Only 107 new affordable homes completed in York last year

The York Council continues to perform poorly in the provision of affordable homes in York. It has steadfastly refused to buy on the open market despite having a £15 million balance on its housing account.

In total, 345 additional homes were provided in the City during 2013/14. During the first 6 months of 2014/15, 235 homes were provided.

Housing completions 2014

click to enlarge

York Council homes sold under “right to buy”? (New Council homes completed)

  • 2010/11 = 10 (0)
  • 2011/12 = 6 (0)
  • 2012/13 = 24 (19)
  • 2013/14 = 53 (0)
  • 2014/15 (up to 1/12/14) = 39 (18)

Number on housing waiting list.

  • 2010/11 = 3294
  • 2011/12 = 3972
  • 2012/13 = 4692
  • 2013/14 = 2306 (eligibility change)
  • As at 20/01/15 = 1462

Over 2000 planning applications for housing have been approved during the last 18 months, with the vast majority for “brownfield” (previously developed) land

Liberal Democrat housing policy can be read here

Yearsley Pool public meeting

A public meeting will take place on Monday (16th March) to discuss the future of Yearsley Swimming Pool. 

Yearsley Pool campaigners

Yearsley Pool campaigners

The meeting will be at the 68 Youth & Community Centre on Monkton Road at 5:15pm. It has been arranged as part of a council scrutiny review into the future of the pool.

The review was setup following a request by Liberal Democrat councillors to re-consider Labour’s decision to cut the £250,000 annual subsidy given to Yearsley from 2016/17.

Monday’s meeting will ask residents and users for their views on the pool and will listen to ideas about how its future can be secured.

Before the public meeting, members of the cross-party review will go on a tour of the Yearsley facility.
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York Council to spend £5.8 million on transport improvements over next 12 months

No ring road improvements scheduled. Little being spent on reducing congestion

The Councils transport investment programme has been published. As usual the devil will be in the detail and the programme could be scrapped if there are major changes in the make-up of the Council at the May 7th polls.

Bus Services

Around £775,000 is to be spent on improvements to bus services.  £250,000 of this will go on the delays Rougier Street bus shelter while £200,000 will address “pinch point improvements”. Once again sub-urban areas fare badly in the allocations (separately on the agenda for the same meeting a £20,000 plan to improve facilities in Rawcliffe is recommended for rejection)

Traffic congestion

Proposed extra lane for A19 pinch point

Proposed extra lane for A19 pinch point

£2 million is being spent easing the “pinch point” on the A19 near the Designer Outlet. Much less is being spent elsewhere in the £2.4 million budget although the modernisation of variable message boards – which have been increasingly unreliable – is welcome.

Cycling/Pedestrian schemes

£468,000 is being spent on a range of small schemes. The biggest is the provision of a cycle link at Scarborough Bridge. This is mostly being covered by central government grant.

Road Safety

Wetherby Road VAS

Wetherby Road VAS

This is only being allocated £450,000 in the programme which is still driven by Labour priorities.  School safety schemes, school crossing warning signs, “speed management” and the renewal of the vehicle activated signs (VAS), like those on Wetherby Road and Green Lane, will all get a boost.

Money is also asset aside to develop future improvements and to continue maintenance of the City Walls. The alleygating programme will also continue.

No expenditure on improvements to the northern by pass is expected over the next 12 months despite promises from the Labour Council leadership that this was now one of their priorities.

Creative Apprenticeships and Internships “get a boost”

In National Apprenticeship Week, City of York Council is calling on businesses to apply for funding to create Apprenticeship and Internships across the city.

Businesses in the creative and cultural sector still have the opportunity to benefit from the funding and recruitment service offered by City of York Council and could receive up to £3500 to fund an apprentice and £2500 to fund an intern.

Following a £185,000 loss on the Grand Departy last year, the Council is now offering apprenticeships in "event management"

Following a £185,000 loss on the Grand Departy last year, the Council is now offering apprenticeships in “event management”

In October 2014 City of York Council announced that it received funding of £90,750 to help businesses create opportunities for young people in the creative and cultural sector and there is still time for businesses to apply.

The funding, from Arts Council England and administered by Creative & Cultural Skills, will be used to help create 40 new job opportunities for young people aged 16-24, who are keen to get their first step on the career ladder and support the growth of creative and cultural organisations in the city. Funding will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis and all jobs must start by 31 March 2016.

Roles that could be created could include opportunities in; Event Management, Arts Administration, Technical Theatre, Archives and Library, Marketing and Stage Management, as well as functions such as administration, finance and catering.

Current organisations who have signed up to the scheme include: York Theatre Royal, Jorvik Viking Centre, Explore York Libraries and Archives and other small independent theatre groups, galleries and arts organisations. For more information on the programme contact Becky Solomon, Business Engagement Assistant on becky.solomon@york.gov.uk or call 01904 554341.

Oliver House bonansa for taxpayers

A bid by McCarthy & Stone for a 30 apartment retirement home scheme is the clear tender winner  at £3.324m for the Oliver House site according to Council papers published this evening.

Oliver House

Oliver House

The bid is much higher than the initial £400,00 valuation put on the site by Council officials who had obviously under-estimated the buoyancy of the recovering property market in York.

The next highest bid was a 29 bed retirement scheme from Churchill Retirement at £2.850m.

The lowest value bid came from Yorspace at £750,000. This bid had received a lot of publicity in The Press but is so far below the market value that the Council could not legally accept it (without Secretary of State authority).

Officials are recommending that negotiations with the highest bidder proceed.

Oliver House has been empty for 2 years. Slow progress on its sale has been heavily criticised by Council taxpayers

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Nearly 150 buses across the country to be fitted with pollution-reducing technology. York awarded £475k to make cleaner buses for the city

Sightseeing bus converted to battery power

More cleaner buses will be on the streets of towns and cities across England following the announcement of over £3 million funding today (11 March 2015).

York first pioneered the development of battery powered buses in 2010. 

Seven towns and cities have been awarded government grants to fit green technology to existing buses to help improve air quality and create a better environment for residents and visitors.

Electric buses pioneered by York in 2010

Baroness Kramer said:

The £3 million funding announced today will help improve town centre air across England, benefitting residents and businesses. These grants continue this government’s commitment to lowering emissions from public transport and support the growth of green transport in the UK.

The funding is the latest tranche of support from the Clean Vehicle Technology Fund, which has retrofitted more than 1650 vehicles with green technology.

This round of awards will see technology suitable for the stop-start nature of bus travel fitted, including exhaust gas treatment and flywheel hybrid technology, developed originally for Formula 1.

The successful projects will monitor the effectiveness of the technologies to provide vital information on the working life of green vehicle upgrades.

York saw the launch of the world’s first double decker conversion of a City Sightseeing tour bus in York to fully electric drive last year. 

The DfT’s Clean Vehicle Technology fund will now enable the conversation of an additional five buses into ‘zero emission motion’ – meaning electric motors.

The electric retrofitted vehicles will eliminate the emission of 2000kg of poisonous Nitrogen Dioxide (NOx) per year and reduce the carbon footprint by 95 tons CO2. Operating costs of the electric buses will save over £75k per year. 

The converted buses are quieter and emit no pollution from the tailpipe as they run entirely on electric motors and battery packs.

The electric range is more than enough to complete a full day of touring and the buses will trickle charge overnight at their depot, using low carbon off peak electricity.

Liberal Democrats announce details of 47 candidates for York Council elections on May 7th

A full list of candidates for the York Council elections on May 7th is now available from the LibDem web site.

Cllr Ann Reid, Stephen Fenton and Ashley Mason who will contest the Dringhouses and Woodthorpe Ward

Cllr Ann Reid, Stephen Fenton and Ashley Mason who will contest the Dringhouses and Woodthorpe Ward

Wherever possible, local ward branches have selected candidates who live in or near the neighbourhoods that they seek to represent.

The other parties have also announced most of their candidates and it looks like around 200 – a record number – will be contesting the elections which take place on the same day as the parliamentary poll.

Click here for details of the LibDem candidates.

Policy manifestos are expected to be published in early April

The current make up of the Council is

Lab – 21

LibDem – 9

Tory – 9

Green – 2

Ind Lab – 2

Ind – 4

Council set to resist autumn green bin emptying.

The Council is set to stick with its decision to end green bin emptying in October each year.

The service now starts again in April.

Green bin 2

A Council report claims that most residents either store up their green waste in winter or take it to one of York’s two civic amenity recycling centres.

The report does not say how much waste was collected in the additional collection arranged in January of this year.

The Council accepts though that some garden waste found its way into grey bins, adding to the Landfill Tax burden that must be funded by Council Taxpayers.