“Don’t call us” Lendal Bridge plea by York Council

The Council has issued the following statement. Refund_Stamp

It is incorrect as the Council hasn’t yet decided to offer refunds on Lendal bridge fines. At this stage it is merely a proposal from Cllr Levene.

No date has been set for the issue to be formally considered by any of the Council’s decision taking bodies.

The Council statement reads,

The Council has decided to refund people who received a fine during the trial traffic regulation of Lendal Bridge, those who appealed to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal will receive payment from the Council and need take no further action. A refund will be made in all other cases provided a request is made through the council application process. This is due to the clear level of public concern during the trial. It is hoped that this can be seen as a statement of goodwill and we are drawing a line under the matter.

In order to protect the Council against the risk from fraudulent claims a simple application process is currently in development and it is anticipated that this will be launched in the near future. An announcement as to the opening of the application process will be made through the Council website and the Council’s normal communication channels.

Whilst we appreciate that those affected by this process will wish to make their application at the earliest possible date, refunds will only be made when requests are made through the official application process and contacting the Council prior to the opening of the process will not be necessary or assist your claim.

 

Government to give extra £1 million to help sort out York’s transport problems

Lendal Bridge recriminations continue

Lendal bridge without traffic

Lendal bridge without traffic

York been awarded a further £1million by the Department for Transport as a dispute about who paid for the Lendal Bridge trial has surfaced.

Refund decision- who decides and when?

None of the Council’s decision making bodies has considered a proposal to repay Lendal Bridge fines. It is merely a proposal to creep out for a “behind closed doors” meeting of the Labour Group. It is a key decision but does not appear in the Councils forward plan. The last time the Council considered the issue Labour Councillors combined to vote down a request for an independent scrutiny review of the failings of, and lessons to be learned from, the Lendal and Coppergate trials.

Now a decision date will have to be set and a report on the methodology – and costs – of setting up a refund system will have to be written and published. The ultimate success of a proposal to repay fines is not in doubt, as both Opposition parties (LibDem and Tory) have previously called for the refunds to be made. There is considerable doubt, though, about when such payments might start and what paperwork vehicle owners may be expected to complete.

How much did it cost and who pays?

The present government allows Local Authorities a large measure of devolution on transport spending priorities and last year the Councils Labour Leadership chose to spend some grant money on access restriction hardware (such as ANPR cameras).

This totalled around £100,000 and is money that has now effectively been lost. The latest grant allocation (see below) was made before the York Council made its announcement about refunding Lendal Bridge fines, so it remains to be seen whether the fiasco will adversely impact on future transport funding allocations for the City.

The vast majority of the costs of the Lendal Bridge and Coppergate schemes were funded by fine income. The detail was reported to the Cabinet earlier in the month Click here for report Para 23 makes it clear that £1.756 million in fine income had been received by the end of March. Administrative costs were £718,000. In the main, those were the costs of enforcement and processing the FPNs. The Council has never revealed how much it was charged by the Peterborough based company that it used to process the fine notifications.

LTP3 – What did it say?

Some commentators are also claiming the the Local Transport Plan (LTP3), submitted to government in 2010 when the Council was LibDem led, somehow prompted the Lendal Bridge access restriction trial. The plan can still be viewed on the Council’s web site click here

The Plan does suggest a trial which would have given public transport priority on Ouse Bridge (not Lendal Bridge) in the medium term (2019). However that was conditional on other network improvements being completed – notably to to the northern by pass and to Park and Ride facilities – in the interim. The Labour Leadership must accept full responsibility for trying to bounce an ill considered Lendal Bridge scheme, onto an unsuspecting public, before even the two new Park and Ride sites had been completed.

£1 million more from Government

We hope that the Council will get back to basics and ensure that there is full public discussion of their plans for the use of this money. They have gone backwards recently with the removal of card payment options at the Maygate car park, travellers can no longer look on the web to see which car parks are full and on street visual display boards are often not working.

Well used sub-urban bus stops still don’t have real time “next bus arriving” screens yet.

All are issues that need addressing before anymore money is squandered on “vanity” projects
(more…)

Lendal Bridge fines to be refunded

 

Coppergate fines stand – for now

Lendal bridge notice

In an amazing U turn – before even the results of their appeal against the traffic adjudicator ruling have been revealed – the York Council’s Labour Leadership has announced that they will refund over £1 million in fines levied against motorists who used Lendal Bridge during the ill fated access restriction trial.

They have yet to submit the proposal to a formal Council decision meeting.

The Council have already spent over £700,000 – of the £1.8 million fine income that it raised from Lendal Bridge and Coppergate – on administering the trial, so taxpayers are in for a hefty hit.

The Council only broke even on its budget during the last financial year because of the ANPR camera bonanza.

The failed experiment ultimately led to the demotion of Labour Councillor Dave Merrett, although he still holds a £20,000 a year Cabinet job.

Residents will now be looking at the future of Council leader James Alexander who bears ultimate responsibility for the financial and organisational disaster.

The Council have not said how motorists will be able to claim a rebate.

There is a suspicion that visitors – particularly those from overseas – may never hear about the change of heart. They may continue to be out of pocket as a result of the Councils unlawful actions.

Last month Labour Councillor Stephen Burton (Westfield) led an attempt to block plans to have an independent inquiry into the fiasco.

When unveiled a year ago, Liberal Democrats opposed the trial saying that it was badly timed and poorly executed.

In September 2013 (after only a few weeks of the trial) Liberal Democrats called for it to be abandoned against a background of huge enforcement issues.

If the Council had accepted then that they had made a major mistake, taxpayers would not now be facing a £1million bill.
(more…)

York College to take redundant Moor Lane car parking spaces

The Moor Lane Car Park (former Park & Ride site next to Tesco) is now a pay and display car park with 500 spaces run by the York Council.

With the larger and free park and ride site nearby, not surprisingly the car park is little used.

The Council has been approached by the Principal at York College to help facilitate their parking arrangements during the summer period while building works are undertaken on site.

Council officials have agreed that 50 spaces will be provided at a flat rate of £2 per day for use by York College during the period 7 July to 31 August 2014.

A review will take place at the end of this period.

Another 20 mph speed limit zone to be imposed on York

Behind closed doors logo

In another behind closed doors decision, the Council has agreed to introduce a wide area 20 mph speed limit across north York (Clifton/Rawcliffe/Huntington area)

Several formal objections were raised to the traffic orders. All were ignored.

Residents are becoming resigned to these limits being imposed but will expect them to be removed next year when a new Council takes over.

In other similar City’s the introduction of wide area 20 mph speed limits has coincided with an increase in the number of serious traffic accidents.

Just a shame that £600,000 of taxpayer’s money is being wasted.

Four local Councillors objected to the proposal (3 LibDem and 1 Tory)

Labour block Lendal Bridge Inquiry

Labour councillors last night formally vetoed Liberal Democrat calls for an inquiry into the Lendal Bridge trial.

Lendal Bridge signs A scrutiny committee review of the controversial trial was requested by Lib Dem councillors Ann Reid and Keith Aspden. But, at last night’s ‘Economic & City Development Overview & Scrutiny Committee’ Labour councillors used their majority to reject the Lib Dem proposal.

Last week Labour leader Cllr James Alexander and Cllr Dave Merrett (the cabinet member responsible for the trial) publicly opposed calls for a review.

Cllr Ian Cuthbertson, who sits on the committee for the Lib Dems, commented:

“It is hugely disappointing that Labour councillors have blocked an inquiry into the Lendal Bridge trial. Liberal Democrats wanted a proper cross-party review of the trial to ensure that unanswered questions are addressed and lessons are learnt.

“Whatever the rights and wrongs of having the trial in the first place, it is clear that it was very badly implemented and managed. Poor signage meant that over 50,000 motorists were fined, the closure caused increased congestion in other parts of the city, then it was ruled ‘unlawful’ by the Government’s Traffic Adjudicator.

We need to understand why these things happened, so that future attempts at tackling congestion do not end in similar failure.

“It is hard to escape the conclusion that Labour councillors cynically blocked the scrutiny review to shield their Leader and the Cabinet Member responsible from proper public scrutiny. If this is the case, it is clearly an unacceptable approach which does our city and its residents a huge disservice.”

Labour’s controversial closure of Lendal Bridge was abandoned in April after overwhelming opposition from residents and businesses and after a Government Traffic Adjudicator ruled the closure was unlawful.

The Economic & City Development Overview & Scrutiny Committee voted 4 to 3 against holding the review with Labour councillors Anna Semlyen, Neil Barnes, Stephen Burton and Joe Riches voting against.

A video of the meeting can be found here: http://www.york.gov.uk/webcasts

Askham Bar Park and Ride site attracting more users

Askham Bar cycle parking in use

Askham Bar cycle parking in use

The new Askham Bar park and ride site on Tadcaster Road has proved to be popular with drivers.

Many have transferred from the, now closed, site adjacent to Tesco – making the most of the additional spaces now available.

At 11:00am today a small queue of bus passengers had formed.

However work on the site has still not been completed.

Official estimates say that it could be another 2 weeks before all the work is done.

Well used car park at Askham Bar

Well used car park at Askham Bar

Still the Council were right to bring the site into service as soon as practical. It has reduced the number of vehicles on Tadcaster Road and buses are taking advantage of the reduced congestion to run into the City centre more quickly.

The situation at the other new site at Poppleton Bar couldn’t be a bigger contrast.

Fewer than 100 vehicles were using the car park there this morning.

A substantial amount of work needs to be done both on the car park and on the nearby highway network.

Askham Bar bus waiting area

Askham Bar bus waiting area


Sources at the Council say that the project – which is 3 months behind its original schedule – will be finished in 3 weeks time. The contractors have apparently been given until the weekend of the Tour de France (5th July) to complete the works.

Unfortunately, by then, damage to the park and ride site’s reputation may be beyond repair.

Buses continue to be mired in a web of temporary traffic lights and lane restrictions.

Electric bus at Poppleton Bar

Electric bus at Poppleton Bar


Today, rather than a queue of passengers waiting for buses, there was a queue of buses waiting for passengers.

Ironically one of the major improvements yet to be commissioned is the cycle underpass on the A1237. This was to be used to encourage cyclists to pedal to the park and ride site before boarding a bus to complete their journey.

It will not be used by the Tour de France competitors!

Askham Bar new park and ride site opens on Sunday

Poppleton Bar park and ride site

Poppleton Bar park and ride site

The Council re claiming that battery powered buses will run from the Poppleton Park and Ride site from Sunday.

If they do, then it will be due to the efforts of workers on the car park and Poppleton roundabout improvements which were still far from finished earlier today.

Battery powered buses were first proposed by the, then LibDem controlled, Council in 2010.

The introduction of seven zero emission buses on the new park and ride route now is due to a grant from the coalition government.

It is a step in thr right direction.

However, there will be some concern that the new service is being introduced before works at the car park site (opposite the Wyevale garden centre) and on the A59/A1237 junction have been completed.

The new service needs to be a showpiece for the City – not just in terms of appearance, but also in providing a swift journey across a junction which has often been congested in the past.

We seem to be some days away from being able to guarantee that kind of improved visitor experience.

The new Park and Ride site at Askham Bar seems to be further advanced and should be ready for service on Sunday.

Approach to A59/A1237 roundabout

 

Lendal Bridge – Council Leadership move to block scrutiny of their decisions

Lendal bridge notice

Papers published for a meeting of the Council scrutiny committee, which covers transport issues, today reveal that the Labour Leadership are trying to block an inquiry into their handling of the Lendal Bridge closure.

Residents in general – and the 70,000 motorists fined “unlawfully” by the Council for using Lendal Bridge and Coppergate in particular- had been expecting the answers to a string of questions about the muddle and confusion which surrounded the ill-judged trial.

The Council Leader describes the request as “politics not scrutiny” and says that “an independently chaired congestion commission” should report first. As any such commission would take months – if not years – to report, this is clearly an attempt to bury the issue until after the local elections which are scheduled to take place next May.

Similarly the disgraced Cabinet member, who was responsible for the shambles, argues that a review is “premature” and should await the result of the Council’s appeal against the traffic adjudicator’s judgement. As this appeal expected to be resolved within the next 2 months, it does not seem be a valid reason to delay setting up a review committee.

The committee meets next week to decide on its work programme for the coming year.

Although there is a Labour majority on the committee, they will not be able to deny answers to residents legitimate questions for ever.

The new Council, which will be elected in May 2015, will be able to set up an Inquiry when it takes office.

There will be nowhere for the former Labour Leadership to hide then.