Demolition of Newbury Avenue garages set to add to parking problems in Kingsway area

Residents only have until 11^th April to record any objections to plans to demolish the 28 garages on Newbury Avenue.

There is a lot of concern that the planning application, to build 5 bungalows on the site, has been submitted before work on providing alternative, off street, car parking in area has even started.

Although the bungalow proposal has received more support that the original plan to build a block of flats on the site, parking problems have increased in the intervening 2 years.

As long ago as 2012 the Council stopped letting the garages when they became vacant. Some were used for temporary shortage, but several have remained empty.

There is a long waiting list of people wanting to rent garages in the area.

These underused garages, together with the pressures put on spaces by visitors to the new Hob Stone development, has led to a campaign by local residents to get more off-street parking (Email Hob.Moor@btinternet.com).

Last year, local Councillors identified at least 8 possible sites.

These included one on Kingsway West with the rest being on Windsor Garth and Ascot Way. The plan was to use matrix surfacing so the spaces continued to look like they were still part of the green areas (the technique has already been used successfully on other plots in the estate).

The spaces were to have been partly funded by the “Ward Committee” who have a delegated budget of around £50,000 a year. Initially it was hoped that lay-bys would be provided in 2016 but this didn’t happen.

A report to a recent meeting has now confirmed that none of the 2017/18 financial year laybys will be completed before November 2018 at the earliest.

To add to transport pressures on the estate, the Council is also considering major redevelopment plans for the Lincoln Court/Windsor House site which could further add to parking and congestion problems on estate roads.

Inadequate parking provision has led to access problems for larger vehicles and the bus service.

The planning application gives details of a contamination survey that have been completed on the site together within internal layout plans for the bungalows.

Objectors to the planning application – who can ask that the planning committee impose a Section 106 agreement requiring the developer to fund 28 alternative parking spaces before any work commences – should be Emailed to the Council at planning.comments@york.gov.uk quoting reference 18/00410/GRG3 before 11th April.

What’s on in York: Westfield meeting at Hob Moor school tonight (Monday)

Newbury Avenue development – 5 bungalows proposed

Parking concerns remain

The latest proposals for the development of the Newbury Avenue garage site will be reported to the Councils Executive committee next week.

The new scheme involves the provision of 5 one bedroomed bungalows which will be built to a standard that allows easy wheelchair access.

The site is considered suitable for older or disabled people as it is reasonably close to the Lidl store and the number 4 bus service,

The proposal is undoubtedly better than the original plan for 9 apartments.

Later, plans for 8 bungalows were released but these proved to be too cramped.

The five bungalow specialist accommodation now proposed is unlikely to significantly increase traffic volumes in the area, one of the concerns expressed about earlier schemes

However, the report fails to address the lack of car parking space on Newbury Avenue outside the existing flats (10 -16) or in the wider Windsor Garth area.

Residents will expect that the demolition of 28 garages (most of which have deliberately been left empty by the Council over recent years) will be mitigated by the provision of more off-street parking space in the area.

In total sites for over 20 parking spaces have been identified in the neighbourhood and there is a reasonable expectation that a Section 106 agreement will fund most of these.

If the spaces are provided, then the revised Council proposal is likely to gain more widespread support

The meeting will also hear new proposals for the development of a similar garage site on Chaloners Road

Latest Newbury Avenue bungalow plans to be discussed on Tuesday

The Council has published several development plan proposals for the Newbury Avenue garage area site over the last few years. LibDem Councillors successfully resisted the plan to erect a block of flats feeling that this would simply add to existing traffic and parking problems in the area.

The design also interfered with open views of Hob Moor.

The Council has now come up with, what they hope will be, a final design for the area. The number of bungalows has been reduced to 5. Any plans will be put before the planning committee. Residents will be able to formally object to (or support) the proposals.

The plans will be on display at the Indoor Bowls Club on Thanet Road before the Ward meeting which is taking place on Tuesday at 6:30pm. Affected residents are being invited to come along to view them and ask questions.

At the moment the project is suspended as existing parking problems need to be addressed before any more traffic is introduced into the area. Sites for additional parking have been identified and Councillors await proposals from Council officials on timescales, funding etc.

One of the possibilities is a lay-by outside the existing flats in Newbury Avenue (10 –16)

It is unlikely that the plans will be progressed to the planning stage much before next year.

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

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

Bungalows scheme for Newbury Avenue gets “go ahead”

York Council Executive ducks car parking issue

Newbury Avenue garages The construction of 8 bungalows on a garage site at Newbury Avenue was approved by the York Council last night It replaces a scheme for 9 apartments hatched by Labour Councillors when they held office.

The bungalows, which would attract “downsizing” older people, have been criticised by Labour last night as making “inefficient” use of the land.

Unfortunately the Council has so far ducked out of dealing with the knock on effects of developing the garage site.

More cars will now be parked on an estate where road side parking space is already at a premium.

The extra homes – added to the still to be occupied Hob Stones development – will also generate more traffic on the only access route (Kingsway West between Danesfort Avenue and Ascot Way).

No attempt has been made by the Council to address these issues. They are likely to be the major objections to the scheme when it is put before the Planning Committee later in the year.

NB. Although last nights Executive committee meeting can in theory be viewed “on line” (click) part of the section on Newbury Ave has been muted by officials. So residents may never know what was actually said about the plans!

New proposals for development in Newbury Avenue

Westfield Councillors have given a guarded welcome to revised proposals which would see 8 bungalows built on the garage site on Newbury Avenue.

Lack of parking space on Windsor Garth is now a major issue.

The scheme replaces a controversial plan to build an apartment block there.

In a leaflet circulating to affected residents (below), the Councillors emphasise that a plan, being put before the Council’s Executive on 29th September, needs to be amended to include the funding of additional off-street parking spaces in the estate.

There are already acute parking problems in the area which have been exacerbated by the new Hob Stones development.

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Drugs and housing – mixed messages

Two Councillors were using the media to tell the York Council what it should be doing last week. One was right, the other wrong.

Drugs

One commentator hit the nail of the head. She said that the scale of drug abuse problems in the city should be more generally understood.

She was right to do so.

While local police officers often conduct high profile drugs raids, the level of reports – for what some regard as a victim less crime – almost certainly disguises the real level of abuse.

Crime stats reveal that only 202 drug related crime reports were made in the City during the year ending in July. This was 2.8% of the total crimes reported.

This compares to 3510 reports of “anti social behaviour” during the same period.

Anecdotal evidence paints a different picture.

York’s public toilets are frequently misused by drug users who leave their paraphernalia lying around. This poses a threat to other users and to cleaning staff.

So more candour about drug related issues is needed.

Newbury Avenue

A snide contribution from a Heworth Ward Councillor claimed that the development of flats on the Newbury Avenue garage site should go ahead immediately.

Cars parked on grassed amenity area in Windsor Garth

She clearly had little knowledge of the scale of problems already evident in the area mainly as a result of the late running development of the Our Lady’s school site.

Acute parking problems and traffic issues have been exacerbated by the development while road surfaces – and in particular the speed tables – have been badly damaged.

Some residents are now resorting to parking on grassed amenity areas (see photo right) while the Council still refuses to release much needed estate improvement funding to the area “because to doesn’t have a residents association”.

The Council is right to pause any additional building work in the area at least until it sorts out existing issues with public services.

Newbury Avenue- Council are right to pause any further development

The new Council has suspended the letting of a contract to build on the garage site on Newbury Avenue.

The scheme, hatched by the last Labour administration, had been pushed through against strong opposition from residents who lived in the area. Most objectors had pointed to the lack of alternative car parking space on the estate and to problems with the road network (which is limited to a single entry route from Kingsway West).

The problems had been exacerbated by the Council’s decision to almost double the number of homes being built on the nearby Our Lady’s school site.

One idea, thrown out by Labour, had been a proposals that anyone affected by the new buildings, and who did not have an off-street parking space, would be offered a free dropped kerb/verge crossover.

The Council were asked to look at other sites including the derelict land to the rear of the Library on Front Street. A site which is very well located for the kind of amenities that the elderly occupants of the flats are likely to need.

Local Councillor Dafydd Williams was blamed by many for the decision. He was forced to quit his Westfield seat in May and seek election in a ward located on the other side of the City. The Councillor who claimed responsibility for the proposed development (Simpson-Laing from Acomb) lost her seat at the elections.

The project suspension will provide another opportunity for the issues surrounding this development to be reviewed.

NB Cllr Sue Hunter (Email cllr.shunter@ork.gov.uk) is making efforts to revive the local Residents Association. The last Association collapsed 2 years ago when most of is members resigned in protest against Labour’s controversial local development decisions.

Newbury Avenue development update

A Council planning committee will decide on Wednesday whether to give the go ahead for the development of the Newbury Avenue garage site.

click to access

The scheme has been heavily criticised for reducing still further the amount of off street parking available in an area which has a high proportion of flats.

The plan involves demolishing 28 garages.

The Council has refused to provide more parking lay-bys or to reinvigorate the dropped kerb programme to make more spaces available.

Last week – in a behind closed doors decision – they refused to act on parking problems being experienced outside the Carlton House flats on Windsor Garth

Instead they have directed people who rent garages to other blocks some as far away as Foxwood. A waiting list for these garages is now building up and parking problems are becoming acute.

Now the published plans suggest that the scheme designers have failed to recognize the need for a secure boundary between the new buildings and Hob Moor. It is 25 years since the Council recognised that – to keep down crime levels as well as preserve the Hob Moor nature reserve – robust railings were need on the boundary. This lesson seems to have been forgotten.

The Council admits, “That the site is contaminated and that it lies near to a closed landfill site”

The scheme design is an improvement on what was originally proposed but many residents will feel that these 9 flats -when taken together with the 55 homes being built on the nearby Our Lady’s school site – represent an overdevelopment.

Damage to roads in the area is the first tangible sign of an accelerated decline in public service standards in the area.

Residents who wish to address the meeting (which starts at 2:00pm) may do so by telephoning (01904) 551031 or by Email to –louise.cook@york.gov.uk /catherine.clarke@york.gov.uk

The committee is expected to visit the site on Tuesday 7^th October arriving at Newbury Avenue at 10:15am.