Latest Planning applications Dringhouses & Woodthorpe Ward

Below are the latest planning application received by the York Council last week. Full details can be found by clicking the application reference

Ref No: 13/02417/FULM
Location: Turf Tavern 277 Thanet Road York YO24 2PE
Proposal: Removal of condition 17 of permitted application 12/00087/FULM (provision of 10% of the developments energy requirements from on-site renewable sources)
Applicant: Pilcher Homes Consultation Expiry Date 20 August 2013 Case Officer: Rachel Tyas Expected Decision Level DEL

Ref No: 13/02509/FUL
Location: 69 Hunters Way York YO24 1JL
Proposal: Single storey rear extension with balcony on roof and pitched roof to existing porch and garage
Applicant: Ms Susan Dial Contact Mr Chris Allan Consultation Expiry Date 20 August 2013 Case Officer: Heather Fairy (Mon – Wed) Expected Decision DEL

Ref No: 13/02523/TCA
Location: 2 Chalfonts York YO24 1EX
Proposal: Fell Fir Tree in the Conservation Area
Applicant: Mr H Gordon Jones Consultation Expiry Date 20 August 2013 Case Officer: Esther Priestley Expected Decision Level DEL

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/

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

York Police update

Driver of silver car sought after York cyclist injured
Police are asking for the driver of a silver car to come forward after a cyclist was knocked off his bike in York. More

Three injured in York collision
York police are appealing for witnesses to come forward following a road traffic collision in Tang Hall. More

Police ranks boosted by new PCSOs
A new team of Police Community Support Officers are ready to join the fight against crime in North Yorkshire and the City of York. More

Road accidents in West York – Council response

Road safety everyones responsibility

Following the revelation on this site a couple of months ago that the largest number of road traffic accidents were occurring on roads where the proposed 20 mph speed limit would not apply, the responsible Councillor (Dave Merrett) was asked at the last Council meeting

“How much funding he intend to devote to reducing the number of accidents on roads in west York where there are no plans to introduce a 20mph limit, what schemes will this funding be used for, and what reduction in the annual toll of casualties can we expect to see as a result of this investment?”

In total of 334 accidents – including 35 where the victims were killed or seriously injured – had occurred on these roads over the last 4 years.

The roads with the worst records are Tadcaster Road (48 accidents), Boroughbridge Road (33)Holgate Road (30), Poppleton Road (16), Thanet Road (15), Gale Lane (15), York Road (14), Askham Lane (13), Moor Lane (13), Beckfield Lane (12), Acomb Road (11) and Front Street (10).

In response Cllr Merrett admitted that there would be no additional road safety investment in the area during the present year.

“Our 13/14 local safety scheme programme does not include any cluster sites in the west York area, which tends to suggest the roads in this are experiencing low accidents numbers, which is a considered to be a consequence of the work we have done in the area over recent years”.

He highlighted the work done to improve safety at the Askham Lane/Moor Lane/A 1237 junction by the last Liberal Democrat led Council.

The roundabout there has resulted in a reduction in the number of accidents at that location.

York Bus consultation “Yes”, facts “No”

A Council spokesman was asked at the last meeting to agree to bus service reliability stats being published.

new bus services promised

“Would the Cabinet Member join with me in congratulating First York on arranging to consult with passengers before deciding what changes to introduce to routes in the autumn, and would he also join with me in urging First to publish the service reliability data that it holds for each route to ensure an informed discussion on the need for changes?”

The response was cautious

“We understand that First will be looking to implement changes resulting from the consultation over the coming months and we look forward to working with them and with the City’s other bus operators to deliver a local bus network which better meets the needs of York’s residents”.

And Monty Python would have been proud of the response to the question on reliability,

“With regard to service reliability data, First operates services on a commercial basis, and continue to regard this data as commercially sensitive.

Certainly this data is key to understanding how services might be improved and the Council will continue to work with First and with other bus operators, to encourage them to demonstrate, including to the public, that network improvements are evidence based and that any changes made produce improvements.

So that’s a “No” then!

Minster Piazza safety fears to be addressed

1579092_York_Minster_ready

Ann Reid posed the following question to Cllr Dave Merrett at the last York City Council meeting

“In congratulating the Minster authorities on the success of their ‘York Minster Revealed’ project, does the Cabinet Member share my concern about the conflict between some fast moving cyclists and pedestrians in the new “Minster Piazza” on Deangate and would he agree to sign the area as a pedestrian priority zone?”

The response was,

“The Piazza scheme is a bold scheme in a very active area. The space allows for access by pedestrians, cyclists and horse drawn carriages, as previously. All users are expected to use the space with due consideration and respect.

The issue of potential user conflict was considered during the detailed design of the scheme, and it was not considered appropriate or necessary to seek to prohibit cycle access. Introducing a cyclist ban is likely to push some cyclists onto the very narrow and already congested Gillygate corridor, and discourage others from cycling, contrary to long standing Council policy.

There is recognition that there will be some initial teething issues.

Officers have liaised with those involved in both New Road, Brighton and Exhibition Road, London, both of which experienced some initial problems.

To seek to counter any early downsides to this project, officers (working with the Minster) are looking to assist people and monitor how people use the space and move through it.

To that effect we will be placing some additional temporary signage on the approaches while users adapt to the new layout.

These will seek to raise awareness of the presence of pedestrians, cyclists and horse drawn carriages and encourage sharing and consideration.

This being a measure which has been successful elsewhere.

The scheme will be subject to a stage 3 Safety Audit (as is standard practise) and a further audit could also be undertaken in 12 months time.

Officers are hopeful that through these actions such initial concerns will be allayed”.

“Sherlock” star traces her family history at York Archives

York achivists have helped actress Una Stubbs discover that her grandmother once lived in the York workhouse – and can help others looking to trace ancestors.

Una Stubbs with Sherlock

Una Stubbs with Sherlock

The team, skilled in extracting data from some 800 years of documents conserved in the City Archive, helped Una identify that the woman she knew as strong-minded independent Annie Robinson, gave birth to an illegitimate son in the Huntington Road workhouse in 1903. At the time she was using the name Annie Horsfall. after the family that had informally adopted her as she, herself was born illegitimate.

Una uncovered the information during filming for an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? which airs today (24 July) on BBC 1. With the help of the archivists she was able to trace Annie back to her home in The Groves area of York using documents dating back over 150 years. They revealed a hidden family history of hard work, determination and difficulty.

Filming for the show took place at City of York Council’s Archives last November and the discoveries kept a secret until now. The Archives temporarily closed in February this year in preparation for the building phase of the £1.6m Heritage Lottery Funded ‘Gateway to History’ project. The project will see the Archives provided with a new state-of-the-art home at the York Explore Library Learning Centre, and give more people access to the city’s history than ever before.

People inspired by the programme or interested in genealogy can drop into York Explore seven days a week to talk to staff about where to get started with their own family history.

Bookings are also being taken for two free sessions in September which introduce beginners to tracing their family history using the internet. Contact archives@york.gov.uk for details.

Playday spills onto the streets of York

If you’ve ever wondered what the perfect day of play might look like then York’s first street Playday would be a good place to go! Billed as one of the highlights of the summer Shine programme of activities for children and young people, the Playday takes place on Saturday 10 August from 1pm to 6pm at Door 84 Youth centre, (Lowther Street, The Groves) and along the length of Brownlow Street.

Playday is a free community event with lots of games and activities for the whole family to enjoy. York’s Playday is part of a national campaign to highlight the importance of play in children’s lives so, as a celebration of children’s rights to play, Brownlow Street will be closed all afternoon to host a themed street party. With National Playday earlier in the week, throwing this event at the weekend will allow even more people join in the fun.

Continue reading →

“Get York Building” survey to be published by Council?

The controversial survey on barriers to house builidng in York discussed by the York Cabinet last year may finally be made available to the public.

Behind closed doors logo

In response to a question from Ann Reid, the newly charmless Cllr Laign has said,

“I would remind Cllr Reid that the findings from the GYB consultation were summarised in the report considered by Cabinet in February.

The conversations with individual developers, as she should realise being an experienced Councillor, often touched on commercially sensitive information and as such has been deemed confidential and it is not appropriate for this to be shared with the wider public.

However, it is acknowledged that not all the information from developers is commercially sensitive and I have asked officers to prepare a redacted version”.

Lendal bridge – figures begin to trickle out

Lendal bridge - always been busy at 5;00pm

Lendal bridge – always been busy at 5;00pm

Liberal Democrat Councillor Paul Firth managed to squeeze the following information out of the Council at its last meeting.

“During the closure period on Lendal Bridge, what will be the average increase in:
• Mileage
• Journey time
• Cost
for private car drivers who otherwise would have used the bridge?”

The answer was:

Your question cannot be answered with certainty – that is why we are undertaking the trial.

However the worst case scenario from the modelling work that was undertaken, which ignores, positive transfers to alternative forms of transport that we and coalition Government policy supports, shifts in times of travel, etc., indicates a 0.82% increase in km travelled, but is based on 2010 traffic levels which are higher than current flows.

For the 630 motorists currently continuing to make cross river journeys by car in the hour over lunch,

The average increase in mileage = 1.3 miles

Journey time to do this extra 1.3 miles = 5.7 minutes

Additional cost = 37 pence

However if there was an 11% shift of drivers from cars to buses, cycles and walking, the average traffic reduction in a study of similar measures across Europe referred to in the previous Cabinet paper, there would be a reduction in distance travelled (pcu/km) of 10.3% within the simulation network (roughly the CYC boundary).

There would also be an improvement in driving conditions with an increase in average speed from the current 17.4 kph to 17.8 kph in the Inner Ring Road and Water End cordon area (it would go down to 16.9 kph without any overall traffic reduction), an increase of 2.3% in average speed.

The figures are similar to those that we published last month.

They reveal huge potential increases in journey times and costs for residents living in the City centre.

The Council has now set the bridge closure date for 27th August

York schools big spend on supply teachers

The Council has revealed how much each school in the City has spent on supply teachers .

supply teacher

Supply teachers are brought in to cover staff vacancies and sickness. In some cases the school sources the supply teacher themselves whilst others use agencies.

In total several million pounds is spent on employing supply teachers in York each year

Highest spending secondary school was Huntington at over £160,000.

In the primary sector Poppleton Road paid out £73,000

Locally York High spent £26,000

Dringhouses Primary spent just over £36,000w while Woodthorpe spent over £66,000.

A full list can be found by clicking here

Meanwhile York’s Liberal Democrats have welcomed an £880,200 increase in funding to York Primary Schools from the Pupil Premium in 2014/15.

This increase represents a £400 rise for every qualifying child and is the largest ever increase in the Pupil Premium for primary schools.

The Pupil Premium is a major Lib Dem priority being delivered by the Coalition Government.

It ensures that extra money is targeted at schools depending on the number of pupils who have been registered for Free School Meals at any point in the last six years.

Schools also receive funding for children who have been looked after continuously for more than 6 months, and children of Armed Forces personnel.