York Council develops colour blindness

Promise to tell the truth?

The Council has published a report which contains a blatantly misleading statement. In an attempt to justify the development of former school playing fields at various sites in the City, it claims that these are “brownfield” land.

Playing fields are classified as greenfield sites, although they do not necessarily form part of the Green Belt. (The former built footprint of the school sites could be regarded as “brownfield”. In the case of Lowfields this is around 50% of the total site area).

Sites like Lowfields – where the proposed development of the playing field has attracted a lot of opposition – have not yet even been subject to the public examination which will only start when a draft Local Plan is finally agreed for the City.

The Council is therefore being asked to spend thousands of pounds of taxpayers money on architects and professional fees on projects which may never get off the drawing board.

Council owned sites proposed for early development

Nor has there been any discussion with residents about the future of sites like the Askham Bar car park (former park and ride site) on Moor Lane.

Ironically the Council has, once again, chosen to ignore the vacant – and derelict – brownfield land behind Acomb Library. Sites like these could be developed quickly with one Front Street option being to provide more accommodation for the library and public services on the ground floor with flats being built above.

The site is ideally located to accommodate older people who the Council identifies will generate by far the largest growth in housing demand over the next 20 years.

Nor does it appear keen to exploit the opportunities available to purchase additional Council houses on the open market – the quickest way of supplementing social housing stocks in the City.

The report proposes a complex partnership arrangement with the central government Homes and Communities Agency. It seems that the Council leadership see themselves as developers with the aspiration to provide a mixture of house prices and tenures on individual sites.

Doing so, without an agreed strategic plan in place, represents a high risk option.

Council housing account surplus in York set to balloon to £21.5 million

The York Council’s Council housing account is set to have a surplus of £21.5 million by the end of March. The housing business plan had shown a planned surplus of £16.6 million at March 2016.

The change partly comes from higher rent income following changes to government rules. Some rents increased by 1% this year while the government have kicked into touch plans to make authorities sell off higher value properties when they became empty.

The York Council is still going through the motions of consulting on transferring its housing stock into the management of a third party. The justification for this move was never strong but, in the light of the recent financial performance of the housing revenue account, is now a waste of time and resources.

The main criticism of the housing department is their insensitivity to maintenance issues particularly when dealing with open spaces and garage areas. They have also failed to keep up with the demand for off street parking facilities.  Too often garages remain vacant for excessive periods despite high demand levels.

Hopefully some of the unexpected “profit” on the housing account will allow them to address these concerns.

Use of the suplus would also allow for a “quick fix” for some of the 1600 residents on the housing waiting list if properties were bought on the open market and used to supplement existing stocks.

Empty garages costing York Council £25,500 a year in lost rent

489 registered on waiting list for garages in west York

Figures released by the York Council confirm that there is a high level of demand for Council garages in west York.

There are waiting lists at most blocks with the most popular being at (little) Green Lane where 24 residents are seeking a garage. Ironically this is a garage area which the Council have badly neglected. It suffers from an uneven forecourt, overgrown boundaries and occasional fly tipping.

One applicant for a garage in Dijon Avenue has been waiting since 2009! 

Waiting list

Waiting list

Despite this the Council records that there are 67 garages currently vacant.

One garage in The Wandle has been unused since 2005!

empty-garages-jan-2017

Part of the problem has been a moratorium on the letting of garages in blocks which may be redeveloped.

This has affected 15 garages in Chaloners Road, which have been empty since 2014, while 21 garages in Newbury Avenue have suffered a similar fate with most empty since 2012. The development plans for Newbury Avenue are still in a state of flux so the Council is losing £500 a month in rent from that block alone.

Proposed new charges for garages have also been announced by the Council (see below)

garage-rents

We think that the Council should be much more proactive in trying to let empty garages. In many areas “on street” parking space is very limited and some residents resort to parking on verges. In turn this causes damage which is both unsightly and expensive to remedy.

The Council web site should be updated regularly with a list of garages that are empty, while Councillors should ensure that a list of garages, which are available, is displayed on local noticeboards

NB. The figures provided cover the Westfield, Acomb, Dringhouses and Holgate Wards. There are a similar number of Council garages on the east of the City

 

 

 

Investment priorities changing in York City centRE

There have been several announcements about investment in the York City centre over the last few weeks.

Details of a new hotel in Hungate have been released while most of the troubled Stonebow building will become residential with commercial and leisure at street level.

In Piccadilly, the old NCP car park site may be turned into a hotel and flats.  Nearby, Ryedale House is set to become apartments.

The Council has rejected interest in building a hotel on the former Reynard’s garage site, controversially preferring a medium term retail option involving the use of  shipping containers! This has prompted renewed calls for a planning blueprint for the area to be agreed quickly, followed by comprehensive redevelopment work.

It’s not difficult to see why retail is being squeezed in the City centre.

economy-jan-2017

There are a record number of empty shops in the City with (potential) shopper numbers declining. This can be contrasted with hotel bedroom charges (and occupancy levels) which are at record highs.

Very high sale prices on City center apartments are being achieved .

A two bedroomed flat in the Westgate development sold recently for £245,000. It had previously been sold in 2012 for £168,000 – a 45% increase.

A new 2 Bed flat conversion in Goodramgate is currently advertised for £315,000.

The drift into a hospitality led City centre economy – buoyed by high visitor numbers and more local residents – seems likely to gather pace.

We expect to see more commercial premises including shops being converted into homes. 

House prices up by 5.7% in York over last year

According to Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures published this week, house prices in York rose by 5.7% in the year to October 2016.

This is less than the national increase of 7.4%.

The most recent figure for sales volumes was for August when there were 283 sales.

Average house prices in York are now comparable with most of the rest of North Yorkshire.

Only Harrogate has higher prices.

house-prices-oct-2016

York homelessness services win gold standard award

 City of York Council’s services for preventing and managing homelessness are in the country’s top three and have been given the gold service standard.

funny_homeless_signs_32

The award was confirmed by the national governing body this week and York is the third local authority in England to ever win it.

The National Practitioner Support Service (NPSS) – funded by the Department of Communities and Local Government – has confirmed that the council has achieved the standard required. The Gold Standard can only be achieved by demonstrating that the service has a focus on early intervention and prevention of homelessness at its core.
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Nuisance neighbour’s York council tenancy ends

eviction

City of York Council has evicted a council tenant yesterday (Tuesday 6 December) for breaching the terms of his tenancy and after being successfully prosecuted for noise nuisance.

This follows a County Court Possession Order being granted to the council which stemmed from the conviction for breaching a noise abatement notice and the seizure of a CD player and speakers from the address.

The possession order and the prosecution of the breached abatement notice followed months of noise nuisance by the tenant Sean Harman (aged 37, of Bishophill Junior) who, the court heard, had been involved in other anti-social and criminal behaviour in the area.

Harman was served a noise abatement notice on 21May 2016 by council officers from the Community Safety Hub while on the weekend, late-night Noise Patrol. From a neighbouring home they witnessed ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ played so loudly it caused the floor to vibrate. The CD player used was seized from Harman’s home by officers on 24 May with support from North Yorkshire Police. On 27 July 2016, Harman was convicted in his absence at York Magistrates Court of breaching the notice and was fined a total £1,486.

The possession order allowed the council to end Harman’s council tenancy for having breached its terms by engaging in anti-social behaviour, nuisance and criminal activity.
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New partnership aims to return more long-term empty homes into use in York and Selby

Work to bring empty, unused homes back into use is being carried out by a new partnership of City of York Council, Selby District Council and Hunters Property Group.

empty-homeDuring Empty Homes Week 2016 which runs from today (28 November) to 2 December, the partnership is encouraging local property owners to get free advice and information on bringing a home which has been empty for six months or more back into use.

This advice is not only being offered to property owners in York but also to owners in Selby because City of York Council is now supporting the District Council’s empty property strategy.

Hunters Property Group has also joined the initiative with the offer of free market advice and auction valuations for the owners of empty property across York and Selby. Owners wanting to understand the market for their property, whatever its condition, and how best to realise its value can call the estate agent’s auction office.

In the past 12 months City of York Council has helped bring 23 homes back into use in the city, by offering owners advice and information, and in some cases by taking enforcement action. According to Council Tax records[1], in October/November 2016 there were 122 long-term empty properties in the city, which represents 0.5 percent of York’s total housing stock of 86,000 homes. This figure is below the regional and national average.

Since the launch of York’s empty property strategy and action plan there has been a 67 percent reduction in the number of long-term empty homes in the city. There are currently 387 long-term empty properties in Selby District, representing around one percent of the total housing stock.

 

For information and advice on bringing an empty home back to use, please contact:

Controversial Clementhorpe houses now on sale

Houses concerted for am old maltings business have been placed on the market for sale.

clementhorpe-maltings

The project sees buildings in Lower Ebor Street, that were dis-used for most of the last 50 years, being brought back into use.

The project attracted some local opposition in 2013 with opponents claiming that the internal fittings were part of the City’s heritage.

Later legal action was threatened

The entrance is a three-storey open atrium housing the conserved industrial artefacts.

There is a mix of two and three bedroom homes with three storeys and many original features. All have lower ground floor utility rooms on the former barley-growing floor.

The homes are on sale from £320,000 with Hudson Moody, York

The Clementhorpe Maltings are a grade two listed building. The building was listed for the following reasons;

* It survives as a highly legible example of a small, urban late C19 maltings, both in external appearance and the retention of all the key components of the process, namely barley and malt storage, steep, growing floors, and kiln
* It retains rare machinery relating to the malting process, principally an early C20 H J H King kiln furnace, and a cistern steep, and also related machinery such as a dressing machine by Nalder and Nalder, and a double bucket elevator.

York Council housing at risk

The York Council has decided to spend £200,000 surveying views on whether to ditch its Council house management  responsibilities.

council-housing-at-risk

Some Councillors want to transfer management of the homes to an independent company as was done in Leeds.

We think that they are wrong.

When polled 15 years ago on a similar proposal tenants voted overwhelmingly to retain the York Council as a landlord.

More recently, when asked whether they were satisfied with the Council as a landlord 89% said that they were.

The housing account currently shows a surplus although government policies could change this in the medium term. Central government sets rent levels (which they are reducing as a way of controlling benefit claims).

They also plan to sell off some Council houses, when they become vacant, to the highest bidder as a way of balancing their books. The Liberal Democrats have started a petition opposing this “sell off”. Click here

They also intend to charge “commercial rents” to tenants that they regard as “wealthy”. This plan, at least, wasn’t taken into account in a gloomy and selective officer report which prompted the outsourcing plot.

The plan was opposed by Andrew Waller and a Green Party Councillor when debated by the Council’s Executive but slipped through anyway.

The resulting turmoil and indecision will be exacerbated by the resignation of the Head of Housing Services. His post will be filled on a temporary basis via an internal appointment.

All in all, we think that the Council has more pressing issues to address.

They should abandon this plan which is a waste of time and money