Recycling banks overflow

Cllr Stephen Fenton has reported the tetrapak and bottle banks at Askham Bar Tesco that are overflowing. The responses received are summarised below.

Bottle banks

GRUK, the company which empties these banks, reported difficulties with their vehicles on Tuesday 6th April and are not able to collect until Monday 12th.

As an interim measure, Yorwaste have provided some wheeled bins, labelled appropriately, so that there is at least some provision for glass recycling before GRUK return.

Tetrapak bank

ACE, the company who empty the carton bank, are having difficulty with their vehicles and are not able to collect until the week commencing 12th April. Some stickers have been placed on the bank in the hope of dissuading residents from leaving cartons on site.

Cardboard banks

The second cardboard bank has returned after having to be repainted following an arson attack. The banks continue to fill up quickly, not helped by some residents who don’t bother to flatten boxes before putting them in the bank.

Symptom-free Covid tests at Foxwood Community Centre

From Monday 12th April a symptom-free Covid testing facility will open at Foxwood Community Centre on Bellhouse Way for all adults and students from secondary school and college age and above.

The facility will be open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm for residents to either collect a home testing kit or have a lateral flow test within the centre.

For more information and book a slot to either collect a testing kit or have a test at the Centre, go to https://www.york.gov.uk/SymptomFreeCOVIDTest

Tadcaster Road gas works force bus diversion

The works being undertaken by Northern Gas Networks on Tadcaster Road have now reached St Helens Road. As previously reported, St Helens Road is not closed but temporary three-way traffic signals are in use.

There is bad news however for users of the number 4 bus. The layout of bollards at the Tadcaster Road / St Helens Road junction is such that it is too tight for a bus to turn the corner. The Acomb-bound number 4 is therefore being diverted along Tadcaster Road, Moor Lane and then up Chaloners Road, with the same diversion followed on the route into the city centre. This means that the stops on St Helens Road and Eason View are not in operation.

Further information is available on the First York website.

St Helens Road closure delayed (again)

The closure of St Helens Road for a two-week period for gas main replacement work – and the subsequent re-routing of the number 4 bus – has been delayed for a second time.

The closure was due to come into effect from 1 March, but that was then postponed until 15 March. And now it has been delayed again, with no clue as to when the closure will come into effect.

Watch this space!

Covid testing available in March

Covid-19 testing for people without symptoms will be available every Monday and Tuesday in March, 9am to 3pm at the Acorn Rugby Club car park on Thanet Road. You can book a slot from Sunday evening at www.nhs.uk/Coronavirus and selecting the option that you were asked to attend by your local council.

The infection rate in Woodthorpe & Acomb Park in the seven days to 28 February was at 74.9 cases per 100,000. The rate in Dringhouses & South Bank was 243.6 cases per 100,000. You can view the interactive map at https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/interactive-map

UPDATED – Number 4 bus temporary diversion from 15th March

From 15th March the number 4 bus will be diverted due to work being undertaken by Northern Gas Networks.

St Helens Road will be closed at the Cross Keys, so the number 4 will continue along Tadcaster Road before turning right onto Moor Lane and then right onto Chaloners Road. This means that the stops on Eason View and St Helens Road will not be served.

Map produced by First Bus

Covid testing on 22 & 23 February

Symptom-free Covid testing is available again at the Acorn Rugby Club car park on Thanet Road on Monday 22nd & Tuesday 23rd February, 9am to 3pm.

You will be able to book a test from the evening of Sunday 21st February at www.nhs.uk/Coronavirus and selecting the option that you were asked to attend by your local council.

The infection rate in Woodthorpe & Acomb Park has risen to 128.5 cases per 100,000 (up from 96.3 this time last week). The infection rate in Dringhouses & South Bank remains at 38.5 cases per 100,000.

You can view the interactive map at https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/interactive-map

Bus shelter revamp work continues

Following on from the re-painting work done late last year, further improvements have been made to bus shelters in Acomb Park and Woodthorpe.

The badly degraded perspex sheets in the shelters on Alness Drive and Moor Lane have been replaced with panels of toughened glass. The previous poor state of the bus shelters meant that people waiting inside often struggled to see through the cloudy perspex to see the bus coming.

Moor Lane
Alness Drive

However elsewhere in the ward it is proving a struggle to get basic repairs made to damaged shelters (which are also in need of repainting), such as on Ryecroft Avenue, pictured below.

Ryecroft Avenue

Footpath resurfacing work gets underway

Footpath resurfacing work at Woodthorpe Green got underway on 15 February. The badly-rutted path that links Summerfield Road and Glenridding is being reconstructed.

The work is being funded by the ward budget and is part of a wider package of investment in measures to promote walking and cycling.

The work has however had an impact on access to the playground. It is unfortunate that the work has coincided with half-term, when the playground would be particularly busy. Local councillors are usually informed in advance of carriageway work starting so that they can inform residents, but on this occasion that did not happen. If it had, we could have asked about playground access arrangements.

Thankfully, good progress has been made which meant that access to the playground had been restored by lunchtime on Tuesday 16 February.