Green bin stickers required from Monday

City of York Council is reminding residents that all households must place their new garden waste sticker on the lid of their green bin by Monday 5 May to ensure continued collections.

 

Garden waste sticker

Garden waste collections started again at the end of March, with fortnightly green bin collections through ‘till the end of October.

The introduction of charging for emptying second and subsequent green bins was a controversial decision of the Labour Council announced last year.

 

Whilst it is a statutory duty for all councils to collect household waste, the separate collection of garden waste is a discretionary service. However, all eligible households in York continue to have one garden waste bin emptied at no additional charge.

To enable crews to identify which bins are ‘free’ and which have been paid for through the additional garden waste bin scheme (£35 annual charge) households were sent a new garden waste sticker to place on the lid of their bin last month.

Residents were given a period of time during April to ensure the sticker was placed on their bin. From 5 May any bins that are not displaying either a ‘free’ or ‘paid for’ sticker will not be emptied.

Households that receive a garden waste collection and would like to have more than one garden waste bin emptied can still subscribe to the additional green bin scheme.

Residents can join the scheme at any time and will benefit from around 16 collections – which equates to less than £2.50 per collection (£35 per year).

Households subscribed to the scheme will receive a separate and unique ‘garden waste scheme sticker’ as part of signing up which will expire one year from when the payment was made. The additional green bin scheme only operates during the usual garden waste season.

To join the scheme call 01904 551551 or ‘apply for it’ via our secure website at https://www.york.gov.uk/DoItOnline/

To find out more about the new stickers or the garden waste subscription scheme visit www.york.gov.uk/recycling

Residents are also able to take additional garden waste to Hazel Court and Towthorpe Household Waste Recycling Centres free of charge in a car. Residents using larger vehicles or trailers will need to apply for permits to use the site.

Home composting is also a great way to manage waste at home and provide nutrient rich compost for gardens. Visit http://www.getcomposting.com/for further information or to purchase a reduced price home compost bin to get started.

Follow @CYCWaste on Twitter, or like CYCWaste on Facebook.

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York backs Great Litter Count

City of York Council is getting behind Keep Britain Tidy’s annual Great Litter Count, to find out which brands are the most littered.

Residents are asked to get involved with the charity’s survey to count the types and brands of litter that blight communities across the country. Keep Britain Tidy can then work with those companies whose brands are littered the most to reduce the waste left by their customers.

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Spring clean update

Foxwood park clean up 26th March 14 5

Over 100 bags of litter have now been collected during the first two weeks of the Smarter York Spring Clean campaign to spruce up areas of York.

The campaign, now half way through, has been carried out by volunteer residents together with York and North Yorkshire Probation Trust’s Community Payback team. They have been busy litter picking, planting, weeding, edging and painting and new volunteers are now being sought to continue the great work achieved so far.

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Residents and Bootham School join forces to clean up Woodthorpe

Foxwood park clean up 26th March 14 5 Foxwood park clean up 26tjh March 2014 1

Residents were joined by Bootham School pupils this after noon as the clear-up of the Foxwood Park continued.

Work concentrated on the overgrown areas.

Further work is planned later in the year

The activity was part of a major clean up campaign taking place this week on amenity areas located in the Dringhouses and Woodthorpe ward.

York Council publishes Fossgate pedestrianisation plans

The York Council has published its plans to pave Fossgate.

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The scheme is a long standing one. It was scheduled to be done after the Deangate project in 2011, but Labour changed priorities and allocated money to the Kings Square scheme instead. Only a limited amount of work is now planned at the northern end of Fossgate.

Nevertheless the scheme is likely to cost in excess of £300,000.

This is likely to inflame opinion in sub-urban areas.

Investment in the – much busier and arguably more run down – Front Street area was limited to £30,000 by the Council last year.

The Council says, “Following a city-wide consultation, proposals outlining the future look of Fossgate will be taken to a Cabinet meeting next week (Tuesday 1 April) for approval.

Over 600 individual responses were submitted during the latest consultation for three of the six priority Reinvigorate York schemes including Fossgate, which took place in January/February this year.

Other schemes include Exhibition Square / Theatre Interchange and the Duncombe Place/Blake Street junction, which will separately be taken to Cabinet in June.

The report provides an overview and detailed feedback of the consultation undertaken and outlines the preferred junction improvement option for the Fossgate scheme.

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Monk Stray – Labour plans defeated

Monk Stray

Monk Stray


The Council’s licensing committee has turned down a proposal, from the York Councils Labour Cabinet, for a general license which would have allowed camping and entertainment activities on Monk Stray.

A 1 day licence for a Tour de France event has been granted but with numerous restrictions.

Labour could appeal against the decision to the Magistrates Court but would find itself in the invidious position of appealing against the views of one of its own committees!

Perhaps significantly, on this occasion, the Licensing panel was made up of 2 Tory plus 1 Labour Councillor.

Contractors brought in to enforce parking restrictions on York Council estates

Over £14,000 raised in fines

A contract has been let by the Council which will see private contractors enforce parking restrictions on Council estates in York.

In the main, the contractors will patrol garage forecourts and communal areas.

A 3 year trial of a system – which involves issuing Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) for £30 to drivers who park in restricted areas – resulted in 900 tickets being issued.

Most were in City centre areas such as Castle Mills although suburban locations like the garage blocks on Tudor Road (21 tickets issued) also formed part of the trial.

Fines levied by site. click to enlarge

Fines levied by site. click to enlarge

Around £14,000, in fine income, was raised by the contractor.

The new contract will extend the enforcement to all similar areas in the City.

The scheme does not cover public highway or verge parking. Damage to verges is one of the biggest problems in some estates with heavy rainfall resulting in verges which have been badly damaged over recent months.
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While we accept that some enforcement is necessary – if only to allow easy access by emergency vehicles – we believe that the Council should reintroduce its programme of providing dropped kerbs/vehicle crossovers, lay-bys and other, off street, parking spaces.

Where necessary, verges should be reinforced with matrix surfaces.

The Councils decision was taken last week in another “behind closed doors” decision.

The background paper can be read here.

Spring clean this week in Dringhouses and Woodthorpe

Throughout the first week of the spring volunteers have helped to tidy Clifton and Rawcliffe.

During week two (24-30 March) of the spring clean will be focused on the Dringhouses and Woodthorpe ward plus the Foxwood park.

Litter in hedgerow Acomb Wood Meadow

Litter in hedgerow Acomb Wood Meadow

The first task of the week will take place on Tuesday from 10am-12noon when a team from The Chase Residents’ Association will be painting play equipment in Nelsons Lane Play area.

On Wednesday from 10am–12:30pm a team from Bootham School will be planting wildflower bulbs and trimming the hedges within the Chapman’s Pond site.

They will then move to Foxwood Park to plant bulbs and tidy up the hedge between 2:15pm -4:30pm.

Thursday will see Friends of Acomb Wood planting trees and litter picking within Acomb Wood. Volunteers who would like to help are asked to meet at 2pm at the Acomb Wood Drive/Quaker Wood Pub entrance.

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