North Yorkshire Credit Union goes bust – residents demand to know why York Council didn’t act sooner?

The agenda for the York Council’s Cabinet meeting on Tuesday includes an item about the York and North Yorkshire Credit Union.

It is marked as “secret” with absolutely no explanatory papers made available for the public.

It is time for the Council – which originally sponsored the York Credit Union – to come clean about its future and explain why it has gone bust.

Depositors and creditors deserve to be kept in the picture. If there were any problems then the Council should have intervened long before now. (The Council had representation on the Board of the Credit Union together with some investments.)

The FCCS have issued the following statement http://www.fscs.org.uk/news/2012/november/youre-protected-fscs-t-jv27rs211/

“You’re protected, FSCS tells thousands of North Yorkshire Credit Union members

Thousands of North Yorkshire Credit Union members, which went bust today, will get their money back within the next week, says the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). It’s stepping in to protect members of the credit union which has locations throughout Yorkshire.

FSCS protects consumers when authorised financial services firms fail. It has protected more than 4.5m people and paid out more than £26bn in compensation since 2001. It is pledging to pay back the credit union’s members within seven days. And it won’t take long. On average FSCS pays out in a few days.

The FSCS process is automatic. Members of the credit union will not need to lift a finger to get their money back. FSCS will use the credit union’s records to automatically send payments to members. FSCS protects savings up to £85,000.
People with less than a thousand pounds will receive a letter to get cash over the counter at the Post Office. Anyone with more than this will receive a cheque. This gives people their cash back quickly and gives them the most options for depositing it elsewhere, FSCS says.

About 5,000 savers have some £1.9m in North Yorkshire Credit Union.

Kate Bartlett, Director of Operations, says: “FSCS is protecting members of the North Yorkshire Credit Union. There is no cause for concern. We will get your savings back to you within one week. And you won’t need to lift a finger because the process is automatic.”

Answers to questions can be found by clicking here: http://tinyurl.com/Credit-union-Q-A

£1.6 million market spending ignores Acomb’s needs

Predictably the Council has decided to spend another £1.6 million on “refurbishing” the market in Newgate. A report outlining their plan was published last week – several hours before a “consultation” exercise on the future of the market was due to finish.

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Clearly the Council had already decided what it would do and the consultation was just a smokescreen.

The Council sees the specialist markets in Parliament Street continuing and hopes to re-coop some of its investment through increased stall rental income.

We think that the Council is right to make improvements to the City market.

The scale of the investment, though, seems extravagent and ignores at least one major consequence.

Sub-urban shopping areas – already under pressure from superstores and neighbourhood mini supermakets – may see more customers drifting away.

The Acomb Front Street area in particular needs investment and one option might have been to provide an occasional market there within the pedestrian zone.

Having closed its Acomb office, the Council is partly responsible for the decline in footfall – and hence potential customers – in the Acomb area.

Replacement investment is long overdue.

York Community stadium management costs soar to £1.2 million – Waterworld closure threatened

Project costs for the Community stadium are set to increase from £750,000 to £1.2 million according to a report being considered by the Council next week http://tinyurl.com/York-stadium-update.

The Council is also abandoning the “all party” committee which was driving the project forward with overall responsibility now resting with a single Labour Cabinet member (Cllr Crisp). With many decision meetings now being held in private (Cllr Crisp hasn’t taken a decision in public since 8th May) once again it seems that the Council has something to hide.

The Council has confirmed that it will invest £4 million in the project (on top of the value of the stadium site and ongoing salary costs) but with the latest business case failing to show how this expenditure will be recovered.

With the Council now seeking to privatise the running of all its sports and swimming facilities, the current operator of the Waterworld/Huntington Stadium complex (GLL which is a “social enterprise” company) has given notice to terminate its management contract with effect from 1st April 2013.

The Council are hoping to negotiate a new reduced rental for the facility which currently brings in around £260,000 to the Councils coffers each year. They are hoping to keep secret what the reduced rental charge will be.

Not so “big” survey results

The Council has released details of its, preposterously, labelled “BIG” York Survey http://tinyurl.com/York-Council-big-survey. The survey, undertaken with a small sample of residents in the spring, replaced the 6 monthly “Talkabout” panel.

The Council received only 1117 replies. This contrasts with over 30,000 responses which were received following a door to door survey undertaken by the Liberal Democrats in 2009.

The biggest flaw in the Council’s survey of resident’s views was the absence of any attempt to test public opinion on controversial areas of policy.

So there were no questions about Council Tax levels and the amount of borrowing that residents felt it might be prudent for the Council to take on.

Also missing was any attempt to find out how much residents value the existing Green Belt boundaries (the top issue revealed by many surveys in the past) while another area of concern – facilities for teenagers – was also neglected.

Residents did, however, get the chance to give a verdict on the 60% cut in highways maintenance introduced by the Labour controlled Council earlier this year.

Repair of roads and footpaths was the second highest priority of the services listed coming narrowly behind dealing with traffic congestion.

One of the most important items, for making York a nice place to live, were clean streets while litter and dumping were the most mentioned issue in the crime section of the survey.

The survey was undertaken only days before York abandoned many of its street litter bins.

Consultants to plan Council asset sale

The Council is planning a big asset sell off.

Dressed up as an attempt to stimulate the building industry, a report being considered next week (http://tinyurl.com/York-big-sell-off) effectively suggests the same sort of discount sales policy which recently saw the Hungate site sold off for less than half of its value.

York Guildhall

Now Burnholme School, the former Manor School and the Guildhall are lined up for sale, with more of the City’s historic wealth –accumulated over centuries – set to go under the hammer over the next couple of years.

In some cases buildings with major maintenance liabilities will be offered to community groups, in the hope of getting them off the Councils books. However there is only so much that the voluntary sector can do. Many charitable organisations are very shrewd and are reluctant to comply when asked to pick up the bill for other peoples problems.

The lack of assets will mean the Council will be poorly placed to influence the economic prosperity of the City in the medium to long term.

No doubt by then the present Council Leadership will be hoping that they have secured employment elsewhere in the country….. leaving long term York residents to pick up the pieces of their extravagant policies.

Another bill for tens of thousands is on its way! The Council will employ consultants to undertake the big sell off.

New guide lunched for elderly people explaining housing options available in York

City of York Council is opening a new chapter in its housing services with its first ever guide for older people who are considering their housing options.

‘Positive Ageing – Housing Choices: the Older Person’s Guide to Housing Options’ aims to inspire and inform older people in the city about the range of housing options available to them.

The launch will take place as part of City of York Councils’ first ever Housing Week which aims to share best practice and promote innovation to meet the city’s housing challenges. It will take place on Friday 9 November 2012 from 10am – 1pm at Auden House, a sheltered accommodation scheme with extra care managed by York Housing Association and built at the heart of a £20 million project to replace nearly 100 post-war pre-fab bungalows with almost 200 high-quality mixed tenure homes constructed with partners including York Housing, City of York Council and Fabrick.
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Police urge security review following spate of burglaries

We are asking householders to review their home security now that dark nights are with us once again.

The warning comes following a spate of burglaries including three in the Harrogate area, two in the Hambleton District and one in York in the last few days.

Detective Chief Inspector Heather Pearson who leads the force’s dedicated burglary team under Operation Haven, said: “With the dark nights now with us, it’s important that your security is as robust as possible. Before the cold weather sets in, there is still time to get outside and give your property a security overhaul to ensure your home, outbuildings and boundaries are as secure as possible.

“We see an increase in burglaries at this time of year and have introduced a dedicated team to help prevent and detect these crimes. However, we need householders to be security conscious and make sure they make life as hard as possible for criminals.”

Crime prevention measures range from the most basic and cost free to more expensive items such as tracking devices and alarm systems. Making sure you take even the most basic measures is essential.

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North Yorkshire Police mobile safety (speed) camera routes 31 October – 6 November 2012

North Yorkshire Police mobile safety (speed) camera routes 31 October – 6 November 2012

North Yorkshire Police will be carrying out mobile safety camera enforcement on the following roads between Wednesday 31 October and Tuesday 6 November 2012.

•A64 east-bound Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•A64 west-bound Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•Temple Lane, Copmanthorpe, York
•A1036 Tadcaster Road, Acomb, York
•Strensall Road, Huntington, York
•The Village, Stockton-on-the-Forest, York
•A1036 Malton Road, York
•A1237 Monks Cross, York
•York Road, Haxby, York
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Empty home owners face York Council Tax surcharge

More income from Council Tax is expected as a result of a range of revised charges which are likely to be introduced by the York Council.

The changes come as a result of the Coalition governments “localism” policy which allows local authorities more flexibility in managing their financial arrangements.

The changes include:

1. Levying full Council Tax on second homes – Currently these properties enjoy a 10% discount. Homes tied to jobs would not be affected. The chance could bring in an additional £100,000

2. Replacing Council Tax exemption Classes A (homes needing structural repairs) and C (property empty between lets) with a discount limited to 1 year. In York the discount would be 50% and together these changes could bring in around £600,000 in Council Tax.

3. abolishing Class L (Mortgage defaults) exemptions, and making mortgagees in possession of empty dwellings liable to council tax in respect of them;. Introduction of this is being deferred to allow for more discussion with mortgage companies.

4. allowing billing authorities to levy an ‘empty homes premium’ in respect of dwellings which have been left empty for two years or more. In York it is estimated that this 50% premium could bring in around £64,000 from the 154 long term empty homes in the City.

5. setting a default assumption that payment of Council Tax by instalments will be over 10 months The Council however must inform the council tax payer that they have a legal right to pay by 12 instalments.

6. allowing authorities to publish online the ‘Information to be supplied with demand notices’, (but with a duty to supply it in hardcopy to any council tax payer requesting it) as an efficiency measure, and to encourage the take-up of electronic billing;

7. changes to eliminate potential tax complications from arrangements involving third party suppliers where solar panels are placed on the roofs of dwellings without coming into the paramount control of the residents. The Government is proposing that where these are fitted to domestic properties by a third party for profit they are classed as part of the property. This will not increase the value of the property (For Council Tax purposes) but will avoid a complex case by case review by the valuation office for non-domestic rates. The Government have adopted this proposal with a cap at 10kW.

A detailed report can be found by clicking here: http://tinyurl.com/York-tax-changes