Acomb Explore Library

The Council are consulting on the future of York’s Libraries. It seems that they may be taken out of direct council control possibly using a similar model to those employed when the Museums and Theatre Royal became independent in the past.

There is bound to be anxiety about the future of a service which has gone from strength to strength over recent years. User numbers have increased in the wake of the “Explore” library modernisation programme.

It would be wrong to put that progress at risk.

York Libraries are one of the few Council services to actually publish performance statistics on their web site. As such they already set a benchmark for others to seek to emulate.

There is a feeling in some quarters that the Council just want to reduce expenditure on this service. For example, short term library closures – because of “staffing issues” – have been introduced this week.

Residents can respond to the Councils consultation at the following web site http://www.york.gov.uk/leisure/Libraries/whatson/consultation/

NB. There is a Craft Fayre at the York Explore Library on Saturday 17th November. Contact them if you want a stall.

Around fifty members of the Special Constabulary worked alongside their regular colleagues in a variety of roles, providing an additional 320 hours of policing.

The Special Constables made five arrests, carried out a range of duties which included foot patrol in the city centre, checks on licensed premises, taking witness statements, searching suspects and carrying out road traffic enforcement patrols.

A highlight of the weekend was when a special constable and traffic officer assisted a new mum after she delivered a baby. SC Chris Hartley and TC Alison Travis were on duty on Fulford Road when a man taking his wife, who was already in labour, to hospital asked for help. They escorted the couple through traffic. However, the mother gave birth in the car as they travelled across the city. Following the birth the officers made sure that both mother and child were safe and well before closing a stretch of the road to give them some privacy when the ambulance arrived.

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The Council Leader has apparently!”Tweeted” to say that last year he paid more tax than Starbucks.

3. He hasn’t yet signed this petition http://www.fairertax.org/starbucks

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See for more details of the Fairer taxes campaign go to http://www.fairertax.org

North Yorkshire Police will be carrying out mobile safety camera enforcement on the following roads between Wednesday 17 October and Tuesday 23 October 2012.

•A64 Malton by-pass Malton east and west-bound
•A64 Seamer by-pass Scarborough
•A64 Seamer Road, Scarborough
•A64 Between Whitwell Hill and Barton Hill
•A64 Between Barton-le-Willows and Jinnah
•A64 Between Barton Hill and Whitwell Hill
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The government has launched a new web based system which allows residents to track the number of crimes committed in their street and neighbourhood. The site allows residents who input a postcode to see at street level how many incidents had been reported.

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The site can be accessed by clicking here police.uk

The site tells us something about the crime trends in the Dringhouses area. Taking the neighbourhood within 1 mile of Dringhouses School as an example.

In August (the most recent stats available) 220 incidents were reported. Of these the vast majority were anti social behaviour (106 incidents) followed by violent crime (28) criminal damage (24) and other theft (20). Moor Lane was one problem area.

In July the equivalent figures had been 197 total incidents of which 102 were complaints about anti social behaviour, 29 about violent crime and 18 about criminal damage. Chaloner’s Crescent was the most frequently reported location.

The site also tells us what the outcome was of the police intervention.

In August 29 suspects were charged with offences. In 1 case an offender had been sent to prison.

All in all this is a welcome initiative and one that will improve transparency for residents. It has been welcomed by North Yorkshire Police http://t.co/928vdo4I

It is an approach which contrasts sharply with the attitude of the City of York Council which point blank refuses to provide taxpayers with information which they may find useful (such as bus service reliability data) but which may cast the local authority in a poor light.

Love your cat

Join volunteers from the Cat’s Protection League and York Libraries for a fun, interactive session to learn all about looking after a cat. Find out what a cat needs to be happy and healthy and how you can take care of it. You don’t need to own a cat to come along as everyone is welcome.

Get busy in libraries during the half term holidays

We won’t have any cats at the session so there is no need to worry about allergies.

Everyone who comes will get a free goody bag to take home.

This event is for 5 – 11 year olds. Places are limited so ask for your free tickets for these sessions from the Library holding the event.

Explore Acomb Library Learning Centre: Saturday 27th October
10.30 am – 11.30 am
Tel 01904 552651 E mail. Acomb.library@york.gov.uk

Get Buzzing.

Join author Anneliese Emmans Dean and York Libraries for a session that is all about bugs, bees and all things wriggly. Anneliese is the author of Buzzing, a book combining fascinating information on a variety of insects and poems. This session is for 7 – 12 year olds. Free tickets are available from Haxby Library.

Haxby Library, Thursday 1st November
10.30 a.m – 11.30 a.m.
Tel. 01904 552660, Email Haxby.library@york.gov.uk

Labour maintains its near 50% cut to York’s salt bin provision after Lib Dem attempts to halt the plans failed last night.

Ann Reid with local salt bin

Under Labour’s plans 170 salt bins across the city will not be refilled this winter. The bins, previously funded through City of York Council’s ward committee system, will be left on the streets but without salt pending a future review of winter maintenance. 199 bins financed from the Highways Budget will still be provided along with a few from Parish Councils and Resident Associations.

Liberal Democrat Councillors Ann Reid, Keith Aspden and Nigel Ayre ‘called-in’ the decision for further review. But last night the Council’s Corporate and Scrutiny Management Committee decided to stick with the original decision. The Committee, on which Labour holds a majority, voted to support the cuts by 5 to 3.

Cabinet member starts search for salt?

At the meeting Cllr David Levene, Labour Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, said that the Ward Committee bins were counted as a “nice to have” rather than a “must have” so they were chopped as part of the Cabinet’s spending plans. The empty bins will only be filled with salt in times of ‘extreme weather’. Lib Dems have questioned this process and argue that the weather might be bad enough to mean salt is needed, but not bad enough to qualify as ‘extreme weather’.

It was confirmed at the meeting that the decision on which bins to cut was based purely on how the bins are funded and not on the provision in the local area – meaning that some areas will be particularly hit such as Foxwood which will lose all its bins and Heworth Without which will lose 9 out of 11 bins.

Salt bins that WILL NOT be filled list click this link http://stevegalloway.mycouncillor.org.uk/2012/10/11/salt-bins-in-york-not-being-filled-%e2%80%93-the-full-list/

Salt Bins that WILL be filled list http://stevegalloway.mycouncillor.org.uk/2012/10/08/list-of-salt-bins-in-york-that-won%e2%80%99t-be-filled-this-winter-%e2%80%93-westfield-area/

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City of York Council is to carry out resurfacing work on Askham Lane from the Foxwood Lane roundabout to Cornlands Road. The works will start at 9:15am on Monday 22nd October and be substantially completed by 4pm on Friday 26th October; weather permitting.

Length of day time closure of Askham Lane

The works will take place under a full road closure between 9:15am and 4pm. A signed diversion route, suitable for all vehicles, will operate during working hours. Outside of the working hours, the road will be open as usual.

The road closure will be supervised at each end to prevent unauthorised access. Access for pedestrians and emergency services will be maintained at all times. Cyclists will be instructed to dismount and use adjacent footways.

Bus services are affected as follows:

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More than 100 police officers joined forces with specialist staff from partner agencies to conduct one of the biggest metal theft operations ever undertaken in the county.

The operation, which ran for 24 hours from 7am on Thursday 11 October 2012, was part of a national day of action under Operation Tornado, a country-wide initiative aimed at disrupting metal theft across the UK.

Since April 2012, when Operation Tornado was introduced across North Yorkshire and the City of York, North Yorkshire Police has recorded a 53% reduction in metal theft compared to the same period last year.

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Credit to Cllr Gunnell who, at last weeks Council meeting, actually answered a question that three of her colleagues had avoided responding to for over 9 months.

No surprise that the much publicised Christmas Wonderland Grotto provided last year still owes the Council rent.

Exhibition Square grotto

Cllr Ann Reid asked the Cabinet member for Corporate services :

“In the light of other colleagues not having answered this question, I am now asking the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services – In April the Council said it expected to “receive full payment within the next month” for the outstanding rent still owed by UK Entertainment Online Ltd in regards to the Winter Wonderland in Exhibition Square last December. Could the Cabinet Member indicate whether this was achieved and if not what money is still owed to the Council?”

The answer was: “The council sent an invoice to the company on 26th April 2012. Unfortunately this invoice has not been paid and is currently going through our recovery process”.

This event is not as far as we know connected with the Magical Wonderland event taking place in the Museum Gardens at the end of the month. This forms part of the £300,000 Illuminating York project.

The Theatre Royal are advertising details of Illuminating York: Vic Reeves – Wonderland in the following terms

This autumn, the York Museum Gardens will be transformed into a ten acre magical wonderland (based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) with three large scale cutting edge projections and magical lighting around the Gardens.

This will be York’s largest Illuminating York Festival yet and comedian Vic Reeves has been given free rein to unleash his absurd and magical creations in the centre of York. At just £5 per adult, this ticket is a passport to another land.

Find out more here: illuminatingyork.org.uk or download the brochure http://tinyurl.com/wonderland-York

This year’s Illuminating York is a ticketed event and we strongly advise you to purchase tickets in advance.

Tickets are priced £5.00 per person for Over 16s, £1 per child for 6-16 year olds & Under 5s are free. Please note – Under 16s must be accompanied by a paying adult (maximum of 5 Under 16s per adult). Relevant discounts are applied at the basket.

Tickets are available for four time slots; you are welcome to stay for the duration of the event, however for safety reasons there will be no re-entry after departure of the gardens.
Time Slots are: 6.30pm – 7.30pm 7.30pm – 8.30pm 8.30pm – 9.30pm 9.30pm – 10.00pm

Please note that each time slot has a maximum admittance number, therefore we advise visitors that they will only be allowed entry into the York Museum gardens within this hourly slot.

How to Book:
We strongly advise you to purchase your tickets in advance; however, there will be a limited number of tickets for sale each evening until 9.30pm from the York Theatre Royal Box Office and York Explore, Library Square. Please note that these tickets will be cash sales only.