We were unable to collect all household waste from Acomb due to a vehicle breakdown.
We were unable to collect all recycling waste from parts of Acomb and Dringhouses due to vehicle capacity.
We were unable to collect all garden waste from parts of Holgate due to vehicle breakdowns.
All these will be recollected on Thursday 2 July. Please present your containers for collection by 7.00am.
“All scheduled household waste collections have been made, including waste from Wigginton, Haxby and Strensall.
We were unable to collect recycling from a number of areas due to operational restrictions to do with Covid-19.
This recycling will be collected on Saturday 30 May or Monday 1 June. Please present your containers for collection by 7.00am.
We were unable to collect garden waste from a number of terraced areas due to the large amount to be collected and capacity issues.
This recycling will be collected on Saturday 30 May or Monday 1 June. Please present your containers for collection by 7.00am.
All outstanding garden waste and recycling waste from earlier in the week has been collected”.
Works will start on Monday 24 February and are expected to be fully completed by Thursday 12 March, working between 9am and 4pm Monday to Friday and 8am and 4pm at weekends.
The scheme at the junction will include replacing outdated traffic (pedestrian crossing) signals with new, more reliable ones and installing a new puffin style pedestrian crossing.
The five year traffic signal asset renewal programme was given the green light by the council in November 2015 at a public meeting.
The total replacement programme will cost £2.620m over six years and will be funded through the capital programme budget and the existing Local Transport Plan budget.
Residents are urged to plan ahead, allow more time for their journeys on these routes and to consider alternatives and to use public transport where possible.
To allow for the works to be undertaken safely it will be necessary to close a lane and operate temporary traffic signals during part of the work. This also means that Watson Street will be under signal control also.
A controlled crossing will be provided during construction to allow pedestrians to cross the road safely.
Pedestrian routes and access to all businesses and properties will be retained throughout the duration of the works. It will be necessary to temporarily close footways in the works area at certain times during the works and footway diversion routes will be put in place.
Although every attempt will be made to keep delays to a minimum, motorists are expected to experience delays while the works are underway Those using the junction are urged to plan ahead, allow more time for journeys on these routes and to consider alternatives and to use public transport where possible.
For any enquiries regarding these works please email: tsar@york.gov.uk
The Council’s new graffiti removal system seems to be working well. We’ve reported a couple of instances this weekend
Been a horrible day for the Council with many more missed bin collections.
Recycling collections were missed in Haxby, New Earswick, Strensall and Wigginton.
Green waste bins weren’t emptied in Haxby, Wigginton and Strensall. The bins not emptied in Woodthorpe on Tuesday still haven’t been collected.
Household waste wasn’t collected in part of Holgate (blocked access).
Sources inside the Council point to continuing difficulties in recruiting staff including drivers. There has still not been any statement from the Council leadership about this issue or why replacement vehicles haven’t been introduced into the fleet.
Tomorrow we’ll reveal what the Councils PR department have been up to instead of updating residents on important information like this.
The new York Council has rightly decided to plant more trees and expand the areas devoted to wildflowers with good propagation features.
More trees will help , in a modest way, to offset the losses both locally and internationally which have occurred over recent years.
The plight of bees robbed of propagating flowers in urban environments, because of increased hard surfacing and use of herbicides, is well documented.
The Council does however need to understand that such a policy is not a cheap alternative . The authority will need to plant the right species of trees to match the needs of specific locations. Too many well intended “plant a tree in 83” type schemes resulted in the wrong type of tree being planted in the wrong location.
This is particularly true in the case of highway trees (those in verges) where lack of regular maintenance has meant that many have grown the point that they interfere with passing vehicles, overhead plant or neighbouring properties. The only pruning that they get is from high sided vehicles which sooner or later impact on branches often sending them crashing down onto the highway.
High winds can have a similar effect.
The problem can be traced to an inadequate maintenance budget. This was given a modest boost in the Council most recent review.
Before planting more trees – there are plenty of spaces where new mini forests could be created in and around the City – the Council should first sort out its existing stock
For some people wildflowers are synonymous with pervasive weed growth. We have seen the neglect of highways over the summer although some lobbyists have argued that the weed growth will at least be “good for nature”.
We doubt that, with damage to paths and drains likely to pose an expensive hazard.
But there are locations where the Council could proactively plant low maintenance flowers which would greatly increase propagation opportunities.
The authority will need a proactive programme which will need to include a commitment to the long term maintenance of any planted areas.
Heworth Without and Holgate reviewed
The Heworth Without ward is home to 3,933 residents. Average incomes are lower than the City average. 89% of residents own their home. 7% rent privately and 3% are social tenants. There are no Council homes in the area. 1.3% are out of work. Crime levels are significantly below average. 94.12% of residents are satisfied with their local area as a place to live (York average 88.6%). 18.75% believe that they can influence decisions in their local area (City average 26.2). Source
Elections
This area had been held by the LibDems for most of the last 20 years and longer. The only interruption came in 2007 when, following a change of LibDem candidate, the late Bill Bennett won the seat for the Conservatives.
His triumph didn’t last long as he sadly passed away a few months later. The resultant by election saw Nigel Ayre elected with a substantial majority.
The ward has been solidly LibDem ever since.
Neither the Tories nor the Greens have found a local candidate while Labour have not revealed where their candidate lives.
Nigel Ayre is popular in the ward and has worked hard to free it from the threat of development. He may be less well regarded in some other parts of the City where he has fronted the Councils, sometimes divisive, leisure polices. He was also one of those, together with Keith Aspden, who was unjustly accused of breaking standards rules.
The LibDems will expect to retain this seat.
Prediction
1 LibDem seat
The Holgate ward is home to 12,786 residents. Average incomes are lower than the City average. 23% of residents own their home. 23% rent privately and 12% are social tenants. There are 476 Council homes in the area. 1.5% are out of work. Crime levels are slightly above average. 90.32% of residents are satisfied with their local area as a place to live (York average 88.6%). 30.0% believe that they can influence decisions in their local area (City average 26.2). Source
Elections
This ward was won by the LibDems in 2003. It has been Labour since 2007
.. & that is the problem for the LibDems both here and in nearby wards with a high proportion of social housing. For many years in York the LibDems were the natural alternative to Labour in the poorer parts of the City. The 2003 success was based on attracting large numbers of votes from Council tenants and those living in smaller terraced properties in the Leeman Road area. The by election campaign, which should have been easy fodder for the LibDem machine, seemed to falter in those areas. Some blame an influx of “Middle England” strategists into the local party for the failure.
The trend figure disguises a freak poor performance for the LibDems in 2015 probably as a result of the General Election taking place on the same day. A by election in February 2018, which saw the LibDems fielding a credible local candidate, saw the parties share of the vote return to 32.3% – but still well behind Labour.
If the party has now got its act together, it should win seats here. It has arguably got the best candidates (local, experienced, committed to the area).
If the lessons have been learnt, then, starting from a strong second place, the LibDems should overhaul Labour. Labour have sacked two of their existing Councillors. They join Sonya Crisp who quit earlier and caused the by election.
In their places are two new youthful candidates only one of whom lives in the ward (The other is one of those who declines to reveal her address).
She is less frank than one of the Tory candidates who admits to living in Beverley. That is an 80 mile round trip and probably some kind of record! Her fellow Tory candidates decline to say where they live.
Prediction
2 Labour seats, 1 LibDem seat
As we reported in February, West Bank Park Lodge is to be made safe.
The building was subject to an arson attack in 2016.
It has now been revealed that the demolition contract will cost £35,503, The contract was awarded to MGL demolition.
The police have still to make any arrests in connection with the arson incident
The York Central Partnership is launching the ‘Festival of York Central’ and calling on the people of York to join the conversation around the site and help shape this part of the city for future generations.
An exhibition exploring the emerging masterplan for the development is at the centre of the festival, and will be open to the public from the 21 March to 27 April 2018, in The Gallery at the National Railway Museum.
Accompanying the exhibition, My Future York are organising a wide programme of events, under the My York Central project. This will include walking tours, workshops and speaking events, to further capture the needs and ideas of York residents and explore the challenges that York Central faces. The full programme of events and timings will be available at www.myyorkcentral.org.
(more…)
