Green Lane garage area gets clean up

After many months of complaining, we were pleased to see that the little Green Lane garage area was tidied up a few weeks ago.

Little Green Lane garage area cleaned

Unfortunately, since the clean up, some builders waste has been left in the area and we are still waiting to hear when the housing department plan to resurface the access road and forecourt.

Elsewhere other long standing issues also remain to be resolved.

Material dumped in the Dijon Avenue garage area 6 months ago is still there and perimeter weeds – having fallen back during the winter – will start to grow again shortly

Dijon Ave dumping

Dijon Avenue weeds

……and another black mark for local housing officials who refuse to allow residents access to public noticeboards in the Kingsway area (below). They have been inaccessible for over 2 years now, forcing charities and community groups to post notices on the outside glass of the boards.

It’s an issue that could be easily solved by giving local Councillors a set of keys for the frames.

Unused noticeboards in Kingsway area

We report all issues for the Council’s attention using the “fix my street” https://www.fixmystreet.com/ web site

York Council announce plans for easier electronic communications – again!

In the first stage of an exciting project to improve users’ online experience with the council, the new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system will aim to:

Provide online access to more services and information
Ensure the council is more efficient and easy to do business with on a 24/7 basis
Implement a ‘My Account’ system for residents offering a tailored access to council services
Provide access via mobile devices and tablets, increasing accessibility for residents and other customers
Allow residents and customers to track the progress of their requests and receive updates.

The report outlines plans for a high quality and responsive online service to ensure the council is always open and available and that services are easy for people to use.

We recommend "Fix My Street" as the best way of reporting issues - at least until the Councils new system has been proved to work. click

We recommend “Fix My Street” as the best way of reporting issues – at least until the Councils new system has been proved. click

It is proposed that, as with the website launch last year, residents are involved throughout the project with opportunities for them to offer their views.

As the CRM system is set up, the priorities are to provide online services first for waste (missed bins, new container), highways (highway defect, street light defect, drainage), public realm (reporting litter, fly tipping and graffiti), revenues and benefits as well as the ability to feedback on council services.

The proposals come after the launch of the council’s new website which included an improved search function, access to the site from a range of devices and a more modern, customer focused interface, which users said were important to them”.

Executive will take place on February 11 at West Offices from 5.30pm and is open to members of the public or is available to watch live online from: www.york.gov.uk/webcasts

To find out more about the report, or to attend, visit: http://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=733&MId=8846

Cleaner York report published

York Council looks like it will soon get to grips with improving cleanliness standards in the City.

Manual sweeping in the Acomb ward click to enlarge

A report, to be considered on 25^th January, makes several recommendations, although the most significant may be that the management of street cleaning will be devolved to local Ward Committees.

The report does, however, say that the funds available for cleaning will be reduced.

The report says, “Cleansing will take place with a minimum frequency of quarterly and a maximum of daily, depending on the location. Although in some locations there will be a reduction in the frequency of visits by a large mechanical road sweeper the new schedules will allow the vehicle to be driven more slowly which will ensure improved removal of detritus. This will not only improve cleanliness standards but also remove the matter in which weeds are able to grow”.

Mechanical sweeping in the Acomb Ward click to view

The report notably fails to say what standards will apply to sub-urban shopping areas, public spaces and communal areas on estates. These are often the places which have the biggest litter problems

Litter and Poop scoop bins

The report makes a welcome proposal to increase the number of litter bins. The number of litter reports started to increase when the last Council removed several bins. (They responded by stopping the publication of statistics showing the number of complaints being received – see below).

Combined litter and poop scoop bins

The Council will also move over to combined litter/poop scoop bins. These are emptied by the same operative and end up in landfill.

Enforcement

Despite fly tipping costing the Council £69,000 to remove in 2014, only £2248 was recovered from fines. During the same year, 8 fixed penalty notices were issued for litter dropping and dog fouling.

Reporting problems

The Council is promising that its much delayed on line issue reporting system will finally become available in the summer.

It means that the current – dysfunctional – “report it “system and the outdated “Smarter York” app will be scrapped. The latter, introduced in a hurry in 2011 by a new Council administration, lacked the convenience and flexibility of commercial systems such as “Fix my Street”. The Smarter York app is currently costing the Council over £12,000 a year to maintain with use having dwindled to less than 4 a week.

We will see; but the Councils promise to soft launch the system, before promoting its use, is a welcome step forward.

The Council is also promising to launch a “One Planet” App which will allow residents to advertise surplus items for “exchange”. We assume that they mean what effectively would be a version of Freecycle. The system would also “receive alerts regarding which type of waste to present on which week and a scanning facility to indicate if an item is recyclable based on York’s collection policy”.

Performance indicators

Attached to the report is a welcome glimpse of the performance indicators “lost to view” a few years ago.

They aren’t complete but their publication is a welcome step forward by the current coalition administration (see below)

: Performance indicators

Drainage issues reported to York Council

Local Councillor Andrew Waller audited the effectiveness of drainage systems over the weekend.

The wet weather has revealed several problems all of which have been reported to the Council.

Poor drainage on Askham Lane near bus stop

Blocked gulley at entrance to Gladstone Street

Blocked gully near Green Lane roundabout

Broken drain cover St Stephens Square

Cornlands Road near bus stops

Windsor Garth

Poor drainage and damaged gully Danesfort Avenue

Windsor Garth flooding

In total Andrew has reported over a dozen locations in the Westfield area where ponding or flooding is a problem

Residents can report issues with drainage, as well as other problems such as faulty street lights, at https://www.fixmystreet.com/

More Councils signing up to “Fix My Street” and What do they Know”

The Harrogate Council has become the latest to purchase the class leading software which gives local residents access to vital Freedom of Information files as well as an easy, and monitored way, of reporting issues.

Their approach contrasts with the attitude of the York Council which persists with an “on line” issue reporting system which is just not “fit for purpose”

York should cut its losses and follow Harrogate’s lead.

Details here

Fix My Street

What Do They Know

Meanwhile the York Council’s proposals reqarding the future of its “on line” reporting systems have been removed from its “Forward Programme“.

Instead, the controversial new system is due to be debated under a generic “Cleaner City” report in the New Year. The latter report has also been delayed by 2 months but is currently due to be considered on 25th January.

More haste, less speed – New Council issue reporting system is flawed

The York Council has gone ahead and launched a replacement for the “report it” system which it abandoned 3 years ago. The older system had worked well for over 8 years but was, apparently, a victim of the move to West Offices.

click to access Council forms

A Smarter York “App” was introduced but it lacked the functionality and flexibility of the old system. It gradually fell into disuse.

About 2 years ago the Council promised a system based on individual “customer accounts” and this was to have been launched in the spring.

However nothing materialised.

Now the Council has rushed out a minimalist reporting system for neighbourhood reports. It is intended to cover issues like street light faults, cleansing issues, footpath fouling, road/pavement defects, overgrown trees and problems with street furniture.

Unfortunately the system has not been properly tested with users and already a list of “bugs” has emerged.

These include:

The system does not have an “App” which would allow it to run on smart phones.
The system doesn’t provide a complainant with an Emailed (or any other copy) of the issue that they raised
There is no way of associating the issue number with a specific complaint
There is no publicly accessible record of issues raised. This facility was available on the Smarter York system and is fundamental to the “Fix My Street” system. Consequently the likelihood of duplicate reports increases.
The type of issue that can be reported is limited. Problems with defects on play equipment aren’t covered, for example.

These issues need to be resolved before the system is promoted by the Council. In the meantime, “Fix My Street” offers users much greater functionality and reassurance.

Seems to be a case of good intentions but poor delivery by the York Council on this one

Carrfield – Teal Drive snicket improvement requested

We’ve asked the Council to tidy up the Carrfield – Teal Drive snicket.

Using the Fix My Street “app” we’ve asked that litter and weeds be removed, grass cut and that the cycle barriers are repainted

Barriers need paintng

Grass needs cutting

Weeds and litter need removing

Post bank holiday clean up needed in York

The school holidays seems to have increased pressure on some public services.

The Fix My Street web site (click) has a map showing all the reports made through their site concerning issues in the York area.

The map does not,of course, show issues which have been reported direct to the Council. However the only way that we will see a sustained improvement in public services in the city is for ordinary citizens to report every issue that they see.

Below are a selection of the issues that we have reported over the last few days.

Dumping on Chesneys Field

Full litter bin

Full poop scoop bin

Weeds on riverside walk

New public service requests via “Fix my Street”

Two more issues that we have reported via “Fix My Street“

Broken branch on Foxwood Lane

Litter on Chesney’s Field

Rain plus warm weather good news for weeds

Excellent growing conditions may be good news for gardeners but they present some problems in keeping streets and public spaces tidy.

We encourage residents to report issues particularly those resultng from weeds and bushes overgrowing public footpaths

Click to access “Fix My Street”

One “on line” issue reporting system – which also incorporates a phone “app” – is “Fix My Street”. You can visit their web site and see what reports have been made in your area.

Sadly the promised York Council internet based issue reporting system has still not materialised.

Even the ancient “do it on line” problem reporting module has been unavailable for over a year, meaning that facilities (aimed at reducing expensive to manage telephone contact with the Council) have reverted back to pre 2005 levels of service.

Not a good advert for a City claiming to be taking a lead in the use of technology

We have used “Fix My Street” to report the following two issues

Bushes blocking the public footpath also on Foxwood Lane

Weeds overgrowing a bus shelter in Foxwood Lane

Weeds overgrowing a bus shelter and its gutters in Foxwood Lane

York commentary archive site