New ‘Community Tea Room’ for Dringhouses & Woodthorpe

A weekly ‘Community Tea Room’ is being established at the Moor Lane Youth Centre on Wains Road, with support from Ward Committee funding.

Every Wednesday from 12 noon to 1.30pm residents are invited to pop in for a chat and a cuppa. This initiative comes hot on the heels of successful weekly ‘Community Hub’ sessions at Foxwood and Chapelfields.

 

Traffic survey results revealed

Traffic surveys undertaken on Thanet Road and Moorcroft Road have provided evidence to support calls for action to tackle problem parking and speeding concerns.

The surveys were supported by local Lib Dem councillors though funding from the Dringhouses & Woodthorpe Ward Committee budget.

Residents’ concerns about speeding traffic and parking provision on Thanet Road have been backed up by the findings of the survey. The aim of the survey undertaken between 21st and 27th June was to gather evidence to support calls for safety measures to be put in place, following a number of accidents and incidents where residents’ cars have been damaged.

Thanet Road survey zone

Findings from the survey included:

  • Ten near misses between two cars
  • One near miss between a car and a HGV
  • One near miss between two HGVs

Councillor Ashley Mason said “The findings from the survey will further strengthen our calls for action to improve road safety. We have written to the council’s Transport chief, including the survey findings, to ask that options be considered for an engineering solution.”

Parking problems on Moorcroft Road outside the doctors and dentists prompted the survey at that location, which was undertaken between 17th and 23rd July. The aim of the survey was to gather evidence on the nature of the parking problems which can cause the bus to get stuck and footpaths to be obstructed.

A previous proposal for extending double yellow lines outside the doctor’s surgery attracted some criticism, with the suggestion that double yellow lines outside the dentist would have more impact. However council officers opposed this suggestion.

Moorcroft Road survey zone

Some headline findings from the survey included:

  • Three near misses between two cars
  • Four near misses between a car and a bus
  • One near miss between a car and a moped
  • One near miss between a parked car and a mobility scooter

Councillor Stephen Fenton said “We will keep residents informed and engaged on further developments. In the meantime we recently arranged for the existing double yellow lines on Moorcroft Road to be re-painted, as they had almost faded away.

“We have been in contact with the new owners of the shops and car parks to ask that ‘Customer Parking Only’ signs be installed, in response to complaints about the car parks being used a ‘Park & Ride’. We have also asked for the overgrown vegetation to be cut back.”

 

Councillors keep up the pressure on grass verge reinstatement

Local Lib Dem councillors are continuing to push for proper reinstatement of grass verges in Dringhouses following the completion of UFO cable laying.

Many verges on Leven Road have failed to recover due to the very poor quality soil used – in places there is more rubble than soil!

Following a joint TalkTalk / City of York Council walkout last week, it was agreed that additional topsoil was required, which will put down over the next few weeks.

 

Talks on Balloon Fiesta traffic chaos

A meeting has been held to discuss the traffic chaos caused by the Balloon Fiesta on the Knavesmire on Saturday 29 September.

There were numerous examples of illegal parking, like here on Ainsty Grove

The meeting, on 4 October, involved City of York Council transport officers, Make it York, the Police and the event organisers. We understand that they discussed what happened and if there were any possible solutions to avoid a repeat of the problems caused.

Importantly, the council has told the organisers that they have to submit a full traffic and parking management plan early in 2019, drawn up by a fully qualified company, which will need to be approved by the Head of Transport before any decision is made to allow the event to take place again on the Knavesmire.

Local residents have asked why the race day traffic arrangements weren’t used for this event. The response we have received is that a wider traffic management plan such as the one in place for race meetings was not considered appropriate for this event owing to the extended and flexible arrival and departure times. In addition, the use of this type of plan could have created further problems given the poor management of the car parking by the event organisers.

 

Askham Bar litter pick success

Cllr Stephen Fenton led a team of local volunteers on a litter pick in the Askham Bar area on Sunday 7th October. Most of the 30 bags of litter collected came from the old Park & Ride car park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The team also tackled the ‘orphan’ concrete bin near to the petrol station, which both City of York Council and Tesco deny responsibility for.

 

Expansion of York’s Air Quality Management Area

York’s city centre Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) has been expanded, after a decision was taken to include Coppergate.  This comes after a recent presentation of York’s Annual Air Quality Status Report, which commends the Council’s successful approach to tackling poor air quality.

In a decision taken by Lib Dem Cllr Andrew Waller at his Environment Decision Session on 1 October, Coppergate will now be included in the city centre’s AQMA in order to tackle air pollution from diesel vehicles in the area and maintain progress in improving the city’s air quality. Time had been allowed since last year’s decision session on the annual review of Air Quality to see if the enforcement of the bus lane had a positive impact on air pollution levels.

Cllr Waller with staff from Amey on Clean Air Day 2018

As part of the decision session, it was also decided to retain the Fulford AQMA for a further 12 months, despite NO2 in the area remaining below the Council’s health bases objectives.  This is to ensure that Fulford’s air quality is monitored in view of future nearby developments in the city.

At the meeting, Cllr Waller asked for future reports on how the new traffic lights systems and charging points for electric cars especially for people living in terraced areas can be delivered to make further improvements.

The decisions come as the Annual Air Quality Report highlights consistent improvement in York’s air quality, when compared to the previous years.  The Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) even added that:

‘The Council are taking exceptional steps and effort to actively tackle air quality within the city and the success of this approach is reflected in their results.’

Cllr Andrew Waller, Liberal Democrat Executive Member for Environment, commented:

“It is good to see that our approach has had such an impact in improving the city’s air quality and that it has been recognised by DEFRA.  I would like to thank the officers involved for their hard work in achieving this progress, however, we all accept that more work needs to be done to continue these improvements and ensure that future developments do not reverse our position.”

“The importance of ‘good’ Air Quality cannot be understated and we must continue to maintain these improvements through the use of our AQMA’s. We will continue to monitor in the Salisbury Terrace area”

“There is more public interest in particulates and unlike other authorities, York measures these, so we know the PM10 and PM2.5 levels at hotspots. Particulates will continue to be reported annually with the World Health Organisation and EU guidelines.”

“Looking further down the line, as we work to create the UK’s first voluntary Clean Air Zone, York will continue to lead the line in the fight to tackle poor air quality, with a report coming later this year to the Executive following the public consultation.”

For further information on the AQMA decisions that were made, or for more information on the Air Quality Annual Status Report, please visit: http://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=10835&x=1.

Call for answers on Balloon Festival fiasco

Local Lib Dem councillors are demanding answers to why the Balloon Festival on the Knavesmire held from 28 to 30 September led to gridlock on local roads.

Nose to tail traffic jams and inconsiderate and illegal parking meant that many residents were trapped in their homes, or were unable to get back home. Buses were also stuck, leading to lengthy delays.

Dringhouses & Woodthorpe Cllr Stephen Fenton has asked Make it York to explain why the volume of traffic was not foreseen, what traffic management plans were in operation, and why there were no Police or stewards in evidence.

Information provided by council officers in recent days has confirmed that a traffic management plan such as the one used for race meetings was not considered appropriate for the event, due to the extended and flexible arrival and departure times.

Council officials are to meet with Make it York, the Police and the Festival organisers on 3 October to look at what went wrong and what lessons can be learned.

Councillor Fenton commented  “I saw for myself what happened on Tadcaster Road and surrounding streets on Saturday afternoon. It was a chaotic, and at times dangerous situation.

There were numerous examples of illegal parking, like here on Ainsty Grove

“Both local residents and visitors to the event were badly let down. When word of the £5 parking fee spread, many visitors seemed to decide to park in residential streets off Tadcaster Road, leading to chaos in many streets.

Irresponsible parking meant that the exit from Whin Road onto Bracken Road was blocked

“The event organisers need to take their share of responsibility and explain why they put in place the parking arrangements that they did, and why they did not do more to promote the use of Park & Ride.

“There is absolutely no way that this event should go ahead next year on this site unless plans are put in place – and publicised to visitors and communicated to residents and local councillors – that will avoid a repeat.”