York Councils “new” litter policy

The Council is to introduce what they describe as a “new” policy on litter. Details click here

Litter complaints

In reality most of the policy is little different from that which was implemented over a decade ago.

Mechanisation has increased the areas that can be swept – particularly in the City centre – but in sub-urban areas litter has been a growing problem since bins were removed a couple of years ago.

The “policy” makes no mention of dog fouling – again a problem that has been on the increase since the Dog Wardens were cut. More joint use litter/poop scoop bins are, however, promised.

Other essential street level posts have been cut leaving York’s front line dangerously undermanned.

The effective, and much missed, Street Environment Officers have now gone to be replaced by an, improbably named, “Smarter York Officer”.

Once again the emphasis is on forcing residents to undertake work previously done by the Council.

“Spring cleans” are promised but not in areas like the Cornlands estate where standards are now very poor.

Residents will want to be sure that their taxes are being spent wisely.

They expect to see performance measures, clear targets and a real on the ground improvement plan.

Sadly that is not part of the agenda for York’s Labour Council.

Potholes on increase

Despite a relatively mild winter, the number of potholes appearing on local roads continues to increase.

In the main this is a result of major cuts to maintenance investment implemented by the new Labour administration when they took office in 2011.

City of York Council

Road repairs expenditure

Year

Pothole reports

Resurfacing

Basic maintenance

Total

2012/13

2492

£1,570,000

£616,700

£2,186,700

2011/12

1566

£2,134,000

£877,200

£3,011,200

2010/11

2860

£1,706,000

£1,008,000

£2,714,000

2009/10

966

£1,604,000

£1,096,000

£2,700,000

 

The York Council will in 2014/15 return to its pre 2011 levels of investment, but for many roads the change will come too late. A poorly maintained highway costs much more to repair than one that has had some routine maintenance.

We believe that the Council should use the £1.3 million, that it has raised by fining drivers on Lendal and Coppergate, on dealing with the repairs backlog.

Scrapping Minster Badge will “threaten evening economy” in York

parking-charges-car-park-ticket-machine-149887544

The Labour leadership have been asked to clarify their policy on evening charges following their decision on Thursday to scrap resident’s car parking discounts.

As well as providing a reduced fee in during the day, the Minster badge entitles residents to park for free at City centre car parks after 6:00pm.

Those without badges are charged £2.

The Minster badge is being replaced by a “frequent user” card but this will cost £20 and will be available to anyone.

The Council have also been criticised for not extending the discounts available to small/low emission vehicles in the City.

York Council Tax bill by email?

The Council says that it can save £30,000 if residents agree to receive their Council Tax bills by Email.

Council taxTo sign up for e-billing, all residents have to do is have their last council tax bill to hand and go to the council’s website at http://www.york.gov.uk/ and

  • ◦Scroll to Do it Online
  • ◦Select Apply for it
  • ◦Scroll to Council Tax
  • ◦Select Council Tax e-billing

Lib Dems reveal York Council budget plans

Council Tax would be frozen and £3million of service cuts would be reversed under budget plans revealed by York’s Liberal Democrat Group.

The proposals, which will be tabled at City of York Council’s budget meeting on Thursday, would see a new £500,000 community fund created for residents to spend locally plus extra investment to boost recycling and tackle climate change.

LibDem budget plan would eliminate poor road surfaces in York

LibDem budget plan would eliminate poor road surfaces in York

The Lib Dem plans would see the controversial £3.3million ‘Reinvigorate York’ scheme – which funded the unpopular King’s Square revamp – cancelled and a reduction in funding on a new multi-million pound council IT project. Labour’s new £70,000-a-year ‘Head of Transformation’ would also face the axe and the number of Cabinet Members would be reduced.

Main Points of the Lib Dem amendment:

  • Accept the government’s grant to freeze council tax for all households in York.
  • Reverse £3million of Labour’s cuts to areas including community centres, youth services, children’s centres, social care, support to carers, grants to voluntary groups, litter and salt bins, road gully cleaning and road repairs.
  • Keep the ‘Minster Badge’ discounted parking scheme for residents which Labour plan to scrap.
  • Set-up a new £500,000 community fund for residents to spend on local priorities under a revamped Ward Committee system.
  • Cut borrowing for schemes such as ‘Reinvigorate York’, Labour’s new 5-year £6.1million IT project, and the proposed ‘Digital and Media Hub’.
  • Make savings by scrapping Labour’s ‘Delivery and Innovation Fund’ and ‘Economic Infrastructure Fund’, reducing Cabinet Members by two, and removing the Assistant Director of Transformation and Change post.
  • Extra investment to boost recycling by reviewing facilities at Towthorpe and in the west of York, introduce a new scheme to cut overall council carbon emissions over the next 10 years, and reinstate winter green bin collections.
  • Reduce cuts to youth and children’s services in 2014/15 and restate a commitment to stop Labour’s plans to close children’s centres after 2015.

(more…)

Government scheme to see £1 million reduction in York Business Rates

£1000 a year benefit for York businesses

List of qualifying business types. click to enlarge

List of qualifying business types. click to enlarge

The Government announced in its Autumn Statement on 5th December 2013 that it will provide relief of up to ￡1,000 to all occupied retail properties with a rateable value of ￡50,000 or less in each of the years 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Potentially as many as 1700 York businesses could benefit

The purpose of this new relief is to support the ‘high street’ which has been affected by changes in consumer spending preferences such as online shopping. The relief is temporary for two years from April 2014.

A wide range of businesses could qualify for the reduction (see list right)

Areas like Front Street in Acomb are likely to benefit from the scheme.

It will be necessary for any business wishing to claim this relief to make an application to the council and complete a state aid declaration form.

Local Assistance Scheme for poor underspent in York

Local Assistance Scheme only half forecast

It looks like the York Council will underspend its budget for welfare payments during the current financial year.

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

The budget was delegated to the Council by the government replacing – in part – the Social Welfare fund.

It is intended to make emergency payments to less well off people who encounter unexpected expenses.

The York scheme is called the York Financial Assistance Scheme (YFAS). Its explanatory booklet says that the YFAS can be used to help with, for example:

• Expenses and household items to help you move out of residential care or stay in your home

• Rent or council tax payments

• Financial assistance in an emergency.

By the end of January nearly half of the Council’s £315,000 YFAS budget had not been committed.

A total of 1062 payments had been authorised with the authority saying that 176 of them were made to people aged under 25.

Given that the budget is not being fully spent this year, it is surprising that the Council announced last week that it will to add another £100,000 to the payments that it intends to make next year

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Meanwhile many fears about Council Tax income are proving to be unfounded.

The York Council had collected 85% of monies due by the end of December. The same percentage as in 2012.

However the number in arrears with their Council Tax payments had increased from 5556 in 2012 to 7040 in 2013.

Of these 2601 were receiving Council Tax support (formerly known as “benefit”)

Perhaps surprisingly the numbers who had been referred to bailiffs had fallen from 3996 to 2902

The Council is budgeting next year to collect an additional £1/4 million through “further improvement of collection performance”.

Road damage claims up 67%

Call for Lendal Bridge fine income to be used to repair roads

The number of claims for compensation following damage to vehicles caused by poorly maintained roads in York dramatically increased last year.

Damaged speed humps. Already dangerous for cyclists.

Damaged speed humps. Already dangerous for cyclists.

The change followed a decision by the Labour controlled Council to reduce expenditure on highways maintenance by over £2 million.

The number of claims received, for incidents over recent years, has been

  • 2011 – 75
  • 2012 – 52
  • 2013 – 87

There are now calls for the Council to agree, at its budget meeting next week, to increase the amount it spends on maintenance back to the £5.5 million figure which was being invested each year by the previous, LibDem controlled authority.

Pressure is also growing for the £1.3 million – taken in fines from motorists on Lendal Bridge and in Coppergate – to be used to address the backlog in resurfacing works.

York West Bank park future at risk

West Bank parkThe Council is to consider handing over control and management of the West Bank Park to a residents group.

A largely impenetrable report is to be considered on 24th February which will recommend that the Council seeks grant funding from an organisation known as NESTA*.

This will “support changes to parks management and maintenance systems – including potential changes to maintenance regimes, restructuring contracts and maximising the productivity of particular landscapes”.

The NESTA project gives the example of holding concerts in the parks as a way of increasing income.

The report later talks of

”exploring what community use and income generating possibilities 14 New Lane offers, either in its current form, or if rebuilt and extended, and using this to fund the future care and development of the whole site”.

This is pretty much now standard “Labour speak” for the withdrawal of Council funding, with residents left to pick up the burden.

A similar project led to the semi privatisation of the Libraries Service.

The newly independent “social enterprise” York Library service now finds that its Council funding is being cut by £200,000 over the next 2 years raising fears that several smaller facilities could close.

Parks – including West Bank – are also set for cuts in this years budget with £122,000 being lopped off.

Parks will be left unlocked with minimal maintenance “unless local groups step in to help”.

York has few formal parks and West Bank is the only one in the Acomb area.

It seems that a laudable initiative from some local residents – who wanted to set up a heritage centre at 14 New Lane to explain the history of the site – is now being used as a smokescreen to cover major changes to the use of the park.

There has ben no consultation with most residents who live in the area and who use the parks facilities.

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*NESTA is short for the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts. It has apparently obtained access to National Lottery funding. It is viewed with suspicion by some residents who see it as a cover for the advance of the techno bureaucrat movement. Senior Council managers are understood to be involved with the organisation.

Labour highways maintenance scam revealed.

Labour are planning a “surprise” announcement next month, when they will “reveal” that they will spend an additional £2 million on highways resurfacing during the next financial year.

Highways expenditure Click to enlarge

Highways expenditure Click to enlarge

The announcement will be in response to the pressure, put on them by residents and the Liberal Democrats, who have criticised the cuts made in road and footpath repairs budgets over the last 2 years.

In total, £4 million has been cut from the repairs budget in an attempt to find funding for schemes like the repaving of Kings Square and the, largely unnecessary, £1 million street lamppost replacement programme.

Now Labour – for one year only – hope to return the budget to the £5.5 million level that they inherited from the last LibDem administration.

However, they intend to pay for the programme by borrowing more money. Already residents are facing over £1 million a year extra in interest payments – making Council Tax rises inevitable.

The figures also reveal that investment on de-icing roads and footpaths has fallen by more than half since Labour took over. Fortunately we have – so far – had a mild winter but we may not be so lucky in future years.