Council leadership policy mistake costing average York resident £50 a year

The government has announced that how individual Councillors vote on crucial budget decisions – like Council Tax levels – will, in future, be published.

In York, such decisions are often the subject of a “recorded vote” anyway although it can be weeks before vigilant taxpayers can find the records in meeting minutes.

Meanwhile the government has again offered to underwrite the income required to freeze Council Tax levels. £779,000 has been offered to the City. The funding would continue in future years.

The Council has made poor decisions over the last 3 years when turning down this funding.

Council tax

The inexperienced Labour leadership – wrongly – assumed that the subsidy would be available for 1 year only. In reality the government has built the payment into the basic grant that the City receives.

This means that York Council taxpayers are – on average – now paying over £50 a year more for local services than they would have been if the Council had accepted the central government offer.

Next year a band D council taxpayer will have to find  £1,165.54 to pay for York Council services, to which will be added the costs of Fire (4% increase planned) and Police (2% increased proposed)

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The York Council is planning to give £1 million to the Leeds Council “infrastructure fund”.

In addition, around £300,000 in additional (new) Business Rates is being “pooled” with West Yorkshire Councils.

These are optional payments with no guarantee that any of the money will be invested in York.

Latest Planning application Dringhouses and Woodthorpe Ward

Below is the latest planning applications received by the York Council for the Dringhouses and Woodthorpe ward.

Full details can be found by clicking the application reference

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Location:       28 Bursary Court Dringhouses York YO24 1UL

Proposal:       Remove lower branch and prune back form No 30 garden, Oak (T4), Tree protected by Tree Preservation Order CYC315

Ref No: 14/00188/TPO

Applicant:      Mr John Brook  Contact R A Craven     Consultation Expiry Date        24 February 2014 Case Officer:   Esther Priestley        Expected Decision Level DEL

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Representations can be made in favour of, or in objection to, any application via the Planning on line web site.  http://planningaccess.york.gov.uk/online-applications/

NB. The Council now no longer routinely consults neighbours by letter when an application is received.

Huge increase in parking charges planned for York residents.

York’s unique Minster badge scheme which has helped to protect York residents from high car parking charges is being scrapped by Labour.

Under the LibDems, in 2011 residents paid £1.10 per hour to park at most City centre car parks (those designated as “standard stay”).

Residents will now see that increase by a staggering 82% to £2.00.

click to enlarge
click to enlarge

The Council is offering what they term as a frequent visitor badge.

However these will cost £20 a year to buy (and are not restricted to York Council Taxpayers).

click to see full survey results
click to see full survey results

The Councils own survey (see left) of residents, revealed that the vast majority no longer drive into the City centre frequently enough to make such a badge a worthwhile purchase.

Only those using the car parks several times a week would get any benefit and they probably already choose to buy a season ticket. (A season ticket, which allows unlimited parking for a year, costs less than £500 for a small/low emission vehicle)

The news comes at a time when traders have claimed that Saturdays no parking fee trial had been a success.

The trial will have cost the Council around £20,000 in income. First buses will also have lost income on their Park and Ride contract.

Crunch time for City centre

So its crunch time for the City centre economy. Few residents are going to pay those kind of charges when they can get free parking at out of City shopping centres.

The Council is still promising “pay on exit” barriers at the Marygate car park, but that initiative is too little too late.

Even if the Lendal Bridge closure is lifted in March, it will take a long time to restore the City’s reputation with both residents and visitors.

The number of shoppers in the City centre was continuing to fall even before the Lendal Bridge closure

The next local elections are little more than a year away now though,  so there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

Labour are leaving an economic nightmare for someone to clear up.

Bus service reliability in York – FOI response

Apparently the York Council has not asked bus companies to reveal service reliability stats.

bus-stop1

Despite claims to the contrary, a Freedom of Information request has revealed that the York Council has not apparently asked local bus operators to publish service reliability statistics.

The claims were made by politicians in 2012 as they tried to justify only publishing an annual reliability figure (which later turned out to be a one day sample).

The annual figure published on the DpT web site suggests that 1 in 5 buses in York are more than 5 minutes late.

In 2013, the Council claimed that a data sharing agreement (which has now been published) prevented them from revealing figures which would tell passengers what reliability levels were being achieved.

Rail users have had access to such information for over a decade.

More recently the Council has admitted that it does get these figures on a regular basis but aggregation would have to be done “manually” and to do so would be prohibitively expensive.

The Council claims that its data is supplied through a system supplied by Vix Acis.

This company publicly claims that their Horizon web based system does provide “management with the ability to mine historical data for service improvement and reporting against key performance indicators”.

So the suspicion remains that, for some reason, both the bus companies and the Council are desperate to hide just how reliable bus services in the City actually are.

Our view is that (at least) each month the number of buses running on time (within 5 minutes of the published timetable) on each route should be published on the web.

Cost of Policing set to increase.

The Police and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan is consulting on a plan to increase the bill for crime control by 1.99%.

That is the maximum allowed by the government without support from taxpayers.

Violence

She says that the increase is necessary to retain the present number of police officers (although separately the Chief Constable has claimed that crime levels in the City are continuing to reduce).

A survey can be completed by clicking here.

Separately the Commissioner has cancelled attendance at a meeting in York scheduled for 10th February when she was to have attended a “scrutiny” meeting at West Offices.

Concerns remain in York about the high levels of social crime in parts of York.

Recent media reports have concentrated on late night noise and alcohol fuelled anti social behaviour problems particularly in the City centre.

These are areas where the York Council and Police Commissioner should be working together to effect improvements.

The Crime Commissioner is currently not planning to hold any “surgeries” in York before the end of March.

Housing fraud clampdown in York

Council’s and social landlords in the region are encouraging people to report tenancy fraud as part of a regional Tenancy Fraud Awareness Week 2014.

Council’s and social landlords in the region are encouraging people to report tenancy fraud as part of a regional Tenancy Fraud Awareness Week 2014.

Tenancy Fraud Awareness Week 2014 runs between Monday 3 and Sunday 9 February, and social housing providers and fraud busting-agencies across the region are encouraging members of the public to report any suspicions of tenancy fraud.

With tenancy fraud now a criminal offence following the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013, this latest campaign builds on an anti-Housing Fraud campaign launched in August 2013 by City of York Council and its counter fraud specialist partner Veritau.

Continue reading →

Police Chief phone in tomorrow (Monday)

North Yorkshire Police’s Chief Constable Dave Jones is hosting a live webchat to allow residents the opportunity to ask any questions about crime and anti-social behaviour in their communities.

Laptop

Mr Jones will be online between 6pm and 7pm on Monday 3 February 2014.

He would like to discuss people’s experiences with North Yorkshire Police and discuss any suggestions about how the policing service in the county can be further improved.

Mr Jones said: “As Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police, I think it is really important that I engage with our communities and find out what issues concern them the most.

“My monthly webchats always provide valuable feedback from residents and helps me to understand what is important to them and how we can improve the service we offer.

“I look forward to answering as many of your questions as possible between 6pm and 7pm on Monday, so please try and join me online.”

To join the latest webchat visit www.northyorkshire.police.uk/webchat

You can also set yourself an email reminder in advance so you don’t miss it.

Residents who are unable to take part in the live webchat are encouraged to send their questions to the Chief Constable in advance via the North Yorkshire Police Twitter account @NYorksPolice, using the hashtag #AskTheChief, or the Facebook page www.facebook.com/NorthYorkshirePolice

Fitness for over 50’s at Energise

York’s over-50s can get into gear for the very popular third Eng-AGE 50+ Activity Day which will take place on Monday 17 February from 9.30am to 4pm at Energise.

Energise Pool

The day is the first big sport and activity event of the 2014 health and fitness calendar, in a year when York residents are being encouraged and inspired by the Tour de France to do more physical activity.

With the Tour de France setting off from York on 6 July it’s only right that this year we have included some bicycle related activities for the over 50s such as beginners spin classes, cycle maintenance and cycle training. This is a great opportunity to try some activities, meet new people, have fun and become fitter all at the same time! 

The day is led by coaches and fitness professionals who will give those taking part the confidence to have a go at different sports and physical activity sessions in a friendly and supportive environment. Useful information will also be provided on where and how to continue the activity at venues across York. A wide range of other activities are on offer to sample and include group classes of tai chi, aquafit, swimfit, synchronised swimming, pilates, short tennis, badminton, yoga, boxercise, chair based exercise, inclusive sports and zumba gold. Individual and team challenges in orienteering have been introduced and the popular introductions to the gym and climbing wall will also be available.

Participants may join in either morning or afternoon sessions at a cost of £3 per half day, or may attend for the full day for £5.

Further information, including a full timetable of events is available at www.york.gov.uk/engage and from libraries. Booking opens at 9am on Monday 3 February on a first come basis by calling Catriona Sudlow, City of York Council’s older peoples physical activity officer on 01904 553377.