Music-making kit seized to silence noise nuisance in Thoresby Road area

Equipment used to play overly loud music day and night has been seized following complaints, repeated warnings and formal notices to the owners.

Complaints about two separate households in two blocks of apartments in the Westfield Ward included the volume and frequency of music. People found their sleep was being affected by the noise, and working from home was made more difficult.

Following advice, warnings and formal notices being issued to the people playing the music, City of York Council applied for warrants from York Magistrates Court. Visiting the flats last week, officers from City of York Council and North Yorkshire Police seized stereos, speakers, TVs and other items ahead of ASB Awareness Week (19-23July).

Working with the victims, council officers gathered evidence of the nuisance they suffered. Officers were told that the noise was so loud they were disturbed night and day unable to work from home during the pandemic, or watch TV in the evening or even sleep in their beds at night.

Noise recording equipment installed over five days provided evidence of nine incidents of serious noise nuisance going on for hours at a time, with the perpetrator listening to TV music channels at full blast.

Latest planning application for the Westfield Ward

Below are the latest planning applications received by the York Council for the Westfield ward.

Full details can be found by clicking the application reference.

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228 Thoresby Road York YO24 3ER

Two storey and single storey rear extensions and porch to front

Reference 21/01477/FUL

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Representations can be made in favour of, or in objection to, any application via the Planning online web site. http://planningaccess.york.gov.uk/online-applications/

The Council does not routinely consult neighbours by letter when an application is received

Time to get to grips with local issues

The easing of lockdown restrictions offers the Council an opportunity to try to restore public service standards at least to the level seen in previous, pre-pandemic, years.

Some services are under particular pressure with potholes taking far too long to fill in.

*Potholes in Ashford Place, reported several months ago, have still not been filled*

Similarly estate management standards have fallen. At this time of year a regular checks needs to be made to ensure that roads and paths are not blocked and that access road surfaces are kept clear of moss and detritus.

*Access roads need to be kept free of obstructions*

One of the reasons for the decline may be the failure of the Council to fill three of its Housing Management posts. These are the posts that manage individual Council housing estates. They are very much the public face of the Council in their local neighbourhoods.

At least one of the posts has been vacant since last year.

Yet it does not appear among the 57 job vacancies currently being advertised by the Council, none of which are in the housing department. City of York Council Jobs (click)

*Simon Daubeney clean up at Foxwood shops*

Lack of budget cannot be an excuse for inaction . The housing account makes a surplus of several million pounds each year.

Elsewhere, local Councillor Simon Daubeney undertook a welcome clean up at the Foxwood shops on Saturday.

He will have found and reported the overturned salt bin.

The area has been subject recently to increased levels of vandalism.

The residents association have suspended maintenance of the planters following damage to the plants.

A Great British Spring Clean litter pick is scheduled to take place on Saturday 12th June.

Meet at 10:30am at the Foxwood Community Centre.

The walk round will last for about an hour.

Latest planning applications for the Westfield Ward

Below are the latest planning applications received by the York Council for the Westfield ward.

Full details can be found by clicking the application reference

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218 Thoresby Road York YO24 3ER

Two storey side extension and single storey front extension

Ref. No: 21/00086/FUL

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99 Bellhouse Way York YO24 3LW

Two storey side extension and single storey front and rear extensions

Ref. No: 21/00063/FUL

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96 The Green Acomb York YO26 5LS

Fell mixed group of Sycamore, Hornbeam and Beech trees within the hedge line; dead wood, crown thin and crown lift to 4 metres 2no. Hornbeam trees – tree works in a Conservation Area

Ref. No: 21/00037/TCA

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Acorn Meat 7 Front Street York YO24 3BW

Non-material amendment to permitted application 17/00848/FUL to allow retention of internal staircase following removal of access to ground floor shop unit

Ref. No: 21/00019/NONMAT

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Representations can be made in support of, or in objection to, any application via the Planning online web site. http://planningaccess.york.gov.uk/online-applications/

The Council now no longer routinely consults neighbours by letter when an application is received

Latest planning applications for the Westfield Ward

Below are the latest planning applications received by the York Council for the Westfield ward.

Full details can be found by clicking the application reference

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11 Thoresby Road York YO24 3EL

Erection of single storey extension extending 4.5 metres beyond the rear wall of the original house, with a height to the eaves of 2.39 metres and a total height of 3.865 metres

Ref. No: 20/02411/LHE

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9 Bowling Lane York YO24 3FW

Single storey rear extension and car port to side

Ref. No: 20/02354/FUL

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Representations can be made in favour of, or in objection to, any application via the Planning online web site. http://planningaccess.york.gov.uk/online-applications/

The Council now no longer routinely consults neighbours by letter when an application is received

Latest planning applications for the Westfield Ward

Below are the latest planning applications received by the York Council for the Westfield ward.

Full details can be found by clicking the application reference

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119 Thoresby Road York YO24 3EN

Part two, part single storey side extension to side to replace existing outbuildings, replacement fenestration and lean-to canopy to porch

Ref. No: 20/02238/FUL

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Fultons Foods 59 York Road Acomb York YO24 4LN

Change of use from retail (use class E) to tanning salon (sui generis) (retrospective)

Ref. No: 20/02207/FUL

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Representations can be made in favour of, or in objection to, any application via the Planning online web site.http://planningaccess.york.gov.uk/online-applications/

The Council now no longer routinely consults neighbours by letter when an application is received

Road repairs backlog building in York

Residents will have a lot of sympathy with local highways inspectors who have the unenviable task of allocation very limited resources to road repairs. Poor weather has increased the number of potholes appearing over recent weeks. The poor state of highway surfaces is a reflection of inadequate investment in maintenance by the York Council for nearly a decade.

An additional pothole filling team is promised to be in place from April. Their arrival can’t come soon enough, at least in west York.

The Councils on line “report it” system now monitors highway defect reports. It is possible to see which reports have been read by officials. Several, reported over the last month, are recorded as “solved”. In reality the problems remain. The potholes have simply been judged not to be deep enough to warrant filling.

That is potentially bad news for cyclists.

Councillors receive very little in the way of monthly performance reports on highways activities, so its impossible to know whether the condition of roads and footpaths is getting worse or improving. The number of reports and complaints received is not routinely published.

Complaints about damage to verges, like parking on footpaths, go largely unmonitored. In summer it is a similar situation with highway obstructions like over grown hedges and weeds.

We hope for better in the future.

Askham Lane carriageway, near A1237 roundabout, will not be repaired

No action at Foxwood Lane roundabout
No action on Huntsmans Walk
No action on Thoresby Road
No action Askham Lane
No Action Vincent Way
No action The Gallops
Action promised on St Stephens Road footpaths
Action promised on Spurr Court road

We’ve asked for detritus to be swept from the gutters in Otterwood Lane

The thorn hedge on the snicket to the rear on St Josephs Court (Cornlands Road) needs to be cut back before it becomes a hazard for pedestrians

The Acomb car park recycling area is tidier than it has been on some occasions in the past. Someone is still fly tipping in the area though.

“Deep clean” requested on key snickets

Many short cut “snickets” get a lot of use. They are vulnerable to litter while large amounts of leaf and other detritus can accumulate. Some are obstructed by overgrown hedges and trees. The surfaces can wear quite quickly because of constant footfall. Many seem to be neglected by the Council although they are an essential part of the plan to encourage more people to walk for short journeys. They deserve a higher priority for the Councils resources.

Potholes on carriageway are also a disincentive for cyclists. We’ve reported continuing problems and Gale Lane and Foxwood Lane today

Work is progressing on two major building projects in west York. The centre for the disabled on Ascot Way is now getting its roof installed. Modernisation work, on the adjacent Lincoln Court sheltered accommodation, is taking place at the same time.

Disabled centre on Ascot Way. Single lane traffic working now in place.

Work has also started on constructing houses on the controversial Lowfield development. A decision on how the section of the site reserved for elderly persons housing will be developed is expected next month.

Finally another example of a self seeded tree which has been allowed to grow to the point where it is pushing over the railings which protect a water pumping station (Foxwood Lane). There is plenty of room a few metres away on which trees could be planted which would cause no problems for anyone

Verge damage – no improvement despite Council promises.

Its over 3 years since the York Council looked at the problem of vehicle damage to grass verges. A lengthy report promised improvements not least in taking action against drivers who carelessly damaged verges.

Verge damage was costing taxpayers around £35 per sq metre to fix. Enforcement action was promised and some “Ward Committees” also said they would use their delegated budget to provide lay-bys.

There has sadly been little progress. Problem locations such as the flats on Thoresby Road continue to be blighted. Promised lay-bys have not materialised. There has been no enforcement action, no protective bollards or “eco grid” surfacing have been installed.

Drivers do need somewhere to park their vehicles but the Council’s response has been glacial recently.

Missed green bin emptying in Westfield today

Collections were missed in the Thoresby Road part of Westfield Ward today. A vehicle fault was blamed

Council officials have now written to concerned Councillors about the chronic unreliability of the bin emptying service. It has gone in 3 short years from being one of the most praised public services in the city to one of the most criticised.

Pressures on the service have contributed to an increase in litter drift in many areas with post round tidy up sometimes being missed out.

Officials say the problems are mainly caused by “an ageing fleet (directly linked to breakdowns), driver shortages and staff sickness”

“When the service is under pressure, we prioritise household waste collections followed by recycling and then garden waste”

“We are in the process of a wholescale fleet replacement. In the 10 years since the last vehicles were purchased the city has expanded so we need to account for this, however York is a historical city which is both beautiful and incredibly difficult to service in some areas when it comes to waste collection. I want to ensure that the next fleet of vehicles are capable of serving all areas of the city in the safest possible way. Health and safety for staff and residents is top of our agenda”.

“Staffing the service will continue to be a challenge, particularly when it comes to HGV drivers. This is a national problem and experienced by our surrounding Council areas. However, this is also exacerbated in York as we simply don’t have the industries to support this. However, we are investing significantly in developing our own staff through apprenticeship programmes and development opportunities. Working on the frontline in all weather is not a job for the faint hearted. One of the reasons that ‘new’ staff turnover is high is that people underestimate how demanding the job is”.

Unfortunately the service does not seem to have published an improvement programme with milestones. No figures are produced indicating the number of bins that aren’t emptied each day, so it is impossible to test whether the claimed “improvement trajectory” is a reality.

Critically officials are staying tight lipping about when new vehicles are expected in the City or indeed if they have even been ordered.

Many will be surprised that adequate spare resources did not form part of the original vehicle leasing deal.

In other parts of the world more automation has been tried with mixed results