Families can enjoy a full day of medieval fun this Saturday (11 August) as part of the Medieval Summer and York 800.

York’s Merchant Adventurers’ Hall will play host to a range of activities from 10:30 – 4:30, including juggling, comic performances, games, crafts and have-a-go battle drills for children with the Wars of the Roses Federation.

Visitors can also meet experts from the York Archaeological Trust, come face to face with characters from the middle ages, witness amazing birds of prey and enjoy music played by the wandering minstrel.

Tickets cost £6 per adult, £4 per child or £12 for a family of three, £18 family of four £22 family of five and a ticket includes access to the entire site for the whole day.

To pre-book call 01904 615505.

City of York Council will be carrying out essential resurfacing works on Heslington Road from Monday 13th August.

The programme of works is due to take two-weeks to complete, working Monday to Friday between 9.15 am and 4pm. Continue reading →

Residents will be able to see the Paralympic torch arriving in York on 24th August as part of a national relay in the run up to the start of the Games on 29th August.

At around 3pm it will arrive at Acomb Explore Library by bus with the Lord Mayor and Civic Party and will then be cycled to Energise.

Paralympic Organisers were so impressed with the work done at Energise, to make it inclusive for all, that they wanted the centre to be part of the torch relay (and therefore York is one of the few places in the country to see both the Olympic and Paralympic torches).

More details available here http://www.london2012.com/paralympics/torch-relay/ & http://www.york.gov.uk/content/leisure/sport/yorkgold/celebratingabilityday2012.pdf

Liberal Democrats are attempting to overturn a controversial decision to cut social care in York.

Under the council’s plans its community care service will be available only to those with substantial or critical needs, rather than those with “moderate” needs. The moderate group includes nearly 200 residents who receive support to help with home care services or are supported to attend day activities.

The Liberal Democrat Group has decided to formally call-in the decision meaning that it will now go to the Council’s corporate scrutiny committee on Monday 13 August to be reassessed. The Group has said continuing the current levels of care support is affordable and have raised concerns about the consultation carried out and the viability of the council’s plans.

Councillor Keith Aspden, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Adult Social Services, commented:

“We believe that Labour has made the wrong decision and we hope that they will reassess their plans. These unnecessary cuts will affect some of the most vulnerable residents in York and we have raised genuine concerns about the consultation carried out and the viability of the council’s plans.

Despite their claims, Labour has choices on spending. These cuts are not a necessity and if Labour cut things like the Leader’s £1 million personal slush fund they could afford to maintain the current levels of frontline social care. We hope the Council will reconsidered this decision at Monday’s meeting.”

Notes:

The full wording of the calling-in from Cllrs Aspden, Cuthbertson and Runciman is:

‘The Liberal Democrat Group formally oppose the decision made by the Cabinet Member and believe that the eligibility criteria should remain unchanged at Moderate, Substantial and Critical. The Cabinet Member has failed to take into account any of the representations made by the Group, prior to taking her decision:

• The consultation was misleading as it failed to tell residents that there are alternatives to withdrawing care provision from York residents. Therefore we believe the results should be treated with extreme caution.

• The consultation exercise was also poorly conducted and an investigation needs to be undertaken to determine why mistakes were made. As the report states, 200 residents were sent the wrong information and feedback from residents said the consultation was “confusing”, “patronizing”, contained “wrong” information, was “very poor”, that “questions were impossible to answer”, and complained questions were “ambiguous”.

• The 31% response rate means that of residents sent consultation packs only 20% agreed with the change in eligibility levels, with 10% disagreeing and the overwhelming majority either not answering that specific question or not taking part in the consultation. In other words, only 1-in-5 people have actively supported these proposals and even these did so through a misleading consultation document. This means that the Council can not claim there is a proper mandate for the changes. For such a vital issue, we do not believe that this flawed consultation exercise is good enough or can form the basis for an informed decision.

A number of concerns raised by partners particularly the York Older People’s Assembly:

• Low level intervention at modest needs level can help sustain independence for longer and any short-term financial gains should be set against the costs of having more people fall into the ‘substantial’ and ‘critical’ needs bands because they lose this crucial support.

• The ability of the voluntary sector in York to provide the level of personal support envisaged in this report. The report provides no detailed evidence from the voluntary sector on this point.

• The report states that the £150,000 cost of not introducing the changes can not be found elsewhere in the Council’s Budget:
“There is no indication at this stage of the year that other areas of the council budget are able to make additional savings to avoid the need for this proposal.”
The Liberal Democrat Group believes that savings could be made elsewhere to protect social care. In our February Budget proposal, we outlined how reversing some of Labour’s planned spending increases and making savings elsewhere could fund this area.’

Luck runs out for thirteen extreme speeders

Thirteen motorists have been summonsed to court after being captured driving or riding at extreme speeds by North Yorkshire Police’s mobile safety camera.

They include six car drivers and seven motorcyclists who were caught at speeds ranging from 72mph in a 40mph zone to 132mph in a 70mph zone.

All thirteen have been summonsed to appear at Selby Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 16 August 2012.

The van is equipped with five cameras on the front, rear and roof. The technology can detect the speed of approaching and receding traffic from up to 1,000 metres away and captures 360 degree images of the location. The device produces high-quality images of vehicles and the riders or drivers.

The mobile safety camera pilot was introduced on 1 July 2011 in a bid to reduce fatal and serious road collisions. The pilot was extended following the initial six month pilot period in December 2011

Proposed Art Gallery extension

An application for significant changes to the Grade II listed Art Gallery in York have been received by the Council.

The changes include internal and external alterations comprising an additional gallery floor, the erection of an extension to create a new gallery area, the creation of a new balcony and replacement windows together with the demolition of a single storey extension and part of a roof as well as internal demolition works and removal of partitions

The reference number for the application is 12/02509/LBC and details can be found on the following web site http://tinyurl.com/York-art-gallery

York Art Gallery is a Grade II listed building and is close to 24 other “Listed” buildings in what is one of the most sensitive parts of York’s historic streetscape.

Art Gallery in the 1880's

The Art Gallery was constructed between 1874 and 1879 as part of a Yorkshire Fine Art & Industrial Exhibition. A site was acquired from the York Philosophical Society within the walls of the St Mary’s Abbey precinct known as ‘Bearpark’s Garden’, in use as gardens at the time of acquisition (previously used as nursery gardens by Edward Bearpark).

The proposal for the construction of the exhibition building was formally launched to the public on 16th March 1876. The cost of the building at this time was estimated at £10,000 and acquisition of the site at £5,000.20 This first scheme was in the ‘Elizabethan’ style. However, it was not considered sufficiently ornate and a further scheme was developed in the ‘Italian’ style. This change in design increased the estimated costs of the construction to £19,000.

Construction of the Yorkshire Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition, York, began in January 1878. The foundation stone for the building was laid on 22nd April 1878 by the Lord Mayor of York and the building was opened just over a year later on 7th May 1879.

Constructed for the Exhibition in 1789, the building continued to be used for a variety of purposes, including lectures, concerts, performances, and events such as boxing, bazaars, displays, prize givings and exhibitions. The building was also tenanted by the School of Art.

An interesting history of the Art Gallery site can be found here http://tinyurl.com/history-of-art-gallery

Consultation on the planning application will continue until 24th August. A decision is expected in September.

If approved, the Art Gallery is likely to be closed for 12 months while the works are undertaken.

North Yorkshire Police will be carrying out mobile safety camera enforcement on the following roads between Wednesday 8 August and Tuesday 14 August 2012

•A64 west-bound Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•A64 east-bound Bowbridge Farm Tadcaster
•Brayton Lane, Brayton, Selby
•Barff Lane, Brayton, Selby
•Skipwith Road, Escrick
•A63 Hull Road, Hemingbrough
•Church Lane, Wheldrake
Continue reading →

North Yorkshire Police has welcomed 12 new police officers to the ranks following a transferee recruitment drive earlier this year.

The officers have joined North Yorkshire Police from forces across the UK and will soon be on the streets of York and North Yorkshire helping to keep our communities safe.

They are currently undergoing an induction course at police headquarters in Newby Wiske before being deployed to their respective stations next week.

Temporary Chief Constable Tim Madgwick said: “It gives me great pleasure to welcome our new officers to the team. They join one of the highest performing forces in the country and will be working alongside some of the most dedicated and professional police officers and staff I have had the pleasure of working with.

“I’m also looking forward to hearing about any new ideas they can bring from their previous forces to help us improve the way we do things here in North Yorkshire.”

York Safer Neighbourhood Team will be joined by three new officers, PC Nicola Peters from Thames Valley Police, PC Andrew Muir from Nottingham Police and PC Richard O’Connell from West Yorkshire Police.

Continue reading →

York police have made more arrests and charged three men following two robberies in the city.

The incidents occurred near the River Ouse on Tuesday 31 July 2012, near Scarborough Bridge, and on Thursday 2 August 2012, close to Almery Terrace.

A 17-year-old and a 20-year-old have been charged with both robberies, and a 24-year-old who has been charged with the Almery Terrace robbery.

All are from York and are due to appear at York Magistrates’ Court today, Monday 6 August 2012.

Continue reading →

There has never been a better time to promote sport and physical activity as a way of keeping well and prolonging life spans. So how are we doing in York?

Figures released a couple of weeks ago confirmed that more young children are getting obese. In reception classes 7.5% were recorded as obese in 11/12 compared to 5.50% a year earlier. Unfortunately by year 6 the numbers classed as obese have increased to 14.7% (up from 14.00%).

So the Council, schools and the NHS need to up their game?

Some sound decisions were made during the last decade about the need to invest more in sports facilities in York.

Sports centres

In 2009 a new swimming pool was opened at the Energise sports centre http://www.york.gov.uk/leisure/sports/Sports_facilities/energise/ which shared the campus of the largest secondary school in York (York High).
Modern gym, fitness and climbing facilities were complemented by renewed out door all weather pitches. The centre is so successful that the gym area is now being almost doubled in size. The new York High school officially became a specialist sports college and – coincidentally – produced some of the best exam results of any school in Yorkshire.

Facilities in west York were also improved when the new Manor school http://www.mce.york.sch.uk/ was opened

In east York, Huntington school http://www.huntingtonschool.co.uk/community-sports/facilities had always provided outdoor sports pitches while in 2008 the Yearsley swimming pool http://www.york.gov.uk/leisure/sports/Sports_facilities/Yearsley_swimming_pool/ received a £1 million modernisation make over.
The pool is ideal for “fitness” swimmers having a unique 50 yard length.

New swimming pool opens on Tuesday

The, then Liberal Democrat led, Council decided in 2010 to join a partnership with the University of York to provide a state of the art “Sports Village” on Hull Road http://www.york-sport.com/york_sport_village.php. which incorporates a competition standard swimming pool.

The new pool there opens next Tuesday (14th August). http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FAIymiWaHGU

The facilities will include:
• Eight-lane 25m competition standard swimming pool
• 18 metre learner pool
• Fully floodlit competition size outdoor 3G football pitch
• Three outdoor 3G five-a-side pitches
• A 120-station fitness suite with integrated TVs
• Three air-conditioned studios for classes such as spinning and yoga
• Spa facilities, including sauna and steam rooms
• A café offering Costa Coffee and snacks

Later a new athletics stadium will be added together with an outdoor 1km road cycling circuit.

Separately a new spectator sports stadium is being constructed at Monks Cross.

The new pool received a Lottery grant, while both York Rowing Club and Wigginton Squash Club benefited from the Inspired Facilities fund from Sport England http://www.sportengland.org/about_us/places_people_play.aspx

Taken with the large number of new private sports clubs and other school based facilities, York now has some of the best sports facilities available for a City of its size in the country.

So bring home the gold medals then?

Not quite. As the statistics on obesity show there is still a lot to do.

A quick look at the Councils web site will show that – at a time when people are most likely to be looking around to see what is available – much of the information shown is out of date. For example, most of the dates for “taster” sessions at local sports clubs have already passed.

broken glass and neglect at kick about area

Labour’s changes to the Council’s budget in February were bad news for sports activities. Cuts were made to Ward Committee funding (90% reduction) which meant that services like “Street Sport” were virtually eliminated. Facilities, built at a cost of tens thousands of pounds like the multi user games area at Hob Moor school, lie empty and neglected.

Next year, many sports clubs like the Railway Institute and the York Indoor Bowls Club stand to lose their discretionary rate relief costing them around £10,000 and £3500 a year respectively.
School meal prices have been increased at a time when the battle against a dependence on junk food needs to be intensified.

The Council shortly takes on a “public health” responsibility which it last exercised 40 years ago. With its inexperienced ruling “Cabinet” in the middle of more chaotic change, the additional responsibility seems ill timed. Early decisions do not reveal an activity centered approach to health priorities.

The situation in local primary schools echos the national picture. Some emphasise sports and healthy living in their prospectus. Others pointedly fail to do so.

The overall responsibility for driving forward fitness type activities rests with an organisation called “Active York”. It has done little in the last 6 months which has had a high profile. They promised a new web site in early 2012 but it still hasn’t arrived http://activeyork.org/
Active York has an impressive list of board members but it seems to lack a convincing engagement strategy at the moment.

What the City now needs urgently is a Manifesto for Sport.

Opportunities to change the views and lifestyles of large numbers of people come along only rarely.

York is in danger of squandering the Olympic legacy. A more focused professional approach is needed.