Recently in John's Musings Category

2010 has now gone and has taken it's place history, as I sit here looking out over a gloomy landscape I wonder how the historians will record  the past year. A year which in passing  brings to a close the first decade of the second millenium AD. A  sobering thought, it seems like only yesterday we were all waiting with baited breath the much feared "Millenium Bug" A damp squib if ever there was one.

So let us look to the future and hope that 2011 won't be too tough a year as "Government Cuts" begin to bite. Whilst the winter still has it's grip on the country let us look forward to a super Spring and a glorious Summer.

A Happy New Year to One and All.

Throughout my political life I have always regarded honesty as an important part of my work, and I don't make personal attacks or claim credit for things done by other people, I stand or fall by my own efforts which I put in on your behalf.

 

Last Thursday was a day I will never forget nor will my wife, this was the day I was installed as the Lord Mayor and what a magical day. To be part of York's Civic History is indeed a great honour and I hope that I will be able to live up to that honour.

We are moving into the Mansion House on Thursday 28th of May but of course we shall still spend any free time we might have in Bishopthorpe, and I shall certainly be keeping an eye on the ward. Even though I shall be York's first citizen I am still the ward councillor and I will still be on hand for anybody who requires my help, please either use my email or my mobile phone number which is 07973898402. Should you want to see what I and the Civic Party are up to you can see our activity on the Council's website.


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It would be quite remiss of me if I did not congratulate the Bishopthorpe Parish Council on their success in obtaining a grant from the Big  Lottery Fund to pay for renovations and improvements to the Village Hall. I know a lot of effort was put into the bid for the grant and I am sure that residents of the village will be delighted with the result..

 

The hall will continue to be a great facility for the village when the alterations are complete and as past and current generations have been grateful for the Village Hall I am sure that future generations will also appreciate the much improved facility.

I am delighted to announce that the charities I and the Civic Team will be supporting are, York Against Cancer and Brunswick Organic Nursery. It is hoped to hold a number of events to raise funds for these two very worthy charities.

Many words have been written and spoken, in the run up to and since the decision on the "Wheel" It is my opinion that York has lost a real opportunity for an additional attraction to the City.

In any difference of opinion either side will clutch at any arguments that may help in expressing those opinions and of course this certainly happened in the debate about the siting of the wheel on North Street. The only true argument (in my opinion) revolved around it's nearness to the City Centre, which of course was the major attraction for this location. Had this gone ahead it would probably have been for little more than 4 years, it was never going to be a permanent feature in the City, unlike a number of very poorly designed buildings which will grace or disgrace our City for years to come (depending on your point of view) .

The reasons why the wheel moved from the Railway Museum was that it was not envisaged  the site would be used was for more than 3 to 4 years and secondly the income had dropped quite dramatically in the last year. Yes of course it is about money but as we have seen of late and to quote a well known hackneyed phrase "it is money that makes the world go round".

If we are to maintain our position as a top tourist City we must continue to offer improving attractions to encourage tourists to visit and share with us, some of their hard earned cash. A major part of the economy of our fine and attractive City is Tourism, we have to keep ahead of the game, we have in this instance failed.

The wheel would have put new life into what is really a bit of a "tatty" corner and brought useful revenue into the City Coffers.

As I look out of my window on the first day of 2009 I sincerely hope that the gloomy outlook is not a foretaste of what is to come in the Ward in 2009. I know that many difficult decisions will have to be taken by the City Council no doubt affecting us all. For my part I wish to continue representing the ward well on the City Council and to ensure that the ward is not neglected by the Council

It is quite likely that the Terry's Site will again be in the public eye during 2009 and I will work tirelessly to ensure that the quality of life in the village will not be put at risk, for it is my hope that a link road between Bishopthorpe Road and Sim Balk Lane will be agreed in 2009.

I will continue to try and improve the village both in terms of cleanliness and appearance.

Wouldn't it be good to enter the village in the UK "Village in Bloom Competition" or is that asking too much?

Attempts are being made to get a Youth Club up and running , money has been put into the project by the Ward Committee from previous year's under spend, I also understand that the Parish Council has offered the use of a room in the Village Hall free of charge so let us hope for its success in 2009.

Finally I will work with the Police to ensure that anti social behaviour and vandalism is a thing of the past.  I hope that either the miscreants will see the error of their ways in this New Year or that they will be arrested, brought to court and punished, there is absolutely no excuse for the kind of behaviour we have seen in the village over the past months.

Each and every one of these youths responsible for this behaviour are known to the Police, so if they continue with their yobbish behaviour they will be caught and suffer the consequences.

So enough of my musings and thoughts, how about yours dear reader? Your comments will be most welcome.

Have a happy, a safe, a healthy and a prosperous NEW YEAR.

 

Thursday night (27th November) was the full Council Meeting at the Guildhall. The meeting started at 6.30pm and finished at 10.00pm.As usual much hot air was generated with a range of proposals which entailed writing to various Government Ministers on issues ranging from housing to commercial council tax on vacant commercial property. For me the highlight of the meeting was my success in getting a much more robust scrutiny structure agreed by Council, which will be effected in May next year. Scrutiny is a powerful tool in holding the Executive to account, it is also a means of ensuring that the Policies adopted by the Council are working. The process of scrutiny is conducted by those members of the Council who are not members of the Executive, in other words scrutiny is owned by such members and members involved in the scrutiny of any issue are not directed their group to follow a party line. I would hope that as the scrutiny structure is developed a mechanism will be introduced for any resident of York to request an issue to be considered for scrutiny.

This week was the main Planning Committee of which I am a member. The meeting this week was fairly non-controversial. We had three City centre sites that were being re-developed for housing for the elderly, affordable housing and general housing, The sites currently had on the what is known as "Discus Bungalows" which had now come to end of their lives and are to be demolished with existing tenants being re-housed in part of the new build. The thre sites were off Cemetery Road, Heslington Road and on Layerthorpe. A couple of applications for the expansion of the University were also dealt with. All applications were passed. The meeting was on Thursday and it was preceded by site visits on Wednesday which lasted 2 hours, the committee sat for two and a half hours on Thursday. This was one meeting that in general there were no controversial applications unlike most planning meetings.