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Departee’d but not forgotten

Following a £185,000 loss on the Grand Departy last year, the Council is now offering apprenticeships in "event management"

Grand Departee

How the York Council managed to lose £187,000 on the infamous “Grand Departee” concert staged in July 2014.

An independent audit has revealed the true level of the confusion and poor decision taking which surrounded the Grand Departee concert held at Monks Cross in July 2014

Although tacked onto the TdF cycle race, the concert was in effect a stand-alone event.

The auditor’s report says that there was little documentary evidence to help their enquiry and many of the officers and members involved had subsequently left the Authority.

Most of the blame for the shambles is placed at the door of the last – Labour dominated – “Cabinet”.

“It is concerning that officers were expected to undertake inherently risky commercial activity without a formal member decision”.

Although it has been estimated that the TdF injected £8.3 million into the local economy, little of this directly benefited taxpayers who picked up a total bill for £1.8 million.

We pointed out at the time that the event was heading for a financial disaster

It remains unclear why the Council failed to cut its losseson the event when it became clear that ticket sales were derisory.

So have the lessons been learnt?

The principle of open decision making with properly costed and monitored plans is probably the most important.

Perhaps the nearest current project with similar variables is the plan to establish a “Community Stadium” in the City. This also has grown like topsie with an initial zero taxpayer’s subsidy (other than the stadium site land) having grown to £8 million.

The inclusion of an additional swimming pool, which will in effect be in competition with the Yearsley pool, suggests that not all lessons have yet been embedded in Council thinking

York Council – Lib Dems to participate in new joint Executive

No reduction in grey bin emptying frequencies. Plans for £35 green bin tax also axed.

Liberal Democrat Councillors have reached a tentative agreement to form a joint administration with the Conservative Group to run City of York Council.

Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr Keith Aspden will become Deputy Leader of the Council, with Cllr Chris Steward as Council Leader. The new Executive will be made up of 4 Conservatives and 4 Lib Dems, with appointments due to be agreed at Thursday’s Annual Council meeting.

The Group has published an initial set of joint policy priorities which include redrawing York’s Local Plan, putting greater investment in frontline services and ending so-called “vanity projects”.

They have also published joint governance proposals which introduce new cross-party working arrangements and include a commitment to improve openness and transparency at the Council.

Keith Aspden statement click to enlarge

The major interest for residents is what this will mean for the way the Council is run and what policies are pursued?

The commitment to openness is welcome although, for coalitions to work, usually some private wheeler dealing is necessary.

The Council will need to say, early on, how it will in practical terms improve “openness”.

One step would be to update performance stats each month giving access to raw data on line. Any administration will worry about perceptions of adverse trends but most residents – against the background of reducing resource levels – will accept that there will be some ups and some downs.

One major issue to be addressed is the Local Plan. The two parties have so far failed to agree on an optimum housing new build figure.

The LibDem preferred figure of 575 pa is more than Labour achieved during any of the 4 years that it was in control of the Council.

It is a figure which the Tories may struggle to support – given their dependency on business backers – although it would guarantee the integrity of the Green Belt in York.

Residents will be scanning the draft policy agreement, when it is published, for proposals on other key issues.

These include:

Dealing with the detritus of the past (Lendal Bridge/Coppergate, Grand Departy overspends, 20 mph speed limits etc)
Housing estate regeneration proposals
Investment in the Acomb Front Street and other sub-urban shopping areas
Community Centre support
Relations with the West Yorkshire “Combined Authority”

The new Council is right to plan an emergency budget which hopefully will freeze any additional expenditure plans and then take time to re-adjust priorities.

The long term aim must be to reduce the amount that the Labour Council was paying in interest payments to fund their “vanity projects”

In the meantime, no doubt discussions on the details of policy will continue and become clearer to residents at the Council meeting scheduled to take place on 16^th July.

York looking a lot different this morning

Residents who went to bed last night knowing only the General Election outcome, will blink when they read the York Council poll results this morning

Labour have had their worst election result since the unitary authority was formed in 1997.

Half the Labour Cabinet have lost their seats including the prime architects of the “behind closed doors” decision making processes introduced 4 years ago. Cllrs Tracey Simpson Laing, Dave Merrett and Lindsey Cunningham have followed James Alexander out of the door.

The new Council is well and truly balanced with Labour scraping back with 15 seats to the Tories 14 and LibDem 12. There are also 4 Greens and 2 Independents on the Council. Significantly the Tories got the largest number of votes (but not by many) while the LibDems share, at 24%, was three time the national average achieved by the party

The new Council needs to take time to make sure that it comes up with a decision making structure that is open, considered and sensitive to resident’s views.

The Council will have to decide how much time to spend calling the previous, secretive, Council to account. Labour and their allies halted plans for an inquiry into the Lendal Bridge/Coppergate shambles, secrecy still prevails on failed social care projects, delays to major schemes like the community stadium were never properly explained, while the £185,000 loss on the “Grand Departy” was swept under the carpet.

The Council will need to consider carefully how much time to spend looking under dirty floor-coverings.

“Labour” is a toxic term for many residents when used in the local government context in York. The three Labour Councillors who left that Group, in protest at the mismanagement, all lost their seats yesterday. They will have the consolation that fewer errors were made by the Council in the period since last October when they took their courageous step.

New personalities are needed to lead the Council.

The Council will also need to review its senior officer team in the light of the decision of the Chief Executive to accept a new post elsewhere.

While many may feel that something like the old committee system would satisfy these objectives, there will be opposition to what they may term “turning back the clocks”.

It will be the first test for the newly elected Councillors.

Consensus government does by definition require compromise.

That was the year that was 2014

Jan 2014— Demolition work starts at the former Beckfield Lane tip site. It was to become a housing development. A huge increase in car parking charges is announced

Feb 2014— Another increase in Council Tax was implemented with a government freeze subsidy snubbed for the second year running. York was to get another lap dancing club. Lack of openness in the Councils approach to public sector appointments was criticised. The Council continued to refuse to publish bus reliability information. £300,000 asking price for a flat in Rougier Street above a bus shelter (it was never built). Waterworld ran into financial difficulties (it was to close later in the year)

March 2014— The (free) Minster parking badge was to be scrapped. A spy camera van would be used to enforce parking restrictions. The Council spent £238,000 on poles for 20 mph signs. £1.6 million was to be spent remodelling Newgate market

April 2014— Lendal Bridge/Coppergate fine income tops £2 million. An adjudicator rules that the fines are unlawful. Labour are forced to switch off the ANPR cameras. The Council releases details of more Green Belt land that they wanted to develop but abandon traveller site proposals

May 2014— Councillors start to desert York Council Labour Group. Controversy looms over Tour de France campsite and “Grand Departy” arrangements.

June 2014— Electric buses arrived in York, four years after initial trials. Labour blocked a Public Inquiry into the Lendal Bridge fiasco. York Social Services decline into financial chaos.

July 2014— Marygate car park got a barrier at a cost of £100,000. Recycling rates are down in York. The Lowfields Care village project falters. The Grand Departy concert is a disaster costing taxpayers £187,000. A two year delay in the Community Stadium project was confirmed.

August 2014— There are continuing delays in bringing the new Poppleton park and ride site into operation. Local Westfield Councillor Lynn Jeffries passes away.

September 2014— York Council labelled a “Rotten Borough” by Private Eye. New gypsy and showman’s sites revealed. The Council is spending £30,000 a year maintaining the empty Oliver House EPH (it is still empty despite an offer of over £3million for the building).

October 2014— “Big City or Our City” Council abandon Local Plan. Yearsley swimming pool threatened. Council leaders force charity workers resignation and 2 more Labour Councillors quit party. LibDem Andrew Waller wins Westfield by election with huge majority.

November 2014— The new balanced Council decides to save the Castlegate youth centre from closure. An extra garden waste collection agreed. Future of Guildhall still in doubt (later Labour agree to spend £9.2 million turning it into a media centre). James Alexander resigns as Council Leader.

December 2014— Fears for subsidised bus services grow. Yearsley pool reprieved. Boyes will open a new store in Front Street. Now a Tory Councillor quits his group on the Council after anti Green Belt comments.

Westfield Focus in 2014

The way we were

Creative Apprenticeships and Internships “gets a boost”

In National Apprenticeship Week, City of York Council is calling on businesses to apply for funding to create Apprenticeship and Internships across the city.

Businesses in the creative and cultural sector still have the opportunity to benefit from the funding and recruitment service offered by City of York Council and could receive up to £3500 to fund an apprentice and £2500 to fund an intern.

Following a £185,000 loss on the Grand Departy last year, the Council is now offering apprenticeships in “event management”

In October 2014 City of York Council announced that it received funding of £90,750 to help businesses create opportunities for young people in the creative and cultural sector and there is still time for businesses to apply.

The funding, from Arts Council England and administered by Creative & Cultural Skills, will be used to help create 40 new job opportunities for young people aged 16-24, who are keen to get their first step on the career ladder and support the growth of creative and cultural organisations in the city. Funding will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis and all jobs must start by 31 March 2016.

Roles that could be created could include opportunities in; Event Management, Arts Administration, Technical Theatre, Archives and Library, Marketing and Stage Management, as well as functions such as administration, finance and catering.

Current organisations who have signed up to the scheme include: York Theatre Royal, Jorvik Viking Centre, Explore York Libraries and Archives and other small independent theatre groups, galleries and arts organisations. For more information on the programme contact Becky Solomon, Business Engagement Assistant on becky.solomon@york.gov.uk or call 01904 554341.

Tour de France wash up report lacks candour

The Councils Cabinet and, later, scrutiny committee will be debating the final report on last years Tour De France event when they meet next week.

Tour De France launch dinner in Ripon Cathedral

The report rightly highlights the positive benefits which the event produced. Not least among these were the 200,000 spectators in the City and the international publicity which the City received as well as an estimated £8 million injected into the local economy.

The latter figure is estimated and does not seek to relate benefits to the £1.8 million that the taxpayer paid for the event.

That was the largest amount that the York Council has spent on a single leisure event.

To put it into context, a similar number of people visited the City for the “Royal Ascot at York” event held in 2005. That event cost taxpayers less than 10% of the TdF costs (with most costs relating to traffic management).

The reports are weakest in the areas which caused some local residents concern.

A much hyped claim was that merchandising, car parking and camping sales would produce a “profit” to off set costs. That simply didn’t happen.

Sparse crowd for Grand Departy

Many decisions such as the location of the event “hubs” were delayed before being imposed on unwilling neighbourhoods.

Some failures – post start entertainment and big screen blackouts – could have been avoided with better planning.

But the conspiracy of silence about the £180,000 Grand Departy decision making process remains the most significant outstanding issue. Only a passing reference is made to this event in the reports.

Hopefully the Scrutiny Committee meeting on Wednesday will finally insist on answers being given to the outstanding questions about the Grand Departy. When we know the answers, a more informed decision can be made about the level of public subsidy – if any – which should be given to the proposed “Tour de Yorkshire” (TdY).

Ironically that event is scheduled to hit the City on a busy bank holiday only 3 days before the Council elections are scheduled to take place.

York residents deserve to know all the facts before Council discussions are veiled by the start of the local election “purdah” period.

York Council plans to spend £250,000 on “Tour de Yorkshire” cycling event as

More cuts to local environment planned

It looks like Labour Councillors want to spend another £1/4 million on a 3 day cycling event next May. One of the stages of the new “Tour de Yorkshire” will finish in York with several local sprint races planned.

Taxpayers will be expected to pick up the bill, from the commercial rights owners, for a whopping £100,000 “hosting fee” for the event,.

A report which is being considered tomorrow, by the Councils Cabinet, shows no sponsorship or admittance fees aimed at offsetting the bills.

A decision will apparently be made before the Inquiry into the disastrous Grand Departy flop is completed.

Organisers were forced to admit a couple of months ago that the Huntington Stadium event – staged separately from the Tour de France start – had lost over £186,000. An inquiry into the event was subsequently ordered by the Council’s scrutiny committee.

More Cuts

The same Council Cabinet agenda talks of major cuts to basic service standards.

Road surfaces in Queenswood Grove breaking up

Road surfaces in Queenswood Grove already breaking up

£1.3 million a year will be cut from social care budgets.

As well as the much publicised proposals to charge for green bin emptying and move to 4 weekly residual waste collections, Labour are now admitting that more cuts are planned to open space maintenance.

Volunteers will apparently be expected to maintain bowling greens, tennis courts, flower beds and undertake rose planting. The report says that the “replacement of bedding plants with ornamental grass at 18 sites could potentially save 1,519 hours of labour”.

Ominously the report talks of York’s roads and footpaths being “better than average” suggesting that further cuts in maintenance standards are planned.

Many residents will view with incredulity any proposals which would allow a further deterioration in the standard of highways surfaces.

Labour Leadership contest

The new Leader of the Labour group on the York Council is also likely to become the new Leader of the City, albeit only for about 4 months.

The York electorate will have had no say in the making of this appointment. Hopefully Labour Councillors will belatedly offer some transparency in the process.

It would, therefore, be good to see potential candidates tell York residents what they think that they could bring to the job of Council Leader?

The Leadership of the City is important and under new regulations it is the Leader who makes all the Cabinet appointments.

The Council needs a Leader with experience. To hit the ground running you probably need to have been a member of the Council for 10 years, with another 10 years having been spent in business, education or administration. This should provide the minimum necessary range of knowledge and skills.

The Press have given their view on the runners and riders.

Several of the Councillors listed have less than 4 years service on the Council – meaning they have only ever won one election. Even the late incumbent, whose inexperience led to his eventual downfall, had served for over 4 years when he took up the post.

So you should rule out Levene, Cunningham Cross and Barnes as serious contenders.

Williams likewise but he may claim five years on the Plymouth Council gives him an edge, or at least some geographical flexibility. He is less tainted than many by the Alexander years having currently a low profile portfolio role on finance and internal management. Poor transparency, inadequate management information and sometimes chaotic customer service interfaces suggest that he has made little positive impact at West Offices. He does however have some work experience and indeed tries to juggle working in PR while drawing a Cabinet members salary. Has recently announced that he is leaving the Westfield Ward in search of a safer seat on the east of fhe City.

Some others have failed even more spectacularly with their portfolios.

TSL presided over indecision on Social Care resulting in projects like the Lowfields care village running 3 years behind schedule and with an auditors report published which criticised a huge budget deficit in care services. The number of affordable housing units built actually fell during her tenure. Her only recent “proper” job was running a coffee stall on the market albeit she now has a lot of experience on the Council. Likely to be more popular with the party activists than the City generally.
Dave Merrett, although more able than some would give credit for, failed as the Council Leader in 2002/3, suffering a heavy election defeat in May 2003 and is now tainted by the Lendal bridge scandal and the dogmatic, unnecessary and costly introduction of 20 mph zones. Many other transport projects ran behind schedule during the days of his regime. Has held an engineering job in the rail industry for many years and is the most experienced of the likely contenders.
Sonia Crisp is credited with putting the word vanity in “vanity projects”. Self publicity is no substitute for competence and she has still to explain the “Grand Departy” debacle. No relevant work experience.
Which leaves Julie Gunnell, last years Lord Mayor? Some might say that she jumped ship from the Alexander Cabinet in 2012 because she could see the way things were going. She remained publicly loyal to the old regime even when her father (Ken King) resigned from the Labour Group and became Leader of a rival “Independent Labour Group”. Julie Gunnell does have some administrative experience, has better interpersonal skills than most Councillors but is not the world’s most convincing public speaker. Still she improved during her year as Lord Mayor and may be someone who could calm a warring Council chamber for a few months. No doubt being named as dark horse on this web site will scupper her chances. Shame as one family holding the leaderships of two Groups on the Council would be another first for the City.

Odds

Williams evens

Gunnell 2/1

TSL 3/1

Cunningham Cross & Levene 5/1

Merrett 25/1

Barnes 50/1

Crisp 100/1

Others 250/1

Where now for York Council?

The resignation of York Council Leader James Alexander brings to a conclusion one of the unhappiest periods seen in local government in the City.

Elected on a mood of anti government rhetoric the reality of the job proved to be too much of a challenge for Labours new, inexperienced, Council team.

In fighting resulted in 5 of the 26 Labour Councillors, elected in 2011, quilting the party, with others set to stand down at next May’s elections.

James Alexander isn’t a bad person. With 10 more years experience under his belt he could have been an asset to his party and to the City. And he can take some pride in having turned an unlikely “living wage” campaign into a reality for some less well paid workers.

But in the flush of victory it is easy to be over ambitious and the cracks soon began to show.

Rather than admit mistakes were being made, a culture of half truths and posturing started to dominate the administrations public comments. Later it seemed that some members had started to believe their own propaganda.

Next came the secrecy. An almost pathological reluctance to provide answers to a growing mountain of questions. It was a stance that left ordinary York residents having to resort to Freedom of Information requests to find out how their money was being spent.

There were, of course, also a lot of bad decisions.

The tone was set early on by an ill judged attempt to sell off the Union Terrace car park. Valuable local facilities like the Beckfield Lane recycling centre were closed with no real consultation.

Local Community Centres were starved of funds yet…

….money could be found for the unnecessary (20 mph speed limits) and the ill considered (Lendal Bridge closure).

The Council’s debts spiralled, central government money (aimed at freezing Council Tax levels) was spurned and improbable vanity projects like the £187,000 “Grand Departy” were quietly authorised.

Major investment schemes overran.

New Park and Ride sites opened 6 months late, the Community Stadium is two years behind schedule and the Lowfields Care Village three years late.

Perhaps most significantly, Labour unveiled a Local Plan which would have seen the City increase in size by over 20% during the next 15 years. It was a prospect that thousands of York residents could not understand, much less support.

All in all, change became inevitable and the electorate took the first opportunity presented to them in the Westfield by election last month to give Labour the thumbs down.

Council are elected for fixed terms. That means that Labour must find a new Leader who has the interpersonal skills – and inclination – to forge a working relationship with all members of the York Council.

It will not be easy in the build up to what will be difficult budget decisions in February.

Now is the time for all parties to put the good of the City first. It will require a change in mood.

The current York Council can’t afford to fail another test.

NB. Westfield Councillor Dafydd Williams also announced today that he is quitting the area and will seek a seat, in what he obviously considers to be safer territory, in Heworth. Whether anywhere is safe for Labour we will see next May.

Williams is replaced in Westfield by a Huddersfield University student who currently lives in Bishopthorpe. It seems that Labour have not yet learned any lessons.

York Council project failures

Calls for system overhaul

With yet another major York Council project falling behind schedule, and hopelessly over budget, there are growing calls for a review of project management processes in the City.

Poppleton Bar Roadworks delays

The latest budget overrun is reported on the A1237 Haxby – Wigginton cycle path. As well as major delays the project will now cost over £1.3 million compared to a budget of £700,000.

A Liberal Democrat spokesman said,

“It is time re-introduce regular project updates to the Councils monitoring committees.

Any significant delay – or cost overrun – of more than 10% must trigger a formal report in future.

We’d also like to see more openness in reporting with regular updates being posted on the Council’s web site”

As well as the cycle path, projects which would be subject to review include:

Poppleton Bar park and ride site (5 months delay)
“Grand Departy” (£183,000 over-spend)
Lowfields care village (3 year delay)
Community Stadium (2 years behind schedule)
Guildhall re-occupation (18 months behind schedule)
Lendal Bridge & Coppergate trials (abortive costs yet to be determined)

The Press are reporting that the Green Council Group Leader has now decided that there are questions about the Lendal Bridge trial which do need to be answered publicly. Despite voting last week against an Inquiry, he is apparently now saying that the Council’s Chief Executive should be asked to account for the mistakes at a “governance” committee meeting.

NB. The Lendal Bridge situation is also likely to be discussed at the Council meeting which is scheduled to be held on 11^th December.