Last year we were sceptical about whether the Council would sell semi’s on its Lowfield development for £295,000.
However, even in Selby – North Yorkshires traditional cheap housing location – prices are now rising by 23% a year.
The average house price nationally has reached £333,000.
So it looks like the Lowfields pricing strategy may not be far off the mark.
We expect the Council to publish an update on how many of the Lowfields homes have now found a purchaser?
Of course, for many, such prices are far beyond what is affordable.
While demand continues to exceed supply, so prices will rise.
Hopefully other, less controversial, developments will now get going. Progress on the Sugar Beet site and at the Barbican would be particularly welcome.
In the meantime, complaints continue to be raised about the impact of the Lowfields development on neighbours.
One, at least, is complaining that the dust raised on the site is affecting their health.
That is something that the Council and their contractors need to address.
Most routine issues like those below should receive attention within a few days. If not, we recommend that you ask your local Councillors to pursue them.
We’ve reported obstructed footpaths on Askham Lane, potholes at the top of Foxwood Lane and litter on Tithe Close
One of the positive actions taken by the present Council was its decision to delegate to local Ward Councillors a budget to be spent repairing local roads and footpaths.
The Councils main repairs budget – which is inadequate to maintain standards – is focused on the busiest highways.
Some sub-urban roads haven’t been resurfaced for over 60 years.
Against that background, local Councillors have found it increasingly difficult to justify to local residents the growing number of potholes and ruts often found on local roads.
In 2019, they were given a modest “pot” which could be used to address the worst of the complaints.
It has taken a long time for the programme to get going, but now a series of “decisions” on how the funding will be spent are finding their way on to the Councils web site.
It has to be said that the process is largely impenetrable with no central schemes list being updated (and viewable by residents).
The latest list of proposals covers several wards. The investment decisions are likely to be of more interest to local taxpayers than many more high profile issues which seem to exercise the Councils media relations team.
In Westfield, the local Councillors have opted to allocated £20,000 towards the repair of back lanes in the Beaconsfield Street, Milner Street and Gladstone Street area.
They are right to do so.
A resurfacing programme, which was started some 20 years ago, stalled leaving the lanes very uneven and with a patchwork appearance. The lanes are mostly paved with traditional setts. These are very hard wearing but hugely expensive to relay.
We suspect that the available budget will allow only the worst of the uneven stretches of lane to be resurfaced probably using a bitmac overlay.
One other consequence is likely to be that the poor condition of the main highways in the area will become more apparent. School Street has been a particular embarrassment for some years.
Back lanes and carriageways are in poor condition in parts of Acomb.
Hopefully more funding will be found for the resurfacing of minor roads in future years.
The end of lockdown and the start of the growing season means that some problems become more apparent.
Generally, our estates have been cleaner over the last few months.
Snickets are a magnet for litter. We’ve reported these for sweeping.
But over the last few days litter volumes have increased. In a few days, the annual residents “spring clean” campaign will start, but we hope that residents will make it easier to keep areas tidy by securing any rubbish that they put out for collection.
The warm and wet weather will see rapid growth on grassed areas while hedges and trees will see a similar change.
It is much easier to keep these trimmed back from public footpaths – where they can pose a particular hazard for the partially sighted – if that are maintained on a regular basis.
Footpaths can become obstructed quite quickly during the growing season
We reported a few weeks ago that Council owned land to the rear of Acomb Library – and which had been hijacked for use as a building compound – was now available once again for its original purpose.
The and had been purchased by the Council over 10 years ago to establish a “one stop shop” for public services as part of a plan to expand the library site. The need for a local Council base became more urgent when the Acomb Housing Office was subsequently closed in 2013.
Nothing much happened on the site until the new Liberal Democrat led Council announced a plan to invest £4 million in the library sites at Acomb and Clifton. That was two years ago. Things once again have fallen silent in the interim.
It appears though, from a progress reportbeing considered by the Council next week, that plans for the site have already been drawn up.
York Council Acomb Library expansion update report April 2021
No public consultation has taken place and the Front Street survey – which ended a few days ago – failed to offer any options for the library site.
The original aspiration was for housing estate managers, the police, the NHS and neighbourhood workers to have a base at the new building. It remains to be seen whether this concept will be pursued.
In the interim the Council has constructed a new small housing office as part of the Lincoln Court redevelopment.
The land to the rear of Chancery Court (not Council owned) would have been landscaped as part of the project.
It was hoped that many more residents would make use of the Front Street facility as a result of the new investment. It would become a natural “hub” for the local community.
Apparently, the early plans for the site have been costed at £3 million. They are currently being scaled back to something “more affordable”.
The recently opened new library at Burnholme cost £4.6 million.
The Council needs to engage with potential users of facilities like these before plans are firmed up.
