Wain’s Road Footway Reconstruction starts on 5th January

Wains Road footpath resurfacing cllck to enlarge

The City of York Council will start work week commencing 5^th January 2015 to reconstruct the footway shown on the plan overleaf. This scheme is programmed to take 3 weeks, weather permitting.

The works consists of taking up and relaying flags, replacing broken and worn ones, and vehicle crossings are to be reconstructed in concrete.

The Contractor carrying out the work will be City of York Council’s Highways department. The contractor will be working between 8:00am and 4:00pm Monday to Friday.

Poor footpaths, litter and dumping – time for the York Council to take notice

Dangerous footpaths

The York Council needs to get a grip of the growing number of issues affecting the estates that it is responsible for managing.

Litter

Dumping

Dozens of issues are being reported to the Council with little feedback.

A petition has been started in Chapelfields asking the Council to improve parking arrangements and provide better maintenance of communal areas

Huntsman’s Walk resurfacing starts on 4th August

Petition prompts Council action

Work on resurfacing the footpaths at the low numbered end of Huntsmans Walk commences on 4th August.

Petition collected last year

The work is expected to last for about 5 weeks

The work consists of excavating the current tarmac surfacing, re-grading the stone foundation and relaying a new layer of tarmac. Selected road kerbs are to be replaced.

The Council are offering a discounted cost for the extension, or provision, of a new vehicle crossing if it can be constructed as part of the scheme. Anyone wishing to take advantage of this offer should contact 01904 553130

The resurfacing priority for this street was increased following the collection of a petition, on behalf of residents, by Andrew Waller.

Details of the area to eb resurfaced can be viewed here.

Labour highways maintenance scam revealed.

Labour are planning a “surprise” announcement next month, when they will “reveal” that they will spend an additional £2 million on highways resurfacing during the next financial year.

Highways expenditure Click to enlarge

The announcement will be in response to the pressure, put on them by residents and the Liberal Democrats, who have criticised the cuts made in road and footpath repairs budgets over the last 2 years.

In total, £4 million has been cut from the repairs budget in an attempt to find funding for schemes like the repaving of Kings Square and the, largely unnecessary, £1 million street lamppost replacement programme.

Now Labour – for one year only – hope to return the budget to the £5.5 million level that they inherited from the last LibDem administration.

However, they intend to pay for the programme by borrowing more money. Already residents are facing over £1 million a year extra in interest payments – making Council Tax rises inevitable.

The figures also reveal that investment on de-icing roads and footpaths has fallen by more than half since Labour took over. Fortunately we have – so far – had a mild winter but we may not be so lucky in future years.

We hope that roads like Vesper Drive and footpaths like those on Huntsman’s Walk will now get, long overdue, resurfacing.

Highways maintenance cuts for York revealed.

The Council has revealed how it plans to spend £2.6 million on highways and footpath resurfacing over the next financial year.

The provisional expenditure is down on the £3.4 million being invested during the current year.

That in turn was well down on the budget agreed by the last Liberal Democrat administration which held power until 2011 and which regularly invested over £5 million a year in the highways network.

Carriageway surfaces are now breaking up and the repairs backlog is growing.

In the Westfield ward footpaths in parts of three streets are due to receive attention next year. Roads affected are Cornlands Road, Wetherby Road, and Green Lane. However there are no plans to resurface any roads (carriageways) in the area.

A full list of streets where repairs are planned can be downloaded by clicking here

A final Council highways budget for next year will be announced in March.

The decision, on which roads to resurface, was taken in another “behind closed doors” meeting. There was no consultation with residents on the options.

York Council footpath investment down by 40%

New figures reveal that investment, in keeping York’s footpaths in a safe condition, has fallen by 41% over he last 5 years

Expenditure on repairs peaked at £1.8 million in 2009 when the Council was under Liberal Democrat Leadership.

Neglected roads and paths in Kingsway West reported on Saturday

This year only £1 million will be spent. The detailed figures – revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request – are:

• 2009/10 – £1,794k

• 2010/11 – £1,784k

• 2011/12 – £1,667k

• 2012/13 – £1,160k

• 2013/14 – £1,050k

The Council received 48 claims for compensation last year from people who had fallen on badly maintained footpaths. £6,750 was paid out in compensation

The number of complaints about pavements doubled in 2012/13 to 554 from a level of 258 two years earlier.

The Council admits that 5% of its footpaths require resurfacing.

Each year the Council resurfaces less than 1% of the total mileage of footpaths in the City.

The most complained about footpaths are Front Street in Acomb and Coney Street.

NB. The Council are currently spending £500,000 relaying flags in Kings Square. despite the area being in a generally good condition

Another blow to York Pride

Any hopes that the Labour Council would finally get on top of public service standards in the City have been dealt a fatal blow over the last few weeks.

The number of complaints about street level service problems are escalating.

The Council’s on line “report it” system is proving to be more and more unreliable.

The Council has admitted that between 3rd September 2012 and 1st July 2013, they received 727 complaints.

Of these 402 were found to be justified.

Meanwhile, in little over an hour, the following problems were reported in parts of the Westfield ward.

Dumping and litter on Tithe Close snicket reported on 23rd August. Partly blamed on cancelation of skip programme in the Cornlands area

Weeds growing through footpath in St Stephens Square

Weed growth on Otterwood Lane. Reported 23rd August 2013