Planning permission was granted at last nights Planning Committee meeting (20th Sept) for a range of developments in York. They included:

• An athletics track and a closed road racing cycle circuit – with ancillary parking, lighting and fencing – at the Sports Village on Hull Road

• The Water End Flood Alleviation Scheme which will provide additional protection for the Leeman Road area

• A reserved matters application for the Monks Cross 2 development covering appearance, landscaping, layout and scale for the retail and restaurant part of the previously approved outline application site.

• Substitution of apartments for some of the housing units on the Hungate site and an extension of time before the development has to be completed

In addition minor changes were agreed for the Poppleton Park and Ride site and the “go ahead” was given for an extension to the “Creepy Crawlies” child care business at Clifton Gate Business Park.

Details of all the applications considered can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/York-Planning-20th-Sept-12

Additional flood prevention works in the Leeman Road area are recommended for approval at today’s Planning Committee meeting.

The Flood Alleviation Scheme will improve the level of flood protection to 393 residential and commercial properties in the vicinity of Water End.

The works include:

(a) Installing a 15m-wide and up to 1.2m-high demountable flood barrier across Landing Lane at the junction with Water End;

(b) Constructing a 300m-long and up to 1m-high flood wall on the riverward side of Water End road embankment;

(c) Raising a 150m-long section of the existing Leeman Road embankment by 1.1m. A ramp and timber steps would be provided to enable the public to cross the embankment from Lincoln Street to the river.

d) Constructing a new 400m-long flood embankment around St Barnabas’ School to connect with the raised Leeman Road embankment. The embankment would be 2m above ground level where it joins the existing embankment and 1.2m above ground level where it meets Cinder Lane;

(e) Raising ground levels (by up to 0.5m) and flood walls along the western-most section of Cinder Lane at its junction with Jubilee Terrace to tie-in with the new embankment;

(f) Provision of a kick-about pitch in the area of open space to the north of the raised section of Leeman Road embankment.

(g) Temporary use of the former bowling green off Salisbury Road as a construction compound and reinstatement after construction.

Some additional minor works would be carried out under the Environment Agency’s permitted development rights, in particular the provision of three storage cabinets within the Holgate Beck Pumping Station compound at Landing Lane.

Liberal Democrats have raised concerns that opposition councillors and the public are being frozen out of key decisions on York’s new Community Stadium, and promised public facilities at the site could be “under threat”.

The concerns follow the news that the cross-party Stadium Advisory Group, which helped coordinate the project before planning permission was granted in May, has been disbanded and no replacement has been set-up. Earlier this month, in a decision taken in private by officers, City of York Council decided to transfer all aspects of the design, building, management and maintenance of the new stadium to a private contractor. The contract, which has now been put out to tender, also includes the daily operation of Energise and Yearsley Pool.

The Council is expected to contribute a further £4 million to the stadium project, which will see a new 6,000-seat home for York City FC and York City Knights plus a range of community facilities. The indicative outline for the scheme included amenities ranging from youth sport pitches, to hospital outpatient facilities, to a new Explore Library. Continue reading →

This Sunday, (23 September) a rare peep behind the scenes of the Mansion House kitchens is being served up as part of York Food and Drink Festival 2012.

Dr Annie Grey, a food historian, will take on the role of a Victorian cook in the historic home of the Lord Mayors of York, preparing a banquet in the seldom seen kitchens.

Clad in 19th Century costume in a kitchen dressed to look the part, Annie will be demonstrating the arts of cookery and dishing out interesting facts about life below stairs in the kitchens.

The event runs from 11am-4pm and visitors can drop-in at any time. Tickets cost £5 per adult, £4 concession and children are free. There is no need to book, just turn up on the day.

City of York has won gold in this year’s Yorkshire in Bloom competition!

The results were announced at York Racecourse and confirmed the city was a gold award winner in the city category together with five other individual entrants.

Gold awards were also won by individual entries from across the city and the winners were:

Dunnington in the small town category;

Middlethorpe Hall and Spa in the large hotel category;

Homestead Park in the parks and gardens category;

Naburn Lock Caravan Park in the camping and chalet parks category; and

Rosevale Care Home in Wigginton.

York’s other top category performer was Earswick Scented Garden which in the It’s Your Neighbourhood Award, secured an Outstanding judgement.

North Yorkshire Police will be carrying out mobile safety camera enforcement on the following roads between Wednesday 19 September to Tuesday 25 September 2012

•A64 east-bound Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•York Road, Haxby, York
•A1237 Monks Cross, York
•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 Continue reading →

The annual York Food and Drink festival returns next week with a special York 800 twist – this year it will be celebrating 800 years of food and drink – past, present and future.

The festival will run from Friday 21 – Sunday 30 September and will showcase all that’s best of Yorkshire Food and Drink.

For more information and a programme of events visit www.yorkfoodfestival.com Continue reading →

For more information on events in York please visit the following web sites

1. Barbican http://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/ tel. 0844 854 2757

2. Early Music Centre http://www.ncem.co.uk/?idno=152
tel. 01904 658338

3. Grand Opera House http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/grand-opera-house-york/
tel. 0844 847 2322

4. Minster http://www.yorkminster.org/whats-on.html
tel. 0844 939 0015

5. Racecourse http://www.yorkracecourse.co.uk/
tel. 01904 620911

6. Theatre Royal https://www.yorktheatreroyal.purchase-tickets-online.co.uk/public
tel (01904) 623568

7. Visit York http://www.visityork.org/seeanddo/whats-on/
tel. 01904 550099

8. Yortime https://www.yortime.org.uk/eCommunityEvents/yortime/Default.aspx

9. York City Football Club http://www.yorkcityfootballclub.co.uk/
tel. 01904 624447

• Loneliness long distance runner 18th/29th Sept Theatre Royal

• Singin in the rain 17th/22nd Sept Grand Opera House

• Stories from around the world 19th Sept Wed Theatre Royal

• Medieval Murderers 20th Sept 7:00pm Explore Library Join a trio of master storytellers for the finale event of this year’s Big City Read.Accompanying Susanna Gregory on the panel is Michael Jecks, bestselling author of the Medieval West Country series of novels and Ian Morson, author of novels featuring William Falconer.

• H.M.S Pinafore 20th/22nd Sept Theatre Royal

• The meaning of Riff 20th Sept Theatre Royal

• Tailcoat cabaret 21st Sept Theatre Royal

• Founders and Benefactors Evensong 21st Sept Fri 5:15pm Minster

• York Food Festival 21st/30th Sept Various The Festival is a showcase for Yorkshire Food. For 10 days, York city centre will have stands from farms all over Yorkshire, but you will also find stands from local delicatessens, ethnic food producers as well as national and continental guest producers. For more information visit: www.yorkfoodfestival.com

• Football City v Cheltenham 22nd Sept Bootham Cres

• Dragon Boat racing 22nd Sept River Ouse

• 8 Wonders Tour 22nd Sept Minster Investigate how the number 8 has shaped York Minster through technology and design, from 1212 to 2012

• Prom Praise 22nd Sept Sat 7:30pm Barbican

• Speak of me as I am 22nd Sept Theatre Royal

• A look back in vehicular time 23rd Sept Sun Knavesmire Over 600 vehicles will be there together with stalls, autojumble and refreshments

• Mysore Melodies 23rd Sept 4:00pm Early Music Centre

• Antiques Fair 23rd Sept Racecourse

• Martin Carthy/Dave Swarbrick 25th Sept Tues 7:30pm Early Music Centre

• Mark Watson 26th Sept Wed Grand Opera House

• Rapunzel 27th/13th Sept/Oct Theatre Royal

• The Upbeat Beatles 27th Sept Thurs Grand Opera House

• Comedy Night 28th Sept Racecourse

• Farmers Market 28th Sept Parliament Street

• Jason Byrne 28th Sept Fri 8:00pm Barbican

• Motowns Greatest Hits 29th Sept Sat Grand Opera House Continue reading →

City of York Council is putting the wheels in motion of a revolution in how people choose to travel around the city, with the launch of its i-Travel York programme on Tuesday 18 September 2012.

The council recently secured £4.65 million to fund the i-Travel York programme, which will lead to infrastructure enhancements, improvements to existing transport services and improve the economic prospects of the city. Continue reading →

York in Bloom’s entries are hoping to blossom into gold on Tuesday 18 September when the Yorkshire in Bloom results will be announced at York Racecourse.

This year, 20 local groups and organisations are competing against hundreds of entries from across the Yorkshire and Humber region for the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom awards, which will be declared in York itself. Continue reading →