The winter maintenance survey has been extended.Have your say on how& where CYC provides this service across the city http://t.co/9AZ8g0NolG
— City of York Council (@CityofYork) September 2, 2013
Free childcare from today
From today, 20% of 2-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours a week of free #childcare. Find out if your family qualifies http://t.co/W8hSEVQbXs
— Deputy PM (@DPMoffice) September 2, 2013
Look like a winner with Sky Ride – Saturday 14 September
click for more details
York cyclists may not have the speed or stamina of winning professional athletes but those signing up to York’s Sky Ride soon will at least have the chance of looking like one.
The first 1000 participants to sign up for the event will be entered into a free prize draw to win a Team Sky jersey signed by 2013 Tour de France winner Chris Froome and his supporting team. The Sky Ride takes place on Saturday 14 September and numbers are increasing quickly.
The festival takes place on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 September from 10.30am, finishing at 5pm Saturday and 4pm Sunday. More information can be found at http://www.festivalofcycling.org.uk/
Anyone wanting to sign up for Sky Ride York should go to www.goskyride.com/York
Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon 20th Oct 2013
Click for more details
The most exciting new running event to hit the UK in 2013 arrives in Yorkshire! The Yorkshire Marathon takes runners through the City of York and its countryside in the countries biggest marathon
Location: York, Yorkshire
Details http://www.theyorkshiremarathon.com/
The most exciting new running event to hit the UK in 2013 arrives in Yorkshire!
The highly-anticipated Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon takes runners through the City of York and its picture perfect countryside in the county’s biggest marathon to date for this year.
Council House rent arrears up 20% – number of evictions up
The value of Council tenants rent arrears has increased over the last 2 years.
Freedom of information response click to enlarge
The amount owed has risen from £622,763 in June 2011 to £741,570 this year.
3159 tenants are now in arrears
The number of evictions for arrears has also doubled (but only to a relatively modest 14)
42 people presented themselves to the Council last year as “homeless”.
23 of them were subsequently accepted by the Council as homeless.
The figures were revealed through a Freedom of Information request.
There is no record of the council having discussed these worrying trends
Showman’s Yard consultations. Council publish response to FOI questions
The Council has published a series of replies to questions asked about how the need for a Showman’s Yard in the City was assessed and what consultations with potential users took place.
Showman’s site Wetherby Road Knapton Withdrawn in July
The proposal to establish such a site on land between Wetherby Road and Knapton was withdrawn in July.
The documents include internal Emails between Council officials. Significantly they do not include any correspondence from Councillors.
The documents can be found be clicking the following links
Emails about Showman’s Guild meeting
The Council has still not indicated how – or even if – it will now seek to accommodate the claimed need for a Showman’s Yard site in the York area.
Nor has it made clear whether it is considering the Wetherby Road Knapton site for allocation as a conventional residential development site in any revised Local Plan.
Lendal Bridge closure – Council seeks residents reaction
Although not very prominent on their web site, the Council have provided an opportunity for residents to feed back on their travel experiences following the Lendal Bridge closure.
You can find the form by clicking here
Meanwhile, this weekend is the first test of how peak shopping trips to the City centre are affected.
The Council has been asked to reveal how many unauthorized vehicles have used the bridge each day since the restrictions started. More signs have been put in place to try to reduce the number.
A similar request has been made for information about the number of drivers being caught on the cameras now monitoring Coppergate.
In a non-scientific, very approximate test @BBCYork estimated (Fri) that @CityofYork might be making £87k a day from #LendalBridge fines.
— Jonathan Cowap (@joncowap) August 31, 2013
Free compost giveaway on Sunday for York residents
Free compost giveaway on Sunday for York residents
In partnership with Yorwaste Ltd free compost is being made available again.
Bring your own bag, container and shover (it is not pre-bagged) and help yourself to some free soil improver for your garden or allotment.
When: On the first Sunday of every month from March until October: 1 September, 6 October
Time: 9:30am until 2:30pm or while stocks last
Where: Harewood Whin waste site, Tinker Lane, Wetherby Road, Rufforth, York, Yo23 3RR
New initiative tackles housing fraud across North Yorkshire
An initiative to tackle housing fraud across North Yorkshire is being launched by a regional alliance led by Veritau.
In the past two years Veritau, a company owned by City of York Council and North Yorkshire County Council which investigates fraud within the public sector, has freed over 40 misused properties allowing them to be legitimately let. In addition Veritau has provided information to prevent 15 false applications for housing to City of York Council.
Veritau and City of York Council have now joined forces with eight other social housing providers within North Yorkshire to create an anti-housing fraud alliance. The partners are Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, Richmondshire District Council, Broadacres Housing Association, Harrogate Borough Council, Yorkshire Housing, Craven District Council, York Housing Association, and Selby District Council.
This partnership initiative focuses on identifying and prosecuting people who lie about their circumstances in order to obtain a property; tenants who unlawfully sublet their property; tenants who stop living at their property and people who provide false information to gain a property through succession rights.
Continue reading
York Police and crime update 30th August 2013
Trees illegally felled in Fulford
York police are appealing for witnesses after a number of trees were illegally cut down.
Sometime between June and August this year around 30 to 40 willow trees were felled on Fenby Field in Fulford.
More http://www.northyorkshire.police.uk/11993
CCTV appeal as woman’s jaw broken in York assault
York police have issued CCTV images to assist their appeal for information after a woman’s jaw was broken when she tried to break up an altercation in the street.
The assault happened at around 4am on Saturday 17 August 2013 on the corner of Piccadilly and Coppergate when a man was shouting verbal abuse at two women.
The victim of the assault, a 21-year-old York woman intervened and was struck in the face by the suspect before falling to the ground.