Issues at Moorcroft Road shops

Local councillors are lobbying the owner and leaseholder of the land around the Moorcroft Road shops to make some much-needed improvements.

The potholes in the car park at the rear of the shops are getting deeper and pose a real hazard to pedestrians, particularly during wet weather.

Residents have expressed concerns about uneven and rocking paving stones in the area outside the Dick Turpin pub, and the latest problem emerged on 25 September when high winds caused a number of branches to fall from the pine tree, with some others hanging precariously.

A resident has kindly put up some tape to secure the area. Cllr Stephen Fenton has contacted the landowner and leaseholder to request that they arrange an urgent inspection of the tree and for the hanging branches to be removed.

Stephen hopes to meet on site with the landowner and leaseholder in early October.

Former Park & Ride site set for Flu vaccination role

Signs have been erected at the former Askham Bar Park & Ride site announcing that it will close on 24 September and will then be used by the NHS as a ‘mass flu vaccination site.’

Coming soon to Askham Bar

Cllr Stephen Fenton noticed on 17 September that signs had gone up and that the car park had benefited from a deep clean. A worker on site said that he had spent four days doing a thorough litter pick and cutting back vegetation which had taken over many of the parking bays.

Deep cleaned car park

Stephen has asked for clarification on how the site will operate, as it currently serves as a cut-through for residents going to and from the Tesco store.

It is understood that the site is being mobilised to create additional vaccination capacity on the back of the announcement that, in addition to the normal flu vaccination programme, 50 to 64-year-olds who do not have a health condition putting them at risk of the flu will also be eligible for a free flu vaccine. 

Since its transformation from a Park & Ride site into a £4 per day City of York Council Pay & Display car park, the site has been very little used. It was often strewn with litter, which volunteers tried to keep on top of, and was the venue for some late evening ‘boy racer’ meet-ups.

In the draft Local Plan the site is earmarked for housing.

Concern over dumping of clinical waste

For the second time in recent weeks, a bag of clinical waste has been dumped next to a litter bin in the Nelsons Lane / Little Hob Moor area of Dringhouses.

On 26 August volunteers from the Mayfield Community Trust found a bag next to the bin near to the Nelsons Lane playground. This was reported to the council’s Neighbourhood Enforcement team who undertook to investigate the matter.

Waste dumped on 26 August at Nelsons Lane

Then on 18 September Cllr Stephen Fenton was contacted by a resident about a bag of clinical waste that had been placed on top of the litter bin on Little Hob Moor at the entrance to the railway underpass. On further inspection, items including used incontinence products and a urine bottle had been placed in the bin itself.

A local resident has also reported that used incontinence products have been found dumped on Hob Moor in recent weeks.

This latest incident has again been reported to the council’s Neighbourhood Enforcement team to investigate.

One possible scenario is that a resident is being cared for at home and is struggling to safely dispose of clinical waste, leading to it being disposed of inappropriately. They may be unaware that the council can offer help with clinical waste collection – further information HERE.

Views sought on management of Little Hob Moor

The council has delivered a letter to around 500 households in the immediate vicinity of Little Hob Moor, asking for views on the future maintenance and management of the area.

Residents are asked to express an opinion on whether they would support bulb planting, the installation of additional benches, the formal designation of a wildflower meadow area and feedback on the grass cutting regime.

Feedback will help to inform decisions on any future changes.

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Cherry Lane planning application refused

At a meeting of the council’s Area Planning Committee on 20 August, an application for outline planning permission to build five detached homes on land to the south of Cherry Lane was refused.

Councillor Stephen Fenton addressed the meeting to express concerns about road safety at what is already a busy stretch of road. He asked the committee that, if they were minded to approve the application, a condition be added for speed limiting ramps to be installed to slow down traffic coming from Tadcaster Road.

As it turned out, the application was refused on a number of grounds including impact on the green corridor.

Surprise at Sim Balk Lane development plans

Local councillors and residents were taken by surprise when a poster board appeared at the junction of Sim Balk Lane and Tadcaster Road advertising “another development opportunity by Gateway Developments.”

The poster helpfully displays a web address – www.gatewayyork.co.uk

The website of the developers, Gateway, sets out an ambition to develop four sites – two in Dringhouses either side of Sim Balk Lane, and two in Bishopthorpe on Church Lane and Copmanthorpe Lane.

In Dringhouses, the developers have identified 25 hectares of Green Belt land either side of Sim Balk Lane, highlighted in red on the map below, which they claim is suitable for “mixed use development comprising of residential, care home, hotel and leisure.” Neither site is earmarked for development in York’s emerging Local Plan.

The developers envisage that these two sites could accommodate 247 new homes, or could lend themselves to a mixed-use development, claiming that “this site would offer a great opportunity for a hotel in close proximity of the sites next to the college, similarly providing scope and expansion of the college facilities.”

The developers state that “the site, due to its current land uses, does not have an effect upon the historic visual character of the city of York and will enhance the surrounding developed sites with employment opportunities and facilities.”

No mention is made of the impact that any development would have on an already congested highways network in this part of the city, or how these impacts might be mitigated.

Local councillors will update residents as and when we learn more about the developers’ plans.

Cherry Lane housing development recommended for approval

Plans to build five detached homes on land off Cherry Lane will be discussed at a meeting of the council’s Area Planning Committee on Thursday 20 August at 4.30pm. The officer recommendation is that the application is approved. The officer report is available to view HERE.

Illustrative site layout

One of the concerns raised by objectors to the scheme is the impact on road safety, specifically the poor sight lines for vehicles exiting onto Cherry Lane. The officer report states that “details of the new junction have been agreed to ensure safety for all road users.”

We understand that this includes a speed hump on the narrow section of Cherry Lane on the approach to the entrance to the development, but disappointingly no measures are proposed on Cherry Lane on the approach to the entrance to the development coming from Tadcaster Road. The map below sets out some of the issues at hand here.

Parking restriction recommendations approved

At a Transport Executive Member Decision Session held on 21 July, a number of parking restrictions in Dringhouses & Woodthorpe ward were approved. A recording of the public meeting is available to watch on YouTube HERE (it is agenda item 5, Annex C).

The meeting discussed a set of recommendations provided by officers, which were all accepted. These were:

– Double yellow lines to be installed on a stretch of Moorcroft Road between the GP surgery and number 34

– Double yellow lines to be installed on the corner of White House Gardens and Pulleyn Drive

– Double yellow lines to be installed on the slip road from Yorkcraft to the Askham Bar roundabout

The double yellow lines that were advertised for North Lane will not be installed. Instead, the recommendation was approved for a white ‘H-Bar’ marking to be installed on the road opposite the entrance to the private driveway leading to four properties.