Noise complaints down in York

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

There were fewer complaints about noise nuisance in York last year than in previous years.

A freedom of information request has revealed that the York Council received 1584 noise complaints in 2014/15.

This was down from the 1614 received in the previous year.

The Council was unable to say how many complaints had concerned properties occupied by students but, of the 47 noise abatement notices served, none were for properties occupied by students.

 In 2012/13 the figure had been 10.

York “rewiring” plan; Cliff Richard, Fred Smith Electrical or City of York Council?

The York Council has said it will spend £10 million over the next 5 years on IT equipment. Their intention is to force residents to use electronic communications to communicate with the Council.

Cliff Richard – rewired for sound

Cliff Richard – rewired for sound

They promise (or threaten) that each local resident will have their own web page account.

The move comes following our revelation that the number contacting the Council by telephone or through a personal visit has spiralled since their move to the “West Offices”.

They have dubbed the scheme as service “rewiring” – a piece of jargon guaranteed to pass over the heads of most residents.

A report, nodded through by the Labour leadership on Tuesday, fails to make any kind of business case for the huge expenditure.

The report is riddled with management jargon and hyperbole plus much conjecture about what residents want.

Attached to the report is the 6 monthly review of service quality.

This revealed that many targets are already being missed by the Council with recycling rates reducing and the numbers using the bus service in sharp decline since Labour meddled with the services when they took office.

Confidence in the Councils ability to deal with reports and complaints has already been damaged.

Rewiring

The “app” launched to allow smart phone reporting of issues has flopped, some reports made using proprietary web tools were lost by the Council while frustrated residents – seeking information through Freedom of Information requests -frequently do not attract answers within legal target times.

But the main concern will be the implications for residents if the Council and its officials hide behind an electronic defensive barricade.

The plan will mean more outsourcing and local jobs will be lost as techno bureaucrats take over.

Public services will become DIY as residents are forced to fill in the gaps left by a retreating public sector.

………..and the march of more CCTV surveillance will continue in the background!

York Council loses dozens of complaints

My Council

At least 50 reports about failing public service standards in York have not been actioned by the Council over the last couple of months.

The Council has claimed that reports submitted via the popular “My Council” Mobile app were not processed because they were indecipherable when uploaded to the Council.

Rather than get to the bottom of the problem, the reports were ignored.

Now an administrator for the “My Council” web provider (abavus.co.uk) has stepped in and offered to sort out the difficulties.

More and more people are using web sites like “My Council”, Fix my Street , and Fill that hole” to report issues.

This is to the advantage of Councils because the costs of processing issues electronically are much less than hard copy mail, personal callers or telephone communications.

However this case is likely to damage the credibility of the system in some residents eyes.

The Councils own mobile app (Smarter York) allows only a very small number of issues to be reported and user numbers have been disappointing.

The “Report it” section of the Council web site is cumbersome and has similar limitations.

The Council has been asked to sort out its data interface problems, ensure that reports blocked over the last couple of months are now entered onto its systems and to make efforts to contact those residents who may be unaware that issues that they have reported have not been actioned.

The industry generally needs to do more work on interface issues.

Councils in other parts of the country may be affected by incompatibility issues