This application contains a large number of details changes to the Lowfield plans. Some were submitted as long ago as August but have not been subject to local consultation. Many are minor in nature or will have little impact on the existing local community. Some are more far reaching including a proposal to remove the existing perimeter metal railings and replace with a wooden boarded fence.. Leaving aside the additional costs involved in such a proposal, the railings are valued by some neighbouring house owners as they offer good security. They also allow wild animals such as hedgehogs to move freely around the neighbourhood. We think that individual neighbours should have been consulted on these changes.
Non-material amendment to permitted
application 18/00586/FULM – Plot 4 repositioned; retaining wall structure to
rear gardens amended (on the east side of the site); changes to external
elevations including addition of canopies. and bay windows.
First has reversed its plan to charge £2 for the trip from Front Street to Chapelfields. The price hike from £1 was widely criticised. Although a short distance, the service is well used by those with heavy shopping to carry. The gradient can be a problem for some.
The new fare will be £1-20p
A similar situation exists in other parts of the CVity including Foxwood, although there, the short hop fare to Acomb has yet to be revised.
We have generally been supportive of the improvements that First
have made to their services over recent years.
However, changes to short journey fares seem to be have been
driven more by administrative convenience than passenger needs.
NB. Over 50% of bus journeys are made by pensioners using
their free passes.
The York Council says that it will give more powers to local residents to influence how resources are used in 4 key public service areas.
They are:
Increased ward budgets.
A “Safer Communities” fund to meet residents’ priorities.
More ward control of spending on highways to meet
residents’ priorities
Timely delivery of Housing Environmental
Improvement Schemes (HEIP). NB.These are tenant funded.
The plans are
broadly to be welcomed.
Over the last 8
years the number of locally determined improvement schemes has declined while those
that have been approved have faced unacceptable delays in implementation.
One set of new parking
laybys in the Westfield area took over 4 years to plan and construct.
Askham Lane lay by took 4 years to complete
A reportto the Councils executive meeting this week, paints a confused picture of what is wrong with the current “ward committee” process and what might replace it.
Councillor
dominated “Ward teams” will stand in for residents associations where the latter
do not exist.
£250,000 has been allocated to wards for them to spend making local communities “safer”. Although joint working with the police is proposed, the major issue – an institutional reluctance to expand the use of technology solutions such as CCTV – remains. So, the most that residents will likely see will be “target hardening” style initiatives.
Two additional staff
members are to be employed helping to administer ward committee improvements. Last
year £157,000 of ward budget was not spent. This is put down to process delays.
£500,000 is being allocated for local highways improvements (road and footpaths). A further £500,000 is allocated for “walking and cycling” improvements. The irony, that better highways maintenance is the best way of encouraging safe walking and cycling, appears to be lost on the report authors.
Perhaps School Street will now be resurfaced?
The £1 million simply
should be added to the road and footpath resurfacing budget.
The budget is classified
as “capital” meaning that it must be spent on an asset with a long lifespan.
That would seem to rule out a crash programme aimed at removing the trees, hedges
and weeds which obstruct many existing foot and cycle paths.
The idea of recognising and responding to local concerns is the right one though.
Poor highway maintenance is invariably the most criticised local public service in residents satisfaction polls.
The Council plans to introduce a “6 stage” process in allocating the estate improvement budget. As the main criticisms of the existing process is that it is cumbersome and slow, the introduction of additional bureaucratic stages is unlikely to be welcomed.
The report talks of the provision of parking lay-by taking up to 24 months to complete. In the past, the use of contractors had cut this target time down to less than 4 months. Councils should return to the old procedure where Residents Associations/Parish Councils took responsibility for drawing up improvement lists.
Walton Place footpaths need repairs
Finally, the report
talks of using a mechanistic formulae for assessing the “social value” of each
project. As a way of spending scarce public resources this is a discredited
approach. The value of projects can best be determined by door to door surveys thus
giving residents a chance to directly influence their neighbourhood.
The report does not propose any PFIs to monitor progress on any of these programmes.
It does, however, require decisions to be made in public and with a public record. Regular “on line” updates are proposed (although these have been promised in the past but have never been produced in a timely or accessible way)
There are no proposals
which would provide better support for Residents Associations. The Council
recently refused to even publicise RA activities on its web site.
How much locally?
The Council has published a list indicating the amounts that will be available to spend in each ward. In Westfield (one of the largest wards) during the present financial year that totals £55,878
With highways (£63,830)
and safer communities fund (£17,181). That figure increases to nearly £120,000
over 4 years.
To put that into context a 4 space parking bay
costs around £10,000, while the resurfacing of Stonegate is costing £1/2
million this year.
Overall crime levels in York have remained reasonably stable
over the last 12 months.
Usually at this time of year – summer holidays – anti social
behaviour issues and vandalism show a peak.
It will be a month before the picture becomes entirely clear
but early indications are positive.
In the year up to the end of June, anti social behaviour was
the most reported crime across the City. This was followed by violence and
criminal damage (vandalism) as the next most reported crimes.
It was a similar picture in Westfield
More information is available on the Police UK web site click
Meanwhile on Tuesday the 13th August 2019 the York City
Neighbourhood Policing Team will be holding a cycle registration and marking
event in partnership with York BID and Street Rangers. The event will take
place in the garden area next to Black Horse Passage on Stonebow, York between
1200PM and 1500PM.
“The service is completely free and your cycle will be recorded on the Immobilise database which is a national property register. Once recorded you will have access to your own account on Immobilise.com allowing you to added / remove property and upload photographs of your recorded property. We will also be using a Dot Peen machine to mark cycles with your post code to add another layer of security”. “Please come and speak with officers at the event for further information or visit www.immobilise.com”
Residents have called on local Councillors to intervene to ensure that weeds growing on local paths and gutters are cleared. Today’s weather, damp and warm, is likely to see the problem get worse over the weekend.
Weeds are obstructing footpaths, gullies and garage areas in the Westfield Ward
In the little Green Lane garage area grass is now growing through the recently resurfaced forecourt. It is a similar situation in Windsor Garth
The weather also means that hedges will be growing more quickly. We’ve reported this bramble bush which is obstructing the public footpath near the entrance to Hob Moor school Although the Council says that they have removed litter from the Tithe Close snicket, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Similar situation on The Reeves snicketThe only thing that the Council seems to be doing quickly this summer is knocking down parts of west York. This is all that is now left of the Windsor House elderly persons home. There is some mud on local roads which needs to be monitored. Still no sign of the replacement for the children’s games area at Hob Moor. Contractors using the old all weather games area for storage are at least polite!
BT has appliedto remove 9 payphone kiosk from streets in York.
The Copmanthorpe, Strensal, Dringhouses and Westfield areas are affected
None of the iconic “red” K6 kiosks are on the list although there has been criticism recently about the state of repair of some of them. Several of these are “Listed” buildings.
Iconic K6 kiosks are not affected by the current removal plans. Several are in need of refurbishment
Some of the kiosk listed have been a magnet for drug users, vandalism and anti social behaviour. Their removal is likely to be supported by neighbouring residents.
The use of public payphones has dropped to near zero over the years as mobile phone ownership has increased
The Westfield Councillors are right to insist on more information being provided on building works in the area, when they meet tomorrow (Wednesday)
However, they will be meeting only a few metres away from the spoil heaps and site compound which has been constructed on the Council owned land to the rear of the Library.
Large spoil heap on Council land at the Acomb Library
Some explanation for the decision to allow the contractors to use this Council owned site will be expected. It is an issue that is not likely to go away.
Some residents still hope that Council will offer some sort of compensation for the problems that have been caused by the use of the compound
Elsewhere, the Lowfields development saga continues.
There has still not been any explanation about how the York Council came to mislead residents about the inclusion of a “police station” and health centre/GP surgery in the original consultation plans.
Both these promises turned out to be bogus. It is unclear what will happen to what, otherwise, will be unused plots on the east of the site.
The Kingsway West carriageway is already breaking up
On Ascot Way, access arrangements, for the heavy plant needed to complete the demolition of Windsor House, remain unclear. It seems that access for the plant will be via Kingsway West and Ascot Way It is clear that the roads are too narrow in the area to avoid major damage to adjacent verges and paths. A “one way” system has been suggested but not confirmed.
There are real concerns that the bus route will be obstructed by the likely congestion
The original hope had been that more parking lay-bys would have been provided by now.
…..and the problem of the promised replacement for the all weather games area seems to be no closer to resolution. The existing MUGA has already been converted into a building compound.
Games area is now a building compound. No alternative provision for children has been provided
There is no word about the proposed alternative site on the Thanet Road Sports Area although officials were asked to follow this up 3 months ago.
Residents will no doubt be hoping that some answers emerge from the meeting
Spoil heaps dominate neighbouring properties on Lowfields Drive
