Bold vision to make York the ‘Greenest City in the North’

The Liberal Democrat Group has outlined ambitions plans to make York the greenest city in the north of England.

The Group will ask City of York Council to back the vision at a ‘Full Council’ meeting on the 18th July. If passed, the plans would see a commitment to achieve the highest recycling rates in the region, an ambitious carbon reduction programme implemented, and work undertaken to explore setting-up a doorstep food recycling service and a council-owned renewable energy company.

Green Bin

The Liberal Democrat Group will move the following motion at a meeting of City of York Council’s ‘Full Council’ on Thursday 18th July at 6:30pm at the Guildhall:

Make York the Greenest City in the North of England Council motion

(more…)

Road works in York – new “where they are” web site launched

York road works map

York road works map

A new web site has been launched which claims to list all current road works taking place in York (and, indeed, the UK).

It includes all statutory undertakings (telephones, water, power etc), not just the Council.

How accurate it will prove to be remains to be seen, but you can check it out at the following web site http://roadworks.org/

York residents consultation overload?

York-street-sign-great-britain-798670_305_200

After 2 years with virtually no consultation with residents, York is heading towards an overdose this month.

The latest is asking about how the City centre should look and be preserved.

Other consultations taking place at present include:

20 mph city wide speed limit. Deadline for receipt of objections 21st June 2013 www.york20mph.org Alternative view

Local Plan & the Green Belt — Deadline 31st July. www.york.gov.uk/local plan Alternative view

New ward boundaries (Boundary Commission). Deadline 5th August http://tinyurl.com/Wards-June-2013 Alternative view:

The new consultation talks about the importance of having a “fully accessible” City. The consultation runs for eight-weeks until Wednesday 31 July.

(more…)

Students help to clear up and give back to the community

City of York Council is teaming up with the British Heart Foundation and students from both the city’s universities to help recycle and reuse household goods from students who are coming to the end of their academic year.

The council will be running two extra waste collections for students who are leaving before their designated collection day. The collections will be on June 15 and 29. Two crews will be circling the main student areas in The Groves and Haxby Road on both dates, and also in the Heslington Road and Hull Road areas on June 29.

(more…)

“Save the Green Belt” petition tops 1000 signatures. 94% say green belt land should continue to be protected in York.

Page 4 Click to enlarge

Page 4 Click to enlarge

1042 residents have now signed the petition aimed at making permanent the draft Green Belt boundaries, agreed by the York Council in 2011.

This would mean that many of the controversial developments being proposed by Labour would have to be withdrawn.

Green Belt sites scheduled for development by Labour include land next to Knapton/Wetherby Road (Showmans Yard), the Great Knoll Foxwood Lane (residential), west of Moor Lane (residential) and Dunnington (Traveller site).

The number of survey forms returned now makes the following residents survey results reliable to +/- 3%.

The population of York should increase by 25% over the next 15 years Agree 8% Disagree 71% Unde 22%

“(Draft) Green Belt land should continue to be protected from development ” Agree 94% Disagree 3% Unde 3%

“More homes should be built at previously developed sites like Terry’s and British Sugar” Agree 89% Disagree 6% Unde 5%

“I am opposed to plans to provide a “showmans” site on Wetherby Road ” Agree 84% Disagree 12% Unde 4%

Greenfield sites in Dringhouses should be protected from development Agree 99% Disagree 1% Unde 0%

“I am opposed to charging for parking at out of City centre retail parks ” Agree 78% Disagree 11% Unde 11%

“I am concerned about the development of large scale wind farms near the City ” Agree 62% Disagree 18% Unde 20%

“I don’t want to see Lendal bridge closed to private cars at the present time ” Agree 69% Disagree 13% Unde 18%

Save the green belt poster Dringhouses

Residents unhappy with York Council’s ice and snow clearance policies

30 days hath September, April, June and November all the rest have 31 save February which has 28 and January which has 80 (and rising)

Damaged salt bin Cornlands Road

Damaged salt bin Cornlands Road

Residents responding to a survey carried out in the Westfield ward, have criticised the York Councils winter maintenance performance.

57% were disappointed with icy weather arrangements.

An overwhelming 97% felt that the Council should top up all salt bins at the beginning of winter.

This winter – for the first time- the Council only filled some of the local salt bins and had to be forced by public opinion to fill the rest around the middle of January.

Unfortunately the bins had been left out over the summer period and many had been damaged. Lids were missing from some of them while many of the rest had become informal litter bins.

We believe that the Council should recover all the bins this summer and repair them.

Then they should make sure that they are out on the streets again, and full, before the icy winter weather starts.

Horses United 1 Dog & Cat Rovers 0

horse dog

Coming soon after the Council announced that it would be scrapping the specialist animal welfare (formerly dog warden) officer patrols, it has decided to appoint a “horse bailiff”.

The move comes after numerous complaints about horses straying onto private land and being the cause of several road traffic accidents.

The Cabinet is set to approve a “protocol” next week

The plan will cost Council tax payers £40,000 a year to implement

Labour back down on Green Bin Tax – but second bins will cost £35 to empty!

The Liberal Democrat campaign to stop Labour introducing a charge for emptying green bins has been successful.

A report to the Councils Cabinet says that there will be no charge for emptying one bin at each property.

Green bin petition

However the service will not be available between November and March (when less than 17% of green waste is collected). The Council hopes to save around £67,000 by discontinuing this part of the service.

A survey undertaken by the Council revealed that only 14.5% support a charge. That compares to 96% who responded to our survey in the Westfield area who were opposed to a charge.

There are over 5000 additional green bins in use at properties with large gardens. The Council hopes that around 3500 residents will pay £35 a year to have these second bins emptied.

The majority of respondents to the Councils survey supported having a combined food and green waste collection. In other parts of the country this has reduced landfill volumes by 15% and officers are to look further at how this could be introduced in York.

The Council is also to close the Towthorpe recycling centre on one day a week. It appears that they have still not learnt the lesson that closing the Beckfield Lane centre should have taught them (inconvenience means increased landfill volumes).

The Council claim that their online/telephone survey attracted about 1000 responses.

It was attacked as misleading as it failed to explain that changes to the current arrangements would have been unnecessary if the Council had decided to scrap some of its more extravagant plans like establishing an “arts barge” on the Ouse.

Complaints about blocked drainage gullies up by 43% in York

Blocked gulley complaints. Click to enlarge

Blocked gulley complaints.
Click to enlarge

The Labour Councils decision to reduce the routine cleaning of gullies in much of the City has proved to be a false economy.

During 2012, 649 complaints were received by the Council from residents who were concerned about carriageway and footpath flooding.

Block gullies were blamed.

Special cleans had to be arranged on 201 occasions.

New Recycling Boxes On The Way

ann-reid-new-recycling-boxes-3.JPG 

Over the coming 5 months, City of York Council will be delivering new kerbside recycling boxes to 66,650 homes across the city.

You will receive two new boxes to go alongside your existing green box. One new box will be used for glass and the other new box will be for paper and cardboard. Your existing green box is to be used for plastic bottles and cans.

In order to cut down on the problem of paper blowing across the streets on windy days that many of you have contacted us about the new boxes come will complete with lids. You will also receive a net to use on your existing recycling box.

Having recycling sorted into three boxes will make collection quicker and easier for our crews and the efficiency savings this will generate will allow us to roll out kerbside recycling to those areas of the city that currently don’t have a collection.

York’s recycling rate has increased from 12% in 2003 to more than 45% in 2009, saving the city millions of pounds in landfill taxes and reducing the impact on the environment.

Delivery of the new boxes will be in two phases, phase one begins later this month and runs until the end of July. The second phase runs through September and October. No new boxes will be delivered during the school summer holidays to avoid any problems with people being on holiday and boxes being left out.

If you are in the first phase of the delivery, which includes the majority of Dringhouses and Woodthorpe, stickers will be placed on your grey bin to tell you when to expect your new boxes. You can also check the delivery date for your street on the City of York Council website here.

The assisted service for those who have difficulty carrying their boxes to the front of the property will continue.

If you have any questions about the new boxes you can read a list of frequently asked questions here or call York Customer Contact Centre on 01904 551551