Opening Saturday 27 October

An exclusive preview of what is going on behind the doors at York Minster. http://tinyurl.com/Orb-8th-Oct-12

Everyone at York Minster is busy working behind the scenes to build The Orb. When finished, you will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see, at very close range, some of the world’s most important art in stained glass, and to discover an unsung hero of British Art – England’s lost Vermeer or Rembrandt.

This brand new exhibition and the interactive galleries open on 27 October. You can also take the opportunity to visit The Orb at night – at Illuminating York Minster.

With people still falling into our local rivers it is perhaps time to remind readers of the availability of swimming lessons at the City’s pools.

New sessions start on 15th October.

Visit http://www.york.gov.uk/leisure/swimming/lessons/

Bonding warehouse September 2012

The Council Leader is going to be asked some probing questions on Thursday about his project to set up a small business centre in the flood prone Bonding Warehouse. http://tinyurl.com/Bonding-warehouse-Oct-12

The Council Leader has already spent £25,000 from his “Delivery and Innovation” slush fund on the project despite the building being inaccessible for several days because of flood waters.

Hs own Labour group have ridiculed the scheme in a public “twitter” exchange.

Now Liberal Democrat Councillor Carol Runciman has tabled the following question for Thursday’s Council meeting

“Does the Council Leader agree with Councillor Semlyen, Chair of the Economic & City Development Overview and Scrutiny Committee, that the recent floods prove it would be wrong to invest £3.6 million of public money in the Bonding Warehouse?”

City of York Council and Yorwaste have teamed up to give local residents free compost this spring and summer.

Green fingered gardeners will be able to collect their free compost from Yorwaste’s Harewood Whin site, on Tinker Lane, off Wetherby Road on:

• Sunday 7 October

City of York Council in partnership with York College, Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) and York Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) is running a week-long series of workshops to encourage residents to ‘get online’ this autumn.

The week offers residents an extra opportunity to discover the wealth of information, services and resources that can be found online through a full programme of events held during the week.

On Monday 15 October, beginners can take their first steps to getting online with a drop-in session at York Explore when they can try out computers, learn about computer safety and chat to tutors about what to do next.

On Wednesday 17 October will be held a ‘From Passport to Planning: make life easier and avoid queues’, workshop at York Explore all about how the internet can make life simpler. Residents can learn about online council services and how they can save time; from registering to get council tax bills online, checking when their bin collections are due and giving feedback on a planning application, as well as useful websites including where they can apply for a passport or car tax and check out their pension age.

The council’s growing portfolio of online services offer residents more choice in how they do businesses with the authority, this Its suite of ‘Do it online’ services is at www.york.gov.uk and give fast, round-the-clock access to people who want to make applications, book or find services, have their say on consultations, make payments to the council or report matters like graffiti or fly-tipping.

Other workshops include online job searching, social media for beginners, a games day and one called ‘Get to know what your computer/gadget can do’.

All sessions are free, for a full programme of all the events visit http://www.york.gov.uk/content/leisure/libraries/Get_involved/gow_2012.pdf

The decision not to fill 40% of York’s “self help” salt bins this winter will be under scrutiny at a meeting being held on 15th October.

Residents can register to speak at the meeting full details of which can be found here http://tinyurl.com/Salt-bin-appeal

The controversial decision – taken by a rookie Labour Councillor – has been “called in” for review by LibDem Councillors.

They argue that the decision should be changed because:

• The plans would see overall salt bin provision in York fall from around 369 full bins to around 199. In a bad winter this cut will have a significant and detrimental impact.

• The report states that a thorough review of salt bin locations will be undertaken for the winter of 2013/14. It therefore seems irrational to withdraw the bin provision before this review has taken place and without thoroughly consulting residents or local councillors. The mistakes made over the removal of 1-in-4 of York’s dog and litter bins seem to be being repeated.

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Liberal Democrat Transport Minister Norman Baker has backed calls for the York Council and local bus operators to publish details of the reliability being achieved on bus services.

In a letter to Steve Galloway the Minister says, “Surveys have shown that punctuality and reliability are the primary concerns of actual and potential bus users. … It is essential for passengers that the bus turns up, is reasonably on time and arrives at its destination when expected…..We expect Local Authorities to be accountable locally in part through publishing data sets which can be benchmarked”

Letter page 1 clcik to enlarge

Letter page 2 click to enlarge

The response comes following concerns that the York Council is so far refusing to publish the details that it holds on local bus service reliability.

Nor do most local bus operators publish service punctuality data on their web sites as a matter of routine.

We are absolutely clear that passengers should be given the information that the council holds on its contracted services and that it should release, each month, the “mystery traveller” information that it gathers on reliability.

Bus operators also should release the information which they gather from their GPS monitoring systems.

Bus service reliability in York click to enlarge

Bus service waiting time in York click to enlarge

The data already collected by the DfT (see left) actually suggests that – up to March 2012 – bus reliability in York was gradually improving. What has happened since then is a mystery to passengers.

Exceptional circumstances such as the recent floods will, of course, affect services; but that is no reason for secrecy.

Meanwhile a report which was to have included a bus improvement study for the City was quietly removed from the agenda of a Council “decision” meeting which was scheduled for 27th September.

With expenditure of over £200,000 of taxpayers money already committed to introducing a quality bus contract system into the City, passengers will now be wondering when they will see any improvements in return for their investment?

The issue of bus reliability is likely to be raised at the York Council meeting next Thursday by LibDem transport spokesperson Ann Reid.

In the meantime we understand that some passengers are hoping to set up a new bus service watchdog group in the City. More details will be provided when we get them.

NB. First are introducing new bus timetables from Sunday. See http://tinyurl.com/Bus-changes-York-7th-Oct-12

Home security – self assessment click here http://www.northyorkshire.police.uk/homesecurityassessment

Residents in York are broadly positive about the city in terms of public safety and their attitudes towards the police, according to a new survey.

The survey gave residents the opportunity to express their views on York and their local areas in terms of crime, anti-social behaviour and policing.

Academics at the York Management School at the University of York, led by Professor Kiran Fernandes, devised and delivered the survey alongside City of York Council with the support of North Yorkshire Police and Safer York Partnership.

The survey gathered the views of over 2,400 residents and former residents of York between April and June this year. It revealed that three-quarters of respondents felt that York is a safe place overall and more than 90 per cent of respondents indicated they were satisfied with their local area as a place in which to live.

Approximately 70 per cent of respondents had confidence in the police in York and over 80 per cent felt that they could rely on them to treat them with respect. Most also had positive views about the levels of crime and anti-social behaviour in their areas with the issue of rubbish or litter generally being the biggest cause for concern.

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City of York Council has improved the way it manages electronic procurement, by enabling suppliers to update their account details at a click of a button.

The council has changed its supplier management system to Supplierforce, which enables suppliers to register themselves on the system, manage their records and keep documents such as insurance and accounts up-to-date on the system..

The aim of the updated system is to be the first point of reference for suppliers when seeking quotation and tenders, whilst reducing duplication when undertaking future procurement projects to ensure the process of doing business with the council is as efficient as possible.

Letters and emails have been sent to all of the council’s existing suppliers explaining the changes to the new web-based supplier management system.