A man who conned three York businessmen out of £850,000 pleaded guilty to 13 counts of fraud at Southwark Crown Court this week.
His pleas follow a protracted enquiry by North Yorkshire Police’s Major Fraud Inquiry Team which began in 2009 following complaints by the owners of a York investment company.
Castle car park
Predictably the Council Leader failed to give a convincing response when tackled at the last Council meeting about the “subsidy” he is considering making to the stalled Castle/Piccadilly development.
He was asked by the LibDem Leader, “On Castle/Piccadilly, would the Leader confirm precisely what form of “subsidy” he is considering making to the private sector to underwrite this project and would he say how such a subsidy could legally be made given EU procedural restrictions that exist?”
The response was that the negotiations were confidential and the results wouldn’t be revealed until they were concluded!
Worrying given that a lot of time and money can be wasted pursuing policies which are either impractical or illegal (or both).
It really is time to come clean on what deal is being talked about? If taxpayers are to be asked to foot the bill then transparency is essential at all stages of any negotiation.
The Leader displayed similar lack of candour when asked how he intended to ensure that York receives a fair share of the resources that the Government has made available for investment by the Leeds City Region Amalgamated Authority, how he intended to involve the people of York in the development of policy for the Authority and whether he would indicate whether he was planning to introduce a supplementary levy on the City’s Council Taxpayers to assist in funding the Authority’s work?”
The response was effectively that he had no idea how to measure the benefit that York residents would derive other than via a general improvement in “Gross Value Add”.
There will be no consultation with residents, the governance structure of the new joint authority remains unclear and he failed to rule out a surcharge on York Council Taxpayers to fund the new organisation!
With the summer holidays upon us, a range of activities for children can be found here http://www.yor-ok.org.uk/Shine/events/events.htm
Launch of air coach in 2007
It seems that the Councils claims to be promoting a new coach link to the airport from York have been exaggerated.
An express coach service to Leeds/Bradford Airport was first introduced in February 2007 offering a direct 55 minute duration trip to the airport at a fare of £15 return with an hourly frequency. The original route was from York Rail Station, via Upper Poppleton, St James Retail Park (Knaresborough), Weeton Station & Leathley Lane End and on to Leeds Bradford Int. Airport
Usage on the First service was very low and even re-routing the service to pick up passengers from Leeds failed to prevent it being abandoned a couple of years ago.
One of the main problems was the need to link feeder buses to the 24/7 service. Essential if holiday makers were to be attracted to what was promoted as a cheap alternative to car & taxi.
Currently the recommended public transport route is by a half hourly shuttle to Leeds railway station and then by train to York (not much more than an hours journey if you are lucky with connections)
At the last Council meeting the Leader indicated that a new service would be more frequent and suggested that the 55 minute journey time could be reduced. It remains unclear how this could be achieved without a massive investment in road improvements.
It also appears that the aspiration to provide a rail spur from the York/Harrogate/Leeds railway line to the airport has been quietly shelved.
The one piece of good news recently, for York’s air travellers, is the government’s decision to invest heavily in the trans-Pennine rail network which should substantially reduce journey times to Manchester airport.
York cycle route map - click to enlarge
Dringhouses detailed cycle route map - click to enlarge
Local Councillors are being consulted on the Councils plans for enhancements to the strategic cycle network.
The proposals are reproduced here.
In brief the different coloured routes on the map represent the following:
Red routes – these are the ones which comprise the new proposed Strategic Network and those which have been prioritised on the spreadsheet.
Green Routes – these were included on the previous version of the strategic network (mid-90s) but are not proposed to be on the new one. (Sadly it appears that critical links between Woodthorpe/Acomb Park/Foxwood and Acomb are being jettisoned along with the Acomb to Askham Bryan college link).
Yellow routes – these are the routes which were already in existence when the previous strategic network was adopted in the 90s.
Blue routes – these are the routes which have been built since the first strategic network was adopted and together with the yellow ones form the current built network.
We understand that the Council will be publishing the maps on their web site for the general public to feed back their comments (its not there yet as far as we can see). Please copy us into any comments that you may make.
The closing date for getting comments back is 31st August to give as many people as possible the opportunity to comment even though this is the Summer holiday period.
Once the Council has all the comments back from members, Parish Councils and the public they will review them and amend the map and prioritised list of schemes as appropriate. “The resulting map will then be put forward for formal adoption as the council’s blueprint for future cycle route provision and will then influence future development control and transport capital programme decisions”.
North Yorkshire Police will be carrying out mobile safety camera enforcement on the following roads between Wednesday 25 July and Tuesday 31 July 2012.
•A64 east-bound Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•The Village, Stockton On Forest, York
•A1036 Malton Road, York
•A1237 Monks Cross, York
•York Road, Haxby, York
•A1237 Monks Cross, York
Proposed changes to eligibility criteria for adult social care support
The York Council are saying that; “On 1st August the Cabinet Member for Health Housing and Adult Social Care will be considering a report on the results of consultation about changing the eligibility criteria for adult social care support. The change would see those with moderate needs being supported by alternative community based approaches, and only those with substantial or critical needs supported through personal social care budgets and services”.
Over 1200 people responded to the consultation, with over 30% of residents who currently receive support from adult social care giving their views. This is an exceptionally high response rate for surveys of this nature.
Unfortunately the Council failed to tell those asking to comment on the proposals that there were alternatives to withdrawing care facilities from dozens of York residents.
A short time earlier the Liberal Democrats had put forward a budget amendment which would have allowed those with moderate needs to continue to receive care. Instead savings would have been made in a range of other areas including the cost of “Cabinet” posts, withdrawal of the planned “free WiFi” services in the City centre and abandoning vanity projects such as the “innovation” fund.
It is hardly surprising therefore that three in every five respondents (61%) a”ccept that the Council will need to change its eligibility criteria to ensure that those most in need of support can be protected”.
The Council has committed that if the decision is taken to change the eligibility criteria no support will be withdrawn from anyone affected without a formal review of their needs with a social care officer. The review will establish if their needs have changed and will look at alternative options for support if the individual remains at the moderate level of eligibility. Carers needs will be included in these reviews.
If the change to eligibility criteria is agreed it would see this local authority using the same threshold as many other Labour controlled authorities across the country. Over 100 elderly York residents would lose their care services under the Labour proposals.
Residents can still make representations.
For more information about registering to speak ,written representations or copies of reports for this meeting please contact the Democracy Officer – Catherine Clarke / Louise Cook Telephone – (01904) 551031 or E-mail – catherine.clarke@york.gov.uk and louise.cook@york.gov.uk
York 800 Flotilla sails back into view
The York Council has announced;
“City of York Council is delighted to announce today (24 July) that the York 800 flotilla, originally scheduled for Charter Weekend, will now take place on Sunday 26 August along the River Ouse in the city centre.
The flotilla was originally intended to take place on Sunday 8 July during Charter Weekend, but had to be postponed because of high river levels after prolonged heavy rainfall.
The rescheduled event will feature hundreds of boats of varying shapes and sizes from lunchtime onwards on the River Ouse, and people will be able to see it from any safe vantage point along the riverbanks between Naburn Marina and Clifton Ings. There will also be entertainment in Tower Gardens from 11 o’clock onwards.
More details of the programme for the day will be available nearer the time on www.york800.com“
The national trading standards e Crime team based in York have issued a warning to Olympic fans after launching an investigation into the supply of ‘fake’ medals from an internet auction site. The medals, which cost up to £29 each, bear unauthorised copies of the five rings logos and are mocked up to resemble the real thing.
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Potential witnesses to a serious assault in a nightspot in York have been urged to contact North Yorkshire Police.
A19-year-old local man suffered a fractured jaw and facial injuries in an incident that occurred in the male toilets at the Tokyo club, Toft Green, between 3am and 3.30am on Sunday 15 July 2012.
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