Bricknell Avenue litter bin

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured the replacement of a damaged litter bin in front of the Bricknell Avenue shops.

We were delighted to see, during the course of our pioneering and trail-blazing mobile forum, to see that our prolonged pressure on the corporate centre has finally borne fruit with the fitment of a metal bin – hopefully more resistant to mindless vandalism than the other sort – in a location where one might expect there to be high demand for somewhere to get rid of snack and drinks packaging. We are of course prepared to replace any such bin which is damaged to the extent that the old one on this site was and we will continue to keep an eye on the new one as well.

Hartoft Road flats entry system

John Fareham and John Abbott are working to arrange for a new secure entry system for the Hartoft Road flats.

As is often the case, we and the officers find ourselves with funds under certain budget headings we didn’t have a use for before but we have one now.  This is why we have been holding discussions with the appropriate officers as to whether, without compromise to service provision in the new financial year, we can spend most of the rest of one particular little budget on providing new security doors. We are hoping to draw on our experience with a similar project some years ago on Appleton Road to ensure the problems experienced with that system do not recur here.

Southfield Road land transfer

John Fareham and John Abbott have the latest information on the transfer of surplus Council land to residents of Southfield Road.

Having been asked by some local residents what was causing delays, we asked NPS, who handle such matters on behalf of the Council, to tell us why there was a problem. They replied that 36 households had been offered land of which 29 had signed the necessary paperwork.  Of the other 7, technicalities such as proving sole ownership, confirming the existence of planning permission and solicitors dawdling over the return of paperwork were among the causes of delay, whilst some households turned down the offer of the land necessitating the making of arrangements for others to be offered the land.  The officers are, we are assured, working closely with NPS to make sure the situation is sorted out as soon as possible.

Fairfax Avenue fly tipping

John Fareham and John Abbott have worked with officers to arrange for the removal of bags of rubbish fly-tipped on Fairfax Avenue.

Local residents contacted the Guildhall to complain about this problem and their complaints were passed on to us. We  checked the specifics with local residents and then passed the details on to the officers. They in turn passed the matter on to their enforcement team and the rubbish in question, which comprised four bin bags of pop bottles and the like, has now been removed. If there is any more rubbish dumped like this instead of disposing of it properly, we are of course entirely prepared to assist once again with getting rid of it.

Chanterlands Avenue rail bridge - mural in the offing?

John Fareham and John Abbott report that discussions are to be held regarding the possibility of a mural being painted on the Chanterlands Avenue rail bridge.

Whilst there are clearly other matters relating to this bridge to be resolved, including restoring the lighting and dealing with the mess that the local pigeon population leave behind, we are nevertheless prepared to discuss with the councillors for the ward on the far side of the bridge the provision of appropriate decorations for the bridge to take the place of worn out paintwork and mindless graffiti. The meeting is to take place early in January and we will of course report back on its outcome when that is known.

New sandwich van for National Avenue

John Fareham and John Abbott report that the Council’s Licensing Committee have approved an application from Cooplands to operate a van selling hot food and sandwiches from a location on National Avenue near the Ideal works.

This van will stop briefly at a wide range of locations across the city and remain at each of its numerous stopping points for some five to ten minutes. The stop here is scheduled to begin at 10.55 a.m. When consulted about this as ward councillors, we were both broadly relaxed about the general idea but we asked that the number if stops within the ward be reduced from three to one.  Since we were asked about this some time ago Cooplands accepted that three different stopping points round here made less sense than one. John Abbott was therefore prepared to support the passage of the application and it duly went through.

Barrington Avenue street light design principles

John Fareham and John Abbott are working to ensure that the detailed design of the Barrington Avenue street lighting scheme conforms to the needs and preferences of local residents.

The installation of additional lamps to cover tenfoot entrances has already been agreed on as a result of the consultation process and whilst some element of mathematical calculation will be involved, there is no risk of lamp standards either blocking drives or having lights shine into houses.  In all the previous lighting schemes we have implemented, only once has it been necessary to shield a lamp. As to the timing of the works, for obvious reasons they are not likely to be carried out in the winter but they could take place next spring so as to ensure a seamless transition from the old street lights to the new.

The Woodlands carriageway funding

John Fareham and John Abbott report that, in common with other proposed carriageway works, the resurfacing of pavements in The Woodlands is likely to be carried over until 2017-18.

We made enquiries after the meeting of Wyke Area Committee at which figures for the overall cost were presented in order to ascertain when the works were likely to be carried out and what stage had been reached with the procedures described in the meeting papers as “investigation”.  We were informed that the officers were currently uncertain as to what budget they would receive for the new financial year and could not therefore comment at this stage as to when they could go ahead.  This is not exactly perfect news but equally it would not be unprecedented for officers to find, late in the financial year, that they had more money left than they thought and needed ways of spending or at least committing it sharpish.  We are therefore not giving up hope and will continue to pursue the matter.

Loveridge Avenue carriageway funding

John Fareham and John Abbott report that the tentative proposals for carriageway works on Loveridge Avenue are likely to fall under the 2017-18 highways budget.

As we started previously, we are working with the officers to ensure that these proposals are implemented.  Our latest information is that the officers cannot guarantee that these schemes, for which provisional budgets have already been calculated, will go ahead until their budget allocation for next year is known.  We will therefore continue for these works to be given serious consideration; after all the hoo-hah with orange barriers, diverted  buses and all that in the City Centre it is about time other parts of the city got their fair share of highways funding.

Chanterlands Avenue carriageway works funding

John Fareham and John Abbott report that the tentative proposals for carriageway works on Chanterlands Avenue between Goddard Avenue and the roundabout are likely to fall under the 2017-18 highways budget.

As we started previously, we are working with the officers to ensure that these proposals are implemented.  Our latest information is that the officers cannot guarantee that these schemes, for which provisional budgets have already been calculated, will go ahead until their budget allocation for next year is known.  We will therefore continue for these works to be given serious consideration; after all the hoo-hah with orange barriers, diverted  buses and all that in the City Centre it is about time other parts of the city got their fair share of highways funding.

The Woodlands footpath reinstatement

John Fareham and John Abbott are working to secure footpath reinstatement on The Woodlands.

Given that both sides of Goddard Avenue have had their footpaths resurfaced, it only seems reasonable to pursue similar action here. Papers for the most recent meeting of Wyke Area Committee listed a scheme for The Woodlands as one of those “under investigation” although a figure for how much it would cost was given in the papers.  We will of course continue to pursue the scheme as we think such work is long overdue; as soon as we have any information as to whether or when the plan will go ahead we will of course let local residents know.

Briarfield Road traffic regulation order

John Fareham and John Abbott report that a final decision on whether or not to proceed with a Traffic Regulation Order for Briarfield Road will be taken by the Council’s Wyke Area Committee at its meeting on Wednesday January 18^th.

We have consulted repeatedly and extensively on these proposals and we have of course kept local residents informed throughout the entire process. However we and the officers agree that the time has come to make and implement the decision and the matter will therefore come before us and our colleagues in January. For those who want to read the papers we will have at the meeting, they should be downloadable five working days before the meeting. We would like to thank all the local residents who have taken part in the consultation process; we will report on the Committee’s decision when it is known and also on the timeframe for the necessary works.

County Road North junction markings

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured the remarking of the Keep Clear signs on the road at the junction of County Road North and National Avenue.

We received representations from local residents to the effect that other local markings such as these were in need of renewal. We therefore took the matter to the officers as soon as we heard about them and, having heard from the corporate centre that those markings were to be re-done, we checked with the officers that these were going to be repainted too. At first we were given to understand that some such thing as national guidance would preclude the work being done, but they were good enough to clear that up and we can now confirm that three such sets of markings in the immediate vicinity are all to be repainted. The work may not be done immediately, for weather-related reasons, but the contractors are certainly under instructions to carry it out.

Keep Clear markings to be reinstated

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured the remarking of the Keep Clear markings at the junction of Briarfield Road and National Avenue.

“We were given to understand that other markings were to be attended to and we asked when these were to be done. The contractors have been instructed to repaint these markings and others nearby as soon as the climatic conditions permit which may not, given the current weather, be for some time.  We were initially given to understand that national guidance precluded this work but we have since been informed that this was not correct and that the work will go ahead as soon as the climatic conditions, and in particular those relating to moisture, are correct.

Grammar School Road tree trimming

John Fareham and John Abbott have arranged for the trimming of Grammar School Road trees.

There are places within this ward where tree trimming is a matter of keeping sap and worse off cars; places where properly trimmed trees are essential for sufficient daylight to enter local residents’ homes; and places like this where tree maintenance is simply prudent.  We therefore arranged that these trees should be trimmed at the same time as concerns about trees that were interfering with light in another street nearby were being addressed. Once trimmed, of course, trees do grow back as long as they are healthy but, wherever local residents are concerned that trees are getting too big for their roots, we will refer that matter to the Council’s tree experts with a request for the appropriate professional action.

National Avenue Keep Clear markings

John Fareham and John Abbott have arranged for the reinstatement of National Avenue Keep Clear markings.

We received representations from local residents to the effect that these markings were in need of renewal. We therefore took the matter to the officers as soon as we heard about them and, having reminded them about it in response to further enquiries from local residents during our pioneering and trail-blazing mobile forum, we can now confirm that we have been informed that the contractors who carry out work such as this on behalf of the Council had already been chased up on this matter and that the markings would be reinstated in due course as soon as possible.

Cancellation of Service 23 bus route

John Fareham and John Abbott report that the East Yorkshire service 23 has now ceased to operate.

East Yorkshire were able to operate the service on an experimental basis using vehicles already allocated to school contract services. However, passenger take-up of the service was not sufficient to warrant its continuing to be used and the service is therefore ceasing operations.  We are of course working with officers to arrange for the bus stops which will no longer be used to be available as additional parking spaces, which will mean ensuring that the Council’s parking enforcement people are also firmly in the loop and know not to ticket any cars parked there.

Skelton Avenue trees

John Fareham and John Abbott have arranged for the trimming of Skelton Avenue trees.

Local residents asked that we got the trees trimmed as they were interfering with light levels in their homes. We therefore contacted the officers to ask that a task of relatively modest proportions such as this be carried out as soon as possible. As residents will by now have seen, the work was carried out on November 23^rd, the day of our pioneering and trail-blazing mobile forum, and we hope that residents will thus be able to enjoy the full benefit of the works they asked for in the first place.

Prospects for Goddard Avenue open land

John Fareham and John Abbott confirm that the open land behind Goddard Avenue is to remain as open land in the draft of the Council’s revised City Plan to be submitted to the Secretary of State for approval.

A report submitted to the November meeting of the Planning Committee – and to other committees as well – confirms that although representations were submitted asking for several pieces of open land to be reclassified as housing land, it was decided not to take these ideas on board. The draft City Plan will thus go off to the Secretary of State for approval and, if it gets the thumbs up, the Council will then have a good excuse to tell any developers with designs on these patches of land that approving their applications would be directly contrary to the City Plan.  Long-term readers of CONTACT! who remember the previous attempt to build houses on this land may suspect that we would derive pleasure from being allowed to do precisely that. We of course could not possibly comment.

Barrington Avenue period street lights

John Fareham and John Abbott reaffirm their commitment to replacing the obsolete Barrington Avenue street lights with ones of appropriate period appearance.

At no point have we been interested in, or committed to, replacing Barrington Avenue street lights with anything other than new lamps of old-fashioned appearance. Indeed, we took considerable care last time we replaced street lights like Barrington Avenue’s to canvass the options thoroughly, look at all the available designs within the Council’s price range, and to buy, having conferred with local residents first, the ones we and they liked best.  Street lamps dating from 1930 or thereabouts are being replaced elsewhere and a reasonable chance exists of finding period-style street lamps which we might expect to find favour with local residents as an acceptable second best to keeping the same lamp standards indefinitely.

Chanterlands Avenue North pavements campaign

Loveridge Avenue pavements

John Fareham and John Abbott are working to secure the resurfacing of Loveridge Avenue pavements.

We appreciate that other matters may be prevalent in local residents’ thoughts, but we think it is not inconsistent with attending to those to look into important but unrelated matters. We have therefore been applying pressure to the officers to ascertain whether the state of these pavements is, in their opinion as in ours, in need of remedial measures and, if so, what steps they propose to take to remedy the matter.  We understand that they are now looking into the matter and, when we know what action they propose to take, we will of course report further on the matter.

Resufacing of Windsor Road pavements

John Fareham and John Abbott report that slurry sealing of Windsor Road pavements is due to start on site at the beginning of February.

Papers for the November meeting of Wyke Area Committee listed all the highway works, whether to pavements or carriageways, recently carried out or due to be carried out in the near future. The Windsor Road works were put into the programme in June and cover the stretch from the junction with County Road North to no. 89 on the odd numbered side and to no. 56 on the even numbered side.  It goes without saying that if we receive any more specific details as to the timing of this work we will of course let you know.

Newland Park street sweeping

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured an undertaking that efforts will be made to ensure Newland Park streets will be swept before student and other parking begins in the morning.

For some time we have been pressurising the officers to accept the obvious – namely, that if street cleansing here is to achieve the best possible results, that cannot be attempted at any time of day when non-resident vehicles belonging to students and others are around.  Far better, we have long contended, to do the job before all those vehicles get here since of course residents park, for the most part, on their own drives. We raised this matter yet again at Wyke Area Committee and finally received, after rather prolonged pressure, and undertaking that the officers would take our views back and arrange for what we wanted to be done.

Resurfacing of Cottingham Road pavements

John Fareham and John Abbott report that slurry sealing of Cottingham Road pavements is due to start on site at the beginning of February.

Papers for the November meeting of Wyke Area Committee listed all the highway works, whether to pavements or carriageways, recently carried out or due to be carried out in the near future. The Cottingham Road works were put into the programme in June and cover the stretch on the Bricknell Ward side of the road from Chanterlands Avenue North to Kenilworth Avenue.  It goes without saying that if we receive any more specific details as to the timing of this work we will of course let you know.

Chanterlands Avenue rail bridge lighting

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured undertakings that the electrical lighting under the Chanterlands Avenue railway bridge will be restored.

We have arranged for the state of the lighting to be investigated after complaints were received from local residents who attended a pioneering and trail blazing local forum we conducted in October.  It has now been discovered that the wiring was disconnected and that it will be necessary to arrange, in consultation of course with Network Rail however long that may take,  for its reconnection.  It goes without saying that any and all matters relating to street lighting are ones which we take very seriously indeed and which we are intent on ensuring that the corporate centre act upon.  Equally, we will remain grateful to any local residents who draw such matters as this to our attention – not all of our frequent visits to the ward are conducted at hours when working street lights are on and malfunctioning ones are not.

Barrington Avenue and other grass verges

John Fareham and John Abbott have arranged for a review to be undertaken of locations where vehicles have been damaging grass verges, as they have been on Barrington Avenue, and for additional rocks to be situated or planting to be undertaken to address the problem.

We understand and appreciate that not all motorists have first class access to convenient parking spaces.  However, chewing up grass verges is not the most orderly of solutions to the problem, and we are therefore working with the officers to ascertain where efforts to prevent the problem from recurring can do the most good. We suspect we know the answer already, and it may well be that you do too, but it will be necessary to conduct the review first and then plan for the allocation of resources to combat the problem.

School playing fields allotments

John Fareham and John Abbott have arranged for a consultation exercise to be carried out into the possibility of setting up further allotments on the former Newland  Avenue Primary School playing fields.

Residents will, in the near future, be receiving a letter from the Council seeking to ascertain whether they would be interested in creating a community allotment site on the old school playing fields. If residents wanted to go ahead with the scheme it would thus become the third phase of our attempt to increase the number of allotments in the ward; some vacant Housing Department land on County Road North and parts of the Bakers Field land behind Huntley Drive have already been put into use on this role and, whilst the supply of available land for this purpose is of course very limited indeed, as an allotment holder myself I want more local residents to have access to an allotment of their own if they want one.

Cropton Park half term activities

John Fareham and John Abbott arranged for informal activities for children to be available on Cropton Park during the school half term break.

This is of course not the first time that we have acted on our long term priority of increasing the availability of activities for children in the area. We know that half-term is not the broadest possible canvas on which to plan such activities, but we have high hopes that children in pursuit of something more interesting than several days with a games console might have found the activities we arranged to have laid on for them of use and interest.  Given that Bricknell ward is not exactly overwhelmed with large amounts of open play space, it seemed and still seems to us sensible to get expert help in ensuring that children looking to enjoy their half-term breaks, last month and in the future, to the full should have all the help we can manage to arrange in doing exactly that.