Cllr Stephen Fenton reported to Network Rail recently two locations in the ward where graffiti ‘artists’ have been at work – at the Hob Moor underpass and on St Helens Road railway bridge – see pictures below.
We are pleased to report that Network Rail acted quickly and the graffiti was painted over on Tuesday 14 March.
We continue to press Virgin Media to take action to clean off graffiti on their cabinets on Chaloners Road, Wains Road and Lowick.
A number of instances of vandalism on Tadcaster Road appear to have taken place overnight on Friday 14 October / Saturday 15 October.
The bench at the junction with Ainsty Grove has been ripped from its moorings – the feet are badly damaged and it looks as though the bench will need to be replaced.
Bench at Ainsty Grove
Some of the contents of a skip appear to have been removed and dumped on the verge. The litter bin by the Pulleyn Drive bus stop had been shunted into the middle of the footpath, and the phone box opposite the fish & chip shop has been put out of action by the handset being ripped out.
Damaged phone box
Items dumped on the verge
Stephen has reported the damage to the Police. If any residents have any information about who might be responsible, please call 101.
In response to a Freedom of Information request, the York Council has published updated figures indicating the effect that the revised 20 mph speed limits have had on average vehicle speeds and accident levels.
The figures reveal that the new limits have had little or no effect on average vehicle speeds while some accident levels have actually risen.
The data updates that published in March 2015 which showed similar results.
The data covers the 20 mph wide area limit in western York implemented in 2013/14. The project cost £600,000 to implement and was widely criticised for failing to recognise that such limits were unenforceable and, in any event, would have a negligible effect on accident levels.
Opponents wanted the money spent directly on safety improvements at accident black spots.
On some 20 mph roads such as Alness Drive the maximum speed recorded this year has been as much as 68mph – well above levels seen before the speed limit change
On a related issue, North Yorkshire police are to be asked to justify their decision to increase the number of mobile speed enforcement cameras vans to six.
The Police responded to an FOI inquiry indicting that they only held information relating to the total number of offences which had been recorded when a van visited a particular location. This information had been published on their web site for couple of years now.
The police also publish how they they are dealing with specific speeding complaints raised by members of the public (although there is a backlog). click here
However, it doesn’t provide a measure of how effective the vans have been in controlling vehicle speeds or in reducing the number of accidents on the roads being monitored.
The number of drivers exceeding the prevailing speed limit is only a crude reflection of the “success” of the cameras. Changes in offender numbers may simply reflected changes in traffic volumes.
Against a background of increasing numbers of road casualty’s, residents need to be convinced that roads are now safer as a result of police investment.
A further request for the information is now being drafted.
Comparative vehicle speeds in west York pre and post 20 mph limit change
Road accident trends in west York
A graffiti ‘artist’ has left his or her mark across Dringhouses & Woodthorpe recently, attacking a number of Virgin Media cabinets and one council cabinet.
We have reported all of the cabinets pictured below, and hope that they will be cleaned up promptly.
Stephen has reported to Network Rail the latest graffiti attack on the Little Hob Moor underpass, some of which is obscene.
Network Rail are usually quite prompt in dealing with this type of graffiti, so hopefully it will be painted over shortly.
We have been able to arrange for two street cabinets on Tadcaster Road to be repainted after they were daubed with graffiti – a BT cabinet opposite the junction with Nelsons Lane and a Northern Power Networks box at the junction with Middlethorpe Grove.
Ashley Mason with the newly repainted Northern Power Networks cabinet
Freshly painted BT cabinet
Sadly our local graffiti artist with the yellow pen has been at it again, this time attacking the traffic box opposite the junction with Middlethorpe Drive. We have asked the council to arrange for it to be repainted.
The latest bad art job
North Yorkshire Community Messaging is a free community messaging system that allows residents to register to receive the latest 
crime notifications and community news happening in their local neighbourhood.
North Yorkshire Community Messaging allows residents to decide when and how they are kept informed about the issues that matter to them:
Registering for North Yorkshire Community Messaging is Safe, Secure and Easy – Just click ‘Join‘ and follow the step by step instructions.
The North Yorkshire Police have been under fire for failing to keep their social media channels updated during recent months.
This seems to us to be a worthwhile initiative which we hope will improve communications with residents
Cllr Stephen Fenton is pressing Network Rail to take action to remove flytipping from its land at the end of North Lane, next to the railway line.
Flytipping by the railway line
This was reported by Stephen and local residents some weeks ago. Network Rail have said that it has been ‘sent to the maintenance team’ but they can’t give a time estimate for it to be cleared.
Meanwhile in Woodthorpe, Stephen has asked for damage done to the markings on Lomond Ginnel to be repaired. It looks as though someone has hacked away at the paint markings at the junction with Girvan Close and Eden Close.
Lomond Ginnel markings damaged
It happened outside The Newington Hotel, Tadcaster Road, York, at 6.15pm on Saturday 5 March 2016, when men in a blue five-door hatchback car approached a young man.
We are conducting enquiries and are requesting the public’s assistance to help determine the full circumstances surrounding the incident.
In particular, we are appealing for witnesses to the incident, and local addresses that may have CCTV covering the location and any drivers of blue five-door hatchback cars that may have been in the location at the time for elimination purposes.
Anyone with information that could assist the investigation should contact us on 101, select option 2, and ask for Tony Barnes. You can also email tony.barnes@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk
If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Please quote the North Yorkshire Police reference number 12160039467.
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.