Woodthorpe residents hit by reduction in Post Office hours

Woodthorpe Post Office on Moorcroft Road has announced a reduction in its opening hours with effect from 16th April.

The Post Office counter will close on Friday afternoons at 1pm and will remain shut on Saturdays and Sundays. The shop will be open on Friday afternoons, but it will be closed all weekend.

The news comes as a blow to residents who work during the week and rely on being able to access Post Office services at the weekend. The weekend closure of the shop will hit residents who have newspapers delivered, and will particularly affect elderly residents who are less mobile.

Whilst the nearby McColls store sells newspapers, they do not offer a delivery service.

This latest setback comes after the Post Office closed without warning in November 2018. It subsequently re-opened in early December. Cllr Stephen Fenton has written to Post Office Ltd to request an explanation as to what is happening with the Post Office, highlighting the concerns being felt locally by the deterioration in the service.

Traffic survey results revealed

Traffic surveys undertaken on Thanet Road and Moorcroft Road have provided evidence to support calls for action to tackle problem parking and speeding concerns.

The surveys were supported by local Lib Dem councillors though funding from the Dringhouses & Woodthorpe Ward Committee budget.

Residents’ concerns about speeding traffic and parking provision on Thanet Road have been backed up by the findings of the survey. The aim of the survey undertaken between 21st and 27th June was to gather evidence to support calls for safety measures to be put in place, following a number of accidents and incidents where residents’ cars have been damaged.

Thanet Road survey zone

Findings from the survey included:

  • Ten near misses between two cars
  • One near miss between a car and a HGV
  • One near miss between two HGVs

Councillor Ashley Mason said “The findings from the survey will further strengthen our calls for action to improve road safety. We have written to the council’s Transport chief, including the survey findings, to ask that options be considered for an engineering solution.”

Parking problems on Moorcroft Road outside the doctors and dentists prompted the survey at that location, which was undertaken between 17th and 23rd July. The aim of the survey was to gather evidence on the nature of the parking problems which can cause the bus to get stuck and footpaths to be obstructed.

A previous proposal for extending double yellow lines outside the doctor’s surgery attracted some criticism, with the suggestion that double yellow lines outside the dentist would have more impact. However council officers opposed this suggestion.

Moorcroft Road survey zone

Some headline findings from the survey included:

  • Three near misses between two cars
  • Four near misses between a car and a bus
  • One near miss between a car and a moped
  • One near miss between a parked car and a mobility scooter

Councillor Stephen Fenton said “We will keep residents informed and engaged on further developments. In the meantime we recently arranged for the existing double yellow lines on Moorcroft Road to be re-painted, as they had almost faded away.

“We have been in contact with the new owners of the shops and car parks to ask that ‘Customer Parking Only’ signs be installed, in response to complaints about the car parks being used a ‘Park & Ride’. We have also asked for the overgrown vegetation to be cut back.”

 

Car park ‘deep clean’ needed in Woodthorpe

Local Lib Dem councillors are in discussions with McColls to try to get a much-needed deep clean of the larger of the two car parks to the rear of the Moorcroft Road shops.

The car park, which McColls has responsibility for, is in a very untidy state, with weeds, brambles and overgrown vegetation gradually taking over the perimeter, and major issues with litter and dumping. There is also a black Peugeot car which has been there for sometime, and appears to have been abandoned – the tax expired in April, two of the tyres are flat and one of the headlights is smashed.

Weeds and litter

Abandoned?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cllr Stephen Fenton has met on site with the McColls area manager to discuss a plan of action, starting with McColls instructing their property management team to undertake a thorough deep clean of the car park. Stephen has also approached DVLA about the abandoned car – as it is on private land, there is nothing that the council can do.

Another concern is the seemingly increasing use of the car park as a ‘park & ride’ car park, with people parking up and getting the bus into town. This reduces the parking spaces available to shoppers and those visiting the nearby doctors and dentists surgeries. Stephen discussed with McColls the possibility of erecting some ‘Customer Only Parking’ signs to deter long stay parking.

Moorcroft Road parking woes continue

Local Lib Dem councillors are calling on City of York Council officials to recognise the problems being caused by inconsiderate parking on both sides of Moorcroft Road in Woodthorpe.

Parking outside the doctors surgery and the dentist is causing difficulties for the number 12 bus, which serves Woodthorpe, which on occasions has been unable to get through.

An officer report to the Decision Session of the Executive Member for Planning and Transport on 17 May noted that residents who had objected to the proposed double yellow lines outside the doctors had said that the restrictions would be better placed on the other side of the road, outside the dentist. This suggestion was rejected by officers, who responded in the report by saying that “parking here [outside the dentist] is thought to be more intermittent.”

Cllr Ashley Mason attended the 17 May meeting to make the case for parking restrictions outside the dentist, but this was refused. Instead, it was agreed to defer the installation of double yellow lines outside the doctors surgery to enable more evidence to be gathered via a 7-day video traffic survey, which the councillors propose to fund from the Dringhouses & Woodthorpe ward budget.

Cllr Stephen Fenton commented  “We first made the case for parking restrictions outside the dentist at a Decision Session of the Executive Member for Planning and Transport held on 14 September 2017, but this was refused. It is disappointing that the same has happened again. Parking outside the dentist is not ‘intermittent’ as the officer report suggests – it is persistent. The photograph below, taken on 6 June, demonstrates this.”

Moorcroft Road – dentist on left, doctors surgery on right

 

Meeting to tackle Woodthorpe shops issues

Cllr Stephen Fenton met with representatives from McColls and the Hallmark Real Estate Group on 26 October to try to get action to resolve some problems in need of attention in the area around the shops on Moorcroft Road.

The wet weather helped to demonstrate the woeful drains that don’t actually drain, causing lakes to form in front of the shops!

Other issues raised were:

  • Rocking paving slabs
  • Missing concrete bollard
  • Trees in need of pruning
  • Potholes in the car park at the rear of the shops
  • General state of the paved area

We hope that the meeting will result in some action to improve this privately-owned area of land, and we’ll keep residents informed.

Fail to stop accident in Woodthorpe

 Police in York are appealing for witnesses and information after a 17-year-old girl suffered serious injuries when she was hit by a car.

Moorcroft RoadIt happened near the shops on Moorcroft Road at around 4pm on Tuesday 4 October 2016 when a red car collided with the girl, before leaving the scene without stopping.

The victim suffered a sprained ankle and fracture pelvis as a result of the collision.

Police are appealing to anyone who was in the area at the time and saw the car prior to hitting the girl, or who witnessed the actual collision to contact them.

They are also appealing to the driver to come forward and to anyone else who may have information that could help identify the driver, to contact the police.

Please call North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 1 and pass information to the Force Control Room.

If you wish to remain anonymous, you can pass information to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Please quote reference number 12160183490 when passing on information.