Playgrounds to reopen

Playgrounds in York will start reopening from July 8th

About 80 play areas and outdoor gyms across the city have been closed since mid March. The council will start a phased reopening of playgrounds – with social distancing and risk assessments

More details can be found in this report click

Safety barriers have already been removed from some of the equipment on Chesneys Field.

Household waste site appointments being scrapped.

The Council has said that it will shortly discontinue the requirement to book an appointment before a resident visits a household waste site

Council writes to Blue Badge holders

The York Council says that it has written to all 7,500 York Blue Badge Holders this week. The mailing provides details on what support is available to help badge holders access the city centre, including the 40 replacement Blue Badge bays in Monk Bar car park

UPDATED Deaths and test results

1700 hrs UPDATE – The government has now changed the figures on its web site. The cumulative total (at 2/7/20) is now 898 with two additional cases recorded on 29th June and one on 1st July.

The government has finally updated its web site to include “pillar 2” test results. These are the tests carried out at centres like the Poppleton Park and Ride site.

The good news is that, as of 1/7/20, there had been no new positive test results for 4 days in York.

That is the longest period with only negative results since early March.

The source data can be viewed by clicking here. An extract is reproduced below.

The failure of the authorities to make this information available promptly is one of the most disappointing aspects of the current health crisis.

NB. Tests in the UK are carried out through a number of different routes:

• Pillar 1: swab testing in Public Health England (PHE) labs and NHS hospitals for those with a clinical need, and health and care workers
• Pillar 2: swab testing for the wider population, as set out in government guidance
• Pillar 3: serology testing to show if people have antibodies from having had COVID-19
• Pillar 4: serology and swab testing for national surveillance supported by PHE, ONS, Biobank, universities and other partners to learn more about the prevalence and spread of the virus and for other testing research purposes, for example on the accuracy and ease of use of home testing

See the government’s national testing strategy for more information on the different pillars.

Attention is now likely to switch to the accessibility of information on pillar 3 and 4 data.

We also await the York Councils comments on the success, or otherwise, of local contact tracing arrangements.

As well as the absence of recent positive test results, another piece of good news is that there have been no further deaths at local hospitals (1/7/20) as a result of COVID-19. The last death was recorded on 18th June.

How busy is the City centre?

The “footfall” information for York City centre camera sites is still being updated on the “open data” web site. The data has been criticised over recent months when it was discovered that some cameras had been disconnected and the data company responsible had extrapolated data from other cameras to fill in the gaps.

It is unfortunate that this issue wasn’t remedied before lock-down occurred

Nevertheless it, together with mobile phone activity, is the only measure that we have of the numbers of people visiting the City centre.

The data suggests that, during June, the number of visitors to the City centre had fallen by 84% compared to the same month in 2019.

However, by the final day of the month that reduction had fallen to 62%.

That probably reflects the gradual reopening of shops and other facilities, together with the launch of an embryonic marketing campaign.

Tomorrow will see sections of the hospitality trade reopening with some cafes hoping to provide outdoor tables, while pub beer gardens may be popular if the weather improves.

So a critical weekend ahead for the City.

Micro grant scheme puts over £2m into small York business accounts

City of York Council’s extended small and micro business grant scheme is on course to deliver another £2.2m to York businesses which fell through the cracks of government support packages.

The scheme closed earlier this week and has now awarded a total of just over £1.92m  to 558 businesses, with another 113 applications pending or yet to be processed.

The grant extension follows an earlier £1m grants scheme which gave vital financial aid or access to services through membership of the Federation of Small Businesses to 800 York businesses.  

Grants payments were offered to support a wide variety of small businesses, including those in shared offices and flexible work spaces, science parks and incubators, regular market traders without a business rates assessment, nurseries, B&Bs paying council tax instead of business rates, and charity properties which all missed out under previous schemes are also eligible.

Council policy on business rent payments

Plans are in place for financial support to continue for those businesses and residents who pay council fees or rents.

Since the Coronavirus pandemic started the council has been committed to supporting businesses and residents through this unprecedented time. Plans are being put in place to ensure support continues for those who need it most.

Three months on from announcing the first financial assistance schemes, the council wants to reassure people that the existing support will still be available for those who require it.  Detailed plans are being finalised and will be taken to a decision session later this month.

In April the council announced:

• a three-month freeze on the council housing rent increase
• the extension of the York Financial assistance scheme for residents
• a £1m emergency fund for businesses
• a three-month deferral of commercial rents
• plus a raft of other measures to help residents and businesses.

In order to support more residents in need from this month (July), a new hardship fund will be established for council tenants affected by rent increases. An initial sum of £80,000 is being set aside and will be kept under review should further funds be required. Council housing tenants who can pay rent as usual, will be asked to pay the agreed increased rent charge. Those who can’t will be encouraged to talk to housing officers and will be able to apply to the hardship fund.

Commercial tenants will be able to benefit from a deferral of rent for a further three months, if required. The council will also ensure repayments can be made over an extended period of up to two years.

From July, the council will write to all its commercial tenants to discuss any financial support available to them.