All scheduled household waste collections have been made.
We were unable to collect all recycling waste from parts of Acomb, Chapelfields and Bishopthorpe due to operating under COVID-19 restrictions. We’ll return for collections in Bishopthorpe this evening (Tuesday 23 June), and Acomb and Chapelfields on Wednesday 24 June. Please present your containers for collection by 7.00am.
We were unable to collect all garden waste from some properties in Acomb and Heworth due to capacity issues. We’ll attempt to collect this on the evening of Tuesday 23 June. Please leave your green bin out for collection.
We have collected all outstanding missed household waste, recycling and garden waste from Monday 22 June.
All scheduled household waste collections have been made.
We also collected outstanding missed household waste from Monday 8 June.
Recycling
We were unable to collect all recycling waste from all properties in the following areas due to operating under COVID-19 restrictions:
Acomb
Bishopthorpe
Heworth
This will be collected on Wednesday 10 June. Please present your containers for collection by 7.00am. We collected outstanding missed recycling from Monday 8 June.
Garden waste
We were unable to collect all garden waste from properties in the following areas due to capacity issues:
Derwent
Heworth
Osbaldwick
Westfield
We’ll attempt to collect missed garden waste on the evening of Tuesday 9 June, but may not be able to revisit until later in the week. Please leave your green bin out and we’ll get to you as soon as we can. We also collected outstanding missed garden waste from the Monday 8 June.
We were unable to collect household waste from Usher Lane in Haxby.
This household waste will be collected by Friday 5 June. Please present your containers for collection by 7.00am.
We’ve collected outstanding household waste from Ashley Park Road and Hazel Garth.
We were unable to collect recycling from some areas in Wigginton and New Earswick due to operating under COVID-19 restrictions.
This recycling will be collected on Friday 5 June. Please present your containers for collection by 7.00am.
We’ve collected outstanding recycling from some areas in Dringhouses, Acomb, Huntington and Dunnington. All remaining outstanding recycling from Dringhouses, Acomb, Odbaldwick and Huntington will be collected on Friday 5 June. Please present your recycling containers for collection by 7.00am.
We were unable to collect garden waste from from Haxby, New Earswick, Strensall and Wigginton due to the capacity issues.
This garden waste will be collected on Friday 5 June. Please present your containers for collection by 7.00am.
We’ve collected missed garden waste from areas in Holly Bank, Fossway, Heworth Green, Bell Farm and Huntington South. Crews are still working to collect missed garden waste in Muncaster, Holgate and Acomb areas so please leave your bin out.
The Council says that it has made fewer than 800 grants as part of its support scheme for small and “micro” businesses launched nearly 2 months ago.
The Council is not saying what is causing the delays to the grants which were intended to provide £1000 for up to 1000 York businesses.
Despite this slow progress, the Council has now said that it is extending the scheme to take advantage of an additional £2.2 million in government support funding.
“Top up” grants could be available to a total value of up to £10,000 for those who have already received help as well as to new applicants.
In a statement the Council says,
“Council Coronavirus scheme upgraded to provide support to more of York’s businesses
Local businesses which have so far missed out on government support could benefit from grants of up to £10,000, as the council extends its scheme for small and micro businesses in the City.
The grants aim to benefit small businesses including those in shared offices and flexible work spaces, science parks and incubators. Regular market traders without a business rates assessment. Nurseries, B&Bs paying council tax instead of business rates, and charity properties which all missed out under previous schemes will also be eligible.
Shortly after lockdown was implemented, City of York Council acted quickly to create its own £1m grant scheme for businesses which do not qualify for government support. To date, this scheme has helped nearly 800 local businesses.
Following lobbying efforts, the government has recognised the additional need for financial support and has provided a discretionary fund to local authorities. City of York Council received £2.21m of this funding and has agreed to use it to deliver more grants to the city’s small and micro businesses.
The grants will be staggered between £2500 and £10000, depending on the size and nature of the business, with the following available:
Small business and childcare nurseries set to receive: £10000
Micro business: £5000
B&Bs and market traders who live in York able to apply for: £2,500
Businesses must have been trading before 11 March 2020; have a rateable value or annual mortgage of below £51,000; demonstrate an ongoing fixed property cost and significant financial impact of the coronavirus. It is not available to any business eligible for any other government COVID grant.
The council will open applications for the enhanced grants from Monday 1 June and in the meantime, the Council will continue to process applications for the existing scheme, in order to ensure no business misses out on any funding, unless they do not meet the criteria. All outstanding applicants and previous grantees will be contacted by the council next week, as many will be eligible for a top-up under the enhanced scheme.
Councillor Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council, said:
This is an exceptionally tough time for so many businesses, especially the small and micro enterprises that characterise York’s creative and independent economy.
“From the very beginning of this crisis, we have worked to ensure our local businesses received swift support from the Council, particularly those who did not meet the criteria for government support.
I am pleased that City of York Council has been recognized as one of the fastest local authorities in the country to distribute grants and rates relief, totaling £110m. We want to go further to support our business community and that is why we have set up this fund to give vital cash injections to small and micro businesses in the city.”
Councillor Andrew Waller, executive member for the economy and strategic planning, said:
I’m extremely proud that we acted quickly to provide a lifeline to many who fell through the cracks of the government support, with nearly 800 small businesses receiving grants so far. Now the government has recognised this need, we can use the funds to give more support to help our businesses survive and adapt.
“We know there are still many York businesses who need more support, and we will continue to press government for more action on their behalf while looking at the local support we can offer.”
The council acted quickly to distribute £110m of grants and rates relief to over 3000 York businesses, and created its own £1m grant scheme to benefit around 800 more which did not qualify for government support.
Under the discretionary fund, local authorities have been given an additional 5% of the total value of grants already distributed in York, and some outline guidance on which businesses should benefit. However, this means councils have to use local knowledge to decide how to fairly distribute the money to benefit as many businesses as possible.
Depending on the volume of applications and the amount of additional checking and verification required, the council aims to make weekly batches of payments starting on 8 June, and hope to pay all grants within four weeks
The UK’s first-ever council-led development of custom-build plots with some specifically designated for first time buyers, will welcome bids from buyers from 1 November.
The six custom-build plots are part of a larger mixed-use development of 140 new homes at Lowfield Green by City of York Council.
The development is controversial as it has seen a valued green open space – used for sporting activities – built on. Residents – who formed their own action group to oppose the plans – are also concerned about delays in the overall development timetable.
Two of the plots have been restricted for first time buyers only, as they offer a more affordable option, and are designed to help people on to the property ladder. This supports the council’s pledge to offer a breadth of options to a range of lower-income households and is in addition to shared ownership of homes from the open market as well as council-owned homes. 40% of all the homes at Lowfield Green will be affordable and Homes England helped fund work done to prepare the site for development.
Idealised image of self build homes
Custom-build plots are serviced with all required utilities – electricity, water and telephone cable – as well as with road access to enable buyers to get on site. With outline planning permission already secured, construction can begin immediately after detailed planning has been granted.
All plots are large enough for a detached home of between three and five bedrooms with an integrated garage if needed. They also benefit from south-facing back gardens and uninterrupted views of the new village green to the front. This former secondary school site has been sensitively master planned around a new green open space to contribute towards creating an attractive new place to live in the city.
To support this innovative self-build project, City of York Council has engaged Custom Build Homes – the UK’s leading enabler of custom build housing – to deliver aspects of the development process including; consultancy, pre-agreed mortgage lending as well as leading the sales and marketing for the site.
Bidding for all 6 plots opens on 1 November and all bids need to be in for 29 November. Prospective purchasers will have the opportunity to view the plots, with the first viewings to be arranged by appointment only, on the morning of Saturday 9 November. All bids will be assessed and, if no suitable applications have been received by first time buyers, the allocated plots may be offered to other applicants. More detail is available by visiting lowfieldgreen.custombuildhomes.co.uk
The announcementearlier in the year, that the opening of the City’s new Community Stadium would be delayed until the autumn, surprised few people.
York City Football Club first learned in 2004 that it could face a move away from Bootham Crescent.
The future of the Knights Rugby team subsequently become inextricably
intertwined with the stadiums future.
All seemed well in 2010 when a source of funding (S106 planning
contributions) for a new stadium was obtained. Planning permission for the
Vanguard development was subsequently granted.
Further delays occurred as the Council agonised about procurement
polices and management arrangements.
After many false dawns, the stadium should have been opening
this month.
The announcement of another6 month delay came as a disappointment.
Such information as leaked out about the cause of the delay
was neither confirmed nor denied by a Council embroiled in a local election
process. The “purdah” period prevented any statements that might have influenced
the election result.
It is now over 5 weeks after the election concluded – with another
“no overall majority” result. The Green Party, which opposed the stadium development
together with some Tories – now shares power with the LibDems who themselves have
a long commitment to the stadium.
There is no suggestion that political interference is behind
the reason for the delayed announcements.
The Council, Football and Rugby Clubs – together with the builders (Buckingham) and stadium complex managers (Better), have been strangely quiet over the last few weeks.
The “purdah” period is
long over yet no explanation for the delay or, more importantly, a new opening
date have been confirmed. The last official statement talked about an October
opening date.
More realistically, the clubs may now be hoping that the stadium
will be available for the lucrative Christmas /New Year fixture programme.
NB. York City’s National League North fixture list is due to
be announced on 3rd July. The season
will kick off on Saturday, August 3rd. The Football Club has already announced its
season ticket prices.
A planing inspector has told the York Council to consult again on their plans to block MOD bases from being used for house building.
The planning inspectorate says that the changes – agreed earlier in the year – are major and require 6 weeks of public consultation.
The proposals mainly involved the Strensall camp where Natural England argued that redeveloping the base could adversely impact on the nearby nature reserve
In turn this meant that the Green Belt boundary would alter.
The move came as something of a surprise to the MOD who pointed out that part of the base was a previously developed brownfield site – the governments (and Councils) preferred location for housing developments.
The Inspector also wants to see the results of a consultation on new housing need figures. The figures had been scaled back following work by consultants who said that underlying housing demand figures were significantly lower than had previously been forecast.
The shock move means that the start of the “examination in public” will be put on ice again.
It is now unclear when the City can hope to have a fully approved Local Plan in place.
Ageing and outdated traffic signals at the Wigginton Road and Haxby Road junction are set to be replaced next month by City of York Council, in a project partially funded by York’s bus operators.
Haxby Road – Wigginton Road junction
Works are estimated to take around six weeks to complete and will start on Sunday 19 May.
New, more reliable, traffic signals will be installed on the junction of Wigginton Road and Haxby Road. Layout changes are being made to make the junction work more efficiently, this will include realigning the outbound Haxby Road movement to make it straighter and making the pedestrian islands larger.
The new technology being installed will help to improve bus journey times and reliability on Wigginton Road and ease congestion in the area.
The new traffic signals will also be cheaper to run and more reliable. It will also enable the new systems to link direct to the council’s Traffic and Control Centre, so that the Network Monitoring Officers can manage the flow of traffic better in busy periods by adjusting traffic lights to best suit traffic conditions.
To help minimise disruption work will be carried out from 9.30am – 4pm during the week and also will take place on Saturdays and Sundays from 8am – 3pm. Temporary signals replicating, as closely as possible, the current operation of the junction will be in place throughout the works.
During the works it is anticipated that there will be significant delays when travelling through the junction.
Those using the junction are urged to plan ahead, allow more time for journeys on these routes and to consider alternatives and to use public transport where possible. Bus services will be operating as normal for the majority of the works but passengers are requested to visit www.itravelyork.info/ for more information.
Temporary pedestrian crossing points will be available at all times during the works to ensure that pedestrian facilities are available. Traffic marshals will be on site between 7am and 7pm, to help manage the traffic on site and to assist with pedestrians crossing the road.
We’ve said before that the length of time it takes the York Council to install parking bays is excessive.
In some cases, even surveying possible sites has taken over a year. That’s too long. The Council should put the work out to a contractor on a “design and build” basis.
Here are a couple of roads where residents have been waiting over 2 years for work to start (lay-bys are funded through delegated ward budgets).
Longest outstanding job is outside the flats on Askham Lane. Been waiting for nearly 4 years. Drivers have little option but to park on the verge. although this doesn’t help the appearance of the area
The Council has been agonising for over 2 years about where to put a lay-by on Dijon Avenue. It is needed before building work starts on the Lowfield School site. After saying that the lay-by should be built near the junction with Green Lane they decided a few weeks ago that it wasn’t practical because of electrical plant under the verge. Nevertheless drivers still park on the verges in the area
Also in Dijon Avenue we’ve reported damaged fencing around the amenity area
