Andy D'Agorne

Chechelele performed at the Bishopthorpe Garden Party on Sat Jun 30th at about 1.15 and 2.15pm - The weather held just long enough for us to stay comparatively dry performing on the steps of the Archbishop's Palace. In the evening we are performing again at a private function for the York Sopremptorists. Our set is full of varied upbeat songs that are a real challenge for the three new members. We were tempting fate with the weather by including the song 'Akana Mandla' - when we performed it at the York Cemetery Chapel in 2005 (well, when we practicing actually) there was a real thunder storm brewing. The words 'hard rains are falling' and 'he has no power' (referring to the devil) had just been uttered when there was an almighty crash of thunder overhead and the heavy wooden outside door blew crashing open with the force of the crack. The rain then came - and that same night the moors village of Hawnby was hit by flash floods, following which the historic bridge has only just reopened fully after being rebuilt.

Some three years after the first planning application to build on the beautiful parkland that separates Fulford village from the rest of York, the application has been resoundingly rejected by the planning committee last night. Officers had only presented one 'grounds for refusal'- the relocation of the bowling green being not up to the standard of the one it replaces. Choice quote of the night came from Cllr Ann Reid to the effect of 'I dont know much about bowls, but I can tell when a tree is in the way' Below isthe response from Fulford Friends - take a look at their website if you want to see pictures of what all the fuss is about www.fulfordfriends.co.uk/photos

A t last night's meeting of the Traffic Congestion Ad Hoc Scrutiny there was an interesting presentation by senior officers of York's projected traffic levels to 2021 and the Nitrogen Dioxide levels (NO2) caused by traffic on the most congested parts of the road network. The background is that York declared an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA) in July 2004 covering much of the inner ring road and key radial routes linking from it. The Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) adopted set out ways in which the council aimed to achieve a reduction in NO2 levels in order to comply with the EU Directive that came into law in Dec 2005 setting maximum exposure limits for various hazardous pollutants. At the time I was critical of the plan for not going far enough and putting too much reliance on the gradual increasing prevalence of younger vehicles meeting Euro 3 or 4 standards to achieve the required reduction at locations such as Fishergate and Gillygate.

The presentation last night revealed that while levels fell year on year 2003- 2005, the trend has reversed in 2006. This coincides with the steep increase in First bus fares in the city in January 2006, the reduction in evening city centre parking charges and freezing of daytime charges in the run up to the 2007 elections! Officers also indicated that there is increasingly a problem with local traffic generated by people driving a short distance to the park and ride sites. This means that they get full earlier, increasingly with single occupancy cars, reducing their overall impact on reducing traffic.

Not easy to implement, but we should be looking at providing incentives to carshare to the park and ride sites and making sure there is parity between local route and park and ride fares so that the 'market' is not distorted. The current situation where it is cheaper (and a more frequent service) to take your two children by car one mile to a park and ride site than to get on the less frequent bus along your street! Family tickets need to be cheaper (at present two under 16s go free with an adult on Park and Ride, but pay 50p or £1+ on regular services)

The other significant point from last night was that Main St Fulford is set to have to be declared an AQMA, and that is before any traffic joins it from Hungate, Barbican, Germany Beck etc....

Release sent out this morning:

The Green Party welcomes some of the proposals within the Future York Group Report, notably the statement in the opening chapter that "York is: a special city to live in".   Greens also welcome the emphasis on making strategic long term decisions to "ensure effective development of key brownfield sites, to improve transport and revitalise the environment of the city" (page 4), and we support some of the actions proposed:

• "Development of the York Central and British Sugar sites for a mix of uses including offices, close to the historic city centre and linked to the region and beyond by sustainable rail services"
• "Improved streets and public spaces with a high quality well designed public realm"
• "Provision of significant numbers of affordable family homes to match the growth in jobs" (though we dont accept the need to expand the economy, so much as provide for families currently in need of quality housing.

Greens also support the proposal to re-invigorate the partnerships of the key players in the city, which we believe should be more open, accessible and transparent in order to maximise the contribution from the wider community.

HOWEVER (and its a big However):  Greens identify some fundamental weaknesses in the report and its recommendations that undermine the findings of the review:

Membership of the Future York Group did not include anyone from the Voluntary, Health (acknowledged as a growth sector), Cultural Industries or Agricultural Sectors, resulting in a strong bias towards a focus on conventional economic development and the "knowledge economy".  Bizarrely, nor did it include or cite anyone from the Inward Investment Board.

Councillor Dave Taylor remarked, "To describe this as an independent report lacks transparency.  It represents a developers' charter, drawn-up by people who have a vested interest in having more land brought forward for development.  That's all right so long as it is viewed in that context, but going for growth on the scale proposed just says, 'To hell with sustainability and to hell with the environment.' "

There is almost complete failure to acknowledge the importance of the existing ‘social and environmental capital' in the region - the strong legacy of philanthropy from Joseph Rowntree and the importance of 'quality of life' aspects that are key attractors of the highly skilled and educated workforce where [future employment development] is predicted.

Greens say that the proposed aim to double the city's economy by 2026 is unsustainable, both in environmental terms and in terms of the capacity of the city's infrastructure.

While the report acknowledges that "Transport connectivity is identified as the biggest constraint to economic growth" (in para. 4.27, referring to development of a key site), we believe the Group has completely failed to acknowledge the impact of 'peak oil' and the climate change crisis for future development.

Andy D'Agorne added, "The report is full of contradictions on transport.  It questions a so-called 'restrictive parking policy' at out of centre developments, and yet encouraging commuter car use would quickly nullify any benefit from improvements to the outer ring road."

The report acknowledges the economic benefits of the growth of Park & Ride in the past 10 years in the city in limiting congestion and traffic growth, yet it makes no real recommendations for a significant step change in sustainable transport to address access issues for the British Sugar and York Central sites.  Greens believe that securing funding for a modern light rail rapid transit system linking the sites and a new park and ride to the station and city centre would be a better investment than dualling the outer ring road.

We believe that strong lobbying of the Future York Group by businesses in favour of dualling the northern ring road means that they have failed to recognise the bigger picture of the need for investment in sustainable transport networks.  

The Greens will be recommending that the proposals of the Future York Group should be subjected to analysis using the city's innovative eco-footprinting tool and the Index of Sustainable Economic Well-being.

(The ISEW is recommended by Yorkshire Futures and the New Economics Foundation.)

This should be done at the earliest opportunity to inform the implementation of those recommendations that achieve a reduction in the eco-footprint and modify the rest in such a way that the city is able to lead the way in developing a low carbon economy, vital to achieving a competitive edge in the future world economy.

ENDS

Website:  http://www.york.greenparty.org.uk/