Stephen has secured action to cut back trees that are obscuring street lights on Acomb Wood Drive.
Some trees have been cut back to allow light through
But some lamps remain entirely obscured by branches
Two trees have already been cut back, but others are the responsibility of the Woodland Trust. They Trust have said that they will instruct their estate contractor to trim back the branches in early September.
We will monitor the situation to make sure that this happens.
More evidence, that the York Council had become seriously dysfunctional by the end of last year, has been provided in the annual report from the Local Government Ombudsman
The organisation received 91 complaints about the York Council during the year ending March 2015.
Of thes,e 10 were upheld with 35 referred back to the Council for local resolution
The majority of the complaints concerned planning, transport, benefits, adult social care and environmental issues.
One case prompted the Ombudsman to label the Councils response as “extremely poor”
The report says that it took “emails, phone calls and finally two threats of a public interest report (sent by special delivery) to see any action taken”.
The complaint related to social care and the York Council, having accepted it was at fault in December 2013, took until October 2014 to remedy the complaint.
The Ombudsman’s letter was sent to the York Council on 18th June 2015 but has not yet been scheduled for cosideration by any of its committees.
There is likely. in the future, to be a single Ombudsman’s office covering all public administration organisations.
Hopefully the new organisation will also have a role in relation to the growing number of Quangos being established in York and elsewhere. Residents, who at least partly fund organisations like “Make it York”, York Museums Trust and York Libraries, need to have a route to independent arbitration if they are unable to get a local resolution for a problem.
After the clean-up
We are pleased to report that our action to get rid of the graffiti which had been daubed on the back of the Lovel House garages has had a successful outcome.
Before the clean-up
The garage wall backs onto the well-used cycle and footpath that runs from Thanet Road by the side of the bowls club through to Bellhouse Way.
We will make sure that it doesn’t get into such a bad state again.
A number of travellers’ caravans have moved onto land at the top of Moor Lane near to the A1237 roundabout.
A number of residents have contacted us about this, and we have made enquiries with council officers. We understand that a ‘Direction to Leave’ notice has been served, which expires on Monday 10th August. Should that not be adhered to, the matter would be escalated to the magistrates’ court.
It would appear that the vehicles accessed the site via a gate on Moor Lane.
Details of how much local communities will have to spend through new Ward Committees have been confirmed as part of plans brought forward by the Liberal Democrat-Conservative Executive.
click to enlarge
The proposals, which are opposed by the Labour Group, will see Ward Committees given an allocation of a £925,000 budget to fund projects such as street clean-ups and offer grants to local voluntary groups.
The process for allocating highway improvements has been partly localised as part of the plans as has some social care funding.
Work will also be undertaken by council officers to identify further budget areas which could be devolved to communities.
Local Councillors are expected to announce shortly how they intend to consult over the use of the different funding streams
. Re-establishing proper Ward Committees was a key part of the Liberal Democrat manifesto
The proposals begin the process of devolving power and budgets to local residents and community groups.
This enhanced pot of money will give wards the opportunity to tackle local priorities and develop community initiatives.
It increases overall funding to nearly £1 million from the £75,000 in grants available under the previous Labour Council.
A LibDem spokesperson commented,
“It is disappointing although perhaps not surprising that the Labour Group is opposing the moves. The previous Labour Council removed ward credits, stripped power and budgets away from local communities, and spent four years ignoring local residents.
The new Executive trusts elected ward councillors to work with their communities and make the right decisions – rather than impose everything from West Offices like the previous Labour administration.”
We recently asked Network Rail to do something about the graffiti that has blighted the Hob Moor underpass. We are pleased to be able to report that action has now been taken.
We have also arranged for graffiti to be cleaned off the dog bin on Little Hob Moor……
We are grateful to York Raceourse for taking prompt action in response to our request for a hedge encroaching onto the footpath on Tadcaster Road to be cut back.
Before
A number of residents had written to us and responded to the recent FOCUS newsletter to tell us about the hedge, which is near to the entrance to the stables complex.
We took this up with the racecourse, and we are pleased to report that the hedge has been cut back to allow pedestrians unhindered use of the footpath (see below).
After
Revival cycle path exit
A number of residents have contacted us about the new emergency exit / entrance to the Revival estate, which is intended to provide emergency access to the estate via Masters Mews.
There is a secured gate to prevent ordinary vehicular access, but it can be used by pedestrians and cyclists.
We share residents’ concerns at the absence of markings to indicate to cyclists exiting the estate that they need to stop before pulling out onto Tadcaster Road via the footpath.
The current arrangement presents a hazard to cyclists, pedestrians and motorists.
We have asked for markings to be put down similar to those used at the exit from York station car park onto Lowther Terrace, pictured below.
This shows how markings can be used to indicate to cyclists where they need to stop and check for oncoming pedestrians and motorists before joining the carriageway.
In our recent FOCUS newsletter we reported back on some of the street-level issues that we had identified for action around Woodthorpe.
We can now provide a more comprehensive update on the status of some of these issues – see below.
There are many more issues that we are pursuing, and we will keep you updated via this website and of course FOCUS.
Separate updates will be published for the Dringhouses and Tadcaster Road areas of the ward.
Woodlands estate
Cllr Stephen Fenton (Dringhouses & Woodthorpe) and Cllr Sheena Jackson (Westfield) met with a Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust officer last week for a walkabout on the Woodlands estate, which straddles the two wards.
Defective bins
Stephen and Sheena were keen to raise issues of concerns to residents, including:
• Broken salt bins
• Overgrown signs
• Areas in need of a deep sweep
Overgrown signs
Stephen commented:
“It was good to be able to spend some time with a JRHT officer to discuss issues of concern, and we were pleased to learn that monthly estate walkabouts are now planned.
As ward councillors, we want to work with JRHT to make the area a clean and safe place for people to live.”
Improved sweeping needed