City of York Council is asking residents, businesses and visitors for their views on the proposed upgrade of the York Outer Ring Road from A19 Shipton Road to the A1036 Little Hopgrove.
A1237 congestion
This follows the announcement last year that the Department for Transport has approved York’s £25m scheme to dual the Outer Ring Road from the A19 Shipton Road to the A1036 Little Hopgrove progressing to final business case stage.
West Yorkshire Combined Authority have also approved £38m to upgrade seven roundabouts along the ring road. Wetherby Road roundabout was the first to be upgraded and was completed in 2019.
Alongside the road and active travel upgrades there will also be an extensive landscape programme with the aim of retaining existing trees and hedgerows where we can. Where this is not possible a diverse range of trees and hedgerows will be planted to complement the local environment and integrate the new road into the existing landscape.
The council have written to over 17,000 residents and businesses close to the York Outer Ring Road. People can also share the views online at www.york.gov.uk/yorr. The consultation closes on Monday 16 November 2020.
“the contract will cover the purchase of various EV charging infrastructure assets and associated support services. The intention is to procure £1.25M of assets and services from this contract initially, and the contract will give us to option to procure up to £5M of assets and services in the future”.
The Council says, “a competitive tender was carried out through the ESPO framework between 14th Aug and 4th Sep 2020.
Of the £1.25M of initial purchases, £800k will be externally funded by a successful bid to the YNYER LEP. The remaining £450k will be funded by City of York Council”.
“An Executive Decision has already been made to undertake EV infrastructure works; a record of this decision is available.
Executive approval for the required budget was made during the budget process and has already been assigned to the Transport Capital Programme.
As such, there are sufficient Executive decisions in place to permit an Officer Decision on the signing of the contract.
This reasoning has been reviewed by Legal Services and Finance who support this approach, on the understanding that purchases from the contract beyond the initial £1.25M amount will require additional decision making authorisation.
No details of the other tenders received have been published
A Council media release today confirms what many feared. The Tadcaster Road carriageway is going to be dug up again only 3 months after it was resurfaced.
Resurfacing work was completed in June
The carriageway is currently in excellent condition and contrasts markedly with the condition of most other roads in west York.
But it seems that the Council jumped the gun when they undertook a £600,000 resurfacing scheme earlier in the summer.
The government announced a £5 million improvement budget in July only weeks after work on the road was completed. The government was responding to a bid that the York Council had made earlier in the year.
It is likely that taxpayers will want to know a lot more about how this blunder happened.
The Council media release issued today says,
“One of the busiest roads in York is set to benefit from a £5million government funded road improvement scheme.
City of York Council was successfully awarded funding from the Department of Transport’s Local Highways Maintenance Challenge Fund.
The funding will enable to council to improve large sections of drainage along this route which will reduce localised surface water flooding. The work includes the delivery of additional pedestrian crossings and will ensure the road is maintenance free for the next 10 years.
The authority has been proactively working with all the major utility companies, water, gas, electric, phones, to coordinate their future work. During this process it became apparent that Northern Gas Networks (NGN), were due to carry out major work in 2023. Working in partnership they have brought this work forward to 10 October 2020 ensuring minimum disruption for residents and commuters. The council works are scheduled to start in January 2021.
Cllr Andy D’Agorne, Executive Member for Transport, said at City of York Council, said:
“It’s excellent news that our bid for £5million to upgrade Tadcaster Road to reduce localised flooding has been reviewed by Government and is now in approved. This will deliver much needed improvements to one of York’s busiest routes.
“Our primary goal is to ensure these works are coordinated with utilities companies so that the level of disruption for residents, businesses and visitors is reduced as much as possible.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Wasn’t part of Tadcaster Road resurfaced earlier this year? Yes, the council bid to government for a scheme on Tadcaster Road. The council received confirmation in March that it was unsuccessful and would not receive funding. Therefore the council resurfaced a section of Tadcaster Road as it was in need of urgent repairs between The Horseshoe and St Aubyns Place. However, in June the council was then awarded the £5million funding to improve large sections of drainage along Tadcaster Road which will reduce the risk of localised surface water flooding.
Northern Gas Networks have recently informed the council they have plans to carry out major works to their service at Tadcaster Road by 2025. The council was not made aware of these works before the section of Tadcaster Road between The Horseshoe and St Aubyns Place was resurfaced earlier this year. Whilst it is not an ideal situation, the Council would rather sacrifice a small part of the works that have been undertaken already rather than risk the digging up of the major £5 million scheme in a few years’ time for the Northern Gas Networks scheme.
Almost two thirds of York’s primary schools will take part in Walk to School Week 2020, which runs from 5 to 9 October during International Walk to School Month.
The annual awareness-raising event aims to encourage children and their families to walk, cycle or scoot to and from school, rather than travelling by car.
Locally, around 9,700 students from 31 different schools will get involved. City of York Council’s iTravel team will present the Jack Archer Award to the school with the highest proportion of its students walking, cycling or scooting throughout the week, as well as cash to spend on sports equipment. The Jack Archer Award is now in its seventeenth year and Age UK has supported the competition since it was first launched as part of its intergenerational work to encourage children to be more active.
Good to see some of the Councils bus shelters getting a much needed coat of paint. In contrast to the advertising shelters – which are generally kept clean and safe – many of the Councils shelters are dirty and neglected.
Some are overgrown with weeds and hedges.
Askham Lane bus shelter
Shelters are an important factor in making public transport an attractive option for travellers. They should be cleaned and repaired regularly
Yesterday we revealed that the Council had started consultation on changes to the pedestrian/cycle route from the railway station to Bootham.
We pointed out that the impact on the Marygate car park had not been explained in the Councils documents.
We are now led to understand that a drawing, which details what will happen at the car park, was for some reason omitted from the consultation papers. It has now been added (click)
This new layout apparently requires virtually all the spaces in the car park to be re-marked.
Officials claim that, overall, 6 spaces will be lost.
The Railway Walk path would be widened to 3.4 metres.
The 40 spaces currently coned off would be restored for parking use.
There may be access, turning radius and other implications for users which are not clear from the large scale map provided, so we will hope that residents will be given sight of the stage 1 and 2 safety audit reports.
It is still unclear why the Council launched this consultationwithout telling anyone how to participate.
The off road cycle paths in Rawcliffe are obstructed by overgrown trees and hedges. York Council must inspect the route and make sure that it is clear and safe.
The Council has started an “on line” consultation about the changes that they plan to make to the pedestrian/cycle route which links Scarborough Bridge to St Mary’s, Bootham and beyond.
Unfortunately very few people know about the plans or the consultation.
The background information glosses over the future of the Marygate car park.
The main area of concern relates to the possible permanent loss of parking spaces in the car park. The car park has been very popular with visitors and shoppers over recent months. It is vital for the City centre economy.
Unfortunately around 40 spaces at the car park have been unusable since the York Council coned them off in June.
Marygate car park full but empty spaces coned off by Council
The consultation document says “Marygate car park will be relined to enable a modest widening of Railway Walk”
It doesn’t say how many spaces will be lost.
There is no opportunity given on the survey to support or oppose individual sections of the proposal. Instead only narrative comments are invited.
It will be impossible to quantify these, so the final decision on the scheme will rest with one York Executive Councillor (Cllr D’Agorne)
Other aspects of the plans are likely to be less controversial.
These include
Construction of a shared-use, low gradient, ramp over the existing short flight of stairs from St. Mary’s to Marygate Lane to enable people travelling by bike or on foot, as well as people with mobility issues to use St. Mary’s as a preferred quiet route.
The improvements here will also include some resurfacing of the carriageway.
Introduce traffic signals at the junction of Bootham (A19)/St. Mary’s/The Drive to provide a controlled and safer crossing of and exit onto the A19 for people travelling by bike.
This will also benefit residents of St. Mary’s by giving them a controlled exit onto Bootham to overcome queues from inbound traffic
The existing nearby pedestrian crossing on Bootham will be upgraded and brought into the same control as the new signals. Three on-street car parking spaces on St. Mary’s to be removed closest to the junction to allow the stop-line to be set back into the street.
A Council report suggests that most taxis and hire cars in York will become battery powered over the next couple of years. The major change would see new taxi plate applicants advised to secure a electric vehicle although hybrid options would be acceptable.
The report also suggests that the existing number of taxi plates (183) should be retained for the City and that there would be no change to taxi ranks. 24% of vehicles are regarded as wheelchair accessible. There is no restriction on the number of private hire vehicles in the City.
There are 151 people on the waiting list for taxi plates in the City.
The plan to move to low emission vehicles is seen as a way of reducing emissions around the City. The report acknowledges that such vehicle are more expensive to purchase.
A concession is suggested for large wheelchair accessible vehicles.
The average age of the taxi/private hire fleet is currently 7 years. The Council is now proposing that 7 years should be the maximum permitted age of a taxi or hire car.
The report says, “there are many cars in the fleet that do not meet the latest Euro standards and there is still a large number of vehicles operating in the city which are Euro 5, Euro 4 and even some Euro 3 vehicles – including hackneys. It is well documented that Euro 5 diesels are a problem in respect of their emissions of harmful particulate matter”.
The report goes on to say new hackney carriage vehicles licences will only be issued to the following type of vehicles:
· Fully electric wheelchair accessible vehicles
· Plug in electric petrol hybrid wheelchair accessible vehicles (These vehicles are purpose-built taxis and have CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km and can travel at least 112km (70miles) without any emissions)
From 1st January 2021 new private hire licences will only be issued to the following type of vehicles:
· Fully electric vehicle
· Plug in electric petrol hybrid vehicle
· Petrol hybrid vehicle – Euro 6 class or better (less than 7 years old)
· Wheelchair accessible vehicles – Euro 6 diesel/petrol or better (less than 7 years old)
The Council is offering financial support to eligible CYC licensed hackney carriage and private hire drivers/vehicle licence proprietors to upgrade their vehicles to low emission variants.
There may be a concern that the proposals are ill timed.
Taxis – along with other types of public transport – have suffered reduced use because of the pandemic and lockdown.
Air quality levels are currently good in all parts of the City.
While passengers will welcome the move towards improved standards, some will argue that the current health situation suggests implementation of the new rules be delayed. New compliant vehicles can cost around £50,000. That is a big outlay against the background of a declining market.
Many will also argue that hire cars, registered outside York but operating in the City, should be subject to the same rules.
Disappointing to see litter bins filled to overflowing on the Tadcaster Road entrance to the City. Also some graffiti. We’ve reported both.
Its also disappointing to see that the cycle path near the golf course still hasn’t received any maintenance.
Given that the Council has been rushing around trying to introduce new cycling facilities it seems strange that those which already exist are so badly neglected. Not the way to get people out of their cars and onto their bikes.
Huge amounts of money are on offer to Councils to get issues like this sorted.
cycle path being gradually overgrown. Surface now breaking up.
