City of York Council has arranged for an artisan producers’ group to join forces with the traders of Newgate market to offer a new shopping experience this half term.

On Monday October 29, the group of artisan arts, crafts and fashion producers called Artsmix, will set out their stalls alongside traders from Newgate Market on Parliament Street for a bumper edition of the Monday market which will include jewellery makers, soap producers and frame makers.

For this exclusive event, the market will kick off at 10am and finish at 8pm, giving people the chance to stay in town longer, have a meal and start their Christmas shopping in style.

Acomb Traders have drawn together to establish the city’s latest trader association in response to concerns from residents.

Thye want to see the area boosted to bring it back to the economic levels that other parts of the City currently enjoy.

A mix of businesses met last week to start the ‘Acomb Alive’ campaign to bring more commerce to the area, improve co-operation between local businesses, and to put on events to promote shopping in the Front Street area.

Fly posting on empty shops in Acomb

The meeting was chaired by former council leader Andrew Waller, and Sue Hunter, from Floral Elegance, Front Street who had both set up the meeting.

Sue Hunter said; “It was a very positive meeting, and the support of traders for an Acomb Traders Association is encouraging to work together for the benefit of all. We hope that local residents will see what we are doing and give us their support. Some traders have been here for decades showing their commitment to Acomb, but there are concerns about high rents, and the knock on effect that this has on business rates.”

Guest speakers at the meeting were Trevor Fenwick, Chairman of Gillygate Traders, and David Cox from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) who had been Chairman of Fossgate Traders for 6 years. Joint promotion of the area by pooling advertising was supported as a means promoting the area, and sharing expertise on the best deals for energy and other supplies would be taken forward at future meetings. Traders agreed that being part of the national FSB campaign for ‘keeping trade local’ would be helpful.

The number of independent traders in the area means that many decisions can be made locally which will enable the delivery of improvements.

It was agreed that there would be a big tidy up in the first week of December to encourage improvements in the appearance of shops and their displays in the run up to Christmas. There will be events early next year to bring activity to the whole Front Street area.

Problems relating to recent changes in the bus routes were raised as this has disrupted the even distribution of customers into a bunching effect as people leading to over demand at one time, and these will be taken up with the council and bus companies.

The next meeting will be on November 20th at 5;30-6:30om at the Acomb Gateway Centre (former Acomb Primary School on Front Street).

The Lord Mayor of York, Cllr Keith Hyman will be joining the River Foss Society in a litter picking session this weekend.

On Saturday 27 October the Lord Mayor will help residents and the society as they carry out the last litter pick of the year.

The Lord Mayor said: “York’s two rivers are an extremely important part of the city. The River Foss Society does a great job in helping to maintain the river Foss, and I’m proud to lend a hand in keeping our city clean.”

June Card from the River Foss Society said: “Using equipment provided by City of York Council, teams of volunteers from the society will be scavenging the lower reaches of the River Foss, both by land and from the water in the council’s river cleaning boat – a good example of how, in these straitened times, the council and volunteers can work together for the benefit of our city.”

Residents and Visitors are invited to a special open day at the Mansion House, giving them the chance to meet the Civic Party.

The doors of the Mansion House will open from 11am-3pm on Tuesday 30 October for the first ‘At Home’ of the civic year, with everyone invited to join the Lord Mayor in his historic Georgian home.

Local charity Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Association (PSP) will also be at the event, raising awareness of the condition and providing refreshments for a small charge. PSP is a rare and progressive condition in which increasing numbers of brain cells become damaged over time.

The Lord Mayor said: “I’m looking forward to welcoming people to the Mansion House, and even better if we can raise some money for a good cause at the same time.”

Also at the event the Sheriff’s Lady will perform the traditional passing over of the ‘staff of office’ to the Lady Mayoress. The ‘staff of office’, a silver tipped ebony cane, is originally given to the Sheriff’s Lady on Lord Mayor’s Day which she is at liberty to use on the Sheriff to keep him in order, before being passed on to the Lady Mayoress on the first ‘At Home’ for the remainder of the civic year.

Kaleidoscopic projections, 800 candles and some of the world’s finest medieval glass will help create a series of unique evenings at York Minster as part of this year’s Illuminating York festival.

The evening openings take place from 31 October to 3 November, with a promise that visitors will see York Minster in a whole new light, from the candle-lit Chapter House to a constantly-changing kaleidoscopic image being projected onto the South wall of the Nave, enabling visitors to become part of the evolving artwork. The Orb, York Minster’s brand new domed gallery displaying some of its stained glass masterpieces, will also be open, with colourful images projected onto its metallic exterior.

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The Council are advertising a budget consultation event which is taking place next week. We think that they are right to try to engage residents in making what are always difficult decisions.

The Council in February decided a “2 year” budget; meaning that they have already committed to the general shape and priorities of the 2013/14 budget. This reduces the flexibility available.

…………..and for events like these to be successful, residents do need access to a lot of background information.

Not least amongst these would be information about government grant levels. For the second year in a row the Coalition government is offering to increase grants to help offset the costs of inflation – meaning that the Council does not have to increase Council Tax rates.

However, the Council leadership have already said that they don’t intend to take up the offer of extra funding.

So residents can’t influence what will be one of the most important decisions to be made in February.

The details of the consultation events are:

City of York Council budget consultation

Come along to either the morning or evening session

10am to 12noon or 6pm to 8pm

Monday 29 October

at the Priory Street Centre, 15 Priory Street, York YO1 6ET

City of York Council is holding a day-long conference on Saturday 10 November at The University of St John, to look at the huge range of archaeological fieldwork and research that has been carried out in York in 2012.

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As part of City of York Council’s Housing Week from 5-9 November, tours of four of the city’s hostels for homeless people are being offered to the public and professionals.

The tours aim to give people an insight into the council’s services for homeless individuals and to those at risk of homelessness. Besides the hostels the council offers a number of services including general housing advice, assistance to rent from private landlords, information on social housing, sheltered housing and help for those with mortgage difficulties.

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As expected the Boundary Commission have confirmed that York will continue to have 47 Councillors.

The Commission is now asking residents and interested parties to tell them what ward boundaries should apply.

Details can be found here http://www.lgbce.org.uk/all-reviews/yorkshire-and-humberside/north-yorkshire/city-of-york-fer

Representations have to be made by 14th January 2013.

Amongst the issues likely to be considered are the introduction of :

• Single member wards: This could improve accountability as one member will be closely identified with a ward which would contain about 3500 electors (2000 homes). Currently some wards (including Dringhouses) have over 6000 homes and are represented by 3 Councillors.

• Annual Elections with 25% of the Council retiring each year: Again it is argued that this will improve accountability and that electors will be able to giving a rolling verdict on the performance of their representatives. Annual elections were used in York in the period up to 1995.