Supporting local volunteers

Councillors Stephen Fenton and Paula Widdowson were out and about over the weekend supporting the hard work of local volunteers.

On Saturday Stephen joined the Friends of Acomb Wood for a litter pick, which was part of Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean activities, and then did a spot of graffiti removal.

A productive Acomb Wood litter pick!
Graffiti was removed from a number of locations, including here on Wharfe Drive

Then on Sunday, Paula and Stephen helped the Chapmans Pond volunteer team with some tree-planting.

Dringhouses hit by graffiti blitz

Telecom and electrical cabinets and bus shelters in Dringhouses were recently hit by a graffiti ‘artist’.

Local Lib Dem councillor Stephen Fenton (with the help of graffiti removal wipes!) tackled the bus shelters and cabinets on Tadcaster Road. The electrical cabinet on North Lane, near the entrance to Hob Moor, remains to be cleaned up.

Bus stop on Tadcaster Road near The Horseshoe
Bus stop on Tadcaster Road near St Edwards
Graffiti on North Lane

Vandals strike on Tadcaster Road

Vandals have caused criminal damage in the Tadcaster Road area of Dringhouses in recent days.

The perspex cover on the community noticeboard at the junction with Mayfield Grove has been smashed. This comes soon after the cover on the noticeboard on the Revival estate was smashed. Both are to be repaired, with the costs to be covered from the ward budget.

Damaged noticeboard

The newly-refurbished playground on Nelsons Lane has been attacked by graffiti ‘artists’. Some of it is offensive and of a sexual nature. The council’s cleaning team have been asked to clean it off. The Chase Residents Association is to consider reinstating an opening and locking up rota for the playground, given that it is being abused by some people.

Criminal damage

Cllr Stephen Fenton has informed the Police, who have confirmed that they are aware that older children are frequenting the area and intimidating the younger children, and that this is one of their current ‘hot spot’ areas.

The playground recently benefited from a £32k investment

Cabinet graffiti clean-up success

Cllr Stephen Fenton spent the afternoon of Saturday 17 June blitzing the graffiti that has blighted a number of Virgin Media cabinets in Dringhouses & Woodthorpe.

Using special wipes designed to remove paint, Stephen cleaned up a total of eight cabinets on Chaloners Road, Wharfe Drive, Eason View, Thanet Road and Lowick.

The graffiti had first been reported to Virgin Media last year but they took no action, so the time had come to take some direct action.

Before

After!

Prompt action on graffiti

Cllr Stephen Fenton reported to Network Rail recently two locations in the ward where graffiti ‘artists’ have been at work – at the Hob Moor underpass and on St Helens Road railway bridge – see pictures below.


We are pleased to report that Network Rail acted quickly and the graffiti was painted over on Tuesday 14 March.

We continue to press Virgin Media to take action to clean off graffiti on their cabinets on Chaloners Road, Wains Road and Lowick.

Graffiti battle on Tadcaster Road

We have been able to arrange for two street cabinets on Tadcaster Road to be repainted after they were daubed with graffiti – a BT cabinet opposite the junction with Nelsons Lane and a Northern Power Networks box at the junction with Middlethorpe Grove.

Ashley Mason with the newly repainted Nothern Power Networks cabinet

Ashley Mason with the newly repainted Northern Power Networks cabinet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freshly painted BT cabinet

Freshly painted BT cabinet

 

Sadly our local graffiti artist with the yellow pen has been at it again, this time attacking the traffic box opposite the junction with Middlethorpe Drive. We have asked the council to arrange for it to be repainted.

The latest bad art job

The latest bad art job

Tacking street-level issues on Tadcaster Road

We are working to get action on a number of street-level issues in the Tadcaster Road area.

Graffiti has been cleaned off the Middlethorpe Grove Street sign at the junction with Tadcaster Road, and the electric utility company have been asked to clean up the graffiti that has been daubed on one of their cabinets on Tadcaster Road.

This graffiti has now been cleaned off

  This graffiti has now been cleaned off

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Electric utility box

We have also managed to get the drainage channel outside the vets on Tadcaster Road repaired and cleared out – blockages have been causing the parking layby to flood.

Before....

Before….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and after

…and after

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have obtained a new street sign for Middlethorpe Drive, as the old sign was badly faded.

Shiny new street sign

Shiny new street sign