Have your say on our plans for new sports pitches at Tadcaster Road
Residents are being invited to have their say on plans to build eight new sports pitches on fields near Askham Bar.
The drop-in consultation event, which will take place between 4pm and 7pm at Askham Bar Park & Ride on Wednesday 24 January, will offer the chance for people to feedback on plans to build three 11-a-side pitches, two 9-a-side pitches and three 7-a-side pitches with relevant on-site facilities.
The event comes after the council’s executive in November agreed that officers should continue to work on plans for sports facilities on the land near the Ashfield estate.
Sensibly the Council has now stopped trying to link the new provision with the loss of football pitches at Lowfields
This will help to provide much needed community sports facilities to the south and west area of York.
The council’s public heath team are also working with Bishopthorpe White Rose FC to prepare a club development plan that will help them thrive in the future and access grant funding.
The cost of these works will be funded from the Football Foundation, Bishopthorpe White Rose football club, local sponsorship and small grants, with the remainder from the capital programme agreed by City of York Council.
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Bishopthorpe 1, Westfield 0
2.9 miles from Lowfields to replacement football pitch
The Council is to consider next week a plan to spend £400,000 providing new football pitches for a team based in Bishopthorpe.
Good luck to “Bishopthorpe White Rose Football Club”. We wish them success.
However the Councils claim that this project will replace the football pitches, on which they hope to build, at Lowfields is complete “tosh”
The Tadcaster Road site (behind the London Bridge Service Station) is 3 miles from Lowfields. There is simply no way that Lowfields residents – old or new – would regard Sim Balk Lane as a convenient alternative for any kind of local leisure facility.
The truth of the matter is that the Bishopthorpe Football Club’s needs have grown over the years and they have (rightly) approached the Council for help. It is a coincidence that the Lowfields project came along at the same time.
The Council is being duplicitous in linking the two projects.
If a section Section 106 contribution towards sports facilities is available, then the £400,000 should be spent in the Westfield area. Last year, when the Executive first hatched its plan, they were talking about providing the current users of the pitches (Woodthorpe Wanderers) with new facilities. That idea seems to have been quietly forgotten.
Better still, the Council should leave the existing Lowfields pitches alone. Such a decision would be in line with the decision taken at the last Executive meeting which agreed to review open space provision in the City.
The plot hatched by Council officials is aimed at persuading Sport England to remove their blocking objection to the current Lowfields Planning application.
The Executive is also due to consider borrowing around £9 million to build houses on the Lowfields site(!) More about this later.
Residents reject plan to fence off Chesneys Field
Chesney’s Field development plan
A Council proposal, that part of the Chesney Field amenity area should be fenced off, was criticised at a meeting of the Foxwood Residents Association last night.
Of those attending the meeting, only Council officials spoke in favour of the plan.
Now a formal representation has been made to local Councillors in the hope that the scheme can be quickly dismissed as an option.
This would allow other aspects of the project to move forward. These may include the provision of a trim track or “outdoor gym”.
Residents urged the football club that wants to erect the fencing and a storage container, to look to an arrangement with the Acorn Ruby Club who operate on an adjacent, and secure, site already.
The matter is likely to be discussed again at a Ward Committee meeting which is taking place next Tuesday at the Bowling Club (7:00pm)
Better football facilities in Westfield
Following a request by the Foxwood Residents Association, a set of goal posts has been fitted on the Foxwood Park. It is hoped that they will attract children away from playing ball games on the street.
Improvements are also in hand at the Grange Lane Westfield Park where volunteers have made a start on repainting the existing goal posts on the site.
Local Councillors Andrew Waller & Sue Hunter are following up a requests from children living in the Chapelfields area for better play and sports facilities. It is hoped that a 5 a side pitch will be marked out on the playing field.
The York Knights Rugby Foundation have already agreed to run sessions in the park over the summer holidays
What’s on in York: Female Football Centre at York College
York Council – Weekly news round up
York City seek mature players?
Aged 70, I’m at last playing football”- and you can too!
Following a successful pilot scheme between the council and York City Football Club Foundation a new opportunity is available to anyone aged over 50 who would like to step up to walking football.
Walking football is a popular, slower-paced version of the game where running is treated as a foul. This ruling makes it suitable for older people who would like to return to sport or take up a new challenge.
Have your say on the council’s key priorities for the next four-years
Whether it’s focussing resources on providing more housing, good quality jobs or ensuring that there is a focus on delivering key frontline services, the council feels it’s important that everyone has the opportunity to contribute towards these priorities and feedback their views.
York residents and businesses have until Wednesday 26 August to feedback on the draft proposals, which are based on the new administration’s priorities and the council’s statutory responsibilities.
The plan is built around three key priorities, including:
- A prosperous city for all – where local businesses can thrive and residents have good quality jobs, housing and opportunities
- A focus on frontline services – to ensure all residents, particularly the least advantaged, can access reliable services and community facilities
- A council that listens to residents -to ensure it delivers the services you want and works in partnership with local communities.
Feedback can be made via a number of ways below, which will be bought back to an Executive meeting in September for final approval:
- Online: www.york.gov.uk/councilplan
- In person: drop by and see officers at West Offices on Wednesday 12 or Thursday 14 August
- Drop-off points: at libraries or Explore Centres until 26 August.
- Social media: ‘tag us’ @CityofYork on Twitter or @CityofYorkCouncil on Facbeook using #councilplan
- By post: send feedback to FREEPOST RTEG-TYYU-KLTZ, Business Intelligence Team, City of York Council, West Offices, York YO1 6GA.
Number of York jobseekers falls again
National statistics released today have revealed the number of residents claiming Job Seekers Allowance in York has fallen for the fourth consecutive month.
The number of claimants in York has fallen by 49.8 percent in the last year. There are now 791 claimants in York, a fall of 98 from last month and of 1,577 from June 2014. Today’s figures also showed a 58.2 per cent fall in the Youth unemployment count since June 2014.
The claimant count represents 0.6 per cent of the working population and contrasts to the regional average which stands at 2.4 per cent. The figures are also much lower than the national average which stands at 1.7 per cent.
Spin bowler
Councillor Keith Aspden, Deputy Leader of City of York Council said: “It is pleasing to see that partnership working across the city is helping to keep unemployment low and defy the national trend which has seen the number of jobseekers increase in the last quarter. The new Executive is committed to building on this and as part of our Emergency Budget we are boosting support for small local businesses. I am also working with officers to increase the number of apprenticeships in the council and across York.
Adult learners offered more than ever before
York Learning is offering its widest range of adult learning opportunities ever with its new Learning 4 Everyone programme which is being rolled out across the city.
On offer for the first time too is the widest ever selection of courses from learning partners across the city, such as the University of York and York College. The WEA which features in the brochure has reported an enormous amount of interest following their inclusion in the brochure.
The new programme can be picked up from libraries across the city and holds information on over 300 courses taking place over the coming months.
Vote proposed for Business Improvement District
Plans for a ballot to take place in November to allow city centre businesses to decide on a proposed Business Improvement District (BID) will be put to the cross-party Economic Development and Transport Policy and Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday 22 July.
Then, on Thursday 30 July, Executive will consider the report which recommends approval of the continuing development of a Business Development District as well as approve a ballot in November 2015 when city centre businesses will be asked to vote on whether they would like to form a BID.
The initiative, led by City Team York, a group of local businesses chaired by Adam Sinclair, would see businesses predominantly within the inner ring road come together to form a BID company to decide how they pool resources to benefit the local economy.
Public Health report on Dementia Published
City of York Council has published the latest monthly chapter of its Director of Public Health annual report for 2015 which focuses on dementia.
The council’s Director of Public Health is legally required to produce an annual report on the health of the local population.
Low awareness of ‘non-lump’ breast cancer symptoms puts over 70s’ health at risk in York
City of York Council is supporting Public Health England’s ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaign launched today which is aimed at women aged 70 and over.
- just under a half of women aged 70 and over were able to name a symptom aside from a lump
• latest annual figures show 15 women aged 70 and over died from breast cancer in York in 2013
Safe standing at football grounds gets York LibDem support
LibDem_News. VIDEO: Lib Dems want safe standing return – BBC http://t.co/Wi4tW1GbYa
— libdem_news (@LibDem_News) August 22, 2014
Community Stadium opening date – York Council to hear latest fantasy league predictions
Leisure chief Cllr Sonja Crisp will be asked to give a firm opening date for the new Community Stadium at Huntington when the Council meets on Thursday.
Funding for the stadium (£12m) was agreed in 2010 and confirmed when planning permission for the new Monks Cross development was granted in 2011.
That development – which includes the John Lewis store -was finished and opened several months ago.
The Council has been very slow to start work on an alternative athletics facility having dithered over the precise location for the track on the York University campus.
Only an immediate start on the stadium in the autumn (when the athletics season comes to an end) would give some hope that it could be in use for the 2016/17 football stadium (the Football League frowns on Clubs that try to change homes mid season)
“I’ve still got a job in football. I’m building the Huntington Stadium” click for full interview
But the Stadium has yet to receive detailed planning permission and Cllr Crisp has been unable to even decide who will manage the stadium.
Cllr Ian Cuthbertson has now tabled the following question for the meeting next week,
“What is the Cabinet Member’s deadline for starting work on the ground at the new Community Stadium at Huntington and what is her current best estimate of its opening date?”
In April, Council Leader James Alexander tweeted to give an absolute guarantee that “construction work on the Stadium would start by March 2015”
Most stadia take at least 18 months to build.
Police to hold flares and smoke grenade amnesty in York this weekend
North Yorkshire Police’s Football Liaison Officers will be holding a Pyrotechnics Amnesty at Bootham Crescent this Saturday (12 July 2014).
The initiative is being held with the support of York City Football Club to raise awareness of the dangers and the law around flares and smoke grenades which many people believe are harmless.
A red bin will be placed outside the ground where fans can drop off any flares or smoke grenades ahead of Saturday’s game against Sheffield Wednesday.
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