It looks like many highways defects have been left waiting for attention for so long that expensive remedial works are now needed.
Many carriageways which needed patching in the summer and autumn were ignored. Now some are worn down to the hardcore base while others have multiple surface defects. Several represent a hazard for two wheeled transport users.
We have reported the following streets (but these may just be the tip of the iceberg).
Walker Drive
Vincent Way
Gladstone Street
Hotham Avenue
Lowfields Drive
School Street
There are also some problems also with leaf and tree detritus. We’ve reported two areas
Green Lane
Kingsthorpe
Finally builders waste has been dumped in the little Green Lane garage area. We’ve asked for it to be removed.
Thanks to Osbaldwick Councillor Mark Waters – a professional horticulturalist – we have identified one of the weeds that is damaging road and footpath surfaces on the west of the City
Horsetail (Equisetum arvense), often called
mare’s tail, is an invasive, deep-rooted perennial weed that will spread
quickly to form a dense carpet of foliage, crowding out less vigorous plants in
beds and borders.
The RHS
says that horsetail “is persistent, and several applications of a strong weed
killer – possibly over a number of years – may be necessary to
completely eradicate the problem”
Horsetail has appeared in several areas in west York. These include the Council garage areas on Kingsway West and on little Green Lane. It is already doing considerable damage to the recently bitmaced forecourt access road at Green Lane.
We will now be formally submitting an official complaint about lack of action on weed growth in several areas. For example, weeds reported in early May on the Beaconsfield Street back lane have still not been cut back. It is a similar picture at many traffic islands
Erection of single storey extension
extending 4.05 metres beyond the rear wall of the original house, with a height
to the eaves of 2.54 metres and a total height of 2.77 metres.
No response yet from
the site liaison officer following residents’ concerns about delivery arrangements
at the Lowfields development site.
Concerns about the impact that the large spoil mountains are having on the
local environment have also still to be addressed.
Spoil mountains growing at Lowfields
At a planning committee
meeting earlier in the week some progress was made on the plans to create 5 new
parking spaces on Tudor Road.
The Lowfields Action Group Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LowfieldsActionGroup/ reports that officials have confirmed that the contractor responsible for building the new access road will also construct the parking spaces as part of the same contract. Although they said that the work would be done “at the same time” no planning condition was included requiring the 3 new “on street” parking spaces to be constructed before the existing ones are lost.
The Council as both the owner and developer
of the site could have offered a unilateral agreement on this but failed to do
so.
Cllr Andrew Waller
was the only Westfield ward representative to speak up on behalf of residents.
He said that the parking spaces to the rear of 108 Tudor Road were too close to
the property. He also asked that improvements be made at the Tudor Road /Gale
Lane junction.
The discussion
about the Yorspace development was a disappointing. Councillors completely failed to challenge the
claim that the proposed homes will be “affordable”. The developer claims
they will be “affordable” The Councils own housing officer has confirmed that
they will not.
This contradiction remains unexplained.
A Freedom
of Information request on a related issue is still outstanding. A response
is due on Monday,
No convincing answers given on car parking arrangements. The 12 spaces will not be adequate to cater for the needs of all occupiers and visitors. Overflow parking will therefore further compromise space on Tudor Road, Green Lane and Kingsthorpe. The developers say that occupiers of the building “will not be allowed to own a car” and that all vehicles using the provided spaces will be “communally owned”.
We doubt very much whether they will be able
to enforce such a rule.
The only good thing
to come out of the debate was an offer from the developer to look again at boundary
treatments. They seem to be backing away for the idea of removing the railings.
The railings offer good security while permitting the movement of small mammals
like hedgehogs.
Results of a door to door survey in the Hamilton Drive part of Acomb have seen Labour fall to their lowest ever level of support.
Asked which party they would support if there were a Council election tomorrow, only 3% said they would vote Labour.
The Conservatives and UKIP were vying for second place behind the Liberal Democrats who were favored by 40%
The poor Labour showing is put down to problems with the introduction of new waste collection arrangements and threats to reduce the amount of ice clearance undertaken in the neighbourhood.
