Traffic congestion mounting in York this evening

click to update and get larger scale map

click to update and get larger scale map

Traffic congestion is growing in York this evening.

Meanwhile the Council has published what it describes as its first review of the Lendal bridge trial closure.

It implicitly admits that signage of the closure was initially inadequate.

Key data such as the number of fines imposed, the number of shoppers in the central area and the impact on residential pollution levels have not been revealed by the Council.

Issues like these are set to be raised by opposition Councillors at the Councils next full meeting which is to be held on 10th October.

Lendal Bridge closure could be open to legal challenge

Lendal bridge after its clsure

Labour’s controversial decision to close Lendal Bridge may be open to legal challenge according to opposition councillors.

With the Council showing reluctance to admit how much is being raised in fines, arising from the use of ANPR cameras installed on Lendal bridge and Coppergate, a new threat to the controversial project is emerging.

Liberal Democrat Councillors have revealed that the decision to close the city-centre bridge was taken before an assessment of the impact it would have on disabled residents was completed.

City of York Council’s own guidelines say that ‘Community Impact Assessments’ (CIAs) should be done at the development stage of any policy and before any decision is taken. However, the CIA on the closure of Lendal Bridge was only completed on the 12th September – a full two weeks after the closure started and months after the decision was originally taken in May.

(more…)

Friday 13th – Looking unlucky for York Council as problems with traffic congestion and un-emptied waste bins grow.

The Council’s web site crashed for a short time as problems with traffic congestion and un-emptied waste bins mount.

Click to update

Click to update

A combination of the Lendal Bridge closure, poor weather and high traffic volumes is causing mounting delays on the northern by pass and the inner ring road.

Further congestion is expected tomorrow as the City hosts the “skyride”.

Meanwhile the backlog in emptying waste bins shows little sign of subsiding. There is talk of working on Saturday to address the backlog but how residents will be made aware of such a decision remains a mystery.

The local media have been strangely reluctant to report the scale of the problem pausing only to remind residents to put their bin out by 0700 hours – pretty much futile if the bins aren’t cleared for over 24 hours.

The Council is now saying “ on Friday 13th September some properties in the following streets did not have their garden waste collected as scheduled:

Poppleton – Streets and all streets off

• Station Road
• Longridge Lane
• Black Dykes Lane
• Main Street
• Ebor Way
• Montague Road
• Millfield Lane
• Beech Grove
• Westfield Close
• Willow Croft
• Hodgeson Lane
• The Green

Clifton – Streets and all streets off• Shipton Road
• Malton Way
• Brompton Road
• Rawcliffe Lane (part)
• Surray Way
• Filingsdale Road
• Eastholme Drive
• Northolme Drive
• Southolme Drive
• Westholme Drive
• Grasmere Grove
• Borrowdale Drive
• Westmore Drive
• Alwyne Drive
• Alwyne Grove
• Westholme Drive
• Potterdale Drive

Rawcliffe – Streets and all streets off• Bowness Drive
• Furness Drive
• Howard Drive
• Troutsdale Avenue
• Stainsdale Close
• St Marks Grove
• Bilsdale Close
• Manor Park Road
• Manor Way
• Rawcliffe Croft
• Eva Avenue
• Manor Lane
• Cobham Way
• Armstrong Way
• Conningham Avenue
• Village Street

We will return to these properties to make collections on Saturday 14th September. Please ensure that your bin is out by 7am as the crews will be returning early in the morning.

Lendal Bridge – the unanswered questions

The Council claim to have published on their web site a complete list of answers given to question raised during their “twitter” Q & A session last week.

Problem is – they haven’t!

Amongst those still not answered are:

Did the Council answer the key Lendal Bridge questions? – UPDATE “answers will go onto Council web site!”

Not even close.

They just ignored the controversial ones.

They were right in principle to try a “twitter” Q & A but the results will be inaccessible, and largely incomprehensible, to many.

Not surprisingly Councils Labour Leaders seem to have taken to the hills.

LATEST – Council say they WILL add twitter Q & As to their web site.

Will the Council answer the key Lendal Bridge questions. Why are no Labour Councillors being held to account?

Potentially the biggest test this teatime for the Lendal Bridge closure.

The schools are back and we have heavy rain.

Poor weather usually adds around 10% to traffic levels in the City.

click to update

click to update

Public reaction to Lendal Bridge closure. Council Q and A tomorrow (Friday)!!

£1/2 million in fine income generated by cameras on Lendal Bridge and Coppergate. Call for bridge closure trial to be suspended

We have discovered that during the first week of the Lendal Bridge closure around 1000 drivers per day were caught by enforcement cameras.

Lendal bridge after its clsure

This would have generated up to £480,000 in fine revenue, had the Council not agreed to an amnesty.

However, no formal decision was taken by the Council on the amnesty, so questions still need to be answered about who took the (admittedly correct) decision to waive the income.

An independent company is processing the ANPR recognition results for the Council. They are understood to be Imperial Civil Enforcement Solutions Ltd of Northampton. No details of the payments due to the contractor have been revealed or whether such payments vary in relation to the number of penalty notices issued.

The situation on Coppergate is equally bad.

Here the times of the access restrictions were extended with minimal publicity.

Many drivers continued to observe the old hours resulting in a large number of offenders.

The Council announced only yesterday that the fines for the first two weeks of the Coppergate restrictions – which were introduced on 1st August – had also been waived.

Why this information was not made available in August remains unclear.

Now the Council has said that around 3000 potential offenders have been caught on camera since the 16th August. Although some of these may win appeals against the penalty notices, potentially the Council could receive £160,000 in fine income for just two weeks of the restrictions.

That is equivalent to £5 million a year!

What must now be clear to even the most ardent advocate of ANPR cameras, is that their use to monitor traffic restrictions of this sort needs to be properly advertised in the period up to their introduction.

Their existence and purpose must also be clearly signed on approach roads.

The Lendal trial was rushed in by the Council and its implementation has been bungled.

Like the citywide 20 mph speed limit, it is being imposed on an unwilling population.

The trial should be suspended and a proper review conducted into the problems that have occurred.

The city’s reputation is at stake and the prosperity of the central area could be irreparably damaged if a halt to the trial is not called.

No “footfall” figures – showing the number of shoppers in the central area over the last few days – are yet available, but we fear the worst.

The blunders may prove to have put the worthy cause of increased pedestrianisation in the City back by a decade.

Monk Bar traffic lights faulty, traffic congestion on inner ring road

Click to update. Teatime expected to be busy today

Click to update. Teatime expected to be busy today

Still heavy traffic around St Leonards Place.

Don’t forget that the Council is saying that it will levy £60 fines on those misusing Lendal Bridge from today

Motorists exploit Lendal bridge fine amnesty?

click to update

click to update


It looks like many drivers have heard about the fine amnesty on Lendal Bridge this afternoon.

Many are opting to use that route in preference to the heavily congested Bootham/Clifton Bridge link.

As a result there is standing traffic on St Leonards Place as well as on Lendal Bridge itself.

The Council is being pressed to reveal the value of the fines- levied during the first 10 days of the Lendal bridge closure – that it is cancelling.

Some estimates put the figure at over £100,000.

The Council is understood to be employing a third party to process the penalty notices and it is unclear how that contractor will now be paid for the work that it has done.

The Council says that it will levy fines for misuse from tomorrow (Wednesday)