A number of bus shelters around Dringhouses & Woodthorpe are getting a much needed revamp.
Shelters are being rubbed down and given a fresh coat of paint. The perspex panels at some shelters – such as on Moor Lane near the junction with Moorcroft Road – are being replaced. This will hopefully make it easier for people inside the shelter to see the bus coming!
The Government has announced that York will be subject to additional restrictions, following a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases.
From 00:01hrs on Saturday 17 October, York will be been placed at the high level (tier 2) of the Government’s new three-tier restriction system.
The new restrictions for tier 2 mean:
You must not meet socially with friends and family indoors in any setting unless you live with them or have formed a support bubble with them. This includes private homes, and any other indoor venues such as pubs and restaurants.
You may continue to see friends and family you do not live with outside, including in a garden or other outdoor space. When you do so you must not meet in a group of more than 6.
Visiting indoor hospitality/leisure/retail settings is restricted to one household i.e. two households must not meet in these settings (unless those two households are in a support bubble).
People are advised only to visit care homes in exceptional circumstances (further work will be undertaken locally to agree what this means).
People should only travel for essential reasons.
You can still go on holiday outside of your area, but you should only do this with people you live with, or have formed a support bubble with (dependent on any local restrictions in the area you are visiting).
People can play a team sport only where this is formally organised by a sports club or similar organisation, and sports-governing body guidance has been issued.
People should not attend amateur or professional sporting events as a spectators.
Wedding receptions and celebrations can continue for up to 15 people in the form of a sit-down meal and in a Covid-secure setting, not in a private dwelling.
Up to 30 people can attend a funeral (York capacity remains at 18), and 15 for a wake in a Covid-secure setting, not in a private dwelling.
What is a ‘support bubble’ and a ‘childcare bubble’?
Informal childcare can be provided via ‘childcare bubbles’. A childcare bubble is where someone in one household provides informal (unpaid and unregistered) childcare to a child aged 13 or under in another household. For any given childcare bubble, this must always be between the same 2 households. Friends or family who do not live with you and are not part of a support or childcare bubble must not visit your home to help with childcare. Childcare bubbles are to be used to provide childcare only, and not for the purposes of different households mixing where they are otherwise not allowed to do so. Find out more at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-covid-alert-level-high#childcare
To learn more about the new measures and what support is available locally, please visit www.york.gov.uk/Coronavirus. The council will also be holding a special Facebook Live ‘Ask the Leaders’ Q&A session at www.facebook.com/CityofYork on Friday 16 October, further details to follow.
City of York Council has set out a timetable for work to invest £5m on Tadcaster Road, following the award of the funding from the Department of Transport’s Local Highways Maintenance Challenge Fund.
The funding will enable to council to improve large sections of drainage along the route which will reduce localised surface water flooding. The work will include the delivery of additional pedestrian crossings and will ensure the road is maintenance free for the next 10 years.
Road works are returning to Tadcaster Road
Local councillors have for some time been pressing for a pedestrian refuge to be installed on Tadcaster Road near to the junction with Nelsons Lane to enable residents alighting the bus to be able to cross the road safely. It is hoped that this scheme will now be delivered as part of these works.
During the council’s liaison with the major utility companies to co-ordinate future work, it became apparent that Northern Gas Networks (NGN), were due to carry out major work in 2023. They have brought this work forward to October 2020 to ensure that disruption for residents and commuters is minimised. The council works are then scheduled to start in January 2021.
The council could have made NGN wait for three years before digging up the road, but that would have led to longer term issues of the road surface once again becoming a ‘patchwork’ of reinstatements. By bringing the NGN work forward, there is the opportunity to undertake proper reinstatement as part of the wider package of work.
The council has published some FAQs, set out below, which address questions and concerns that residents may have, such as why the NGN work is being done so soon after a section of Tadcaster Road was resurfaced.
Q. Wasn’t part of Tadcaster Road resurfaced earlier this year? A. Yes. The council bid to Government for a scheme on Tadcaster Road but received confirmation in March that it was unsuccessful and would not receive funding. Therefore the council resurfaced a section of Tadcaster Road as it was in need of urgent repairs between The Horseshoe and St Aubyns Place.
However, in June the council was then awarded the £5million funding to improve large sections of drainage along Tadcaster Road which will reduce the risk of localised surface water flooding.
Northern Gas Networks recently informed the council they have plans to carry out major works to their service at Tadcaster Road by 2025. The council was not made aware of these works before the section of Tadcaster Road between The Horseshoe and St Aubyns Place was resurfaced earlier this year.
Whilst it is not an ideal situation, the council would rather sacrifice a small part of the works that have been undertaken already rather than risk the digging up of the major £5 million scheme in a few years’ time for the Northern Gas Networks scheme.
The council and Northern Gas Networks have agreed to coordinate their programmes of works for the benefit of the larger Tadcaster Road scheme.
This coordination of works will see Northern Gas Networks advance their programme for delivery in 2020. The utility repair works will be carried out on the inbound carriageway only from 10 October for 16-20 weeks. As these works will affect 50% the recently surfaced road, the council will resurface this affected section again by recycling the material onsite. The council is planning to commence the drainage works in January 2021 followed by highways works and road resurfacing, these works are expected to take up to 9 months to complete.
Full details will be communicated in advance of the works, including letters to residents and businesses.
Pedestrian access will be permitted and maintained at all times, but vehicle access may be prohibited at times with traffic management (traffic lights). Everything possible will be done to keep this distribution to a minimum.
Q. Where are the works happening? A. The current scope of the £5m Highways maintenance works includes the full stretch of Tadcaster Road.
A full assessment of the road’s condition will be carried out in advance. This will help to determine the full details of the works including in addition to the resurfacing and drainage works, is if there is capacity to look at additional crossing points as well as improvements to the crossing points, footway or cycle routes, for example.
Q. Why are we doing it? A. There are serious defects we could not address without the significant level of funding from DFT, these include the road surface and drainage network, so this scheme will improve the quality of the overall highway. There are currently 35 non-running gullies and several hundred metres of un-mapped drainage, meaning this route particularly suffers during times of heavy rain and localised surface water flooding. The proposed scheme would deliver remediation measures to the road’s drainage, ensure its resurfacing is fit-for-purpose and can continue to meet the needs of its cycling users and support the local economy and the wider area.
Q. What is the impact on traffic during the works? A. A traffic management plan will be created in advance, alongside NGN, and communicated to residents and businesses. These works will be delivered under lane closures and traffic lights, which will be monitored closely on site by traffic marshals. Journey times may be affected, however we will be doing everything we can to keep this to a minimum.
Q. What will happen to public transport and buses? A. Residents and visitors are urged to plan ahead, allow more time for journeys on these routes which will be busier than normal and to consider alternatives and to use public transport where possible. Bus services will generally be operating as normal for the majority of the works, as per national social distancing rules.
Q. Will I still be able to cross the road? A. Temporary crossing points will be available at all times during the works to ensure that all pedestrian crossings that are currently available are maintained. Traffic marshals will be on site to assist with pedestrians crossing the road.
Q. Will I still be able to access shops, cafe/restaurants in the area? A. Pedestrian access will be maintained at all times. We will be engaging with traders and businesses in the area to help promote the “open as usual” message. Vehicular access for deliveries will be maintained.
Q. What if I live or work in the area? A. Access to all properties and businesses will be retained at all times. Traffic marshals will be on hand to assist if vehicle access is prohibited at certain times.
Q. What about alternative travel plans? A. Residents and visitors are urged to plan ahead, allow more time for journeys on these routes and to consider alternatives and to use public transport where possible. Bus services will generally be operating as normal for the majority of the works but passengers are requested to visit www.itravelyork.info for more information.
The installation of Ultra Fibre Optic cabling in the Acomb Park area has returned, with work being undertaken on streets that were missed out when the first tranche of work was done.
Cable is currently being installed on Coeside, but it seems that the company has failed to give residents advance notice. One resident contacted Cllr Stephen Fenton after returning home to find their driveway blocked and the ‘service strip’ part of the front garden dug up.
In mid-September Stephen contacted the council’s Streetworks team to ask about similar work being undertaken on nearby Ashmeade Close, and he requested a list of the streets in Dringhouses & Woodthorpe ward where permissions had been granted for forthcoming utilities work. A council officer undertook to ask the company’s senior build manager in York to provide some information, but to date none has been received.
It is understood that utility firms are required to notify the council of forthcoming works at least 10 days in advance.
Stephen commented “It’s not acceptable for residents to find their driveway blocked and their front garden dug up with no notice or explanation. If the utility company doesn’t have the courtesy to tell residents what they are doing, and the council can’t compel them to, then it’s even more more important that ward councillors are kept informed.
“I have therefore asked that, when the council’s Streetworks team receives notification of utility works, this is communicated to ward councillors so that we have the opportunity to put out a street letter explaining what’s going on.”
From Monday 7 September, Dringhouses Library will be welcoming back customers for drop-in browsing, borrowing and computer use. There won’t be any activities such as story times or reading groups yet.
Opening times from the week beginning September 7 are:
The council playgtounds at Woodthorpe Green, Nelsons Lane and Leeside were all re-opened on Saturday 11 July.
Signage has been put up encouraging the use of hand sanitiser and reminding users of the continued need for social distancing.
The two playgrounds on the Revival estate remain closed. Greenbelt, the facilities management company which is responsible for the playgrounds, has yet to confirm that they have undertaken the necessary checks before the play areas can be re-opened.
City of York Council has today (3 July) published details of its plans to re-open its playgrounds around the city.
Woodthorpe Green playground is soon to re-open
Following the Government announcement on 23 June that play areas can reopen from 4 July, the council is putting in place a rolling programme to re-open its play areas starting on 8 July, subject to the necessary signage and social distancing measures being in place.
In re-opening council play areas, consideration has been given to the latest Government guidance
All council play areas will be inspected by council staff prior to re-opening to ensure safety standards are met.
Users will be asked to follow social distancing guidance and make their own hand sanitising arrangements. Where practical, a one-way in / out system will be instigated for those play areas surrounded by a fence. This will be supported with appropriate signage and the impact monitored, with a review due to take place in mid-September.
First York is adding more journeys on its services from Sunday 28 June to cater for an increase in travel.
The enhancements are being made to help manage continued capacity restrictions on buses due to social distancing as further lockdown measures are eased.
For the number 4, the frequency of buses increases to every 8/9 minutes during the day Monday to Friday and every 12 minutes on a Saturday
For the number 12, buses are restored to every 30 minutes between 9am and 5pm on Saturdays.
Full details of the changes and timetables can be found on the First website
Following the Prime Minister’s announcement on 23 June, York Explore have announced their plans for re-opening York’s libraries. Smaller libraries, including Dringhouses, will remain closed during this first stage of re-opening.
Dringhouses library will remain closed for the time being
From Monday 6 July the following libraries will be open for pre-booked appointments only:
– Central library
– Acomb
– Clifton
– Tang Hall
– Mobile library
At these libraries you will be able to collect and return books and use the public computers and printers.
The new reading café in Hungate will open for the first time on 7 July. The cafes at Rowntree Park and Homestead Park open on 6 July . All will be serving drinks and snacks to take away and enjoy outside.
Opening hours at libraries will be 10am to 4pm Tuesday to Saturday.
More information can be found at the Explore website HERE
Road maintenance work on Tadcaster Road in Dringhouses, will get underway on Wednesday 20th May for a period of four weeks (weather permitting). The site extents are as shown on the map below. The works will be carried out between 9.00am and 5.00pm Monday to Friday only.
The resurfacing work follows the allocation of £633,000 from the council’s Highways budget for improvements to this stretch of road and cycle lanes.
In order to carry out the work safely, the use of phased lane closures under traffic lights will be necessary from the junction with Middlethorpe Drive to the junction with Knavesmire Road whilst works are taking place. Works will be carried out under 200 metre sections on a rolling process. This is to ensure that adequate health and safety is maintained for both local residents, the travelling public and the contractor. Site staff will be on hand to advise and assist residents about any access restrictions once the works are ongoing.
All on-street parking will be suspended for the duration of the works, but specific access requirements can be arranged by speaking to the site Traffic Management Operatives, who will coordinate with residents (and business requirements) around the ongoing work operations.
Household waste and recycling collections will take place as normal.
Whilst these works are taking place on Tadcaster Road, there will be some ‘large patching’ work done on St Helens Road. In order to carry out the work safely, the use of a full road closure from, but not including, the junction of Tadcaster Road up to, but not including, the access to Cross Keys car park will be necessary. The works at this location are likely to take no longer than one day.
