Road repairs programme for York finally published – mixed news.

The programme of repairs to York’s highways network, that will take place during 2021/22, has finally been published. The programme is usually agreed in February. Work has already started on some of the listed schemes.

There is some mixed news in the report which was approved at a “behind closed doors” meeting apparently held on 23^rd April.

The highways maintenance programme (which includes not just carriageway and footpath repairs but also drainage, street lighting, City Walls, flood alleviation etc,) is one of the services which most interest residents, the programme has been delegated for officer determination for some years. Thus, the reports are not subject to scrutiny and alternative ways of allocated the budget are not publicly debated.

One key sentence in the report sums up the dilemma faced by the Council.

“Notwithstanding previous levels of investment the current funding levels are not sufficient to keep all our assets in their current condition”.

In effect, the Council has decided to focus resurfacing works on busy roads. Most side roads are being left to crumble.

Some work scheduled for 20/21, including the whole of the micro patching programme in Woodthorpe, has been delayed into the current financial year.

There is some good news.

Several long term problem locations in west York, including parts of Foxwood Lane, Askham Lane near the A1237 intersection, The Green, Bradley Lane near Rufforth, the low numbered end of Gale Lane and Thanet Road are scheduled to be resurfaced this year.

But there is no allocation for repairs on School Street and the surrounding area behind the Front Street shops, nor at many other sub-urban locations.

No footpaths in the Westfield area will be resurfaced.

There is no mention in the programme of the repairs needed to off-road cycle track infrastructure nor is there any listing of how the £1 million delegated “ward budgets” will be spent.

£877,000 of the latter budget, due to be invested last year, is being carried over into the current year. At the very least residents should be given the opportunity to influence how that section of the budget is spent.

All in all its seems that the decline in maintenance standards is set to continue for another year.

Anger as York Council plans to reduce expenditure on fixing potholes

Hopes were raised last year when the York Council established a second pothole filling team in the City. It was hoped that the initiative would at least slow the rapidly deteriorating condition of highways in the City.

Expectations were further raised when the Department of Transport allocated part of its “Pothole challenge fund” to the City.

Sadly, the hoped-for improvements have not materialised.

Many highways are breaking up under the impact of ice and frost. A well-maintained surface is less vulnerable to frost damage but lack of urgency in patching roads in the summer and autumn, means that large stretches are now unsafe for users.

The Council has been criticised this week for failing to embrace new maintenance technologies.

Now hidden within a large report, being considered by the Council later this week, is a proposal which would see less spent on resurfacing.

£600,000 will be taken from pothole filling/resurfacing and instead used to partly fund new schemes like the cycle path link from Wheldrake to Fulford.

Even the most extreme pro cycling campaigners are now realising that maintaining existing paths should be the Councils priority when funds are limited.

The existing cycle and highway networks are in poor condition. Why not fix them first before building more paths?

Sadly, one of the reasons seems to be that highway resurfacing activity is not very glamourous.

There will be no official naming of the pothole that Andy filled in.

On the other hand, a new path may – for a while – attract favourable publicity for its sponsors, at least until it too needs to be resurfaced.

Separately, the same report says that

the second resurfacing of Tadcaster Road is being delayed until the summer. Gas main works are currently taking place there.
promised repairs on National Cycle Network 65 will now not be completed until 2021/22.
£877,000, which was to have been spent this year on Highways Ward Committees schemes, will also be delayed until next year.

Now Hope Street residents join clamour for York Council to invest more in road and footpath repairs

Following yesterdays appeal by residents living in Welborne Close for improvements to roads and footpaths in their area, people living in Hope Street have added their voices to the campaign.

In the City centre street, which lies close to Walmgate, parts of the carriageway have worn away with the surface of the road now turning to dust. This is particularly dangerous for cycle and moped riders.

Footpaths also have become a patchwork of temporary reinstatements.

The Council will be considering its budget plans for next year shortly and campaigners will be seeking a substantial increase in allocations for road and footpath resurfacing across the City.

Residents angry over state of roads as Council says “collect a petition”

The York Council seems to be slipping into an alternative world as they launch “democracy week” in the City. They suggest various ways of influencing their policies and priorities including attending “budget consultation meetings”.

They seem to have developed a blind spot about the quality of some of the public services in the city.

Roads, footpaths and verges in many areas are now in appalling condition and this before we suffer the ravages of icy winter weather.

Reality check needed

One resident has written to us to complain about his difficulty in getting potholes repaired in a local road “the complaints procedure is a farce”

Potholes on poorly maintained carriageway in Welborne Close

“Resurface our roads” say York residents

£8.4 million budget allocated but disappointment for sub-urban areas

The York Council has announced which roads and footpaths will be resurfaced during 2018/19.

There is good news for Askham Lane, Middlethorpe Grove, Skelton, Marygate and the national cycle route 66 (which will get a £1/4 million resurface).

Much of the rest of the budget is taken up by the continuing street light upgrade programme, with £100,000 to be spent on remedying fibre excavation reinstatements and £400,000 on City Walls repairs (up by 25%)

School Street – City’s worst carriageway?

The Council says that the priorities were determined following surveys.

“In order to produce the programme of highway works for each year, information is drawn from a number of sources:

· Visual safety survey of all our roads and footways.

· Digital condition survey of all our roads and footways

· Detailed condition survey of all our roads and footways.

· United Kingdom Pavement Management System (UKPMS) visual and machine surveys

The survey records five condition categories, being grade 1 (very good), grade 2 (good), grade 3 (fair), grade 4 (poor) and grade 5 (very poor).

The City of York Council commission the service of Gaist Solutions Limited who carried out a detailed video survey of the whole of the council adopted highway network. The survey was utilised to assess the condition of all parts of the network.

Poor roads and footpaths that didn’t make the resurfacing list

Each road and footway is assessed and given a ranking (score) based on a range of criteria, all metrics of the network were collated and a treatment solution was determined.

The Council goes on to say that further assessments will be undertaken to identify the impacts that have arisen from the long spells of freezing conditions during winter 2017/18. Where necessary works programmes may be amended to address any change in risk arising from reductions in highway asset condition because of this

Nevertheless some residents may be bewildered when they find that their local footpath has not been included in the programme. Path surfaces in streets like St Stephens Square and Ridgeway are now very uneven.

Probably the worst carriageway in the City is School Street in Acomb which doesn’t get a mention.

There will be pressure for the council to publish the “score” that each road received when surveyed.

Plea for more investment in road and footpath maintenance

Acomb Wood Drive

With the frosty weather apparently still not behind us, highway engineers will be casting worried glances at vulnerable carriageway surfaces.

Some are already showing signs of cracking. These include Acomb Wood Drive which is on a bus route.

Further along the same bus route the surface of part of Ryecroft Avenue is beginning to disintegrate.

Ryecroft Avenue

It appears that the Council have also halted this years footpath resurfacing programme.

They should have completed work in the Foxwood area by now. There are rumours of budget overspends (not born out by reports to Council monitoring committees) but regrettably officials have yet to confirm a revised resurfacing timetable.

Hopefully tomorrows Council budget decisions will concentrate n providing adequate funding to sustain basic street level services like these.

Here come the potholes

The latest period of cold weather has resulted in frost damage to the surfaces of several local roads.

Foxwood Lane – Potholes near Foresters Walk reported

New Lane uneven carriageway reported

To report a pothole click here

60% of York residents say road maintenance is “poor”

With the York Council’s ruling Executive due to discuss it’s first quarter performance later today, a new survey has revealed that many residents are unhappy with public service standards in the City.

West York survey results July/Aug 2016

Road repairs (60% rated “poor”) and footpath repairs (57%) top the list of woes, but there is also criticism of litter bin provision and car parking arrangements in some sub-urban estates.

Best rated service was recycling (92% rated good or satisfactory), with refuse collection also rated positively (89%).

The Council’s investment in new street lighting seems to be impressing people with 87% now rating it as good or satisfactory.

However there is little evidence that the Council’s proclaimed priority – investing in street level service quality – is having a positive effect.

Dissatisfaction with roads and footpaths is at an all time high.

Councillors today will be given a different set of figures to consider. Their “key performance indicators” are not included on the Executive agenda but can be accessed via the”open data” web site.

This is in itself a step forward from previous years when data was often hidden from residents.

Transport KPIs August 2016 click to access

However a closer look at the stats reveals that, not only are most quarter one figures unavailable, but also many of the out-turn figures for 2015/16 haven’t been updated.

No improvement targets are identified.

Quite what “performance” – other than a bland anecdotal commentary – Councillors will therefore be considering later today is a mystery.

The York Council must now put more emphasis on customer satisfaction. Publishing the results of quarterly residents “talkabout” panel views would be a start.

The key message though, as the Council begins to construct its budget priorities for next year, is that residents want to see more invested in repairing our roads and footpaths.

York Council road works web site “useless”

The York Council has been criticised for not keeping its web site up to date.

Residents wanting to check when local roads may be closed for resurfacing and repair will find that information for 2016 has not yet been updated.

York Council’s road works web site

The web site promises that

Roadwork schemes which are planned for 2016 will be listed below, per ward, once the annual funding and plans are agreed. Where available: clickable reference numbers show the location of the road works on a map clickable street names show further information

However 4 months into the financial year – and with resurfacing works already underway – no information has been provided.

The lack of information has been criticised by local Councillors who were investigating the mysterious appearance of a sign on Windsor Garth indicating a road closure to accommodate much needed resurfacing work.

Carriageways and footpaths in the area have been badly damaged by vehicles accessing the Hob Stones development.

A start on resurfacing work has been expected next week but this seems highly unlikely in view of the most recent planning delays

Windsor Garth roads need repairs

LibDems take action as vandals strike west York

As we reported yesterday, crime levels are becoming an increasing concern in York.

Over the weekend a telephone kiosk on Thanet Road and a litter bin on Woodthorpe Green were both damaged.

Burnt out bin on Woodthorpe Green

Vandalised phone box

Another unusual hazard has arisen on St Stephens Road. Bees are swarming in a tree there. We hope to get a bee keeper to take them away.

Bees swarming in a tree in St Stephens Road

Elsewhere more mundane issues have been reported by Andrew Waller following one of his periodic inspection tours.

Speed cushion on Kingsway West is breakign up

Speed cushion on Kingsway West is breaking up

A speed cushion on Danesfort Avenue requires attention

Dumping on Middleton Road has been reported

A pothole on Windsor Garth has been reprted

A pothole on Windsor Garth has been reported

Full poop scoop bin on the Foxwood Park has been reported for emptying

Finally some good news with the flower tubs on Beagle Ridge Drive – which are sponsored by the residents association – having been planted out by volunteers

Volunteers have planted out the tubs on Beagle Ridge Drive which are beginnign to look good.

Volunteers have planted out the tubs on Beagle Ridge Drive which are beginning to look good.