York Council urged to publish information on effects of 20 mph speed limit roll out

Study in London finds wide area 20 mph limits have led to an INCREASE in average vehicle speeds

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Hot on the heels of revelations that accident rates have increased in some City’s where wide area 20 mph speed limits have been introduced now comes news that average vehicle speeds may also be increasing.

The main objection to the York Councils £600,000 programme of 20 mpg speed signs has been that it would have little, if any,effect on driver behaviour.

If the effect is neutral then there would be little point in throwing good money after bad next year when a new Council would have to decide whether to pay for the signs to be removed (other than from accident blackspots and locations like school entrances where there is a higher risk of an accident)

If any of the following tests are not satisfied the – post Labour – Council would have little option than to consult residents about changing the speed limits back to the default 30 mph

If accident levels on areas, with the new limit, increase
If vehicle speeds on the roads increase
If police enforcement time is diverted way from other locations with a higher accident potential.

The York Council has been reluctant to report on the effects that the wide area speed limit in the Bishopthorpe Road area have had.

A Freedom of information request will reveal whether average speeds have reduced and to what extent.

Residents will also want to know whether any of the, increased number of, serious accidents which occurred in the City last year took place on roads with a 20 mph limit. (Most accidents in the York area occur on trunk roads or are slow speed impacts in the City centre).

All in all it seems to be time for the Council to provide residents with more feedback on their controversial project..

Lendal bridge refunds policy confirmed

Confusion over process continues

The York Council confirmed yesterday that it will refund the fines levied on Lendal Bridge during the 6 month closure trial.

However controversy continues as the Council does not intend to proactively tell those affected that they are entitled to a refund!

Labour Councillors claim that social and commercial media will be used to alert claimants but – with as long as 12 months having elapsed since some of the fines were issued and in many cases to drivers from other parts of the UK and Europe – most are unlikely to ever hear about the need to apply for a refund.

The Council should agree to write to every driver telling them of their right to claim a rebate and how to go about doing so

The Council have withdrawn their appeal against the “unlawful” ruling on Lendal Bridge.

They are continuing to pursue an appeal on Coppergate where no fine notices have been issued since April.

Boost for York economy

If you've got ideas on how to boost the north's economy then why not send them to the Northern Futures Project? http://t.co/qPcQMykddh

— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) August 5, 2014

Another day, another missed deadline!

Continuing road works, lane closures and car park construction at Poppleton Bar 1st August 2014

Poppleton – Road works continue

Despite absolute guarantees given at the last Council meeting -that the A59/A1237 road works and Park and Ride construction would be finished by the end of July – work is still in full swing today.

There are lane restrictions, big tail backs on the A59 and temporary traffic signals.

Footpaths have still to be completed and there is no sign of the permanent traffic lights which were due to be installed at the Park and Ride site junction.

The Park and Ride site itself is also far from finished.

The Council can’t blame poor weather for a project which is now over 4 months behind its scheduled (final) completion date.

Hob Moor cycle track closed

The cycle track across Hob Moor has been closed.

Temporary notices were put up a few days ago

It is the second blockage on the cycle facility in the last 2 months.

Unfortunately the York Travel service has not provided any warning about the closure which is likely to inconvenience both commuter and leisure cyclists.

Marygate car park barriers cost £100,000

Labour back down and agree to fit card reader payment option by “early autumn”

The Council will fit a credit/Charge car payment option at the new Marygate pay on exit machines.

Although they blame a “national issue with chip and pin devices” the reality is that the Council forgot to include the option in the original design specification.

The new system should not have been brought into service until a choice of payment options was available.

Card payments can be made at other City centre car parks like Piccadilly.

NB. Only about 1000 of the new £20 Minster badges have been sold so far.

Each of York’s 80,000 households is entitled to a badge which replaces the current free badge which was issued when the LibDems were in control of the Council.

There are around 30,000 active Minster Badges currently in use in the City.

From September, anyone without a badge will have to pay the full rate to park during the day and will also lose the right to free evening parking.

Council now claims A59 Park and Ride site completion date is Thursday 31st July!

On site wind turbine scheme jettisoned

Councillor Leven has now given a absolute commitment that all works connected with the Poppleton Bar park and ride site – plus associated works on the A1237 and the A59 will be completed by 31^st July.

In an answer published to a question tabled at the last Council meeting he says,the contractors are scheduled to leave site by the end of the month.

The premature opening of the Poppleton Bar site has also been under fire although the numbers using the service are claimed to be similar to the figures at other Park and Ride sites immediately after their introduction.

	Month 1 trip numbers	Month 13 trip numbers	Month 25 trip numbers
Grimston Bar (1994):	3,889	14,525	21,891
Designer Outlet (2000):	9,606	18,495	21,524
Monks Cross (2004)	13,550	35,429	43,797
Poppleton Bar (2014)	9,148 (8/6/14 – 1/7/14)

From opening, the number of cars parked at the new Poppleton Park & Ride site is between 70 – 100.

On a Saturday this increases to 200.

With many of the electric buses running empty, the Council has been criticised for unnecessarily increasing CO2 emissions.

In response to a written question the responsible cabinet member has revealed that the provision of an on site wind turbine was aborted at the last minute. He claimed,

“the electric buses charge overnight at the First Depot in York. The electricity grid is off-peak at this time and of lower carbon intensity. There was a wind turbine in the design for Poppleton Bar however the supplier went out of business a month before installation. Officers are currently exploring alternative suppliers of renewable generation equipment for Poppleton Bar which could supply sufficient power for the on-site Rapid chargers which boost the range of the electric buses”.

Labour Councillors have claimed that the decision to open the Poppleton Park and Ride site was taken by “officers” implying that they had no influence over the blunder.

Despite this 3 Labour Councillors were featured in a media photograph which covered the sites official opening.

Lendal Bridge legal battle costs taxpayers £700 a week

Labour run York Council’s legal battle over traffic restrictions on Lendal Bridge and Coppergate has cost taxpayers £700 a week, according to figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats.

At the end of March a Government Traffic Adjudicator ruled that the council had “no power” to issue fines on Lendal Bridge or Coppergate. Since then, York Council has been contesting the Adjudicator’s ruling on both the schemes.

However, last week the council said it was dropping the Lendal Bridge appeal and only continuing with the Coppergate challenge.

The Lib Dems can now reveal that so far the council has spent £11,330 on the legal battle, with the figure set to continue to rise as the Coppergate row rolls on.

The revelation comes at a time when Labour are refusing to say when their proposal to repay the fines unlawfully imposed on drivers using Lendal Bridge will be refunded.

Despite claims made on TV and in Council media releases that the Council had decided to repay the fines, it emerged at the last Council meeting that no such decision had been made.

A meeting to discuss the proposal – and a move to withdraw the Councils appeal against the traffic adjudicators decision – was promised “shortly” but has still not yet been scheduled.

(more…)

Labour unite behind Cabinet flops

……as Labour vote down Acomb regeneration proposal

Labour managed to get enough of their members into the Council chamber tonight to avoid the ignominy of having two Council members sacked from their Cabinet positions.

Cllrs Alexander and Merrett had been widely blamed for the failure of the Lendal Bridge trial with the latter having promised to resign if the Councils action had been proven to be unlawful.

Opposition members pointed out that the withdrawal of the Councils appeal against the traffic adjudicators judgement was an admission of guilt.

Labour were however forced to admit that no decision on refunding fines had actually been taken and their spokesman would only say that a meeting to discuss the proposals would take place “shortly”.

Both the responsible Council member (Levene) in a TV interview, and an official Council Press release issued on Tuesday, had claimed that the “Council had decided to refund the Lendal Bridge fines”.

Both those claims have now been proved to be untrue.

Cllr Levene also said that he didn’t know how much it would cost to refund the Lendal Bridge fines.

Labour went on to vote down proposals to introduce an ambitious regeneration programme for the Acomb Front Street area.

Lendal Bridge councillors face crunch vote

The Labour councillors responsible for the botched Lendal Bridge trial will formally face calls to resign at tomorrow night’s meeting of York’s Full Council.

Council Leader James Alexander and Cllr Dave Merrett, the Cabinet Member responsible for the trial, will both face a vote to decide whether they keep their jobs.

The move is part of a Liberal Democrat motion which also calls for the 60,000 motorists fined for crossing Lendal Bridge to be repaid automatically without having to apply for a refund.

So far Labour has only said York Council will reimburse people who apply for a repayment.

The motion follows the embarrassing U-Turn last week when Labour announced that it would drop its appeal against a Government Traffic Adjudicator ruling which said the Lendal Bridge closure was unlawful.

In April Cllr Merrett said that if the trial was proved to be unlawful he would resign, telling BBC Radio York: “Yes, I accept that at the end of the day that if we’ve got it wrong to that extent that I’d have to resign”.

In April Cllr Merrett lost responsibility for Transport, but kept his Cabinet post taking control of Environmental Services.