Hotham Road North community payback litter clearance

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured the clearing of large amounts of rubbish from the pathway between Hotham Road North and the railway footbridge.

According to a report to Wyke Area Committee, the Community Payback people who carried out the work collected ten full bin-bags of rubbish from this particular location.  This after the mess left in the first instance by various previous traveller incursions had been thoroughly removed.  This report rather suggests that keeping the pathway and its environs clean is a matter which we will need to keep an eye on and not just as a result of travellers being there. This of course we will continue to undertake and we will make sure the officers know about the state of this area when it needs to be done again.

More on Ancaster Avenue wheelie-bins

John Fareham and John Abbott are working to resolve issues with the proposal to stop emptying Ancaster Avenue wheelie-bins via the tenfoot.

Following your response to our vigorous campaign, a report from the officers now says the problem is centred around the tenfoot from 51 to 111 Ancaster Avenue and the amount of damage caused by refuse trucks to the old tenfoot surface.  The officers maintain that collecting wheeled bins from the front is the solution, which would be particularly awkward for those residents living on the even-numbered side and in the corners whose front garden paths are the longest, but the response to CONTACT! 1360 was entirely opposed to this idea.  We are therefore arranging a meeting with the officers via our local Area Team and we are hopeful that a solution can be worked out that will prevent further structural damage to the tenfoot without putting local residents to the sort of inconvenience many of you have already made it clear that you do not want.

National Avenue litter removal

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured action to stop rubbish from the National Avenue industrial estate blowing onto the allotments.

The National Avenue Allotments Association contacted us about rubbish finding its way onto the allotments, obliging allotment holders to spend time picking up litter. As an allotment holder elsewhere myself, I am sure they would rather have spent that time taking steps to either plant something or help it grow.  We therefore contacted the officers who have got onto the cash-and-carry firm whose premises adjoin the allotment. The company have carried out a litter pick, moved their bins away from the boundary and have now fitted mesh fencing to stop any further litter blowing onto the allotments.  It goes without saying that if this proves insufficient we will be prepared to look into further measures.

Hotham Road North gating scheme

John Fareham and John Abbott have supported arrangements for a gating scheme affecting 31 properties in Hotham Road North and Fairfield Road.

We have matched funding, splitting the cost 50-50 between the Council and local residents and, through the rapid response we were able to arrange , it has been possible for local residents to confirm the go-ahead with the chosen company and agree date for the manufacture and installation of the security gate. As ever, this has been a case of all local residents directly affected agreeing to the scheme, but we remain committed to the principle that, if funding can be arranged and all local residents concerned are up for it, then we will help to make it so. Despite reductions in funding, we remain happy to support the splendid work done by the local community, who set this in motion, and we congratulate their community spirit.

Travellers removed from Bricknell Estate

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured the removal of travellers from the pathway between Hotham Road North and the rail footbridge.

Local residents got in touch with us as soon as they arrived and as usual we made officers of the Council and Humberside Police aware of their arrival.  Given that they turned up on Friday evening and, with typical disregard for the wider community, parked right alongside Appleton Primary School fencing, we continued to keep in touch with all concerned across the weekend, pending the chance for the officers to get into the office and start work on the legal paperwork. Until the court heard the matter on Friday, by which time the travellers had taken 48 hours’ notice of the court case as 24 hours’ notice to disappear, the staff of Appleton Primary School had to keep children in at break times to keep them safe from the travellers’ dogs and there were regrettable instances of Appleton pupils being hassled by traveller children on the way home to such an extent that parents and the  police had to intervene. We are of course checking with the police to say whether there is to be any follow-up on that.

Wyke College application approved

John Fareham and John Abbott report that the planning application for an extension to the premises of the Wyke Sixth Form College has been approved by the City Council’s Planning Committee.

The officers’ report to Committee recommended approval of the application on the basis that, to put it simply, this was an appropriate use for the land.  We ensured that the conditions imposed did their best to protect residential privacy and we are pleased that the College have worked with us in that connection.  We have also highlighted that Stagecoach’s concerns about the difficulty of getting buses round Grammar School Road, Hartoft Road and Burniston Road, which may impact on the viability of the Service 110 bus continuing to serve the estate with the prospective level of displaced student parking from the campus and some resident parking are a concern for Stagecoach.

Huntley Drive and Murrayfield Road junction markings

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured the reinstatement of white lines at the junctions at both ends of Huntley Drive and at the junction of Murrayfield Road  and Bricknell Avenue.

Not for the first time, we have raised concerns with the officers about the wear and tear on your road markings being such as might cause doubt among road users about where they were supposed to stop.  In the light of the lengths we have had to go to in the past, we are therefore delighted to announce that a contract has been issued for work to renew your markings and that the contractors have been issued with an instruction to get the work done within one month, which means that the new lines should be in place by June 1^st. It goes without saying, though, that we will continue to take an interest in the state of your carriageways and others in this vicinity.

Windsor Road carriageway markings

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured the reinstatement of white lines at the entrance to Windsor Road and at the T-junction further down.

This follows local residents complaining that it was not safe to negotiate that T-junction without road markings telling motorists where they needed to stop.  Given the fun and games we have had in the past elsewhere in the ward – Newland Park residents had to fork out in 1993 for the double yellow lines on their blind bends – we are delighted to inform you that a contract for the work has been issued and that work should be carried out, as we understand it, within a month or at the very least by 1^st June. We will of course continue to take an interest in local carriageway maintenance in all its aspects but this is a considerable step in the right direction.

Southfield Road carriageway markings

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured the reinstatement of white lines at the Bricknell Avenue end of Southfield Road.

Not for the first time, we have raised concerns with the officers about the wear and tear on your road markings being such as might cause doubt among road users as to where they were supposed to stop.  In the light of some of the lengths we have had to go to in the past, we are therefore delighted to announce that a contract has been issued for work to renew your markings and that the contractors have been issued with an instruction to get the work done within one month, which means that the new lines should be in place by June 1^st. It goes without saying, though, that we will continue to take an interest in the state of your carriageways and others in this vicinity.

Allderidge Avenue traffic consultation

John Fareham and John Abbott are arranging a consultation exercise, to take place in May, with regard to Allderidge Avenue traffic and parking.

Residents who decided to express an opinion on the proposals to build student accommodation on the YPI car park made frequent reference to the implications for local parking.  This suggests a possible change of stance on the part of some residents since the first suggestion of a resident parking scheme some 20 years ago.  The large-scale controlled parking zone to protect a wide area around Kelvin Hall School and Wyke College met with no public favour. We have arranged for local residents to have the option of a controlled parking scheme for Allderidge Avenue alone.  Officers of the Council will be in touch in due course to conduct the official consultation exercise but we thought it best to tell you about it ourselves beforehand so as to give you plenty of time to consider your response.

Latest on traveller policy

John Fareham and John Abbott continue to work with others for an adequate official response to future traveller incursions on Bricknell Estate.

West Area Committee – where others from different parties have also been having issues with travellers – made a referral to Community Safety Overview and Scrutiny Commission suggesting that the timings taken to deal with the next few traveller incursions be recorded and compared.  This we approve of – Wyke Area Team’s officers moved rapidly last year, but it would not be in the interest of any area to have it thought that the response there was any less rapid, and there’s nothing like peer pressure.  That said, it also came to light that a flowchart detailing the police and officer response to future traveller incursions was due to come to Wyke Area Committee and other Council bodies in the near future but had been pulled so that it could be checked for legality.  We were, however, also able to advise our West Area colleagues that last time the travellers turned up our legal position had been strengthened by their forcing the locks on the Aneurin Bevan Lodge site and that the same principle – traveller damage equals easier win in court – could be put to work elsewhere.

Ancaster Avenue wheelie-bin collection

John Fareham and John Abbott report that a change in dustbin collection arrangements for Ancaster Avenue is under consideration in order to prevent dustcarts damaging tenfoots.

We have been receiving complaints from some local residents that, however lightweight a vehicle the corporate centre sends to empty dustbins from the rear of local residents’ homes, it is still too heavy not to damage the tenfoots.  We are therefore in discussions with the officers about whether the solution to this might be refuse collection from the front of local residents’ homes and we would actively welcome any comments local residents may have as to whether or not they like the proposed collection of wheelie-bins from the front of their properties.  We are also insisting that officers, who have already encountered similar problems elsewhere in the city, hold off on writing to you giving you two weeks’ notice of the change in order that residents may have the opportunity to tell us what they think.  The officers work for you, not the other way round, and this is one instance where they may need to be reminded.

Goddard Avenue potholes

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured repairs to potholes on Goddard Avenue adjoining Jack Kaye Walk and at the entrance to The Woodlands.

For all that some of these potholes were technically just outside our ward, we nevertheless decided, when local residents drew the matter to our attention to pass the matter on to the officers with a request that, in the interest of residents in our ward as well as that of Newland Ward next door, something be done about the potholes. We were therefore delighted to hear from one of our original sources on this matter that they had actually seen repair work being carried out. It goes without saying, however, that we will stand ready to assist with any further potholes that occur within our own ward.

Murrayfield Road and Southfield Road land

John Fareham and John Abbott have the latest information on the proposal to transfer land between Murrayfield Road and Southfield Road to local residents.

As of April 4^th some 21 householders had yet to reply one way or the other to NPS’s offer. We now understand NPS have written to all those households giving them two weeks to reply.  In the meantime arrangements have been put in place for a more accurate land survey to be undertaken so that the Council knows exactly which bit of land is being transferred to which property.  This work is currently pencilled in to take place in April.  It goes without saying that if there are any further details to pass on to local residents we will make sure we do just that.

YPI tribute band festival

John Fareham and John Abbott understand that the YPI grounds will be the venue for a tribute-band rock festival on the afternoon and evening of Saturday 17^th August if a licensing application submitted to the Council is approved.

A licensing application has been submitted by a company called Fake Festivals, who have already organised events involving tribute bands in other locations including Driffield.  This asks for permission to set up marquees, allow dancing and permit the sale of alcohol, on the date of the event only, from noon until midnight.  Such one-shot licensing applications are common practice for special events and the applicants, who propose to hold this event on an annual basis, have undertaken to give the Council, in its capacity as the licensing authority, three months’ notice of their intention to repeat the process.

Jack Kaye Walk tree trimming

John Fareham and John Abbott have arranged for the pruning of trees on Jack Kaye Walk that were blocking the light from street lights.

We were informed by local residents that the trees there, between Goddard Avenue and Ella Street, were sufficiently luxuriant to block out the light from the lamp standards.  We arranged for the trees to be pruned in the interests of public safety – nobody wants cyclists to have a collision in the dark or pedestrians to feel like this is an unsafe route.  It goes without saying that we will continue to keep this matter under advisement and will act again if the trees get too overgrown again.