership claims will donate over £40 million towards solving some of York’s transport problems.

The papers for the first meeting (taking place tomorrow) have now been published.

Residents will have no time to read the background to what could be far reaching decisions.

WYCA

The highly paid Labour Council Leaders – incongruously photographed with head protection (above) presumably in case they meet up with angry Council Taxpayers – will have to be content with their £30,000 local authority pay.

York will have no vote on “budget and levy setting” which will be done by the West Yorkshire Authorities.

But the papers reveal that other Councillors who are “co-opted” onto the “Transport Committee” stand to get as much as £29,000 on top of what they are paid by their Local Authority.

It is likely that the members of the Authorities sub committees will all be Labour Councillors – the need for political balance having been jettisoned.

The names of the Councillors nominated have not been released ahead of the meeting.

No doubt the potential chair of the Transport Committee will be viewing the meeting in the same way that many watch for the results of the Friday evening Euro millions draw.

York Council Labour members refuse to debate reopening Lendal Bridge

Labour Councillors have refused to debate reopening Lendal Bridge at tonight’s York Council meeting.

Lendal bridge noticeInstead they narrowly voted to refer any decision to the Labour Cabinet.

No discussion on the LibDem motion was allowed by the Lord Mayor, as filibustering tactics were used by Labour to prevent opposition Councillors from putting the case for the ANPR cameras to be switched off immediately.

It is now likely to be at least another 2 months before the issue is resolved, although suspicions are growing that Labour have already decided, privately, to make the access restrictions permanent.

 

 

York in decline as cycling City?

 

Yorcycling bandk remains one of the top cycling cities in the UK, supported by figures released by the Office of National Statistics this week, ranking York as one of the top five cycling cities nationally with the highest proportion of residents cycling to work.

The Census 2001 – 2011 figures reveal a six per cent increase in the number of residents aged 16 to 74 years of age cycling to work, from approximately 10,000 in 2001 to over 11,100 in 2011.

Although the proportion of adults cycling to work were down by 0.8 per cent, from 12 per cent in 2001 to 11.2 per cent in 2011 – these figures are only representative of the total number of residents cycling to work and do not include leisure, young people under the age of 16 or people over the age of 74 which make up 24.3 per cent of York’s residents (approximately 50,000 potential cyclists).

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York crunch meeting on Lendal Bridge restrictions

York’s Lendal Bridge could be reopened* by the weekend if Liberal Democrat calls are supported at a crunch meeting on Thursday.

Lendal bridge after its clsure

Labour run City of York Council’s controversial six month trial closure was due to end in February, but they have extended the restrictions until May as they are yet to make a decision on whether the bridge should stay closed.

 

Figures released by the Council last week revealed that 53,000 motorists have now been fined for crossing Lendal Bridge, congestion in areas such as Foss Islands Road and Clifton Bridge has worsened, and most Park & Ride journey times in the city have increased.

Cllr Ann Reid, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Transport, will move a motion at Thursday’s Full Council meeting calling on the closure restrictions to be lifted. She commented:
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80% of Lendal Bridge fines issued to visitors

A freedom of information response from the York Council has revealed that the vast majority of fines issued to drivers using Lendal Bridge are to vehicles registered outside the York area.

Lendal Bridge signs

Around 80% of the PCNs issued arrive on visitors doormats.

As hinted at by some correspondents on this web site, the Council has been unable to sustain the fines if appeals are lodged and then pursued as far as a tribunal.

11,578 (24%) of PCNs issued have attracted appeals

The Council says that 8087 (17%) of PCNs “have been cancelled following representations and for other reasons”.

The figures confirm that the signage used to indicate the restrictions on bridge access are hopelessly inadequate.

They will help to underpin the motion to next weeks York Council meeting from Cllr Ann Reid who will ask for the ANPR cameras to be switched off immediately.

The full motion reads:
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Park & Pedal initiative commended at national awards

City of York Council’s Park & Pedal scheme, which was the first of its kind in the UK, has been commended at the 2014 British Parking Awards in the cycle parking category.

The scheme which was launched eleven months ago in partnership with McArthurGlen York Designer Outlet, TSYS (Total System Services Inc) and First Bus Park & Ride, aims to encourage commuters to park their cars free of charge at the Park and Ride and use their cycles to ride into York.

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Lendal Bridge – more stats creep out. Transport boss heads for Orkney

Lendal Bridge

Lendal Bridge

Following yesterdays Lendal Bridge story – in which we revealed that the York Council had failed to live up to its promise to publish monthly monitoring reports – the statistics for period 6 (February) have now appeared on their web site.

A total of 53,605 drivers had been fined for crossing Lendal Bridge during restricted hours by the end of February.

In addition 15,907 fines had been issued on Coppergate.

The full figures can be downloaded from here

Meanwhile other monitoring data can be found by clicking here.

Most Park and Ride journeys are taking longer with the number 2 service for Rawcliffe via Leeman Road the worst affected showing an increase in journey time of around 2 minutes.

Traffic volumes are up on Clifton Bridge, Foss Islands Road, Shipton Road and Malton Road.

Not surprisingly, Clifton Bridge is worst affected (+167 vehicle movements)

Meanwhile the media are reporting that Daren Richardson, who has been the Director of Planning and Transport for the York Council for the last 18 months, is quitting the City and heading for Orkney.

It is unclear whether he hopes to take any of York’s bridges with him!

Lendal Bridge – the saga continues

According to information released by the Council yesterday a decision on the future of the access restrictions on Lendal Bridge will be taken at a meeting being held on 6th May.

However many items on the Councils Forward Programme of decision debates are subsequently put back – some indefinitely.

The Council’s web site has been very “flaky” over the last few weeks with many residents complaining about difficulty in accessing the background papers for meetings with some pages simply “freezing” for long periods of time.

Lendal Bridge in 1868, five years after it was first opened. To pay for the costs of constructing the bridge, a toll of two pence per (horse drawn) vehicle was charged until 1894. A £60 charge was reintroduced by York’s Labour Council in August 2014

Lendal Bridge in 1868, five years after it was first opened. To pay for the costs of constructing the bridge, a toll of two pence per (horse drawn) vehicle was charged until 1894. A £60 charge was reintroduced by York’s Labour Council in August 2014

The Council has so far failed to supply the month 6 progress report on their web site. This was information that they promised to regularly update.

Some may think that this suggests that some “cleansing” of the data is already underway.

Nor has the Council published the results of its survey of residents opinion  or details of the “public opinion poll” which they announced earlier in the month

The first debate and vote on the future of Lendal bridge will come at the Council meeting taking place on Thursday 27th March. The Liberal Democrats will propose that the ANPR cameras are switched off immediately.

They will also be pressing Cllr Merrett to answer the questions that he evaded at the Council meeting held in December.

The questions ask for information on,

“a)  The number of appeals lodged each week since the beginning of August against PCNs issued for contraventions of traffic restrictions on Coppergate and Lendal Bridge

b)  The number of appeals which have been successful each week

c)  The total revenue that the Council has received so far from PCNs following the introduction of the new restrictions on  Coppergate and Lendal Bridge

d)  The weekly changes to journey times (all modes of transport) on each arterial road and on each section of the inner ring road since the introduction of the new traffic restrictions

e)  The numbers of accidents reported on roads in the City centre comparing the last 6 months with the equivalent period in 2012/13

a)  The latest air quality monitoring reports for key sites in and close to the City centre, including the Leeman Road area, and comparing these with last year?”