There are NO rubbish or recycling collections on Tuesday 1 January 2013 (New Year’s Day).

The Council have issued a statement saying; “we will be collecting this waste later that week.

If your rubbish or recycling is normally collected on a Tuesday please search here http://tinyurl.com/York-waste-Jan-2012 for your street and check which type(s) of collection you will have and the revised collection date(s)

Streets may appear twice on the list, if collection dates for rubbish and recycling are different, so please check the list carefully

We will make every effort to collect waste on the scheduled day but, due to the amount of rubbish generated at this time of the year, some delays to the schedule may occur

Please make full use of the kerbside recycling service, local bring recycling sites or the recycling facilities at the Household Waste Recycling Centres to prevent unnecessary waste going to landfill

The re-scheduled collection information is also summarised in the table below”.

Area Collection type When we will collect it
Acomb (including Chapelfields) Rubbish Friday 4 January
Askham Bryan Rubbish Friday 4 January
Askham Richard Rubbish Friday 4 January
Dunnington Recycling Wednesday 2 January
Dunnington Rubbish Thursday 3 January
Dunnington – Stamford Bridge Road Recycling Thursday 3 January
Foxwood Recycling Thursday 3 January
Foxwood Rubbish Thursday 3 January
Groves Recycling Friday 4 January
Groves (flats) Rubbish Friday 4 January
Groves Rubbish Thursday 3 and Friday 4 January – check list for your day
Holtby Rubbish Friday 4 January
Holtby Recycling Thursday 3 January
Murton Rubbish Friday 4 January
Murton Recycling Thursday 3 January
Osbaldwick (Beckett Drive, Galligap Lane, Moat Field, Osbaldwick Village, Yew Tree Mews) Rubbish Friday 4 January
Osbaldwick – all other streets Rubbish Wednesday 2 January
Osbaldwick Recycling Wednesday 2 January
Osbaldwick – Derwenthorpe estate only Recycling
Rubbish Friday 4 January
Wednesday 2 January
Tang Hall Rubbish Wednesday 2 January
Woodthorpe Recycling Thursday 3 January
Woodthorpe Rubbish Thursday 3 January

Collections return to normal from Monday 7 January.

There haven’t been many significant planning applications for work in the Dringhouses ward over the last few months. Most were for domestic house extensions. There were also several applications for work to be permitted on trees covered by preservation orders.

A new 15metre high monopole was approved at the Acomb Wood pub site. It replaces the existing pole there. It was one of several applications in west York for new mobile phone masts.

In total 40 planning applications have been submitted since August 2012.

Details of all planning applications (and decisions) can be accessed here: http://planningaccess.york.gov.uk/online-applications/

The number of drivers found to have excess alcohol in their bodies in York and North Yorkshire has reached 103 during December.

This compares to 100 in December 2011.

Additional dates when residents can get their cycles security marked have been announced.

Outside The Minister by Duncombe Place 4/1/13 0930 – 1130 hours

St Helens Square 30/1/13 1100 – 1300 hours

Parliament Street 26/2/13 1000 – 1200 hours

St Andrewgate 7/3/13 0900 – 1100 hours

For more information on Operation Spoke click http://www.saferyork.org/operation-spoke.html

Residents are being urged to suport a hard-hitting “stop smoking” campaign launched by the Department of Health.

The campaign warns smokers that just 15 cigarettes cause a mutation that can lead to cancerous tumours. The publicity features a tumour growing on a cigarette as it is smoked and aims to encourage people to quit over health concerns, by making the invisible damage visible.

Presenting smokers with the shocking truth behind cigarettes, the campaign encourages those trying to quit to pick up a free Quit Kit from their local pharmacy to help them along their journey.

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The Council has admitted that modernisation work at the crematorium on Bishopthorpe Road is 3 months behind schedule.

The contract is also likely to be overspent by £50,000.

Trading Standards are advising consumers to be cautious of websites that lead them to believe that they are buying from a UK based company, after the number of complaints has risen in recent months.

Scambusters is issuing the warning following the National Trading Standards eCrime Centre (NTSeCC) were made aware of complaints about childrens’ dresses sold online which have either not arrived, or have not been of the quality the consumer has expected. When customers tried to return items they were unsuccessful as the company turned out to be based in China.

Attached is an example of one dress which a customer believed to be misdescribed and of poor quality, but which they have been unable to return, resulting in a loss of around £80.
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The lamentable standard of debate in the Labour Cabinet is perhaps best demonstrated by this exchange at the last Council meeting.

Question to the Cabinet Member for Crime and Stronger Communities from Cllr Reid: “How many residents have attended Ward Committee meetings so far during this municipal year and how does this compare to the same period in 2010?”

Answer: Ward Committee attendance is significantly down on previous years. This is likely to be due to the fact that ward committee funding is much reduced, owing to cuts from the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Government.

In reality, despite cuts in funding, there are unspent funds in several ward budgets as voluntary organisations are throwing in the towel in protest over the onerous conditions being imposed by Labour for grant support.

The Cabinet member was unable to coherently explain why the annual ballot of resident’s opinions had been abandoned other than to hint that he preferred a system of patronage by Ward Councillors! Despite participation by residents hitting an all time low, it appears that’s some Labour Councillors are going to manufacture projects to use up the “surplus” ward committee funding .

Ward Committee ballot turn out. click to enlarge

One well known voluntary sector organisation in the City has apparently refused to participate in a grant management system being implemented by a Council contracting body known as “Your Consortium”. More about this next week.

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The numbers, wanting to rent homes from the Council or Housing Associations in York, has risen by over 2000 applicants (78%) since Labour took control of the York Council.

In addition over 17,000 are registered for homes with partner Councils in the Yorkshire area.

Despite this demand, the Council has seen a significant drop in the number of new homes completed.

Discounting specialist student accommodation, only 151 new homes have been completed in York so far during this financial year.

Only 29 of these are classed as “affordable”.

2012/13 could prove to be the worst year, for new family home building, in the City’s modern history.

The Council has rejected the idea of approving more homes to be let at “intermediate” rents (80% of full market rents) but has failed to identify a way of constructing any additional council houses.

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Age UK York, Older Citizens Advocacy York (OCAY) and City of York Council are sharing information and resources with the aim of ensuring older people in York keep safe and well.

Over the next few weeks, work to prevent older residents becoming the victims of ever more sophisticated scams will be undertaken.

City of York Council has recently been alerted to a new ruse used by bogus traders preying on older people. The council’s Trading Standards team has heard that a friendly looking man calls at the door offering to clean gutters – for £5. When the householder agrees the work begins, a few minutes later he returns saying there’s a problem with the roof, which looks quite serious – he has seen some birds flying through a gap in the tiles and produces a piece of wet insulation to confirm the leak is bad.

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