York police host free property registration road-shows

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York Police and the Safer York Partnership are hosting free property registration events as part of a week-long, national campaign targeting burglary and stolen goods.

Safer York Partnership and North Yorkshire Police have purchased new equipment called Hermes and Apollo which gives officers, volunteers and partners the ability to register property directly to the Immobilise National Property Register.

It also allows officers to scan recovered items and interrogate the National Mobile Property Register to identify if those items have been stolen.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to get your valuables registered quickly and for free. Come along to any of the following venues during the week 18 to 24 November 2013:

 

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Alcohol in York

Funny-Drunk-People-Picture-04

York is supporting this year’s Alcohol Awareness Week which is taking place from 18 to 22 November.

Alcohol has an important role in many people’s social lives but it is easy to underestimate how much or how often we are drinking, and that it is causing harm to ourselves and others.Local statistics for York suggest that 20% of people who drink alcohol in the city are drinking in ways that put their health at risk.

In 2010/11 in York, more than 3,000 people were admitted to hospital for alcohol-related illnesses (Local Alcohol Profiles for England, calculated from indicators 10 and 11), and an estimated 18,000 attended A&E (estimate from Alcohol Concern’s alcohol harm map http://www.alcoholconcern.org.uk/campaign/alcohol-harm-map)

 

The cost to the city’s health services due to alcohol misuse alone is estimated at £58 per adult resident (alcohol concern alcohol harm map as above.)

Alcohol misuse can also fuel violent crime: in 2010/11 there were estimated to be four violent crimes attributable to alcohol for every 1,000 people in York (local alcohol profile as above indicator 16).

Estimates of the number of people who binge drink is above the national average (local area alcohol profile indicator 24.)
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Parliament Week to launch with Edna Crichton mini-exhibition

Edna Crichton

Edna Crichton

York’s Libraries and Archives service will be launching Parliament Week 2013, which runs from 15 to 21 November.

The week opens with a mini-exhibition at York Explore Library and Learning Centre looking at York’s first female Lord Mayor, Edna Crichton.

Amongst many other of her life’s stories, the mini-exhibition will place a spotlight on Edna’s first year as Mayor, which was one of the most traumatic in York’s recent history. On the night of 29 April 1942 the city was hit by one of the Baedeker Raids, when 69 bombs rained down on the city with little warning.

The raid resulted in St Martin’s Church on Coney Street being destroyed and the Guildhall suffered a direct hit – when Edna home at the Mansion House at the time.

The programme of events for Parliament Week, which looks to engage residents with Parliamentary Democracy can be picked up from any City of York Council Library or viewed online

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Richard III lecture

  • 20th Nov 2013
  • This Parliament Week lecture examines the beginnings of the Council of the North under Richard, the power it wielded, how it was organised, and how it was funded.
  • Location: York Explore
  • Time: 18:30 – 19:30
  • Cost: Free

Before and after the lecture you will have a chance to see the earliest surviving York House Book – the original record of life in York from the period in which Richard was ruling the North of England on behalf of his brother Edward IV. This is a free event but booking is essential. There will be beverages available on the evening. To book a place visit any City of York Library, telephone 01904 55 28 28, or email libraries@york.gov.uk

View the full programme of Parliament Week events.

Lendal Bridge cameras – high fault levels Council admits

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A Freedom of information request has revealed that the ANPR restriction enforcement cameras on Lendal Bridge were not working for long periods in late September and early October.

This will come as little consolation to the increasing number of visitors to the City who are being caught out by bus lane cameras.

Many are using this web site to vent their concerns.

Some say that they will never return to York.

Others are just bemused by the poor signage of the restrictions.

The Council has still not published its assessment report for October

The Council says that, “for technical reasons the cameras on Lendal Bridge were not operational in one or both directions on the following dates”.

  • 13/09/2013
  • 21/09/2013
  • 22/09/2013
  • 23/09/2013
  • 29/09/2013
  • 30/09/2013
  • 01/10/2013
  • 05/10/2013
  • 06/10/2013
  • 07/10/2013
  • 08/10/2013

“Traffic congestion in York getting worse” – residents. Costs put at £491 per household

Congestion cartoon 2

Every respondent, to the survey that we are undertaking in parts of the Hob Moor and Dringhouses areas, has so far said that traffic congestion in York has got worse in recent months.

Delays of the type experienced during the “rush hours” have now become commonplace at other times of the day.

The sudden deterioration has been put down to a series of factors.

The decision to close Lendal Bridge to private traffic, while at the same time undertaking extensive road works on the A1237 northern by pass, is blamed by many.

Unreliable traffic signals, burst water mains and a population less willing to use bus services, have added to the problems.

The Council’s ridiculously titled campaign to “Get York Moving” lies in tatters with a report to a Cabinet meeting earlier in the month lacking any information on traffic volumes or congestion delays.

Nationally according to a recent report, close to £426m is being wasted on fuel alone due to traffic hold ups, which means each of the 8.2 million commuting drivers in the country have to bear a fuel cost of £52.

INRIX, an international provider of traffic information and intelligent driver services, together with Cebr, has revealed that congestion on roads costs around £491 per car-commuting household.

The other direct cost is wastage of time, with the average cost of time wasted in gridlock per traveller £331, which results in a total national time cost of £2.7bn.

York Art Gallery refurbishment has £700,000 funding shortfall

Art Gallery remodeling

Art Gallery remodeling

A report to a Council meeting next week reveals that the York Museums Trust still has to raise over £700,000 to meet the cost of its Art Gallery refurbishment project.

The £8m scheme is expected to be completed in 2015 with 60% more exhibition space, improved visitor facilities and a new Centre of Ceramic Arts.

The Museum Gardens were awarded a gold medal by Yorkshire in Bloom. The gardens to the rear of York Art Gallery are to be expanded with three new gardens established.

Richard III head

Richard III head

The Trust is also refurbishing the Debtors Prison at the Castle Museum following a successful £1.1m bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund. The first exhibition to be held in these new spaces will be 1914: When the World Changed Forever, a major changing exhibition on the social impact of World War One. This work will begin in November and will be open to the public in June 2014

Overall visitor numbers to York’s museums showed an increase of 2% this summer although much of that is put down to an exhibition of Richard III ‘s reconstructed head.

York Council in new search for traveller sites and Showman’s Yard.

The York Council has announced a new search for possible sites for Gypsies and a Showman’s Yard.

Showman's site Wetherby Road Knapton Withdrawn in July
Showman’s site Wetherby Road Knapton Withdrawn in July

The announcement falls sort of asking for residents suggestions.

 

That is a mistake given the controversy which greeted the arbitrary allocation of land announced under Labour’s draft Local Plan last April.

The Council has issued a media release saying,

“The study is underway and will help determine suitable locations for the development of Gypsy, Roma & Traveller and Showpeople sites in York.

An updated study is underway which will help determine suitable locations for the development of Gypsy, Roma & Traveller and Showpeople sites in York, ahead of the next stage of York’s Local Plan consultation in 2014.

City of York Council has a statutory requirement to identify needs and allocate land and so has commissioned an external study in to the Gypsy, Roma & Traveller and Showpeople Housing Needs and Site Identification which will be used to inform and help determine which sites in York are suitable to be included in the Local Plan submission draft early next year.

The submission draft of the Local Plan is expected to published for consultation in Spring 2014.

The revised study will provide an update on the North Yorkshire Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (2007/8) and the North Yorkshire Accommodation Requirements of Showpeople (2009).

It will also build on the work carried out by council officers in the Gypsy, Traveller and Showpeople Accommodation Needs Supporting Paper (June 2013) which were all supporting documents in the recent Local Plan Preferred Options consultation.

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Boost for younger unemployed in York

Major cities in England will receive government cash to invest over the next 3 years to help young people into lasting employment.

Nick Glegg

Nick Glegg


The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Cities Minister Greg Clark are announcing investment from a pot of government cash given to England’s major cities to invest over the next 3 years, with the aim of helping more than 25,000 young people into jobs that last.

£4.6 million will be invested in the Leeds City Region to provide intensive, targeted wraparound support for at risk and long-term unemployed young people, an innovative pilot looking at the role that Employment Agencies can play in helping young people into work and the creation of a new Young Ambassador Scheme to offer peer mentoring, support and advice to young people

There are more people in work today than ever before. Since 2010 the government has helped to create over 1.4 million jobs in the private sector and over 1 million apprenticeships have started since the election.

Since April 2012, over 136,000 young people have started a work experience placement through the Youth Contract.

On 30 July the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Minister for Cities Greg Clark launched a competition for cities to design trailblazing initiatives to boost youth employment using £50m of funding from the Youth Contract scheme.

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Jobless down again both locally and nationally

The number of people claiming Jobs Seekers Allowance (JSA) in York has again fallen.

The Office for National Statistics have released figures today stating that there are 2195 claimants in York, a fall of 122 from last month and of 872 since October 2012.

National unemployment trends click to enlarge

National unemployment trends click to enlarge

The claimant count represents 1.6% of the working population and contrasts to the regional average which stands at 3.9%.

The figures are also much lower than the national average which stands at 3%.

The change though reflects the national economic recovery.

Nationally the number of people in work has increased by 378,000 in the last year to a record breaking 29.95m according to figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) today.

The unemployment rate has also fallen to 7.6%, down 0.2%.

Today’s figures also show that unemployment has fallen by 48,000 in the last year, and long term unemployment has dropped by 19,000 in the last three months.

The number of young people in work has increased by 50,000 over the last three months, and youth unemployment has dropped by 13,100.

Commenting, Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Committee for Work and Pensions, Greg Mulholland, said:

“This is another encouraging sign that the economy is recovering.

“Today’s figures show the total number of people in employment is now at a record high, with the rise being driven by a growth in full-time and permanent jobs.

“The Liberal Democrats in Government have helped business create more than a million private sector jobs, and now we are working to help create a million more.

“This recovery would not be happening without the Liberal Democrats in Government.

“There is a long way to go, but the economy is on the mend and jobs are crucial to building a stronger economy and a fairer society that allows everyone to get on in life.”