York traffic signal reliability questioned

The seemingly endless series of faults on York’s traffic lights and signalised pedestrian crossings will be questioned at the Council meeting on 10th October.

London solution

London solution

Residents were particularly concerned when the pelican crossing on Front Street was faulty for several days last week.

The Council has not published any reliability statistics on traffic lights for over 2 years.

The response time targets for the Council’s maintenance contractor have also not been published

Cllr Ann Reid will ask the transport chief

“How many faults have been reported on traffic signals in York so far this year and what is the total time that signals have been out of service? How does this compare to the equivalent period last year?”
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NB. The continued unavailability of traffic camera real time information on the Councils web site will also be highlighted at the meeting.

It is 6 months since the Council opened its new £300,000 CCTV control centre and put traffic camera icons on its web based congestion map.

In July the Council accepted that the move had been premature although the North Yorkshire Council has had similar camera access available for many years. Assurances were given that the links would go live shortly.

3 months later and the links still aren’t working.

Liberal Democrat Councillors have therefore tabled a question asking, “Why is the feed from the traffic cameras to the “itravel” York web site map still not working despite the assurances given at the July Council meeting? “

A list of all the questions submitted for the meeting can be read here: http://democracy.york.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?ID=32384

Press and Labour Councillor in muddle over planning appeal

Westview Close

Westview Close

Yorkshire Post and York Press readers will today be wondering why a Westfield Labour Councillor was given a platform to sound off about a housing development which he obviously thought was in his ward.

As we reported several weeks ago, a planning Inspector has overturned a Council decision and has allowed a small 8 home development to be built on Westview Close.

Westview Close is actually located in the Rural West ward, adjacent to the Civil Service Sports field.

It is about 1 mile away from the Westfield Ward.

It appears that the media have provoked “local” Westfield ward Councillor Dafydd Williams to condemn the decision amidst a confused diatribe about the need to establish a “Green Belt” boundary.

We have news for him. There is a Green Belt boundary and it is protected by the government.

All that has changed over the last year, is that Labour have proposed taking greenfield sites, like the Civil Service Sports field, out of the Green Belt.

£3 million to be raised from Lendal Bridge and Coppergate fine income this year?

Lendal bridge notice

Questions tabled for the Council meeting on 10th October will finally reveal the scale of fine income that the Council is now getting from drivers who use Lendal Bridge and Coppergate during restricted hours.

Unconfirmed figures, leaked by the Council, suggest that over 1000 drivers a WEEK are still using Lendal Bridge during restricted hours.

If everyone who received a penalty notice paid £60 then it would add a whopping £3 million to Council coffers plus income from Coppergate.

A private briefing to journalists accepts the 1000 figure but says that many drivers will successfully appeal while others will quickly stomp up the £30 discounted rate.

Questions on Lendal Bridge and Coppergate tabled for Council meeting on 10th October click to enlarge

Questions on Lendal Bridge and Coppergate tabled for Council meeting on 10th October click to enlarge

Officials admit that bus reliability has not changed much since the Lendal Bridge closure while traffic congestion is much as expected.

The briefing comes from the same team that has yet to answer questions tabled during a “twitter debate” in August. They promised then to answer all submitted questions and add them to the Councils web site.

They have singularly failed to do so.

So embarrassed are Council Leaders, with the scale of the contraventions, that they are floating the idea of an amnesty for first offenders.

A kind of yellow card system.

But there will be nowhere to hide on 10th October.

Not only will the scale of the PR disaster become apparent but the impact on City centre trade will be revealed.

A question to the Council Leader, from Liberal Democrat Group Leader Keith Aspden, asks for daily numbers from the Councils City centre footfall cameras since the beginning of August.

The improving economic situation suggests that there should be a major increase compared to last year.

We will see

A list of all the questions submitted for the meeting can be seen here.
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Government to fund additional green buses in York

Coalition government awards Councils £2.4m for new green buses

York will get seven new green buses and a pilot scheme to convert a diesel bus to electric propulsion.

Norman Baker MP

Norman Baker MP

Councils across England are gearing up to roll out a fleet of new low carbon buses and retrofit some of their existing models, after the government handed out fresh funding to reduce air pollution.

Liberal Democrat Transport Minister Norman Baker yesterday awarded £2.4m funding to help eight towns, cities, districts and counties improve their bus fleets, including York

York will receive funding for seven green buses and a trial to convert a diesel bus to electric.

Commenting on the fresh funding, Baker said cleaner and more efficient buses benefited both the economy and environment.

“This money will improve air quality in towns and cities across England and cut carbon, which is good for all of us wherever we live,” he said in a statement.

“Schemes like these are a cost-effective way of landing real benefits for the public and the environment.”

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English Civil war dress 3rd Oct 2013

A costumed, hands-on talk on the fashion and equipment of a 17th century soldier, by Battlefield historian and English Civil War musketeer Russell Marwood

Location: The Council Chamber, Guildhall

Time: 19:30 – 21:00

Cost: £5 Adults, £4 Concessions

Local Battlefield Historian and English Civil War musketeer Russell Marwood will give a costumed, hands-on talk on the fashion of a 17th century soldier as well as a run-down on the equipment he would have taken to war and how it all worked. Also told will be the story of Yorkshire during 1644, a momentous year which saw the Siege of York and the Battle of Marston Moor. Pre-booking advised.

19:00 doors open for a 19:30 start.

To Book your tickets ring 01904 615505.

Derisory response to Councils road gritting consultation – residents alternatives not published by Council

Only 285 residents responded to the Councils consultation on their future road gritting plans.

This represents only 0.14% of the population and is as clear an indication as possible that York residents are not prepared to answer “loaded” questions.

Only 146 responses were judged by the Council to be “valid” suggesting that many residents had simply told the Council to rethink it priorities.

Petitions, which have been submitted to the Council, have not even been recorded as having been received, while the views of Residents Associations have also been suppressed.

Although officials are recommending that some bus routes – which were scheduled not to be gritted this winter – are returned to the de-icing schedules, local residents pleas that the self help salt bin network be sustained, look set to be ignored at the decision meeting which is scheduled to take place on 9th October .

Many of the salt bins were installed by Ward committees as a result of requests by residents.

Amongst the roads reprieved in the proposals are Bellhouse Way, Ryecroft Avenue and Acomb Wood Drive which may now continue to be gritted. Click to see map

Revised gritting proposals click to see larger map

Revised gritting proposals click to see larger map

However the Dringthorpe estate, the whole of the Kingsway (West) estate, the little Moor Lane approach to Hob Moor school, Danesfort Avenue, St Stephens Road, and part of Chapelfields will not be gritted.

The Council have now admitted that the reduced number of gritting rounds will save only £20,000 a year.

This would compare to the £100,000 that the Council is planning to spend on an” Arts Barge” or the £600,000 reserved to sign new 20 mph speed limits.

Residents may attend and speak on the proposals at the meeting which is taking place at West Offices on Toft Green on Wednesday 9th October at 4:00pm..

You must register to speak before the meeting. The deadline for registering is 5pm on Tuesday 8th October 2013. Telephone – (01904) 552062 Laura Bootland.

Written representations must be made by 5pm on Monday 7th October 2013. They should be E-mailed to laura.bootland@york.gov.uk

Residents in the Middleton Road area are known to be collecting a petition this week which asks the Council to reverse the planned cuts on safety grounds.

40 residents in the Foxwood area – backed by the local Residents Association – have already submitted a petition asking for the existing network of salt bins to be retained.