Westfield Primary gets £1m+ investment

Westfield Primary School has undergone an £1m investment programme over the last two years, with £425,000 being spent this year on refurbishing the east wing.

Westfield school

The most recent phase of the refurbishment has focused on the area of the school which houses foundation stage children through to Year 1 pupils. It has included replacing 104 windows, re-roofing two sections and removing a 40-year-old temporary double classroom.

The work has not only improved the condition of the school, but has also increased the school’s ‘environmental credentials’ by reducing energy wastage.

Re-organising the classrooms has also enabled the school’s nursery pupils to be brought into the main building so, besides being supported by teachers, they’re now co-located with the other pupils.

Last year, the school’s dining room, roof and kitchen area underwent a £695,000 refurbishment, enabling children to spend less time queuing for food and more time eating a healthy meal.  The former vast kitchen and dining spaces were reorganised, creating a pleasant, calming place to eat.

Parents and members of the community will be invited into the school during school holidays to experience the new space for themselves.

Lamara Taylor, Headteacher at Westfield Primary School, said: “The support we’ve had from the building team and City of York Council has been great and the scheme has led to considerable improvements to our school. The result has been amazing.

“I’m proud to show prospective parents around Westfield and the investment in the school will have positive benefits to the whole school community in the future. It’s all very exciting.”

Litter a growing problem on some Council estates

Litter is left for weeks without being swept.

Keeping estates clean and tidy until recently was the responsibility of estate workers. There was one in each major neighbourhood. They were sometimes styled as estate “handymen” and part of their duties was to repair minor items of street furniture. They were funded from rents.

They helped to keep neighbourhoods in good condition and would often be seen in the area proactively dealing with issues.

The Council recently decided to get rid of the role with responsibilities transferred to a mobile team.  Since the change, there has been a noticeable drop in standards. This seems mainly to be due to the fact that, rather than routinely patrol areas looking to address issues before they were widely noticed, the new approach is mainly “reactive”.

That is the staff respond to complaints.

Many will remember fondly the last decade when the Council, for a time, employed “lengthsmen” to give local roads that extra bit of care. They achieved more in improving standards than mechanical sweeping alone could provide.

That sadly also is a now thing of the past.

The drop in standards has been an increasing concern for residents associations. The issue has been drawn to the attention of Executive Councillors who have responsibility for service quality. There has been little response so far.

Unless the Council publishes an acceptable service standard contract for activities like these – the core of its work as a public authority – then it is likely that volunteer efforts will tail off.

That would be a great shame as whole communities would suffer.

Litter levels increasing

Latest planning applications for the Westfield Ward

 Below are the latest planning applications received by the York Council for the Westfield ward. 

Full details can be found by clicking the application reference 

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Windsor House 22 Ascot Way York YO24 4QZ

Conditions 3, 4 and 5 – 18/02177/FUL 

Ref. No: AOD/19/00326 

NB Concerns lighting and materials

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81 Acomb Wood Drive York YO24 3XN

Remove 3 lower limbs from Oak protected by Tree Preservation Order no. 26 

Ref. No: 19/01982/TPO 

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Acomb Bowling Club Front Street York YO24 3BZ

Non-material amendment to permitted application 18/00586/FULM – Plot 4 repositioned; retaining wall structure to rear gardens amended (on the east side of the site); changes to external elevations including addition of canopies. and bay windows. 

Ref. No: 19/01575/NONMAT 

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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/

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

Last minute reprieve for number 12 bus service?

Reports are emerging from the Council which claim that the 12 bus service, which was to have terminated in Woodthorpe from next Sunday, will now continue to serve the Acomb Wood Drive, Bellhouse Way and Foxwood Lane loop.

The decision – which is understood to involve a Council subsidy – was taken in a behind closed doors decision. No advanced notice of the proposal was published by the Council.

The service will run on an approximate 40 minute frequency.

The original plan would have left most of the 500 homes on the Acomb Park estate without an accessible bus service for large parts of the day.

A copy of the Mon-Fri First timetable, which will operate from 30th September, can be downloaded by clicking here

A copy of the Saturday timetable, which will apply from 5th October, can be downloaded by clicking here

Changes to service 14 were announced earlier in the summer.

No takers for Care Home contract at Lowfields

Care home site

According to a notice published earlier today, the York Council has received
no suitable tenders for the provision of a care home at its Lowfields site.

The Council has already invested heavily in providing infrastructure,
including roads, at the site. They promised a 30-month building timetable in  response to concerns expressed by residents in 2016 who feared that the nuisance caused by building works could drag on for a decade.

The failure to find a development partner for the care home, together with
delays on the communal housing section, means that there is no end in sight for the development work.

The delay  notice says, ” This item has been withdrawn because, following a tender process, officers have been unable to appoint a developer. Officers need to consult the market and consider the options before the Executive can make a decision”.

According to the Councils Elderly Care programme, which was last discussed in 2018, work on building the care home was due to start next month. Officials at that they said that they were confident on getting a good deal for the site following “soft market” testing. 

Now a delay on the start of building work on the home of over 12 months  seems inevitable.

There have been similar delays at Oakhaven on York Road where work is now over 3 years behind schedule.

Delays also dog the Haxby Hall redevelopment site on the other side of the
City.

Despite the delays in providing new care homes, existing facilities have
been closed. Some like Willow House next to the Bar walls remain empty.

Ironically, the original plan to provide a, mainly private sector funded,
care village on the site of the Lowfield’s school had been developed in 2010 to the point where work was scheduled to start. The scheme was shelved by the incoming Labour Council and 9 years later there is little to show but some “roads to nowhere” and large spoil heaps.

The site is now has little security. It is attracting children who want to play
on the dangerous spoil heaps.

The football pitches have long gone so alternative children’s play facilities
are non existent.

Even the Kingsway multi user games area has been turned into a building
compound for another development..

Lowfields plans in 2016

Graffiti removed from street furniture in east York

Following action by Cllr Mark Walters, Virgin media have cleaned graffiti from many of their cabinets in east York. The above are in Tang Hall.
Unfortunately, the position in west York seems to have deteriorated with more graffiti appearing. This BT telephone kiosk in Beagle Ridge Drive is due to be removed shortly, but in the meantime it has become a target for the “artists” The Foxwood Residents Association has now formally complained about the amount of litter in the neighbourhood. They wat to see the return of “lengths-men” and dedicated estate workers, The Foxwood shops forecourt is a particular problem area.

With shorter days, the reliability of street lighting will once again become a priority. No doubt local Councillors will be undertaking a sweep of their wards checking for faults. Residents also may want to report issues. Generally faulty bulbs are replaced quickly if reported via the Councils “on line” site https://www.york.gov.uk/reportproblems (click)

Latest planning applications for the Westfield Ward

 Below are the latest planning applications received by the York Council for the Westfield ward. 

Full details can be found by clicking the application reference 

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Windsor House 22 Ascot Way York YO24 4QZ

Conditions 5 (Site Boundaries); 6 (Proposed Materials); 13 (Landscaping); 14 (Cycle Parking Facilities) of 18/01467/GRG3 

Ref. No: AOD/19/00319 

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1 Croftside York YO26 5LT

Dormer window and 1no. rooflight to west side elevation, velux balcony window to east side elevation, and 2no. rooflights to front elevation 

Ref. No: 19/01848/FUL 

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25 Green Lane Acomb York YO24 3DA

Use of rear yard for timber and storage business. (Access from Acomb car park)

Ref. No: 19/01823/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/

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