Westfield Community Primary School in York has made the decision to partially close school from Wednesday 18th March.
The closure will affect the Early Years Foundation Stage and will mean that the Nursery and Reception Pupils will not be able to attend school.
The school will remain open for Years 1-6
Westfield school web site click
The Post Office in Woodthorpe closed earlier in the week. Little notice was given of the plans.
The Post Office is now consulting about future provision for their services on the area. In effect they are looking for a retailer who will take on the sub post office role.
Details can be found by clicking this link
The consultation expires on 13th June.
The York Council has agreed to provide “on line” access to its map of brownfield (previously developed) building land in the City.
The accuracy of the map, which shows sites of over 0.2 ha, is in some doubt as it shows, for example, the Lowfields sports pitch as being “brownfield” This pitch has never been previously developed (the neighbouring school building site is correctly identified)
The purpose of the register is to provide information in a standardised way across all planning authorities in England, and has to be updated annually.
The Register should include previously developed land that:
Brownfield land register
York now has the highest employment rate of any City in the north of England or Scotland. It also has one of the lowest claimant (benefit) rates.
York has a relatively small proportion of jobs in employment sectors which are expected to shrink in size over the next few years.
These include sales assistants and retail cashiers,other administrative occupations, customer service occupations, administrative occupations: finance and elementary storage occupations. A century ago the most vulnerable occupations were forecast (correctly) to be domestic indoor servants.
Th news is contained in a new report published by the “Centre for Cities”.
The report can be read by clicking here.
York tends to be average to better than average on most tests applied by the study.
It fares well on the number of residents with high level qualifications having 42.7% compared to the UK average of 38.0%
Perhaps more surprisingly York does’t yet feature in the top 10 of City’s with ultra fast broadband access while housing remains more affordable than in many southern cities.
No need for fly tipping. Space in all the recycling bins at Acomb Car park today
The Council has issued a statement today (Tuesday) saying,
“We have been so busy today collecting all the festive waste that we were unable to collect the recycling from the following streets:
If you are affected please put your rubbish out by 7am tomorrow and we will return and collect. Apologies for any inconvenience this has caused”.
Residents are being urged to use the network of recycling banks across the City.
The plea comes after street collections fell behind scheduled last week.
The Council reported that very large amounts of, post festive season, waste were being presented for collection.
You can follow York waste collections on Twitter @CYCWaste
Their Facebook page can be found at City of York Council Waste Services
Recycling bank locations – click the map, then the click “street care” then “Recycling banks”
Plan ahead for a happy holiday!
City of York Council has “got Christmas all wrapped up and we’ve pulled our festive information into one place to help residents plan ahead”.
The customer centre will close over the festive period.
It will shut at 4pm on Friday 22 December and then re-open on Wednesday 27 December running normal opening hours except for on Friday 29 December when it will close at 4pm.
The customer centre will then re-open in the New Year on 2 January when normal opening hours will start.
We remain open for all social care, housing and homelessness emergencies. In addition, the team will carry out urgent assessments of adults or children and can provide advice or guidance over the phone. Emergency contact info can be found at www.york.gov.uk/emergencies
For more information about opening times, contacting us, waste and recycling and other festive Council services, visit www.york.gov.uk/FestivePeriod
Finally, with so many people alone this Christmas, remember to pop in to check on vulnerable friends, neighbours or relatives to make sure they are warm, healthy and happy.
Mary Weastell, City of York Council chief executive, said: “York has recently been voted the most festive cities in the country and I hope residents and businesses continue to enjoy all this great city has to offer over the festive period.
“I would encourage people to be prepared for the holidays. We’ve put on an additional bin collection to help and there’s much you can do to get ready. Whether picking up medical prescriptions in good time, checking waste collections or calling in to check on a vulnerable friend or elderly neighbour. Although our customer contact centre is closed, our emergency teams are always on hand if needed. ”
Residents are advised to follow our social media accounts @cityofyork, @yorkgritter and facebook.com/cityofyork for up to date information over the festive period. Happy holidays!
All households will get extra household waste collections (grey bins/black sacks) during weeks commencing 18 December 2017 and 2 January 2018… Put your waste out by 7.00am for collection!
CHECK YOUR COLLECTION DAY/DATES: WWW.YORK.GOV.UK/REFUSELOOKUP
Published Wednesday, 20th December 2017
Winter is here. The cold weather can have a significant impact on people’s health and with the cold and icy conditions vulnerable people can tend to stay at home.
Top tips for supporting older vulnerable neighbours, friends and relatives, include:
Councillor Carol Runciman, executive member for adult social care and health, City of York Council, said: “For hundreds of older and vulnerable people across the York area the winter can be a lonely and difficult time.
“Simply popping in to check on vulnerable neighbours or make time for elderly relatives and friends to make sure they are warm, happy and healthy can make such a difference.”
The council is also reminding people to stay well this winter, here’s our top tips:
Ahead of Universal Credit rolling out for even more residents in York from 12 July, the council says it will support residents who need digital assistance and budgeting support with Universal Credit.
Universal Credit is a new benefit, handled by the Department for Work and Pensions, which helps people on a low income or not in work, meet their living costs. It combines six benefits, including housing benefit and working tax credit, into a single monthly payment.
Currently Universal Credit is only available to single jobseekers in York but from 12th July parents and couples, including people who can’t work because of their health, living in the city and making a new claim will also receive it.
Universal Credit is one of the biggest ever changes to the benefit system and this may cause people to be worried about what will happen to their benefits. People who need assisted digital support or personal budget support should contact the council’s benefits service on 551556 or to visit www.york.gov.uk.”
There are several changes to previous benefits with Universal Credit, including:
Residents who want to claim Universal Credit who are unable to use the internet or don’t understand how to make the claim can contact the council on 01904 551556 to ask for help through Assisted Digital Support (ADS).
People who would like to claim Universal Credit but are having trouble opening a bank account or managing their money can contact the council on 01904 552044 to ask for help through Personal Budgeting and Support (PBS). PBS can help with budgeting and advice on finding a bank account as Universal Credit cannot be paid into a Post Office card account.
The council has also teamed up with South Yorkshire Credit Union Ltd to give tailored advice which could include consolidating any repayments into a single, more manageable account at a lower, fixed interest rate, rather than resort to unregulated lenders or loan sharks.
Private or council tenants or mortgage holders are welcome to take advantage of the scheme which aims to help people budget and manage any debts.
For more information about the rollout of Universal Credit in York visit www.york.gov.uk
D4NT09 Council Tax bill 2013/2014 for property dwelling band F with 25% discount for sole adult resident
The Council has started this week to issue its Council Tax demands for 2017/18. In total council tax will rise by 3.7%.
Residents have the option to spread the cost of their bill over 12 months rather than 10 months by request to council.tax@york.gov.uk
To make it simpler for residents to access a range of council services and report changes for council tax and benefits, they can create their own online account at: www.york.gov.uk/myaccount
At a click of a button they can also pay their council tax online, let the council know if they’re moving house, are claiming sole occupancy discount and student discount.
They can also request a copy of their bill, set up a payment plan if they’re in arrears and set up a Direct Debit.
In addition to this, council tax bills can also be sent by email. It’s free, fast, environmentally friendly and secure. Anyone without internet access can continue to call the customer service centre or visit staff at West Offices.
Included in the council tax information are details about financial support from the December 2015 floods. The council has been helping residents whose homes were affected with government payments and council tax exemptions. The deadline for claiming this financial support, if they haven’t already done so, is before 31 May 2017 by request to council.tax@york.gov.uk
The council’s gross expenditure for 2017/18 is £376.006m (380.391m in 2016/17) the amount raised though council tax in 2017/18 will be £81.630m (£77.072m in 2016/17) plus £703k (£667k in 2016/17) from parishes.
For more information about council tax visit www.york.gov.uk/counciltax
