New crime and customer satisfaction stats published
The York Council has updated the information that it holds on each ward in the City.
The stats compare residents opinions across the whole City.
The latest updates – which can be accessed on the open data web site by clicking here – have been updated to include 2016 quarter 2 figures.
Detailed figures for the Westfield ward confirm the surge in crime witnessed in the late summer. Anti social behaviour was up generally with criminal damage reports increasing by over 30%. On the other hand burglary incidents reduced in Westfield despite being stable in the rest of the City
Westfield Ward crime stats
Meanwhile a majority of residents thought that vandalism wasn’t a problem in their neighbourhood.
Beating the City trend, 46% of Westfield respondents thought that they could influence decisions taken about their area.
Jobs and influence
Residents across the city were generally satisfied with the way the Council runs things (55.2% in Westfield) They were less happy about the progress being made in encouraging the use of low emission vehicles.
Customer satisfaction
The week that was in pictures 11th Dec 2016
Week started with the annual Foxwood Christmas market
90% of Hob Stones residents have now moved into their new homes on Windsor Garth. Some road repairs had been completed although work on the amenity area was outstanding earlier in the week.
Issues reported included a damaged junction box on Tudor Road, weed growth on Gale Lane, a full bin on Bellhouse Way and outstanding road repairs on Windsor Garth
Residents seeking to conserve the Lowfields playing field were rebuffed by the Council leadership at a meeting on Wednesday. However the battle goes on. Other parts of the City are awaking to the possible loss of other playing fields. A meeting on 19th December will hear pleas for the playing field at the former Manor school site to be brought back into public use while a Parish Council is seeking to make the fields at Osbaldwick school an “asset of community value”.
Cllr Andrew Waller met volunteers from the Rotary Club who were collecting donations to help purchase a defibrillator
… while Andrew also reported what we hope will be the last of the problems with leaf-fall around the area.
— replacing leaves will no doubt be problems with ice, although these carvings proved to be a big draw in the city centre yesterday
The City was packed on Saturday with all car parks full. Unfortunately the Council refused to unlock areas like the Reynards garage site which could have been used to help disabled drivers find a space.
..and into the evening with Handel’s Messiah attracting a record attendance at the Minster.
Westfield couple honoured at bravery awards
The police service honoured the bravery of members of the public from York and Whitby earlier this week at the National Police Chief’s Councils’ Police and Public Bravery Awards.
Darren Hinchliffe from York was honoured twice for his role in trying to subdue a violent York man who killed his best friend.
Binney award plaque
Darren won a gold medal at the awards which are sponsored by The Goldsmith’s Company. The awards recognise members of the public for actions, which support the police in preserving law and order.
In addition to this, Darren was also the recipient of the Binney Award, a special award, named after Captain Ralph Binney, reserved only for the ‘bravest of the brave’. To celebrate this, Darren will now be invited to an all-expenses paid celebration of bravery every year with other Binney award winners.
Darren’s partner Claire also received a certificate for her brave actions during the incident.
Here’s Darren’s story:
(more…)
Latest planning application for the Westfield Ward
Co op plan changes to Beagle Ridge Drive store layout
Below are the latest planning applications received by the York Council for the Westfield ward.
Full details can be found by clicking the reference highlighted in blue
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Address 1 – 9 Front Street York
Proposal Condition 3 – 15/00178/FUL (cladding for new flats)
Reference AOD/16/00334
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New Co op Layout click to access
Co-operative Retail Services Ltd 6 Beagle Ridge Drive York YO24 3JQ
Proposal Installation of new refrigeration plant in existing plant enclosure at the rear, alterations to loading bay area, reduce door threshold in rear elevation, brick up louvre, new bollards to front and rear of store, relocation of parking bays and colour changes to shopfront.
Reference 16/02315/FUL
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Representations can be made in favour of, or in objection to, any application via the Planning on line web site. http://planningaccess.york.gov.uk/online-applications/
The Council now no longer routinely consults neighbours by letter when an application is received
New community profiles published for York
New statistics, which provide a detailed insight into the characteristics of each Ward in York, have been published by the Council.
The “Ward Profiles” give local details of;
- the age group of residents
- Religion
- Employment groups
- Housing tenure
- Benefit claims
- Unemployment
- Poverty
- Health
- Crime
- Resident satisfaction with the local area
The profiles for each ward can be accessed by clicking here
Taking the Westfield Ward as an example we can see that:
- The largest section of the community is aged between 25 and 34
- 32% are married
- 94% are white British
- 59.2% are Christian
- Most work in the retail/wholesale trade (18%) or in health/social care (15%)
- 57% own their own home (31.8% with a mortgage)
- 32% live alone
- 1155 live on benefits – a significant fall since 2013. There are now only 70 claiming Job Seekers Allowance
- Technically, Westfield is the most “deprived” ward in York although it is steadily becoming more prosperous
- 18% of children are obese while 79% of resident regard themselves as being in “good or very good” health
- Anti-social behaviour is above the York average
- 83% were satisfied with their local area as a place in which to live.
- 46% said that they could influence decisions in their area (much higher than for the rest of York)
- 55% were satisfied with the way that the Council runs things (slightly less than the City average) but an above average number (50%) felt the Council was doing well to improve the quality of street /public spaces
York street cleaning maps published “on line”
Following an intervention from Cllr Andrew Waller, the Council has now published maps showing street cleaning frequencies across York.
The maps are available “on line”. Click here to access
The Council says that “in order to target our resources in the most effective and efficient way possible, we have reviewed our street cleansing schedules based on the local knowledge of front line employees. This has enabled us to identify what is actually needed rather than undertake work just because its always been done that way.
As a result of this we have commenced a trial of new street cleansing schedules in each of the wards from the beginning of August 2016 for a period of 6 months.
Although some locations may have a reduced frequency of mechanical sweeping, this means that when we do undertake mechanical sweeping we will have the time to do a more thorough job leading to improved standards of cleanliness”.
City centre footstreets
The changes do not include the city centre foot streets as this is a distinct service undertaken seven days a week, all year round, between 5.00am and 8.00pm, this service has recently been reviewed and the Council is currently working with the York Business Improvement District team on how they can work together to bring about further improvement in the city centre.
Feedback
If residents have any feedback during the 6 month trial period please email the shaping neighbourhoods team at: shapingneighbourhoods@york.gov.uk where the responses will be monitored and collated.
The Council says, “as well as giving us valuable feedback, you may wish to consider how you might be able to help with the upkeep of your local environment, this may, for example be in the way of volunteering as a snow warden or as a litter picker. See volunteering opportunities (click) page for further details and other ways to volunteer”.
Following the end of the trial, further consultation will be held followed by a report to the Executive Member for the Environments Decision Session in Spring 2017
Information event
The Council is holding an event at Hazel Court for residents on Saturday 15 October 2016 from 10.00am to 12.00pm.
The sessions will be jointly delivered between a number of council teams and external agencies.
Westfield
The schedules for the Westfield area are reproduced below. Generally, there is little change although there may be some concerns about sweeping frequencies at smaller shopping areas like Foxwood Lane.
Some publicly maintainable footpath links ( Chesneys Field, Kingsway West, The Green) are shown on the maps as “private”. These will need to be cleaned regularly as will housing department communal and garage areas.
But overall the plans seem to us to be worth a trial especially given the decision of the previous Labour administration to substantially reduce the street cleansing budget
Manual street celaning
Mechanical street cleaning
Record number of stalls booked for Acomb Market on Saturday
West York – The week in photos
Cllr Sue Hunter is encouraging residents to adopt local verges and amenity area and plant flowers. Grants may be available from the local Ward Committee for bulbs and containers
Lowfields verge flowers
Windsor Garth
The Ward committee will be balloting residents shortly on their priorities for using the delegated budget. Among ideas put forward by residents are plans to lop trees and overgrown hedges.
Next Ward committee newsletter will include ballot paper
Overgrown trees on Kingsthorpe reported by Andrew Waller
More overgrown trees this time on Grange Lane
Trustees have now signed a formal lease for the Foxwood Community Centre. It means that the centre will be largely free from Council control but will have to raise most of its income from lettings. It is now run entirely by volunteers.
Cllr Stephen Fenton Dringhouses ward (extreme left*) and Cllr Sheena Jackson Westfield Ward (extreme right*) and Trustees sign the Community Centre lease on Wednesday. (*not politically!)
Meanwhile Sheena has been out and about in the Foxwood area reporting issues for attention
Obstructed path
In the Cornlands Road area, while out delivering the latest Focus newsletter, we spotted several issues requiring attention. These included offensive graffiti on the Tithe Close snicket. Issues have been reported using https://www.fixmystreet.com/
We’ll be keeping an eye on drainage and gutter channels as trees begin to shed their leaves. There is an almost continual problem in St Stephens Square
It’s some times difficult to know whether an item has been dumped or left out for the scrap merchant
Andrew Waller has commenced a survey of the Askham Lane/Grange Lane area
Survey launched this weekend
One of the issues being probed is whether residents would like to see kissing gates installed on the accesses to the local parks and open areas. At present there are problems with motorcyclists riding near where children play
Busy week in west York – in pictures
The week started with a “Funday” at the Foxwood Community Centre. Here Andrew and Sheena visit the police and fire displays
Andrew and Sheena visit the children’s bouncy castles
Sheena, here with Dringhouses Councillor Stephen Fenton, launched her survey of local youth facilities
LibDem Councillors at last Sundays Acomb Green Fair
We reported lots of issues not least this bin on Cheney’s Field which had been overturned
We’ve asked for the full bin on Bellhouse Way to be emptied
We’ve asked for weeds and moss to be cleared from paths in the Otterwood Lane area
The payphone kiosk in Cornlands Road is in poor condition. No sign of cleaning or maintenance by BT
Damaged gulley cover on St Stephens Road
Detritus build up on Tennent Road snicket
We’ve asked for a spring to be fitted to the railings which protects the play area in the Cornlands Road park from dogs
We understand that an application for funding, which would see another parking lay-by constructed in St Stephens Road, has been successful.
The week concluded with volunteers planting a Bluebell wood near the community centre on Bellhouse Way. Here Andrew Waller leads the work. Unfortunately weather conditions meant that an additional planting session will be needed later