York City Knights Foundation will be running some free outdoor activity sessions for local young people in west York over the half-term holiday. The dates and times are listed below.
Processes are in place to make the sessions Covid-compliant with spaces limited to meet current Government and RFL guidance, and as such booking is essential with limited availability. Once booked on, parents/ carers of participants are asked to download the Clubforce App which will help the Knights to follow Covid- 19 protocols.
The Government has announced that York will be subject to additional restrictions, following a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases.
From 00:01hrs on Saturday 17 October, York will be been placed at the high level (tier 2) of the Government’s new three-tier restriction system.
The new restrictions for tier 2 mean:
You must not meet socially with friends and family indoors in any setting unless you live with them or have formed a support bubble with them. This includes private homes, and any other indoor venues such as pubs and restaurants.
You may continue to see friends and family you do not live with outside, including in a garden or other outdoor space. When you do so you must not meet in a group of more than 6.
Visiting indoor hospitality/leisure/retail settings is restricted to one household i.e. two households must not meet in these settings (unless those two households are in a support bubble).
People are advised only to visit care homes in exceptional circumstances (further work will be undertaken locally to agree what this means).
People should only travel for essential reasons.
You can still go on holiday outside of your area, but you should only do this with people you live with, or have formed a support bubble with (dependent on any local restrictions in the area you are visiting).
People can play a team sport only where this is formally organised by a sports club or similar organisation, and sports-governing body guidance has been issued.
People should not attend amateur or professional sporting events as a spectators.
Wedding receptions and celebrations can continue for up to 15 people in the form of a sit-down meal and in a Covid-secure setting, not in a private dwelling.
Up to 30 people can attend a funeral (York capacity remains at 18), and 15 for a wake in a Covid-secure setting, not in a private dwelling.
What is a ‘support bubble’ and a ‘childcare bubble’?
Informal childcare can be provided via ‘childcare bubbles’. A childcare bubble is where someone in one household provides informal (unpaid and unregistered) childcare to a child aged 13 or under in another household. For any given childcare bubble, this must always be between the same 2 households. Friends or family who do not live with you and are not part of a support or childcare bubble must not visit your home to help with childcare. Childcare bubbles are to be used to provide childcare only, and not for the purposes of different households mixing where they are otherwise not allowed to do so. Find out more at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-covid-alert-level-high#childcare
To learn more about the new measures and what support is available locally, please visit www.york.gov.uk/Coronavirus. The council will also be holding a special Facebook Live ‘Ask the Leaders’ Q&A session at www.facebook.com/CityofYork on Friday 16 October, further details to follow.
City of York Council has set out a timetable for work to invest £5m on Tadcaster Road, following the award of the funding from the Department of Transport’s Local Highways Maintenance Challenge Fund.
The funding will enable to council to improve large sections of drainage along the route which will reduce localised surface water flooding. The work will include the delivery of additional pedestrian crossings and will ensure the road is maintenance free for the next 10 years.
Road works are returning to Tadcaster Road
Local councillors have for some time been pressing for a pedestrian refuge to be installed on Tadcaster Road near to the junction with Nelsons Lane to enable residents alighting the bus to be able to cross the road safely. It is hoped that this scheme will now be delivered as part of these works.
During the council’s liaison with the major utility companies to co-ordinate future work, it became apparent that Northern Gas Networks (NGN), were due to carry out major work in 2023. They have brought this work forward to October 2020 to ensure that disruption for residents and commuters is minimised. The council works are then scheduled to start in January 2021.
The council could have made NGN wait for three years before digging up the road, but that would have led to longer term issues of the road surface once again becoming a ‘patchwork’ of reinstatements. By bringing the NGN work forward, there is the opportunity to undertake proper reinstatement as part of the wider package of work.
The council has published some FAQs, set out below, which address questions and concerns that residents may have, such as why the NGN work is being done so soon after a section of Tadcaster Road was resurfaced.
Q. Wasn’t part of Tadcaster Road resurfaced earlier this year? A. Yes. The council bid to Government for a scheme on Tadcaster Road but received confirmation in March that it was unsuccessful and would not receive funding. Therefore the council resurfaced a section of Tadcaster Road as it was in need of urgent repairs between The Horseshoe and St Aubyns Place.
However, in June the council was then awarded the £5million funding to improve large sections of drainage along Tadcaster Road which will reduce the risk of localised surface water flooding.
Northern Gas Networks recently informed the council they have plans to carry out major works to their service at Tadcaster Road by 2025. The council was not made aware of these works before the section of Tadcaster Road between The Horseshoe and St Aubyns Place was resurfaced earlier this year.
Whilst it is not an ideal situation, the council would rather sacrifice a small part of the works that have been undertaken already rather than risk the digging up of the major £5 million scheme in a few years’ time for the Northern Gas Networks scheme.
The council and Northern Gas Networks have agreed to coordinate their programmes of works for the benefit of the larger Tadcaster Road scheme.
This coordination of works will see Northern Gas Networks advance their programme for delivery in 2020. The utility repair works will be carried out on the inbound carriageway only from 10 October for 16-20 weeks. As these works will affect 50% the recently surfaced road, the council will resurface this affected section again by recycling the material onsite. The council is planning to commence the drainage works in January 2021 followed by highways works and road resurfacing, these works are expected to take up to 9 months to complete.
Full details will be communicated in advance of the works, including letters to residents and businesses.
Pedestrian access will be permitted and maintained at all times, but vehicle access may be prohibited at times with traffic management (traffic lights). Everything possible will be done to keep this distribution to a minimum.
Q. Where are the works happening? A. The current scope of the £5m Highways maintenance works includes the full stretch of Tadcaster Road.
A full assessment of the road’s condition will be carried out in advance. This will help to determine the full details of the works including in addition to the resurfacing and drainage works, is if there is capacity to look at additional crossing points as well as improvements to the crossing points, footway or cycle routes, for example.
Q. Why are we doing it? A. There are serious defects we could not address without the significant level of funding from DFT, these include the road surface and drainage network, so this scheme will improve the quality of the overall highway. There are currently 35 non-running gullies and several hundred metres of un-mapped drainage, meaning this route particularly suffers during times of heavy rain and localised surface water flooding. The proposed scheme would deliver remediation measures to the road’s drainage, ensure its resurfacing is fit-for-purpose and can continue to meet the needs of its cycling users and support the local economy and the wider area.
Q. What is the impact on traffic during the works? A. A traffic management plan will be created in advance, alongside NGN, and communicated to residents and businesses. These works will be delivered under lane closures and traffic lights, which will be monitored closely on site by traffic marshals. Journey times may be affected, however we will be doing everything we can to keep this to a minimum.
Q. What will happen to public transport and buses? A. Residents and visitors are urged to plan ahead, allow more time for journeys on these routes which will be busier than normal and to consider alternatives and to use public transport where possible. Bus services will generally be operating as normal for the majority of the works, as per national social distancing rules.
Q. Will I still be able to cross the road? A. Temporary crossing points will be available at all times during the works to ensure that all pedestrian crossings that are currently available are maintained. Traffic marshals will be on site to assist with pedestrians crossing the road.
Q. Will I still be able to access shops, cafe/restaurants in the area? A. Pedestrian access will be maintained at all times. We will be engaging with traders and businesses in the area to help promote the “open as usual” message. Vehicular access for deliveries will be maintained.
Q. What if I live or work in the area? A. Access to all properties and businesses will be retained at all times. Traffic marshals will be on hand to assist if vehicle access is prohibited at certain times.
Q. What about alternative travel plans? A. Residents and visitors are urged to plan ahead, allow more time for journeys on these routes and to consider alternatives and to use public transport where possible. Bus services will generally be operating as normal for the majority of the works but passengers are requested to visit www.itravelyork.info for more information.
Residents are being encouraged to have their say on pavement parking as part of a Government consultation.
Local councillors increasingly receive complaints from residents who find themselves having to walk in the road due to vehicles being parked on the footpath unnecessarily. This is a particular problem for anyone pushing a pram or buggy, for wheelchair users and for people who are blind or partially sighted.
No way through
The Government consultation on pavement parking is open until 22 November, and details can be found HERE
In summary, the Government wants to gauge the degree of support for ongoing work to improve the Traffic Regulation Order process as a means to tackle pavement parking where it is a problem. It is also inviting views on alternative approaches, with two specific options outlined. These are:
legislative change to allow local authorities with civil parking enforcement (CPE) powers to enforce against ‘unnecessary obstruction of the pavement’, or;
legislative change to introduce a London-style pavement parking prohibition throughout England.
The Government is also inviting any alternative proposals for managing pavement parking.
A mobility scooter would struggle to get past this van
There are existing statutes and regulations which allow proceedings to be brought by the Police under criminal law for situations where parking on the pavement, in such a way as to cause obstruction, is deemed to be avoidable. These include section 137 of the Highways Act 1980, as amended; for wilfully obstructing the free passage along a highway. Local authorities are currently unable to enforce against obstruction using their civil parking enforcement powers.
The installation of Ultra Fibre Optic cabling in the Acomb Park area has returned, with work being undertaken on streets that were missed out when the first tranche of work was done.
Cable is currently being installed on Coeside, but it seems that the company has failed to give residents advance notice. One resident contacted Cllr Stephen Fenton after returning home to find their driveway blocked and the ‘service strip’ part of the front garden dug up.
In mid-September Stephen contacted the council’s Streetworks team to ask about similar work being undertaken on nearby Ashmeade Close, and he requested a list of the streets in Dringhouses & Woodthorpe ward where permissions had been granted for forthcoming utilities work. A council officer undertook to ask the company’s senior build manager in York to provide some information, but to date none has been received.
It is understood that utility firms are required to notify the council of forthcoming works at least 10 days in advance.
Stephen commented “It’s not acceptable for residents to find their driveway blocked and their front garden dug up with no notice or explanation. If the utility company doesn’t have the courtesy to tell residents what they are doing, and the council can’t compel them to, then it’s even more more important that ward councillors are kept informed.
“I have therefore asked that, when the council’s Streetworks team receives notification of utility works, this is communicated to ward councillors so that we have the opportunity to put out a street letter explaining what’s going on.”
Local councillors are lobbying the owner and leaseholder of the land around the Moorcroft Road shops to make some much-needed improvements.
The potholes in the car park at the rear of the shops are getting deeper and pose a real hazard to pedestrians, particularly during wet weather.
Residents have expressed concerns about uneven and rocking paving stones in the area outside the Dick Turpin pub, and the latest problem emerged on 25 September when high winds caused a number of branches to fall from the pine tree, with some others hanging precariously.
A resident has kindly put up some tape to secure the area. Cllr Stephen Fenton has contacted the landowner and leaseholder to request that they arrange an urgent inspection of the tree and for the hanging branches to be removed.
Stephen hopes to meet on site with the landowner and leaseholder in early October.
City of York Council would like to hear from any blue badge holders and less mobile people who have been affected by the increased pedestrianisation in York city centre.
Join the online workshop on Wednesday 23 September 2-4pm to explore:
– the challenges (what works / doesn’t work)
– understand the range of people’s needs
– ideas for improvements around accessibility and footstreets
If you are unable to join the workshop then you can complete an online survey at www.york.gov.uk/OBCAccess by 28 September or you can find a paper survey in the September edition of the council’s ‘Our City’ publication.
Signs have been erected at the former Askham Bar Park & Ride site announcing that it will close on 24 September and will then be used by the NHS as a ‘mass flu vaccination site.’
Coming soon to Askham Bar
Cllr Stephen Fenton noticed on 17 September that signs had gone up and that the car park had benefited from a deep clean. A worker on site said that he had spent four days doing a thorough litter pick and cutting back vegetation which had taken over many of the parking bays.
Deep cleaned car park
Stephen has asked for clarification on how the site will operate, as it currently serves as a cut-through for residents going to and from the Tesco store.
It is understood that the site is being mobilised to create additional vaccination capacity on the back of the announcement that, in addition to the normal flu vaccination programme, 50 to 64-year-olds who do not have a health condition putting them at risk of the flu will also be eligible for a free flu vaccine.
Since its transformation from a Park & Ride site into a £4 per day City of York Council Pay & Display car park, the site has been very little used. It was often strewn with litter, which volunteers tried to keep on top of, and was the venue for some late evening ‘boy racer’ meet-ups.
In the draft Local Plan the site is earmarked for housing.
For the second time in recent weeks, a bag of clinical waste has been dumped next to a litter bin in the Nelsons Lane / Little Hob Moor area of Dringhouses.
On 26 August volunteers from the Mayfield Community Trust found a bag next to the bin near to the Nelsons Lane playground. This was reported to the council’s Neighbourhood Enforcement team who undertook to investigate the matter.
Waste dumped on 26 August at Nelsons Lane
Then on 18 September Cllr Stephen Fenton was contacted by a resident about a bag of clinical waste that had been placed on top of the litter bin on Little Hob Moor at the entrance to the railway underpass. On further inspection, items including used incontinence products and a urine bottle had been placed in the bin itself.
A local resident has also reported that used incontinence products have been found dumped on Hob Moor in recent weeks.
This latest incident has again been reported to the council’s Neighbourhood Enforcement team to investigate.
One possible scenario is that a resident is being cared for at home and is struggling to safely dispose of clinical waste, leading to it being disposed of inappropriately. They may be unaware that the council can offer help with clinical waste collection – further information HERE.
The council has delivered a letter to around 500 households in the immediate vicinity of Little Hob Moor, asking for views on the future maintenance and management of the area.
Residents are asked to express an opinion on whether they would support bulb planting, the installation of additional benches, the formal designation of a wildflower meadow area and feedback on the grass cutting regime.
Feedback will help to inform decisions on any future changes.
