Coronavirus York updates: 15th July 2020

How the Council plans to use extra government transport grant

A secret meeting held today has endorsed a list of transport improvements on which the Council hopes to spend government grant money (Emergency Active Travel grant).

The list does not include any schemes in suburban or village areas, although there have been numerous requests for the Council to improve the maintenance of cycle tracks and to provide additional cycle parking stands on shopping streets. There is very little on the list for pedestrians.

Unfortunately the Council seems prepared to continue the dangerous (for cyclists) carriageway closure on Bishopthorpe Road and will add other contraflow cycle lanes on Coppergate and in The Groves area (Penley’s Grove Street).

Traffic counters are also on the Councils shopping list although traffic measurement tools like these have been deployed in the City for over 2 decades.

Ironically cycle improvements are promised on Tadcaster Road. Since the recent resurfacing this is probably the best road for cycling on in the whole of the City (although the off street path near Tesco does need levelling).

Once again there was no prior notice given of the meeting so residents had no opportunity to make representations before the decision was published. It really is about time for the Council to reintroduce at least a semblance of transparency and democracy back into its governance arrangements.

Deaths and positive test results

An additional positive test result was recorded in York on Monday. This brings the cumulative total to 911

There have been no further COVID 19 related deaths at York Trust Hospitals

Disabled parking changes

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The York Council is to relax its City centre ban on blue badge parking.

In another “behind closed doors” decision, approval has been given to create “a parking bay on Duncombe Place (at the north west end of the street) allowing parking for Blue Badge holders for up to 3 hours and loading for up to 30mins seven days/week”.

The Council is also to investigate and implement additional disabled bays in other on-street areas “where feasible”

The Council has pointedly not revealed how much use has been made of the additional 40 disabled spaces which it laid out at the Monk Bar car park. It appears that the vast majority have remained empty.  

The Council has been paying a taxi company to provide a lift service from the car park to Kings Square. It turns out that the cost to taxpayers has been £238 a day although the service has been little used. Now the hours of operation of the service are being extended to 8:00pm increasing the daily cost to £358 a day.

That is more than the Council used to spend on transport tokens which were made available to disabled people. The tokens could be used to purchase a door to door taxi service.

There is still no news of any help from the Council for suburban shopping areas like Front Street. It had been suggested that the relaxation of parking restriction there for blue badge holders could have provided both a boost for local traders plus a more convenient option for those with disabilities.

Bollards

The Council has also revealed that lift out bollards and sockets are to be provided at three locations: Goodramgate (junction with Deangate), Blake Street and Fossgate (junction with Merchantage), at a cost of up to £5,000.

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Hostile bollards?

The Council says that these will support the enforcement of access restrictions but not provide “hostile vehicle mitigation”.

Staffing costs for manning the access points are put  at £4,800 for the first week when all three closures are staffed (approx. £690/day). “They will then reduce to approx. £1,900/week (approx. £280/day)”.

On street drinking

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The Council has approved the implementation of an “interim pavement café licensing process to enable the hospitality industry to apply for temporary pavement café licences in advance of the Business and Planning Bill being enacted. These temporary licences will be valid for a maximum period of three months after which they will be reviewed and extended for up to a year in line with the requirements set out in the new legislation (not beyond the end of September 2021)”

While allowing outside tables to be provided where space allows seems a sensible step during  the current health crisis, the lack of any comment on the implications on alcohol fuelled disorder have not been acknowledged by the Council. It is unclear where, and when,  the details of any applications will be published

No tip bookings from Monday

The appointment system, which is currently operating at York’s household waste sites like Hazel Court, will be discontinued with effect from Monday

NB. A response to a Freedom of Information request has revealed that the number of appointment requests at Hazel Court have been averaging around 275 a day. At Towthorpe the daily rate has been 214 recently.

Coronavirus York updates; 12th July 2020

Deaths and test results

The government has issued revised statistics for the daily number of positive test results recorded in the City. The revised figures show that there were 3 confirmed cases last Wednesday. Another has been added to the Friday total. This brings the cumulative total of confirmed cases in the City to 908

Council publishes information including track and trace data

The York Council has published background papers for a meeting taking place tomorrow (Monday) which give the first local indications of the success of the “”track and trace” programme.

The papers say that 54 CYC residents with a positive test have been engaged since the end of May and 60 ‘contacts’ have been identified and traced.

Residents will hope that weekly updates will now be published as a minimum.

We know the number of positive test results.

We now need to understand how many contacts have been identified for each case and how many were successfully spoken to.

Vandalism

One of the sanitiser stations in York City centre has been vandalised. Stupidity on so many levels

Coronavirus York updates; 11th July 2020

Deaths and test results

So no further positive test results or York Hospital Trust deaths yesterday (10/7/20).

The York Council has so far not provided any reports on the effectiveness of the COVID 19 test result process. By now we would have expected to see at least the number of contacts identified per positive test result and the number who have been spoken to.

Coronavirus York updates; 9th July 2020

Lock-down eased further

Outdoor theatres and swimming pools will be able to open, along with recreational sports.

Dance studios and sports like badminton and volleyball together with indoor pools, gyms, nail bars and sports facilities will reopen 25th July

There will be restrictions on numbers in gyms and pools and people will be encouraged to shower and change at home where possible, though changing rooms will be open.

Club cricket can also resume from this Saturday, 11 July, with “a limited number of spectators” allowed and clubhouse bars will be able to open, subject to social distancing rules.

There is no word yet on when other spectator sports will be able to admit spectators and under what conditions.

Deaths and test results

There has been another positive coronavirus test result in York. This brings the total to 903.

There have been no further deaths in the York Hospital Trust area.

Coronavirus York updates; 8th July 2020

Deaths and test results

Good news today with no more hospital deaths and no new positive COVID 19 test results.
The number of hospital deaths remains at 214 (7/7/20). It has remained at this figure for over 3 weeks.

The cumulative number of positive tests results remains at 902 (7/7/20). The last positive result was announced on Saturday.

National announcements on housing and hospitality

  • a £1,000 bonus for each worker that companies bring back from furlough and employ through to January next year;
  • a “kickstart scheme” to directly pay firms to create jobs for 16 to 24-year-olds;
  • cash for businesses to take on trainees and apprentices;
  • an eight-month temporary cut in stamp duty, with no charge on property transactions below £500,000;
  • larger grants for improved energy efficiency in homes.
  • a cut in VAT on food, accommodation and attractions from 20% to 5% until 12 January;
  • an “Eat Out to Help Out” discount of up to £10 per head to get Britons back to restaurants, cafes and pubs

Coronavirus York updates 7th July 2020

Deaths and positive test results

One additional positive Coronavirus test result has been added to the government stats. This brings the cumulative total to 902.

There has been one additional Coronavirus related death in a York care home during the last week (26/6/20) according to ONS published figures

There have been no additional deaths at York Hospital Trust sites

Council expenditure on marketing hits £350,000

The Councils expenditure figures for June have now been published. All accounts for amounts exceeding £250 can be viewed by clicking here.

Taxpayers will be taking a particular interest in the amount being spent on COVID-19 related marketing.

The total has now reached £354,326.65 since February.

City centre signs

This includes ££68,659.00 spent in June.

By far the largest supplier was the York based marketing company “Ideas Group” who were responsible for the Councils post pandemic PR strategy. This included some of the signs that can be seen round the City centre. 

They submitted bills for £43,000 in June.

Libraries reopening

Many of York’s libraries and reading cafes have reopened. Those wanting to borrow books must make an appointment before visiting.

Museum opening plans

York Castle Museum and York Art Gallery will both open to the public again on August 1st. According to the York Museums Trust the Yorkshire Museum will remain closed.

The Merchant Adventurers Hall coffee room will be reopening on Thursday 9th July.

Minster School

The authorities have confirmed that the Minster School will close permanently from the end of its summer term.

Hand sanitisers

The York BID has installed hand sanitiser stations on some streets in the city centre

Park and Ride

The Askham Bar park and ride site – which reopened at the weekend – was very quiet today

Better bus services announced by First York from this weekend

First have issued notifications of the following service changes

Askham Bar Park & Ride has now re-opened; services will operate every 15 minutes at weekends, every 10 minutes Monday-Friday during peak times and every 15 minutes throughout the day.

Timetables

From Sunday 12th July, the following changes will take place to help with safe, socially-distanced travel for necessary journeys. Full details of the changes and timetables can be found in the ‘Forthcoming’ section of our timetables page. The changes are being made to help manage continued capacity restrictions on buses due to social distancing as further lockdown measures are eased.

City Services

Service 1 – there will be changes to early evening services, and late evening services will be operating to a revised timetable (up to every 30 minutes). Sunday daytime services will be increased to run up to every 20 minutes during busy periods.

Service 4 – there will be changes to early evening services, and late evening services will be operating to a revised timetable (up to every 30 minutes). Sunday daytime services will be increased to run up to every 20 minutes during busy periods.

Service 5/5A – minor timetable changes will be occuring. The 22:00pm and 23:00pm from Strensall will now operate at 21:50pm and 22:50pm respectively, and the 22:55pm from Acomb will now operate at 22:45pm.

Service 6 – there will be changes to early evening services, and late evening services will be operating to a revised timetable (up to every 30 minutes) for the majority of the late evening period. Services will leave Clifton Moor during the evening at 00/30 minutes past the hour, and from Campus East at 15/45 minutes past the hour. Sunday daytime services will be increased to run up to every 20 minutes during busy periods.

Service 10/10A – service timetable has been updated to reduce the amount of time spent waiting at bus stops, due to the current reduced traffic levels.

Service 11 – these buses will run every 30 minutes for the majority of the day.

Service 11S – this service will not operate.

Service 12 – these buses will run every 30 minutes for the majority of the day.

Service 200 – this service will continue to operate 3 early morning services.

University Services

Service 66 – evening and Sunday services will be increased to every 40 minutes.

66A, 66X – will not operate. Alternative journeys will be provided by Service 10, 10A and 66.

Service N66 – will not operate.

Park and Ride Services

Service 2A – service frequency will be increased to every 10 minutes for the majority of the day Monday – Saturday, and every 12  minutes during Sunday daytime. Evening frequency will be restored to every 30 minutes.

Service 3 – will not operate. Alternative journeys will be provided by service 12 between Askham Bar Tesco and York.

Service 7 – service frequency will be increased to every 10 minutes for the majority of the day Monday – Saturday, and every 12 minutes during Sunday daytime. Evening frequencywill be restored to every 30 minutes.

Service 8, 66A, 66X – will not operate. Alternative journeys will be provided by Service 10, 10A, 66.

Service 9 – service frequency will be increased to every 10 minutes for the majority of the day Monday – Saturday, and every 12 minutes during Sunday daytime.

Service 59 – will not operate.

Please only travel if your journey is necessary.

Coronavirus York updates; 6th July 2020

Deaths and test results

The number of positive virus test results in York continues to edge up.

It has now topped 900 cumulative cases.

Better news on deaths where no more have been recorded at York Trust hospitals.

The total remains at 214.

Household waste sites – appointments still needed.

Just a reminder that the York Council is still asking residents to make an appointment if they wish to use the household waste site at Hazel Court. The Council said that they would be phasing out the requirement in the light of low user numbers.

Mansion House reopening to public

The Mansion House will be reopening for guided tours on Wednesday 22nd July.

The managers say, “From next week, we will be launching an online booking page, where it will be possible to book onto a 45 minute guided tour, which will run throughout the day from Wednesday to Sunday. On each tour we will allow no more than six people, so we can stay in complete control of distancing, and deliver the best experience possible”.

Coronavirus York updates; 5th July 2020

Test results and deaths

The government has revised its stats to show an additional positive test result in the York area on 29th June. This took the cumulative total to 899.

There has still not been any comment from the authorities about the success or otherwise of the contact tracing process in the local area. The next meeting of the York Councils “outbreak management board” is not due to take place for another week.

The cumulative total of deaths at York Trust hospitals remains at 214.

Where is the plan?

Some traders are reporting that takings yesterday were down compared to the previous Saturday.

The Council has been criticised for multiple failures with its parking strategy. It appears that the “phone only” 2 hours free parking was not applied if a shopper tried to pay for an extra hour (they were liable to be billed at full rate for the first 2 hours).

As we said when the scheme first started it was simply to complicated to be understood by casual visitors (even assuming that they had downloaded the mobile RingGo parking app).

Key shoppers car parks like Castle & Marygate were excluded from the scheme.

The Council compounded the problem by saying that the Castle car park would be closed, but without saying when. (They need to forget that idea for at least 12 months. This would give the City centre economy time to recover and for alternatives to become established)

Some traders have suggested that there should be free parking at all car parks from 3:00pm each day. That would at least have the merit of being understandable (and would also help the evening economy).

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The Councils’ preferred alternative transport mode – cycling- still suffers from a lack of secure parking. This is also an acute issue at some suburban shopping locations.

The provision of additional “social distancing” space – at the expense of highways and car parking – has been largely random. In most cases like Marygate car park the provision has mostly been ignored by users.

In others, contraflow cycle lanes have introduced additional hazards.

All in all then, the lack of a thought through recovery strategy is becoming of more concern each day.

Marketing alone will not be enough.

In an occasional lucid moment the York Council has displayed some advertising flair. Not least with the widely applauded “Don’t be a Tosser” anti litter campaign.

They may also say that people are right to be very cautious about visiting busy locations. They would be right in saying that safety must come first.

But that doesn’t excuse the absence of a 3 – 6 month revitalisation strategy.

Press Archives - Keep Streets Live!

As regulations allow; arts, music, poetry, comedy and sports should come to open spaces throughout the City. Sub-urban areas and villages must be included. Most shops, takeaways, restaurants and hairdressers in those areas have now reopened.

They – like the arts – have had little support from the authorities.

A festival atmosphere would provide a huge lift for the morale of residents and visitors alike. It should encompass large visitor magnets like the Minster, Museums and Guildhalls.

But it does needs to start quickly now.