North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue are reporting that a fire was started deliberately on St Stephens Road this morning.
According to the Service the attack involved a “wheelie bin on fire against the external doors of a 2 storey block of flats.
Resulted in fire damage to wheelie bin, slight fire damage to doors and light smoke damage to entrance foyer.
The cause is deliberate”
You can follow the Fire Serviceby clicking here & via Twitter here @NorthYorksFire
High winds have been blamed for he increase in litter seen today. Insecure recycling has been blown around many suburbs with the Council struggling to catch up on their collection schedules post New Year.
Full litter bin on Bellhouse Way
Leaf and tree detritus in gutters on Askham Croft
Litter blown by high winds today in St Stephens Road
Surface water problem at junction of Ashford Place and Ascot Way
Waterlogged verges are being damaged by vehicles
Speed checks have been carried out on St Stephens Road following complaints from local residents.
The road has a 20 mph speed limit.
The checks revealed a mean (average) speed of 23/21 mph.
The “85%ile” speeds were 27/26.
(The “85%ile” removes the highest 7.5% and lowest 7.5% of speeds recorded and is generally thought to be the speed limit that a typical driver will respect).
Although the speeds are above the current limit they are fairly typical of sub-urban roads. As we have seen elsewhere, the 20 mph limit has had little impact on driver behaviour.
The mean speeds of course may disguise a small number of drivers who may be exceeding the speed limit by a large margin, but the police do not have the resources to routinely deploy to address this possibility.
The authorities say that the street may be suitable for use of “Community Speed Watch”. This is a system operated by local residents, but it would require suitable volunteers to come forward.
The Council re-roofing contractors are making good progress on the blocks of flats in St Stephens Road area.The blocks in that road are scheduled to be completed by the end of June.
The programme will then move into Thoresby Road and The Reeves with work there scheduled to finish at the end of July.
The programme will then move on to High Moor Road, Wains Road, Thanet Road and Dringfield Close before moving on towards the City centre. The programme is scheduled to be completed by the end of November.
Following the embarrassing failure of the 20 mph speed limit project (where on many roads average speeds were found to have risen following the installation of the new signs) it appears that the York Council is turning a blind eye to speeding problems.
Wetherby Road VAS
Many residents had pointed out that risks were greatest at locations where motorists routinely exceeded 40 mph.
Despite this, the Councils web page, which is devoted to addressing speeding concerns, has not been kept up to date.
The page (click to access) claims to provide links to an “on line” Police form that can be completed by those wanting vehicle speeds checked. In fact the links are broken (although you can access the form direct by clicking here).
Nor is the Council reporting back on the results of speed checks that have been undertaken. The last list dates from November 2015 but does not include any speed data
There are several problem locations in west York.
These include St Stephens Road while the frequent activation of the Vehicle Activated warning Signs on Wetherby Road and Green Lane suggests that many drivers still do not stay within the 30 mph limit.
The Police have 3 safety camera vans. However they tend to visit the same locations in the York area on a regular basis. Clearly they can be assured of regular fine income from sites like those on the A64, but this is at the expense of high profile “reassurance checks” in residential areas.
Recent figures suggest that the vans now concentrate mainly on the A64 and A59 near York.
The Police have singularly failed to produce statistics which confirm whether deployment of the vans has reduced accident rates on particular stretches of road.
Nor do they report whether average speeds have been reduced at sites that they visit regularly.
So, all in all, we think that the speed awareness partnership needs to up its game in and around the City.
A combination of wet weather and poor parking practices has seen several verges in the area churned up.
Among the worst is on on St Stephens Road where part the public footpath has been uprooted making it virtually impassible for pedestrians
Last year the York Council received a report on the problem. The report can be read by clicking here
Among other conclusions the report reveled that it costs £35 per sq mtr to repair damaged verges in the City.
We hope that the authorities will take prompt action to prevent damage of this sort and that proposals to provide more lay-bys in the area are implemented quickly
The Council has not said why it is set to discuss the issue halfway through winter or why the plan had not been included on its “forward plan” of decisions.
According to the Press, it says it will pay for any changes using “contingency” funds (which have been available since last April).
The decision to salt the 24 bus route will be welcomed. It was a major bone of contention in 2013.
The Council have been lucky that in the intervening period the City has enjoyed relatively mild winters.
We can’t expect that to continue.
New lay-by on St Stephen’s Road
