Time to get to grips with local issues

The easing of lockdown restrictions offers the Council an opportunity to try to restore public service standards at least to the level seen in previous, pre-pandemic, years.

Some services are under particular pressure with potholes taking far too long to fill in.

Potholes in Ashford Place, reported several months ago, have still not been filled

Similarly estate management standards have fallen. At this time of year a regular checks needs to be made to ensure that roads and paths are not blocked and that access road surfaces are kept clear of moss and detritus.

Access roads need to be kept free of obstructions

One of the reasons for the decline may be the failure of the Council to fill three of its Housing Management posts. These are the posts that manage individual Council housing estates. They are very much the public face of the Council in their local neighbourhoods.

At least one of the posts has been vacant since last year.

Yet it does not appear among the 57 job vacancies currently being advertised by the Council, none of which are in the housing department. City of York Council Jobs (click)

Simon Daubeney clean up at Foxwood shops

Lack of budget cannot be an excuse for inaction . The housing account makes a surplus of several million pounds each year.

Elsewhere, local Councillor Simon Daubeney undertook a welcome clean up at the Foxwood shops on Saturday.

He will have found and reported the overturned salt bin.

The area has been subject recently to increased levels of vandalism.

The residents association have suspended maintenance of the planters following damage to the plants.

A Great British Spring Clean litter pick is scheduled to take place on Saturday 12th June.

Meet at 10:30am at the Foxwood Community Centre.

The walk round will last for about an hour.

York gets ready for Great British Spring (Autumn) Clean

The rescheduled Great British Spring Clean takes place later in the month

The national event aims to inspire people to roll their sleeves up and get involved in litter picks and ‘tidy-ups’.

Originally planned for March, the campaign has been rescheduled to September due to the COVID-19 lockdown. Further safety guidelines have been put in place, and additional PPE is available for everybody taking part.

City of York Council is appealing to local residents, businesses and community groups to become ‘litter heroes’ by getting behind York’s annual spring clean event between Friday 11 and Sunday 27 September, in addition to the day-to-day work of the council and York BID to keep the city clean and tidy.

Over the course of the campaign, the council will be on hand to lend support to residents in several ways. This includes collecting extra waste in bags printed with a large ‘V’ for volunteer from the pre-planned spring clean events, and by providing equipment to help make jobs quicker and easier.

The Big Spring Clean is a boost to the work front lines teams carry out all year round to help maintain and clean the city. This includes:

Maintaining grass: Ten gardeners mow open spaces and grass verges from mid-March and don’t stop until October. They cut approximately 41 million square metres of grass each year.

Maintaining hedges: teams start cutting hedges in housing estates, parks and ornamental areas from May and don’t stop until November. They cut approximately 77,000 linear metres of hedges.

Cleaning leaves and detritus from the road side: There are over 754,000 metres of kerb lines to sweep to ensure drains are not blocked and reduce the chance of weed growth.

Cleaning litter: teams check and clean around 975,000 metres of footpaths for litter, glass and lots of other things!

Emptying litter bins: teams have just completed the replacement of around 1250 litter and dog waste bins across the city, these are emptied at least weekly, depending on the location.

To request help, or to register your event with the council email environmentandcommunity@york.gov.uk. For more information visit www.york.gov.uk/GBspringclean call 01904 551551 or follow @cityofyork on Twitter using #YorkSpringClean

Too much graffiti on utility boxes in York

As we have said before, these It seems that both utility companies and volunteers have given up on removing graffiti from utility boxes around the City. Several instances have been reported over the last couple of months without a response.

Often local volunteers and Councillors would make cleaning up graffiti a top priority. Environmental crimes like these as it can damage the image of a local neighbourhood. There has been little evidence of that recently.

The real key though is for the authorities to identify and take action against those who are responsible. That also isn’t happening.

The graffiti removal service launched last year – which cleans publicly owned street furniture – has been much more successful.

The annual – pandemic delayed – Great British Spring Clean starts on 11th September. We hope that the Council will include “tag” removal from these utility boxes as part of that campaign.

Time to minimise calls on Council staff time

Although we will continue to report routine issues with local public services over the next few weeks, we don’t expect some to have any priority for the use of resources if the CV virus debilitates the Councils workforce.

Clearly the most important services are those that maintain the safety of the local community.

We’d like to see the Council appoint local coordinators so that the vulnerable have someone to turn to. We recognise that valuable resources like the local “hubs” will have to close but they need to be replaced with technology based alternatives. We look forward to hearing more about the Council’s plans

The Friday Hub at the Foxwood Community Centre has already been suspended.

Local residents groups and Councillors are actively supporting residents.

Hopefully those who are responsible for the graffiti that blights the neighbourhood, those who drop litter and those who allow their dogs to foul footpaths will now change their ways.

  • Full bin at Foxwood Shops
  • Graffiti Green Lane
  • Graffiti Windsor Garth
  • Dumped Lidl trolley Bellhouse Way
  • Full bin Foxwood Park
  • Broken glass Cornlands Road

NB. The Great British Spring Clean – which relied on volunteer litter pickers – has been postponed until the Autumn.

Residents highlight continuing issues with tree detritus

Residents in Foxwood have complained to the Council about continuing problems with leaves and other tree detritus impeding footpaths.

Not all paths were swept of debris in the autumn and now the recent high winds have added to the backlog of work.

  • Greenwood Grove
  • Burgess Walk
  • Doherty Walk

The Foxwood Residents Association at its meeting on Wednesday decided to support once again the “Great British Spring Clean” initiative.

They are asking residents to join litter picking teams on the following dates

Saturday 28th March – Dickson Park

Saturday 4th April – Thanet Road Sports Area

Saturday 11th April – Central Foxwood Lane estate

It is hoped that residents groups from other parts of York will join in with the initiative

Great British Spring Clean completed on Chesneys Field

Foxwood Project grassed area edging completed

Foxwood Residents Association volunteers today cleared Chesney’s Field on Foxwood Lane. They came across a dumped bike and also there been some fly tipping in the boundary hedge area.

Contractors working for the Association have also finished verge edging work around the area. Further work is planned for next winter.

Grassed areas have been tidied up
Paths now clear of grass
Acomb Wood looking very attractive today as spring takes hold
A dozen Foxwood Residents Association volunteers today completed the clean up of Chesney’s Field. Part of the Great British Spring Clean. 10 bags of rubbish were removed.
Chesney’s Field spotless for a while at least

Great British Spring Clean success in Foxwood and Woodthorpe

Volunteers have been busy over the weekend with both the Foxwood and Woodthorpe shopping area forecourts have been cleared of weeds and detritus. Makes a big difference.

Foxwood Residents Association members helped clean up the Foxwood shops area on Saturday
Woodthorpe shopping area also looking good following the efforts of volunteers.

What’s on in York: Great British Spring Clean

Please note activities in the Foxwood and Westfield part of the City will continue through March and most of April.

Events which are already scheduled include:

  • Saturday 30 March  – 10.30am – noon meet at Foxwood Lane/Beagle Ridge Drive shops to tidy this area
  • Sunday 7 April – 2pm – 4pm – meet at pumping station on Foxwood Lane to clear Chesney Fields
  • Sunday 14 April – 2pm – 4pm – meet at junction of Herman Walk with Sherringham Drive
  • Monday 15 April – 10.30am – noon – meet at Acomb Wood shops

Spring clean anyone?

As we’ve pointed out over the last few days, many of our public open spaces are looking clean and tidy at the moment.

In west York parks and amenity areas provide an attractive informal opportunity for leisure although in the Westfield ward several are under threat of development.

But there are several areas where litter and fly tipping are a problem. In some cases, items dumped many months ago still haven’t been removed by the Council.

Time for some action we think.

Fortunately, there is an active residents association in the Foxwood area and they have promised to support a month of action in their neighbourhood.

Elsewhere in the Westfield ward residents are currently less well organised so some proactive management is required.

Actions speak louder than words

Shortly there will be local elections in the area. Some candidates are already delivering literature. Both Labour and the LibDems have been seen on the streets this weekend.

The Tories have resorted to employing a contractor to deliver their leaflets They candidly admit that they don’t actually have any candidates, with only a few weeks to go before nominations close.

But no matter. If the candidates or all parties want to impress why don’t they individually organise a “spring clean” in a problem area? This might help to make a favourable impression on voters as well as enhancing the local environment?

The Keep Britain Tidy organisation coordinates an annual Great British Spring Clean campaign. This year the campaign will run between 22nd March – 23rd April 2019 and will focus on removing single use plastics from our open spaces.

Please visit their web site for more details https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/get-involved/support-our-campaigns/great-british-spring-clean

Grange Lane wood – extensive fly tipping and litter a continuing issue

Dumped mattress in Acomb Wood has been there for several months.

 

Litter in back Front Street is a constant problem

Fly tipping on Chesney’s Field reported twice