Lythe Avenue carriageway repairs

John Fareham and John Abbott have secured partial repairs to the carriageway on Lythe Avenue.

We received complaints from local residents to the effect that, although we had already secured repairs to the carriageway in the past, the current state of it now required further intervention.  We therefore took photographs of the potholes and, whilst the officers predictably responded that none of them were deep enough to warrant action under their standard intervention criteria, as a small amount of the surface dressing was coming to pieces, they were prepared to raise an order for the potholes outside nos. 11 and 13 to be filed in.  It goes without saying that, if the state of the carriageway deteriorates still further, we will be prepared to intervene about that as well.

Cropton playing fields demolition work

John Fareham and John Abbott report that the disused building on the Cropton Park playing fields has now begun to be demolished.

Given the level of graffiti this building attracted, some of it wholly unsuitable to be quoted here, and the health and safety issues arising from the discovery of asbestos in the premises, we feel it is entirely appropriate that the building should come down. We do of course continue to pursue further measures to improve park security, but it is our hope that the demolition of this building will reduce the level of temptation for the ungodly to bring their marker pens and their foul language here, and as the corporate centre have long since stopped using the building as a depot, it is now the right time for the building to come down.

Kelvin Hall School and Wyke College oarking

John Fareham and John Abbott are working to resolve problems with on-street parking on Bricknell Avenue by staff and students from Wyke College and Kelvin Hall School.

We have received complaints from local residents to the effect that vehicles which should ideally be parked on the premises of either local educational establishment are instead being parked on Bricknell Avenue itself.  This would seem problematical, especially as such vehicles can, for work reasons, be left there as late as 8 pm, and research into the planning conditions under which both sets of educational premises were built suggests that sufficient on-site parking provision was made a condition of planning permission being granted in the first instance for at least one of the two institutions.  We have therefore written to both Wyke College and Kelvin Hall School asking for their cooperation in keeping staff and student vehicles off the road.  As and when we receive a reply we will of course inform local residents of the outcome.

Newland Park verge maintenance

John Fareham and John Abbott are working to ensure that Newland Park grassed space maintenance continues to be carried out to an acceptable standard.

Negotiations between the Newland Park Residents’ Association and the Council in the matter of a service level agreement have come to an end without an agreement being reached. We are therefore working to secure guarantees from the corporate centre that this will not mean a decline in the standard of maintenance or the frequency of grass cutting. We are of course firmly intent on ensuring that such an outcome is achieved and will report further on this matter as discussions progress.

Chanterlands Avenue rail bridge cleaning

John Fareham and John Abbott report that the Council is engaging specialist cleaning contractors to remove green slime and graffiti from the Chanterlands Avenue railway bridge.

These works, which will begin in January, are of course entirely separate from the proposals for the decoration of the bridge that we are working on in conjunction with our Avenue Ward colleagues, and will involve some disruption to pedestrian access under the bridge while the work is in progress.  As soon as we have more details of the start date and duration of the works we will of course let local residents know, but we thought it wise to make sure that all concerned were aware that these works were in the pipeline.  Of course there are other issues to be addressed relating to the structure and long-term wellbeing of the bridge, and we will continue to press for results on those, but we welcome this development as a potential indication that prolonged pressure on those issues has resulted in the work being scheduled.

Bricknell rail halt latest

John Fareham and John Abbott report that work is continuing on the campaign to establish a Bricknell rail halt.

As regular readers will be aware, we have been contacting all the relevant outside bodies to ask for their assistance in making the rail halt a reality.  Network Rail replied to us recently saying that, while they were not in favour of the idea, one of their team would be attending a meeting of the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership to discuss the matter with them.  This is not of course the sort of reply we were hoping for, but we have asked them to let us know what comes of the meeting and when we have any further information in this connection we will of course let local residents know.

County Road North and National Avenue road markings

John Fareham and John Abbott have arranged for the re-painting of County Road North and National Avenue road markings.

We received complaints from local residents to the effect that certain road markings, specifically those asking motorists to Keep Clear, were becoming more faded than was consistent with road safety. We therefore referred the matter to the officers who have now replied to the effect that whilst they don’t think the Keep Clear markings themselves are especially bad, other markings such as stop lines and give-way markings are in need of repainting. They have therefore issued instructions for all the existing road markings to be repainted though they understandably stress that the work will have to be carried out when the weather is entirely suitable.

Scholars Drive and Cottingham Road pavements

John Fareham and John Abbott are working to secure repairs to the pavements on Cottingham Road between Scholars Drive and Newland Avenue.

The matter was drawn to our attention by local residents during our recent mobile forum. Technically the bit of pavement concerned is only partly in our ward, but we felt the matter should be reported to the appropriate quarters via the officer who was with us on the bus. They now inform us that they will refer the matter to the appropriate officers and will also arrange for the question of a house on that part of Cottingham Road being used for business purposes to be thoroughly investigated.  It goes without saying that, should either of us need to intervene further to secure the appropriate outcome, we will of course do so.

Southfield Road anonymous leaflet

John Fareham and John Abbott are investigating the origins and contents of an anonymous circular sent to residents of Southfield Road regarding the proposal to block off access from Murrayfield Road.

We have been sent copies of this circular which did not come from us or, by the look of it, from any other political party. (If it had come from our opponents it would certainly have said which party it came from and would in all probability not have mentioned individual local residents by name.) We have therefore forwarded the circular to our highways officers with a request that they look into where it came from and how much resemblance its contents bear to the truth; we have our own theories as to its possible origins but we prefer to keep them to ourselves.

National Avenue allotment toilets

John Fareham and John Abbott are arranging for toilet facilities to be installed at the National Avenue allotments.

We received representations from allotment holders about this matter during our recent mobile forum.  We were at that stage prepared in principle to meet the costs if the indicative figures quoted at the time were anything like accurate.  After further discussions with the officers, we are prepared to go ahead on the basis that the council pays for the installation of the toilets and that, in the light of our and the officers’ concern about possible vandalism, the allotment holders would be responsible thereafter for their maintenance.  If this proposal is acceptable to the allotment holders, the council will then be able to go ahead and install the necessary equipment.

County Road North and National Avenue crossing facilities

John Fareham and John Abbott report that the corporate centre is offering resistance to local residents’ expressed wish to see improved pedestrian crossing facilities on County Road North and National Avenue.

We have received representations from local residents to the effect that they find the existing crossing provision inadequate and that they would much prefer it if in addition to the existing crossing facilities near the junction at the Bricknell Avenue end there were crossing facilities further down. We have heard back from the officers to the effect that if such a scheme were to go ahead, it would need to be paid for out of our own ward funds. Leaving aside such partisan issues as whether our budget is calculated on a fair and reasonable basis, we know that our budget is not a bottomless pit of resources and the corporate centre has more money than we do. We have therefore asked for a full explanation of the reasons for their decision and will continue to pursue this matter until it is satisfactorily resolved.