The current icy spell is taking its toll on poorly maintain road and path surfaces. The Council recently agred to undertake some repairs on teb potholed – and well used – section of Foxwood Lane near the sports area. The work has yet to be completed and the potholes continue to pose a hazard particularly for users of two wheeled transport.
Foxwood Lane potholes are a safety hazard
The Council promised to repair damaged roads, paths and verges when the building works on Newbury Avenue and Ascot Way were completed. There is little sign of progress.
Kingsway West traffic cushions now breaking up Kingsway West- Newbury Avenue verge has been damaged by delivery vehicles
Footpaths on the even numbered side of Kingsway West are also in poor condition. Subsidence means that they lean at an angle, adding to problems cause by numerous reinstatements. Not for the first time, we have reported poor rubbish storage, and some fly tipping, to the rear of the Front Street shops.
The arrival of icy weather will put additional pressures on some public services.
Snow brings problems as well as scenic relief
The recent snowfall, and subsequent icy road and footpath surfaces, means the the gritters have been out working full time.
There was even a promise from the Council this year that cycle path would be salted but so far this seems to have been sporadic. The Tadcaster Road cycle path, for example, was icy earlier this week.
Some Councillors have reported that they have been out checking local salt bins. They have found some empty, some “solid” & some contaminated with rubbish
We’re not sure that this audit has been completed everywhere though.
With Council resources stretched by the pandemic, this is an activity where residents can help by checking their local salt bin and by removing any litter.
Please let your local Councillor know if a bin needs filling.
Ice and frost will also have a major impact on poorly maintained road and footpath surfaces.
We’ve recently reported potholes on Askham Lane (near the A1237 roundabout) and on Foxwood Lane (near the Thanet Road Sports Area).
There are likely to be many more examples around the City. The sooner the potholes are filled in the less damage will occur (and the safer our roads will be).
We urge residents to use the 24/7 “report it” system (click) to highlight any concerns to the Council
The York Council has an additional £1.8 million to spend repairing roads in the city. It comes for a central government “potholes and challenge” fund.
In addition, an additional £5 million is available to spend on Tadcaster Road although the carriageway itself there has already been resurfaced earlier in the summer.
Apparently, this additional funding will be allocated to improving drainage systems in the area.
Many roads and footpaths in the City are in poor condition so the extra investment will be welcomed by residents.
However, we are approaching the winter period so the Council needs to move quickly to get the work scheduled.
Its good to see that the potholes on the Morrell Court access road have been patched. Earlier in the year the Council claimed that they were not deep enough to justify maintenance work.
No doubt the Kangaroo that jumped out of one last week managed to persuaded them otherwise!
A York Council manager has responded promptly to reports of Epicormic (lower trunk) growth on some trees in the Cornlands Road/Tudor Road area.
Such growth can cause sight line problems for drivers.
The manager says the branches will be trimmed.
Dumping is a problem at some empty properties.
We’ve reported a similar issue with a tree at the junction of Cornlands Road and Askham Lane.
We also received a prompt response from Cllr Demise Craghill who has executive responsibility for housing in the City.
She was sympathetic to our complaints about delays in bringing empty Council houses back into use and promised to pursue two long standing issues in the Foxwood Lane area.
Morrell Court
Lack of action to level potholes on the Morrell Court access road has now been registered as a formal complaint with the Council. The defects were first reported 6 months ago.
Elsewhere black bags have been left next to the recycling bins at the Acomb Wood Drive shopping area.
With the York Council now back dealing with potholes, we’ve taken the opportunity to report 3 more problem streets.
These are on Herman Walk near Martin Cheeseman Court.Particularly hazardous pothole (for cyclists) on School Street, although the whole carriageway really needs resurfacingNearby Howe Street is not much better
There was some excitement last week when the government announced extra funding to tackle “pothole” repairs. The top line figure bandied around was an increase of £5.6 million.
That would have effectively doubled the York Councils highway repairs budget.
It turns out that this included already committed grants which have already been allocated to cover this years repairs programme.
The actual new money increase is £1.8 million.
Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation engineers
Even this is not additional money. As the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation has now made clear, it is simply expenditure being re categorised.
It is not the first time that a government has announced the same spending decision on multiple occasions.
Still a substantial sum but, to put it into context, last year the Council spent £1/2 million just repairing one street (Stonegate).
The sooner the Council comes up with proposals – including the use of funds delegated to wards – for the resurfacing programme for this year the better.
Roads will only get busier as the virus threat recedes and people get back to their more normal lifestyles. Road closures and subsequent delays later in the year could impede the City’s economic recovery.
City of York Council is getting a £5.592 million grant from the government to be spent on road maintenance. It would effectively double this years resurfacing and repair budget, although the phasing of the grant hasn’t been confirmed.
York residents say the worse public service in the City is road repairs
When the Council published its repairs budget a few weeks ago it attracted criticism as many paths and carriageways – although uneven and potentially hazardous – were omitted from the programme.
The new money should allow the Council to begin to restore the highways network to standards last seen in the previous decade.
How quickly additional resurfacing capacity can be made available by the Council and its contractors remains to be seen.
We hope that the focus will be on large scale patching and complete carriageway resurfacing schemes, avoiding the prospect of hastily filled potholes reappearing when bad weather returns.
The lower tree branches that were impeding the cycle path on Thanet Road were trimmed back yesterday. Less than 24 hours from a report being made to action being taken. Impressive.Grassed area opposite Foxwood shops clear of litter for the first time in over a year. Partly down to dedicated cleansing operative who is doing a sound job in this area.Extension to Lincoln Court independent living flats completed. Suggests that much missed children’s play area could be reinstated when builders leave?Slower progress on the Centre of Excellence for disabled children on Ascot Way. The project was never likely to meet its June target completion date even before the health crisis intervened. Weeds are already overgrowing the little Green Lane garage area. This was problem last year. We expected that the garage owned site would be added to this years treatment list although there is no sign of “die back” yet. A builders skip has also appeared on the site. We’ve reported the potholes that have appeared ion Windsor Garth
Good to see the North Yorkshire County Council levelling potholes on roads near Healaugh today. The roads are seeing increased use by Corona exercisers (cyclists and walkers) at present, many of whom are from York.
The potholes are mainly on the margins – an area mostly used by cyclists. Obstructions there can present a hazard.
Potholes being patched on rural road by North Yorkshire County Council.
The situation within the York Council area is less clear. Some highway defects have been marked up but it is unclear when repairs will actually be completed.
There has been no announcement by the Council on when the additional pothole filling team will start work although this may be influenced by the current health crisis.
Similarly there has been no announcement of a list of roads and paths that will be resurfaced during the current (financial) year. Resurfacing work is, of course, even less likely to restart before the health restrictions are lifted, but normally a list of roads would have been published by now.
One piece of good news is that contractors have been seen treating weeds around the Honeysuckle House amenity area on Chaloners Road today. It seems that the Council may be able to keep on top of weed growth on paths this year.
