Vandals attack wall in Foxwood

Disappointing to see that a flower bed wall in Corlett Court has been damaged by vandals. Hopefully the culprits will be identified and forced to pay for repairs! The area will be tidied up prior to permanent repairs being completed before the end of the month. 

Elsewhere the Foxwood Residents Association are meeting tonight. One of the issues to be considered may be the location of additional car parking in the area. Following the completion of the bays in Oldman Court it is hoped to extend the lay-by in Spurr Court. After that it is up to residents to decide where the next bay goes.

Some suggested locations for additional parking bays

Policing concerns at record high levels in Westfield

Early results from a survey of residents opinion on public service standards have revealed that over a third of respondents rate policing in the estate as “poor”. When asked about Policing services residents rated it as

Vandalism a growing problem

  • Good – 13%
  • Satisfactory – 49%
  • Poor – 38%

This represents a marked decline from previous results

Many residents, responding to a separate Westfield Focus survey, said that they hadn’t seen a Police Officer or PCSO in their street during the previous 4 weeks

The Lib Dems have now announced that they would give the North Yorkshire police force an extra £2.8 million a year

Liberal Democrats have announced they would boost investment in police forces by £300m a year. This is in stark contrast to the Conservatives who have overseen devastating cuts to community policing. Theresa May as Home Secretary and now Prime Minister has cut policing budgets by over £2bn, eroding the very fabric of community policing.

Under the Liberal Democrats North Yorkshire would see a funding increase of £2.8 million a year. This could be used to restore a visible policing presence in the community and ensure the police have the training and tools to deal with the changing nature of crime.

“This investment in our police is absolutely vital. Under Theresa May – first as Home Secretary and now as Prime Minister, our police have had to deal with the most brutal of cuts. These are now cutting into the bone.

“Our police work tirelessly to keep us safe and this Government has completely betrayed them.

“Only the Liberal Democrats have a credible plan to reverse the increase in violent crime, boost community confidence and ensure the police have the resources they need to keep us safe.”

 

  •  On policing cuts: According to figures from the National Audit Office (NAO), from 2010/11 to 2015/16 central government grant to police and crime commissioners and their equivalents in London including specific grants and council tax freeze grants has reduced £2.2 billion in real terms. This represents a 22% real terms reduction. – http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7279/CBP-7279.pdf
  • On police strength: At 31 March 2016 total strength of the 43 police forces in England & Wales reached just over 124,000 FTE officers. This is the lowest number of police officers recorded under the current strength measure. This is not a pattern we see in Scotland where police numbers have seen year on year increases almost continuously since 1985.
  • On neighbourhood policing: In the PEEL report Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabularies warned that the neighbourhood policing model was under threat due to funding cuts. The report stated:
  • Since 2015, there has been a substantial drop in the proportion of people who say they have seen the police, on foot or in a police car, regularly, in their area. Our research shows that, now, fewer than one in five people feel there is a regular uniformed police presence in their area. Where neighbourhood teams exist, police officers are routinely taken away from their local areas to meet demands in other parts of the force area, leaving a reducing number of PCSOs as the mainstay of community teams. – https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmic/wp-content/uploads/state-of-policing-2016.pdf

Latest planning applications for the Westfield Ward

Below is the latest planning application received by the York Council for the Westfield ward.

Full details can be found by clicking the words highlighted in blue

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10 Rylatt Place York YO26 5DD

Single storey side and rear extension including dormer to rear

Reference       17/01004/FUL

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34 Grange Lane York YO26 5DR

Single storey front porch extension

Ref. No: 17/00955/FUL

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 Representations can be made in favour of, or in objection to, any application via the Planning on line web site.  http://planningaccess.york.gov.uk/online-applications/

The Council now no longer routinely consults neighbours by letter when an application is received

LibDems consult on parking improvements in Windsor Garth area

Beverley Court

Local Liberal Democrats are conducting a door to door survey in the Windsor Garth area following escalating problems with car parking.

The problems have been exacerbated by recent developments and the Liberal Democrats now want to see alternative parking spaces provided if the proposed demolition of garages on Newbury Avenue gets the go ahead.

Plans for the garage site development are expect to be published late next month with a  referral to the planning committee expected before the end of the summer.

Local residents anticipate that a section 106 notice will be served requiring the developers to fund alternative parking space.

The Council stopped re-letting empty garages as long ago as 2012 – a step which has made the lack of off street car parking space an acute problem.

Some of the possible sites for new parking lay-by area shown on the map below. 

York Council takes action to ease debt risk for poorer families

The York Council has agreed to pay some of the fees involved in setting up and running a budget bank account at the Credit Union shop at 8 Acomb Court off York Road (tel.03030 300010) .

Details of budget and other accounts available at the branch can be found on the SYCC web site

The Council is taking the action to encourage those reliant on the Universal Credits benefit package to budget to avoid debts. Univeral Credit is paid in arrears and can be difficult to manage.

A report to a recent meeting says,

“A recent article on the Association of Retained Council Housing site indicated that:

  • 86% of universal credit (UC) claimants living in council owned homes are in rent arrears (compared to 79% at March 2016).
  • 59% of universal credit claimants living in council owned homes have arrears that equate to more than one month’s rent.
  • Although 63% of UC tenants in arrears had pre-existing arrears before their UC claim only 44% of them are on APAs (alternative payment arrangements with direct payment from DWP)
  • The average value of arrears tenants owed across UC households has almost doubled to £615 since 31 March 2016 when average amount was £321.

A research article expressed concern about rent arrears.

“Not only are numbers of households increasing as UC is rolled out, but the percentage of households falling into rent arrears and experiencing financial difficulty is critically high.

If this trend is not reversed it will have significant impact on local authorities’ rental income streams and the long term ability for housing departments to provide essential services to their communities.

Use of the SYCU budget account and related services by customers could be one way of helping them manage their money effectively, prevent debt and help manage debt where this is accrued”.

Council officials will now help to promote the budget account to qualifying residents.