Of six highway defects reported on Saturday, the Council has agreed to address only two of them.
Further work is promised on Gladstone Street and School Street.
Elsewhere it seems there is no prospect of repairs on Walker Drive, Vincent Way, Hotham Avenue or Lowfields Drive
The Council seems to be no closer to bitmacing the small section of verge on Kingsway West, near Newbury Avenue, which has been subject to overrun damage for over 5 years now
Good to see that some street level public service standards are improving in west York. As we observed some months ago, the health crisis caused a rethink on street cleansing with a neighbourhood management approach producing better results. This has improvement has generally been sustained
The York Council had a challenging time in 2019 when parts of the City were blighted by weeds following the award of a poorly specified treatment contract. This year the streets have been largely clear of weed growth following the award of a new £58,000 contract to Munro Weed Control.
There are still some problem areas (snickets, back lanes, garage forecourts) but generally standards have improved.
Some progress seems to have been made on long term, seemingly intractable, problems such as rubbish storage and fly tipping in the Front Street back lane area. Notices have now been displayed indicating the penalties for fly tipping. Most rubbish storage areas are now tidier although there are some exceptions
Less good news on highways maintenance. There are still too many uneven road surfaces including long outstanding problems in the School Street area in the Acomb. White line repainting is also behind schedule.
The Councils new graffiti removal service has been successful although utility boxes and some private boundaries are still subject to attack. The utilities in particular take a long time to clean their boxes. We’d like to see the Council team undertaking this work and more effort being made to fine those who are responsible.
Speculation is mounting that the government will ask local Councils to reopen civic amenity (recycling) sites where they have been closed. York’s Hazel Court facility has been closed for several weeks now – something which has been a particular issue since green waste bin emptying was also suspended. There are problems with fly tipping in some neighbourhoods.
Several local authorities have kept their amenity sites open and have also continued green waste collections.
Elsewhere some other public services such as street cleaning have generally been improved since the lockdown with hand sweeping being reintroduced on some estates.
We’ve reported several issues for attention
NB. We have been told that the York Council will be publishing its highway programme for the current year “in the near future”.
The number of Council staff working on repairing York’s footpaths and roads has dropped from 59 in 2011 to 35 today. Some of the work is, of course, undertaken by contractors.
The cuts reflect a 25% reduction in the investment being made in resurfacing the City’s highways.
During 2012 and 2013 the Labour administration cut highways repairs expenditure by around 50%. It is still not back to the level that they inherited from the last LibDem administration in 2011.
The highways repairs budget is down from £5.1 million in 2011 to only £3.8 million for 2015.
There have, however, been increases in the amounts being spent on street lighting and drainage.
Expenditure of £1.2 million on new street lights in 2012, however, did not produce the savings in running costs – or reliability – that were expected.
The day to day running costs of lighting actually increased in 2013, while fault reports also remain high.
A copy of the spreadsheet, which also details the mileage of road that has been resurfaced each year, can be found by clicking here.
The Council has revealed that it is spending £200,000 filling potholes and resurfacing the roads over which Tour de France competitors will ride in July.
Vesper Drive residents pitch to have their cul de sac resurfaced
Competition for the funding is hotting up with some residents (right) spotting an opportunity to get much needed road repairs completed.
The Council has now cancelled the meeting which was to have considered how the supplementary highways resurfacing budget will be spent. No explanation has been given and no new date, for a replacement meeting, has been offered!
Meanwhile the Council has said, in response to a Freedom of Information request, that it still plans to accommodate 800 caravans and 2000 tents on Monk Stray over the tour weekend (5th/6th July).
There is some concern that the “slimmed down” City of York Council has agreed to a programme which is does not have the resources to organise properly.
Only a handful of Councillors have been briefed on the detail of what is happening (or not happening)
