Residents of the Wains Road / Chaloners Road / Thanet Road / North Lane area are being urged to attend a crucial meeting of the Dringhouses West Residents Association.
The meeting on Tuesday 1st March at 7pm will be held at West Thorpe Methodist Church.
The main focus of the meeting will be to elect a new Chair and Secretary, to take over from the long-serving office holders who are standing down after many years’ sterling service.
City of York Council’s Executive has announced an amendment to its 2016/17 budget which increases investment in transport, bins and local ward committee projects. Extra money will also be set aside to help with the flood recovery and remodel early-intervention services for children and young people.
Earlier this month, the Government announced that York will receive £781,000 in transitional funding following the original national finance settlement announced last December. The Executive is therefore moving an amendment to its Budget on Thursday to allocate this money. The amendment also takes account of feedback to the original proposals announced at the beginning of February.
The investment will cover:
Cllr Keith Aspden, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader of City of York Council, commented:
“Whilst this transitional funding is welcome the council is still facing an overall budget cut from the government over the next four years as well as the rising costs of adult social care. We have therefore focused this transitional money on helping to ensure crucial services such as early intervention work for children and young people and bus subsidies are sustainable in the long-term.
“We have also listened to those who have been responding to our consultation and initial proposals. This means more investment in frontline services such as bins, more money into local ward budgets and community projects, as well as more support for York Carers Centre.”
The amendment and overall budget proposals will be debated on Thursday 25th February, and full details can be found here: http://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=331&MId=8835
City of York Council is seeking residents’ views on options for creating additional primary school places to serve the South Bank area.
Although no part of Dringhouses & Woodthorpe ward falls within the catchment area for Scarcroft primary or Knavesmire primary – the schools which serve the South Bank area – this consultation is of interest to us because one of the options under consideration is to build a new 315-place primary school, with an 80-place nursery, on land behind The Square and The Grove, off Tadcaster Road.
Land behind The Square
A report to the council’s Executive on 28 January (see http://tinyurl.com/southbank-primary ) recommended that this option not be pursued, for the following reasons:
The report to Executive recommended that the need for additional places be addressed through the building of an annex to Scarcroft primary school on land on the Millthorpe school site. Following representations that were made on this issue, on 11 February the Executive agreed to a period of consultation on options. Information on the consultation can be found at https://www.york.gov.uk/micklegateschoolplaces
The option of building a school to serve the South Bank area on land behind the The Square and The Grove is not one that we support, for the reasons stated above. But we would like to hear your views, so please do get in touch if you’d like to let us know your thoughts on this – email Stephen in the first instance via cllr.sfenton@york.gov.uk
The current consultation closes on 11 March. Comments can be submitted via e-mail to micklegateschoolplaces@york.gov.uk or by post to Micklegate School Places, City of York Council School Services, West Offices, Station Rise, York, YO1 6GA.
Just in time for the current cold snap, we are pleased to report that the grit bin on Hillcrest Gardens has been reinstalled, two years after the previous Labour council administration ordered its removal.
This has been funded by the Dringhouses & Woodthorpe Ward Budget, which has been substantially increased by the current council administration.
We’d like to hear from residents if there are other locations where grit bins could be installed.
Following the recent repairs made to bollards and paving stones around Woodthorpe shops, we are pleased to report that the double yellow lines at the entrance to the car park have been repainted.
We hope that this will act as a reminder that parking in this spot can cause congestion as vehicles enter and leave the car park.
Problems remain with drainage in the area outside the Post Office – pictured below. The issue here seems to be a drain cover that is easily blocked. We have asked the Co-op Estates team to look at replacing the drain cover with one that is of a more effective design.
Cllr Stephen Fenton has drafted the following ‘simple guide’ to reporting graffiti or other damage done to BT or Virgin Media street cabinets, based on recent experiences in trying to get graffiti cleaned up. Stephen would welcome comments on how this guide could be improved!
Is it a BT or Virgin Media (VM) box?
When you come across a cabinet has been subject to a graffiti attack or some other form of vandalism, the first step is to try to work out whether it is a BT or VM box. This information will determine who to report it to. Whilst the council will arrange for graffiti to be cleaned off cabinets for which it has responsibility (eg traffic lights boxes), it is not responsible for telecoms cabinets.
Some BT cabinets are easily identifiable, either because they have a poster on the front of the cabinet or BT stencilled on the side.
BT box front view
BT box side view
BT fibre cabinet
There is no consistently easy way to identify Virgin Media cabinets but if the chamber lid is marked CATV or NTL it will invariably be a VM cabinet.
Virgin Media box
If you have a fair idea which type of cabinet it is, there are various ways in which you can report damage.
Reporting damage to BT cabinets
The BT web page which contains instructions for reporting damage to cabinets can be found Here . You are invited to call 0800 023 2023 and choose Option 1. You will be connected to an advisor who will ask for details of the location of the cabinet. It’s helpful if you can provide the address of the nearest property and the postcode. You will be given a reference number. The BT cabinet pictured above was reported in mid December 2015 and was cleaned up within four weeks.
Reporting damage to Virgin Media cabinets
The VM web page which contains instructions for reporting damage to cabinets can be found Here. You can choose to report the issue by phone, on 0330 333 0444, or click on ‘Contact Us’ then ‘Something else’ then ‘Reporting an open or damaged cabinet’.
The phone reporting service is automated, so you don’t get to speak to a person but instead answer a number of questions. You should provide as much information as you can, such as the address of the nearest property and the postcode. At the end of the call you will be given a reference number.
Reporting via the website is quite straightforward, but you are not issued with a reference number.
I reported the VM cabinet pictured above in mid December via the automated phone line and got a reference number, but then had to chase up twice via the website route. This did eventually prompt a helpful and attentive e-mail from a representative at the VM Operations Centre who admitted that there had been some ‘minor issues’ with the automated reporting line. He verified the information needed (nearest property and postcode) and undertook to raise an order to have the cabinet cleaned and repainted.
I’d welcome any additions / amendments / improvements to this simple guide.
Work to replace broken bollards and cracked paving slabs at Woodthorpe shops has been completed.
An improvement!
Next on the list is to get the badly faded double yellow lines re-painted at the entrance to the car park. With the fantastic work done by the Woodthorpe Community Beds group, the area is starting to look a lot smarter.
We are pleased to report that the Co-op estates team is making good on its commitment to put right some of the issues identified for action around Woodthorpe shops.
Before Christmas, trees were pruned and drains cleared. Now work is underway to replace broken bollards and paving slabs in the area to the side of the shops, at the entrance to the car park – pictured below.
Local Lib Dem councillors will now seek permission from the Co-op for the double yellow lines at the entrance to the car park to be repainted.
Local councillors Ann Reid and Stephen Fenton were joined by 14 residents for a successful community litter pick on Sunday 24th January at the former Askham Bar Park & Ride car park.
The site got a thorough going over, generating a large pile of rubbish which the council is to collect.
The litter pick was organised following growing concerns that the site was becoming an eyesore (pictured below).
The team that assembled on 24 January was able to clear the vast majority of the litter on site, though the dense and prickly nature of some of the vegetation made it a tricky task. It was also a challenge to clear the grass bank that leads down to the car park from Moor Lane – this area has been partially cleared for now.
Cllr Stephen Fenton has organised a community litter pick at the former Askham Bar Park & Ride car park (now the ‘Moor Lane Pay & Display car park’).
The litter pick will take place on Sunday 24th January between 11am and 3pm.
A ‘grot spot’!
Stephen has organised the litter pick in response to residents’ concerns about the state of the (mostly empty) car park. Litter ‘grabbers’ and refuse sacks will be provided.
Anyone wanting to join in the litter pick should contact Stephen on 07751 963215 or e-mail cllr.sfenton@york.gov.uk