Andy D'Agorne

Well this  should be on the local party site soon, but until then, here is a pretty map and analysis of how we fared in the local elections.

CIty_of_York_Results_-percent_and_maps_2007.pdf

A new weekly online newsletter has been started by Miles Slater, a resident in Fishergate ward. It will give brief listings of music and events that will interest a broad audience, plus snippets about everything from recyling and gardening tips to topical local issues. If you want to know more, take a look at a selection from the first edition below:

The York Times

                    Issue One : Wednesday May 23rd 2007

                York's finest free community e-newspaper !
                          Editor :  Miles Salter
                     email (type in):  milesinyork -at- hotmail.com
 
The York Times aims to provide free and timely community news on a wide
range of issues, news  and events in the York and surrounding area.  This
includes community events, the arts, the environment, sport and much more.
If you have anything you would like to include, please get in touch !
Please send the York Times to anybody who might be interested. Please note
: we do not publish material of a sexist, racist, or homophobic nature, and
will not feature anything relating to the BNP or similar groups.

                       York Live 25th- 28th May 2007

 Fans of live music have a treat in store - this weekend sees the return of
"York Live", the city's annual  music festival which celebrates local
talent. Well over 40 acts will be appearing at various venues over the
weekend. Kirsty Halliday, one of the organisers, will be talking to Matt
Seymour on his excellent "More Raw" music programme on BBC Radio York on
Thursday evening, from 7.00 p.m. Click here to find out more :

          http://www.bbc.co.uk/northyorkshire/entertainment/music/

Here are our pick of some of the highlights from "York Live" :

Parliament Street - Saturday, from 12.00 noon. Some great local acts
including recent signings One Night Only, plus local heroes The Nicoles and
Cardboard Radio, Hijak Oscar, Customer 1000 and The Blueprints.

"Yorkshire Routes" at The Junction, Leeman Road, Sunday 27th May. 7.30 p.m.
Five great acoustic acts including Jess Morgan (recently featured on Steve
Lamacq), plus Jess Gardham, T.W.O., Mark Wynne and Pillowfish. £4.00 entry
on the door.

Nine Live at Screen Three, City Screen, Monday 28th May at 8.00 p.m.
Tickets £7.00. Edwina Hayes,  Oliver J Brooke, Holly Taymar and more
feature in this line-up of local and national talent.

Also ! Three days of music  to pay tribute to snooker wizard Paul Hunter at
the Junction and Certificate 18. Over 20 acts in total, including Grinny
Grandad, The Universals, Arcana, Megawatt Winged Avenger and many more.
Click here to discover more :

                  http://www.whereinyork.co.uk/paulhunter/

                             More Music News.

Congratulations to Roland Walls on organising a tremedous folk day 2007,
last weekend at The Black Swan. Hundreds of people enjoyed a great day of
music, morris dancing and performance poetry. Great work, Roland !! Scroll
down to see Roland's reflections on the demise of the popular Radio York
Folk Programme.

Nick Harper plays Fibbers, Stonebow, in York, this coming Friday, 25th May.
The Guiar wizard has a great sense of humour, and has been known to include
 Led-Zeppelin like riffery alongside Monty Python songs ! I'm not joking !
 Check him out at Fibbers on Friday. 8.30p.m. £8.00 on the door.Click here
                to see what else is happening at Fibbers :

                         http://www.fibbers.co.uk/

AMERICANA NIGHT WITH KATY MOFFATT.   Thursday 24th May 2007. A rare
appearance from American country/roots singer Katy Moffatt on 24th May at
the National Centre For Early Music. She occupies that musical space which
isn't quite straight country or rock or contemporary folk for which the
term "Americana" was coined.  Her songs "provide stirring, poignant and
incisive glimpses into the lives of the long-suffering everyman and woman"
according to one US reviewer, who likened her writing to Springsteen
"except with a dusty Southwest spirit".

Tickets are available at £7/£6 from the NCEM Box Office (01904 658338).
Chris Euesden, who ran the recent Bob Dylan tribute gig, will act as MC and
there will be support slots from Stan Graham and others.

                              Antony Moves On

Congratulations to local arts impressario Antony Dunn, who recently took up
a new role as Director of Communicatons at The Theatre Royal in York,
having worked hard to help Riding Lights Theatre make an impact locally.
Good luck to Antony in his new role.

                               Literary News

Thursday 24th May :  7.30 p.m. Basement Bar, City Screen Riverlines - York
St John students present poetry from the WORD. Tickets £6/ £4 concessions
from City Screen Box Office 08707 58 32 19. Further details : go to -

                         http://www.riverlines.org/

                     More literary news next issue !!

            Green News....Green News...Green News...Green News

The York Times is keen to feature any organisations or individuals who have
an interest in the environment - please get in touch with your news / event!               !

                        Andy Goes Another Round !!

The other day the editor of the York Times, bumped into Andy D'Agorne, who
is one of two York Councillors for the Fishergate Ward, having recently been voted in
for the second time. Andy was recently glimpsed pedalling hard around York
in an affort to raise funds for the Greens. Please get in touch with Andy
if you would like to help.


                                Sports News

  York Knights take on Keighley Tigers on Sunday June 3rd at 3.00 p.m. at
 Huntington Stadium.  To book tickets, call the York Knights Box Office on
                              (01904) 758234.

                      Click below to find out more :

                     http://www.yorkcityknights.co.uk/

    Roland Walls on the demise of BBC North Yorkshire's Folk Programme

Roland Walls, local organiser of the Black Swan Folk Club, has given The
York Times permission to re-print his views on BBC Radio York's decision to
axe the popular North Yorkshire folk progamme. Here, Roland laments the
changes :

Sadly, Michael Brothwell broadcast his last edition of North Yorkshire Folk
on BBC Radio York at the end of March, 2007.  Due to developing business
interests in Leeds he had wanted to move on for some time, and I sure we
all wish him well.  In the two years he had been on air, Michael created
one of the best local radio specialist music shows in a very long time. A
"natural" broadcaster and a great enthusiast for folk music in all its
forms, he gave generous support to the local music scene across the county.

Locally-based performers were heavily featured in studio sessions,
interviews and record play, with Michael displaying a rare ability to
unearth new and interesting artists. In particular, he made common ground
between the older-established folk scene, based around clubs and festivals,
and the younger generation of acoustic musicians sometimes dubbed "new
folk". Even someone like myself, immersed in this business for over 25
years, discovered someone or something unfamiliar and enjoyable almost
every week. The show rapidly became essential listening, and when it was
extended to two hours, in direct competition with Mike Harding on Radio 2,
it was the national station that lost out, so far as many were concerned!

Highlights were numerous, but I would single out the "Auden & Folk"
programme, based around last year's event in York. This was a masterly mix
of concert footage, percipient interviews and modest narration which I feel
could have easily merited a repeat on a national radio channel such as
Radio 2 or even Radio 3 or 4. Nor should we forget the "Song for North
Yorkshire" competition, which proved far more successful than we first
anticipated in encouraging and promoting local songwriting talent.

So what happens next on Radio York? Although Michael gave his bosses
generous notice of his departure, no great steps seem to have been taken to
seek out an alternative presenter. The 7pm slot on Wednesday 4th April was
filled by one of the station's regular broadcasters. True, our own Stan
Graham had been drafted in at the last minute to chat with her, but they
were limited to playing CD tracks with, it seemed, a brief to be as "safe"
and "mainstream" as possible. There wasn't even a diary of upcoming events.
This was hardly local radio in any true sense. I gave up at 8pm and
re-tuned to Mike Harding on Radio 2!  If you want to express your concerns,
I suggest you contact BBC Radio York's Managing Editor, Sara Drummond, on
sarah.drummond@bbc.co.uk.


       The York Times is owned and managed by Big Ideas (York) Ltd.

SEPTEMBER CONFERENCE: IS IT IN YOUR DIARY?

The Autumn Conference will be from September 13 to 16 on the Everton campus of Liverpool Hope University (http://www.hope.ac.uk/). The venue is The Cornerstone, Haigh Street, (L3 8QB), just 10 minutes' walk from Liverpool Lime Street rail station, or the National Express bus station. Expected starting time is 12 noon Thursday; closing time 2pm on Sunday.

NOTE: The deadlines for motions etc for the first agenda will be Wednesday June 13. The deadline for amendments and reports for the final agenda will be Wednesday August 1.

The new Conferences Committee are John Norris (convener, venue, general enquiries), Joe Blakesley (conference stalls), Rob Smith (accommodation), John Street (co-opted, treasurer, timetable), Viv Smith (GPRC Friend, future venues), and Peter Cranie (Liverpool GP, bookings). Contact: John Norris, 15 Victor Street, York YO1 6HQ, 01904 640344, conferences@jnorris.org.uk. For more information and future updates, please check: http://www.greenparty.org.uk/nextconference

York's Green Party councillors have criticised the Labour group for allowing the Liberal Democrats to remain in power, as now seems likely when the new council first meets on Thursday this week.

Green group leader Cllr Andy D'Agorne said,"Despite a willingness of the other three parties to put the needs of the city before political advantage, the Labour group has decided that it prefers to be in opposition. Labour councillors have chosen to reject either taking part in a joint administration or forming a minority leadership supported by either the two Green councillors or the Conservative group. This leaves control of the council with the Liberal Democrats by default."

Green councillor Andy D'Agorne has been involved in discussions with the other group leaders in drawing up a list of policy priorities for the new administration, due to be published later this week. A Climate Change Strategy for the city has been included as one of these at the suggestion of the Greens.

"Key policy decisions on transport, waste, energy costs, and planning are crucial to the York's future and will also have an impact on our contribution to the city's carbon footprint,"said Cllr Andy D'Agorne.

A joint statement from the group leaders on how the council is expected to be run is due to be made on Wednesday afternoon.

Today the post election pleasantries between parties in the public limelight seem to have faded, as Labour emerge as the spoilers of any prospect in the short term of a 'rainbow coalition' to run the council. So will it be more of the same, with Steve Galloway's pronouncements being sniped at by Labour from the security of 'opposition'?

 A minority Lib Dem council will at least be more humble, but if all that Labour contribute is critiscism, the committed good staff  that we have left will look to follow the Chief Executive into retirement as soon as they can or follow the recent exodus to other councils that can pay more. Labour and the Tories have new 'Leaders' and this would have been an ideal time for a new Lib Dem leader to actively court a consensus with David Scott and Ian Gillies around common interests for the city. This doesnt seem to be in prospect for the forseeable future, but the tough choices on Waste PFI, York Central and British Sugar sites, traffic chaos from new developments, new Council accommodation etc wont wait, never mind the small matter of a serious local response to climate change.

In spite of all this, a hung council gives the opportunity for all parties to reflect on what they can do to improve the service to the people of the city and make common cause with others who want to progress the interests of our truely special city, whichever party they might come from.

Lib Dems have now lost overall control in York with the Tories gaining 8 seats. The Greens have held our two seats in Fishergate in spite of serious attack by Labour trying to retake the seat, but sadly just failed to increase our representation, coming within 60 votes of taking one of three Labour seats in Micklegate. Our vote across the city was well up, getting second place in some wards.

Yes, Thursday May 3rd 2007 and polls are open from 7am - 10pm. If you have a postal vote that you forgot to post take it along to a polling station in your ward or the Guildhall today!

If you are voting in Fishergate this morning, please dont go the Danesgate polling station in your car, as parking will be a nightmare - Construction work is underway for the new Skills Centre (workers vans and construction deliveries) the Pupil Referral Unit is open as usual in the building (staff cars) and the nearby Steiner School is open as usual (school run traffic) There are extra temporary parking restrictions on Fulford Cross itself which is the only narrow access road from Fulford Rd. So if you can, be green as well as vote Green - walk or cycle (there is access from Danesmead estate and via the riverside path through the allotments if that is nearer to you).

After being alerted to this while canvassing on Tuesday night, the situation HAS been risk assessed by the council, the construction site manager HAS been informed that the building will be a polling station by me (no one had told him), and the Steiner School has been reminded of the problem for parents delivering small children by me! A councillors work doesnt stop at being elected!!

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Posted by: andydag    in: Latest news

Following complaints that a farmer has been spreading
fertilisers on Walmgate Stray, the Green Party is
calling for tighter management control from the
council.

Green Councillor, Andy D'Agorne said, "We heard that
the farmer had spread a very foul smelling fertiliser
over the stray, and that the dust was blowing towards
student bedrooms.  This is an intensive farming
practice, which has no place on historic common land
like the Stray."

Heslington Green candidate, Peter Sanderson said, "The
stray is used not just for grazing, but for sports,
sun-bathing, walking, and picnics.  It's a great open
space.  To use fertilisers is being a poor neighbour
to all these other users.  It also damages the
wildlife of these historic grassland areas."

Greens were also concerned that the vehicle used to
spray the stray had broken one of the wooden
footbridges.  This has now been taken away to be
replaced.

Cllr D'Agorne said, "When the farmer's licence is
renewed, we shall be pushing for clauses that stop
this uneccessary use of fertiliser.  We shall also be
looking at all options to enhance the biodiversity of
the Stray."

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Posted by: andydag    in: Latest news