Lendal Bridge fines to be refunded

 

Coppergate fines stand – for now

Lendal bridge notice

In an amazing U turn – before even the results of their appeal against the traffic adjudicator ruling have been revealed – the York Council’s Labour Leadership has announced that they will refund over £1 million in fines levied against motorists who used Lendal Bridge during the ill fated access restriction trial.

They have yet to submit the proposal to a formal Council decision meeting.

The Council have already spent over £700,000 – of the £1.8 million fine income that it raised from Lendal Bridge and Coppergate – on administering the trial, so taxpayers are in for a hefty hit.

The Council only broke even on its budget during the last financial year because of the ANPR camera bonanza.

The failed experiment ultimately led to the demotion of Labour Councillor Dave Merrett, although he still holds a £20,000 a year Cabinet job.

Residents will now be looking at the future of Council leader James Alexander who bears ultimate responsibility for the financial and organisational disaster.

The Council have not said how motorists will be able to claim a rebate.

There is a suspicion that visitors – particularly those from overseas – may never hear about the change of heart. They may continue to be out of pocket as a result of the Councils unlawful actions.

Last month Labour Councillor Stephen Burton (Westfield) led an attempt to block plans to have an independent inquiry into the fiasco.

When unveiled a year ago, Liberal Democrats opposed the trial saying that it was badly timed and poorly executed.

In September 2013 (after only a few weeks of the trial) Liberal Democrats called for it to be abandoned against a background of huge enforcement issues.

If the Council had accepted then that they had made a major mistake, taxpayers would not now be facing a £1million bill.
(more…)

Flares and smoke grenade amnesty in York tomorrow

flares

North Yorkshire Police’s Football Liaison Officers will be holding a Pyrotechnics Amnesty at Bootham Crescent this Saturday (12 July 2014).

The initiative is being held with the support of York City Football Club to raise awareness of the dangers and the law around flares and smoke grenades which many people believe are harmless.

A red bin will be placed outside the ground where fans can drop off any flares or smoke grenades ahead of Saturday’s game against Sheffield Wednesday.
(more…)

Skips on Saturday

12th July 2014 8:30am Sanderson House, Bramham Road

10:30am Rogers Court
19th July 2014 8:30am Lowfields Drive

12:30pm Cornlands Road
26th July 2014 10:30 am Saxon Place Potter Lane end

10:30am Fossway
2nd August 2014 8:30am Westfield Place

8:30am Dringfield Close

10:30am Ganton Place

12:30pm Jute Road
9th August 2014 8:30am Alcuin Ave

10:30am Tang Hall Lane

12:30pm Fifth Ave
  • The skips are funded by the local residents association using their Estate Improvement Grant. The skips are removed once they are full so please make sure you arrive in good time if you intend to make use of them.
  • Please remember to take your waste to the site only on the dates advertised
  • If the skip is full or not on the site, please do not leave your waste. This is classed as fly tipping and is illegal
  • Bulky items including furniture, fridges and freezers are not accepted. To arrange disposal of one of these items please ring York (01904) 551551.

More lane closures on A59 near Poppleton

More traffic delays are in prospect as lane restrictions are re-introduced on the A59 near its Boroughbridge Road junction with the A1237.

The lane restrictions had been lifted for the Tour de France.

Now, with work at the junction dragging on, further congestion and inconvenience for drivers is expected.

The nearby Park and Ride site is also far from finished and the delays – and the decision of the Council – to start bus services from the unfinished site – will be considered at the York Council meeting next week (17th).

Questions tabled include:

(xxxiv) To the Cabinet Member for Transport from Cllr Reid:
“Who took the decision, and when, to open the new Park and Ride site at Poppleton before work had been completed (the outstanding works on 9th June included car parking space, signage, traffic signals, road junction layout, layout, A1237 junction improvements etc) and when will all work connected with the Park and Ride site and associated road works be completed?”

(xxxvi) To the Cabinet Member for Transport from Cllr Reid:
“ What has been the number of vehicles parked on average each day at the new Park and Ride site at Poppleton and how many passengers have been carried by the new buses on each day since 9th June?”

Free compost giveaway on Sunday

City of York Council and Yorwaste Ltd are giving away compost for free again this year.

2014 dates are confirmed as:

  • Sunday 13th July
  • Sunday 3rd August

The site will be open from 8am – 3pm on collection days. Please bring a shovel and suitable container to put the soil improver in.

Location: Harewood Whin (Yorwaste’s waste management site) Tinker Lane, off Wetherby Road, Rufforth

Directions: From Acomb, the site is located on the B1224 on the right hand side, just before you enter Rufforth Village.

If you need any further information please contact us on 01904 551551

Help celebrate Dringhouses’ 150 Festival

Dringhouses Library

Dringhouses Library

Residents are invited to help celebrate a special birthday!

Dringhouses Library on Tadcaster Road is over 150 years old. First a Victorian school, the building became a library during World War Two in 1942.

Throughout July, the library will be commemorating the building’s role in the life of the people of Dringhouses for the last century and a half. Although it was built in 1852, the school and its teachers were legally required in 1863 to keep a daily log of pupils and teaching and so 150 years of records began then.

Some 80 years later in 1942, Colonel George Wilkinson left the building to the council, with the instructions: ‘The premises to be used as a public library or for such other public purpose for the benefit of the citizens of York, in particular the inhabitants of Dringhouses.’

The building, its history and current use will be celebrated as a place of community and learning through theatre, music, lectures, author talks and more.

 The festival begins on Thursday 10 July with a play specially-commissioned by the library from Ellen Stevens, a recent theatre graduate of the University of York. In it, local actors and pupils from the current Dringhouses Primary School play the parts of their nineteenth-century counterparts in a piece of community theatre not to be missed!

 Other festival events include a chamber music concert by group Bellissime of popular Victorian music, a local history group talk about the library, a talk by Big City Read author Tom Harper and lots more. The Dringhouses 150 Celebration Party on 9 August from 2-3:30pm draws events to a close, before the next 150 years begin!

This festival supports York Explore Libraries and Archives’ vision of enabling people to live fuller, more connected and engaged lives by celebrating the history, future and community of Dringhouses Library.

Fiona Williams, Chief Executive of Explore York Libraries and Archives, said: “Dringhouses Library is one of our most popular libraries and it is exciting to be celebrating how the building has been at the heart of its community for so long. Here’s to the next 150 years!”

For more information and to book places on the events please visit www.yortime.org.uk or call Dringhouses Library on 01904 552674 or visitwww.exploreyork.org.uk for the festival timetable.

 

Leeside and Lerecroft footpaths being repaired this month

The City of York Council will start work week commencing 7th July 2014 to reconstruct and resurface the footway on Leeside. This scheme is programmed to take 4 weeks, weather permitting.

The work consists of excavating the current tarmac surfacing, re-grading the stone foundation and laying a new layer of tarmac, road kerbs are to be renewed at vehicle crossings.
 

The Council will start work week commencing 21st July 2014 to reconstruct the footway on Lerecroft Road. This scheme is programmed to take 8 weeks, weather permitting.

The works consists of lifting the current flagged footway, relaying it and replacing worn or broken flags as the scheme progresses. All vehicle crossing are to be reconstructed in concrete.

Dim Council?

in the dark

York Council are planning to dim streetlights between midnight and 6:00am.

Residents, in part of Council Leaders James Alexander’s Holgate ward, were used as guinea pigs in a trial earlier in the year.

In January 2014 the council installed LED lighting in Hamilton Way, Collingwood Avenue, Stewart Road, and Amberley Street in Holgate with several being operated at 50-60 per cent.

The Council Leadership claims that residents did not notice that lights had been dimmed.

Problem is that there was no consultation and residents were kept in the dark (sic) about the trial.

No data on crime levels was reported by the Council who claim that the programme was agreed by the Councils Cabinet on 1st July as part of its (no irony) “rewiring” project.

In reality only passing reference was made to street lighting in a report which ran to over 100 pages.

The Council says, “No comments or complaints were received on the varied levels of lighting throughout the trial”.

Given the flaws in the Councils customer contact system this is hardly surprising. You can’t even report, through the Councils web site, a faulty street lamp let alone a “dim” one.

The Council says,

Behind closed doors logo

“Over 1,500 lanterns in York will be replaced this year with a new ‘white light’ – providing a clearer light, which will help make people feel safer at night.

The LED lantern conversions will be installed over a seven month period until January 2015, predominately in the following areas: Rawcliffe, Clifton, Huntington, New Earswick, Copmanthorpe, Bishopthorpe and Micklegate.

The Wards that have been chosen are areas that house the highest number of 35watt low pressure sodium lanterns (orange light).

The new lighting will also help make significant carbon, energy and cost savings.

In addition to the new LEDS, lights will also be reduced by up to 50-60 per cent on streets between midnight and 6am when the traffic flow levels can be described as quiet. Although the level of lighting reduces this is still within current lighting level standards”.

It is certainly possible to make some savings – and reduce carbon emissions – using more energy efficient systems and lighting cycles.

Such a programme was started by the Council as long ago as 2008.

However, the cost/benefit figures – produced by the Council – now do need further analysis

And, of course, street lighting has a major role to play in tacking crime with back lanes and snickets likely to be particular problem areas when we get to dark winter evenings.

The Council has been secretive in its approach and has played fast and loose with resident’s safety.

They should be more open with their plans in the future.