New scheme announced to support the most vulnerable rough sleepers in York

On Tuesday 4 November, Making Every Adult Matter (MEAM) is launching in York.

Whatever the weather this winter, and to give the most vulnerable rough sleepers safe shelter, on Tuesday 4 November,Arc Light and York Mind are launching Making Every Adult Matter (MEAM) in York .

York – Number of residents accepted as homeless & numbers in temporary accommodation at year end
Year Accepted in temp. accom. at 31st March
2003/4 460 242
2004/5 424 259
2005/6 433 233
2006/7 214 207
2007/8 258 209
2008/9 208 167
2009/10 130 79
2010/11 183 94
2011/12 151 93
2012/13 146 99
2013/14 109 80
2014/15 Not available 65

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Newbury Avenue development – Hob Moor fears

New Newbury development site layout, Click for large maps

New Newbury development site layout, Click for large maps

A new layout plan for the controversial 9 flat development on the garage area off Newbury Avenue has been published.

It is unlikely that many residents will have seen the plan as objectors have not been alerted to the changes.

The new layout increases the number of parking spaces to be provided to 16 with an additional 5 to be located on vacant land at the Newbury Drive/Windsor Garth junction.

This is the junction which is subject to ponding after heavy rain.

Unfortunately at the same time the Council has said that it won’t be acting quickly to deal with the lack of proper parking opposite Carlton House. Vehicles parking on the bend have caused the bus to mount the footpath on several occasions. It had been hoped that individual driveways for the house would have been provided across the green area with more parking for residents being constructed to the rear of the flats.

Poor drainage already a problem in Windsor Garth

Poor drainage already a problem in Windsor Garth

There is no news on where the occupants of the garages will park in future. It had been suggested that the Council should provide dropped kerbs/verge crossovers where the 24 garage occupants wanted to construct an alternative parking space in their gardens. This idea has not yet been taken forward.

The background papers for the development can be accessed by clicking here

The 3 storey buildings will prove eight 2 bedroomed flats and one single bedroomed unit. Access to each will be by an external walkway.

There are some big questions on drainage arrangements which are yet to be satisfactorily answered.

A report from the Councils protection unit concluded “Therefore, there is a plausible possibility that residual contaminants may be present onsite”. This arises from its former use as a waste disposal site in the 1950’s.

In a later objection the Unit expresses concern about methane gas levels in the area and says,

“The soil sampling results identified elevated levels of lead, PAHs, arsenic and vanadium. Remedial work is therefore required, in order to ensure that the site is safe and suitable for its proposed use, and a remediation scheme must be submitted for our approval in due course”.

The ground conditions mean that piling will be required in the construction process.

It is expected that the application will be determined at a meeting which is scheduled to take place on 8th October.

House sales increasing in west York

Following the national pattern house sales have increased on the Acomb side of the City during the last 3 months. Sales have included:

Address Sold price Sold date Type
2, Beechwood Glade, YO24 3JT £245,000 21 May 2014 4 bed detached
19, Beagle Ridge Drive, YO24 3JH £179,500 25 Apr 2014 3 bed semi-D
2, Willoughby Way, YO24 3NS £160,000 25 Apr 2014 3 bed semi-D
119, Foxwood Lane, YO24 3LQ £173,000 04 Apr 2014 3 bed semi-D
42, The Reeves, YO24 3ES £135,000 30 Apr 2014 2 bed semi-D
13, The Reeves, YO24 3ES £125,000 02 May 2014 2 bed semi-D
8, Huntsmans Walk, YO24 3LE £160,000 15 May 2014 2 bed semi-D
170, St Stephens Road, YO24 3EF £160,000 14 Apr 2014 5 bed semi-D
27, Troutbeck, YO24 2RE £135,000 06 May 2014 2 bed semi-D
12 Ascot Court, Gale Lane, YO24 3AE £113,500 31 Mar 2014 1 bed flat

Property for sale The list below shows some of the properties for sale

Salmond Road £189,950 3 bed Terrace
Tedder Road £175,000 3 bed Semi-D
Tedder Road £159,950 2 bed Semi-D
Lydham Court £105,000 1 bed Terrace

 

Property for rent The list below shows properties for rent

Moor Lane £1,295 4 bed Detached
Dijon Avenue £400
Gladstone Street £650 2 bed
St Pauls Mews £725 2 bed Terrace

Chain-free sales Below are properties nearby that are available ‘chain free’. These include properties where the seller is not buying a new home or has already moved out and could also include repossessions.

Tedder Road, Acomb, York, YO24 £175,000 3 bed Semi-D
Lydham Court, Acomb, York £105,000 1 bed Terrace
Alness Drive, Woodthorpe, York £299,950 4 bed Detached
Lerecroft Road, York £165,000 2 bed Semi-D

Discounted sales Are you interested in snapping up a bargain? Below are properties for sale where the asking prices have been reduced

St Stephens Road £100,000 -13% 2 bed Flat
Collingwood Avenue £215,000 -6% 4 bed Semi-D
Farndale Street £200,000 -4% 3 bed Terrace
Highcliffe Court £150,000 -6% 2 bed Semi-D

Information from Mouseprice

 

 

 

LibDems aim to change spare room subsidy/bedroom tax benefit rules

In line with representations made by many in York, the government is being asked to change the rules on housing benefit.Empty bedroom

The proposed change would mean that tenants in existing social housing – who are under-occupying – would only lose entitlement to benefit if they had been offered smaller accommodation and turned it down.

In many areas a lack of 1 bedroomed properties is preventing people for downsizing (around 1000 single people are registered on the housing waiting/transfer list in York)

The party’s statement reads

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Hob Moor development starts

Our Lady's school site clearance started

Our Lady’s school site clearance started

Builders have moved onto the Our Lady’s school site and have started to fell trees.

The Our Lady’s school buildings will be demolished within the next 3 weeks.

School to be demolished in a few days time

School to be demolished in a few days time

Work has already started to provide an electricity power supply to the new housing development.

The whole scheme, which involves the erection of 55 new homes, is expected to take about 12 months to complete.

The building contractors have said that all site traffic will follow the Kingsway West/Ascot Way/ Ashford Place/Windsor Garth bus route to access the site.

Crumbling road surfaces on Windsor Garth

Crumbling road surfaces on Windsor Garth

Residents remain concerned about the poor state of the roads on the route, and in particular the rapidly deteriorating road humps, although whether it would be worth completing permanent repairs before the heavy traffic moves on, is open to question.

Liberal Democrats force housing U Turn in York

Public consultation papers on controversial development plans will include housing numbers after Liberal Democrat councillors forced a dramatic U-Turn tonight.

Green Belt campaign logo Labour run York Council’s ‘Draft Local Plan’ outlines proposals to build 22,000 houses on sites across York. Last month the Labour Cabinet approved a report for public consultation which earmarked further sites and recommended boundary changes on some sites identified last year.

However, the consultation papers excluded housing numbers for the new and amended sites. Liberal Democrat councillors Nigel Ayre, Ann Reid and Carol Runciman ‘called-in’ the decision for further review and at tonight’s CSMC (Corporate and Scrutiny Management Committee) meeting the cross-party committee voted to include the housing numbers.

Cllr Ann Reid, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Planning, said at the meeting:

“The principle of consultation should be that residents are given as much information as possible about the proposals being put forward. We believe that housing numbers are central to this consultation and should be published. Whether one of these sites is for 20 or 200 houses will make a huge difference to how residents view it.”

Speaking after the meeting Cllr Reid commented:

“I am pleased that common sense has prevailed and residents will now be able to see the housing numbers proposed for each site. The Labour Cabinet should never have tried to hide the housing numbers from residents in the first place. Labour’s argument that including the numbers ties the hands of developers was nonsense, especially as housing numbers were published for sites in last year’s consultation.”

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Chaloners Road development plans revealed

Chaloners Road development layout click to enlarge

Chaloners Road development layout click to enlarge

The York Council’s controversial plan to develop the garage area on Chaloners Road has taken a step forward with layout plans having been published.

The plans show a 3 storey block containing 6 flats, plus two houses, on the site.

The main criticism of the Councils plan had been its impact on the availability of parking spaces in the area, increased traffic, the dominating effect that a 3 storey building would have and its impact on the adjacent Hoggs Pond nature area.

The plans show an allocated parking space for each new property with one visitor space. No measures to address the needs of drivers displaced from the garages have been announced.

On street parking space in the area is very limited. and the dropped kerb and layby provision programmes have both stalled recently.

The plans suggest that 8 mature trees will be felled. A significant amount of land is allocated as a “compost area”.

A planning application is expected to be submitted and determined in May. Residents will be able to object to the proposals and are permitted to address the Planning Committee before a decision is made.

Chaloners Road development plans click to enlarge

Chaloners Road development plans click to enlarge

639 York Council tenants affected by removal of spare room subsidy

639 of York’s 7803 Council tenants were affected last year when the “spare room subsidy” was removed.

New figures reveal that 267 of them now have new rent arrears.

None have been issued with eviction notices.

To deal with hardship cases , the Council has a budget of £300,000 for the current financial year.

Only £207,272 (72.4%) had been allocated by the end of January.

The Council had previously said that it had 1347 people on its housing list waiting for one bedroomed accommodation. Many of these are currently occupying larger properties which would be released for families if under-occupation could be eliminated.

Despite there being numerous one bedroomed properties available on the open market in York, the Council has so far declined to use its £13 million housing surplus to purchase some of them.

A one bedroomed flat of Green Lane in Acomb has a guide price of £80,000

The policy is likely to be challenged at a Council meeting taking place at the end of the month.

Housing fraud clampdown in York

Council’s and social landlords in the region are encouraging people to report tenancy fraud as part of a regional Tenancy Fraud Awareness Week 2014.

Council’s and social landlords in the region are encouraging people to report tenancy fraud as part of a regional Tenancy Fraud Awareness Week 2014.

Tenancy Fraud Awareness Week 2014 runs between Monday 3 and Sunday 9 February, and social housing providers and fraud busting-agencies across the region are encouraging members of the public to report any suspicions of tenancy fraud.

With tenancy fraud now a criminal offence following the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013, this latest campaign builds on an anti-Housing Fraud campaign launched in August 2013 by City of York Council and its counter fraud specialist partner Veritau.

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