Andy D'Agorne

What irony - residents clamouring for yellow lines in Maple Grove are told they cant have them,  those who dont want them in other streets in the ward will be objecting to them because they dont want them. In several instances the views of the ward councillor (Andy D'Agorne!) are noted but the officer still maintains their view to do the opposite: Single yellow lines on Kilburn Rd so that residents can park at a weekend when there isnt a problem? Cant do it because that would require signs to indicate the times that apply! Double yellows on Broadway opposite the bus stop to prevent the road being blocked when the bus is at the stop? No need, apparently, as it says you shouldnt park opposite a bus stop in the highway code!

 No wonder people despair of sensible decisions on traffic management for City of York Council. Watch out for a yellow notice on a lamp-post near you.. it could be your only chance to object to the latest batch of orders. For details of Fishergate ward TRO orders about to be advertised, see

http://democracy.york.gov.uk/Published/IssueDocs/8/7/9/1/I00011978/DE00001187/$OICADDecisionSheet081040208.doc.pdf

The next ward meeting will be on February 5th at 7pm at St George's School when we will be GIVING AWAY various things to help you to be green - compost bins jute bags, water savers for your cistern etc. Before that we will be holding special meetings and displays - Mon 28th at Fulford Social Hall and Wed 30th at the Danesgate Centre (was Fulford Cross School). After that there will be a display in the window of an empty shop near Fields Fayre opposite the Fulford Arms until the deadline of FEB 8th. If you havent been sent a questionnaire go to www.york.gov.uk/consultation to find the online version (one for residents and one for non residents)

The ward meeting will have a presentation from David Webster about the planned radical changes to improve sustainable transport on Fulford Rd, though the main exhibition and meeting will be the week before on Wed Jan 30th at the new Danesgate Centre Fulford Cross. The exhibition will be there from 2pm- 7pm with a formal meeting 7pm-9pm. There will be a leaflet and questionnaire to every house, as well as on the council website and on buses running down the route. This is THE BIG chance to get better facilities for cycling and walking on the main road that cuts through the middle of the ward. It is a once in a decade or more opportunity.. the deadline for your comments is Feb 8th so please do check out the meetings or website and make your views known. Anyone who uses the road can comment, if it is your route to school, to bingo, to your friends house, to your hairdressers!

Overall I think the changes are long overdue. I am not convinced that we need so many pedestrian crossings, and especially think we should not replace a zebra with a bleeping traffic light controlled one which is likely to cause more delay for pedestrians or motorists at peak times than civilised road use respecting the highway code. I think parking near to shops should be for a 30 min maximum during the weekday, to ensure it is used by shoppers not those avoiding car park charges. And I think that we should do our best to keep most of the trees but provide some segregated off road cycleways where there is a wide pavement and few side roads or houses such as in front of the Barracks. This will be even more important if the vehicle lane on the road is narrowed to provide a bus lane in the opposite direction. Bus lanes in at least some places are needed to speed up the park and ride buses and discourage those car commuters who could as easily park at the Designer Outlet. These changes need to be in place as soon as possible, so that they are there when new residents in the Barbican development, Hungate etc are looking at their travel options along Fishergate/ Cemetery Rd/ Fulford Rd and the inner ring road.   

The options for tackling the traffic on Fulford Road are at long last being set out in a committee paper for City Strategy on Oct 29th. see page 19 of

http://democracy.york.gov.uk/Published/C00000438/M00002948/$$ADocPackPublic.pdf

Some 18 months after first requesting information from the transport planners, the first fairly sketchy details of what might be possible by way of bus priority and cycle provision has been set out. Sadly the first press coverage today has focussed on my complaint that ward councillors have not been given the opportunity to make any input to the study by consultants Halcrow.

 We did get to see the paper about 48 hours before it became public. But the officers clearly regard councillors and the electorate as interfering amateurs - to quote from one email: "The report will identify a broad strategy for the corridor to address the issues identified in the study. Once the strategy is agreed, further work will be done to develop the schemes that form part of that strategy. We will discuss these schemes with you... as they are developed and will involve you at an early stage of any consultation processes." In other words consultants tell us what needs doing, the Executive Member decides, then we will ask you what you think, after residents have already read the local journalist's version of what is proposed.

Fortunately the brief for the work made clear that the consequences of not taking action should be spelt out as well as the broad description of what needs to be done. New sections of cycle lanes, bus lanes, a new set of traffic lights and better pedestrian crossings are included in the proposals. In the last year, new office and housing developments, increased bus fares and growing affluence of students and workers have all increased the pressure of on street parking- Maple Grove and Kilburn Rd. and Grange Garth have all started to suffer from commuter parking, sometimes constraining the widths so as to create problems for delivery vehicles, bin lorries, the disabled transport bus etc. Although residents parking schemes have worked in some places the £88 annual fee has deterred some from asking for this option (though a report today shows this cost hasnt had any impact on the number of cars in these areas, where the number of permits issued can exceed the roadspace available)

The picture with the entry for Feb 2007 clearly shows the problem - replacing the right turn lane with an inbound bus lane will obviously help, but there may be difficult choices in places between parking, cycle lane, grass verge, tree, or peak hour roadspace. One solution that would require a change of York council policy would be to have peak time bus lanes (that you can park in off peak). Our recently retired head of network management didnt believe in them, even though they work effectively in most major cities - ah, yes, but then N Yorkshire Police give very low priority to enforcement of such 'minor traffic offences' as driving in bus lanes, pavement parking, loading in stupid places etc. So, like humps outside schools that are only needed at school run time, just something else we have to live with because of our inconsiderate British driving habits.

THE OUTCOME OF THIS IS TO BE DISCUSSED AT CITY STRATEGY EMAP ON MAR 17TH 2008

This is Fulford Road, from the top of a bus. As you can see, the bus travels no more quickly than everyone else in their costly little boxes on wheels. There are no cycle lanes, so the cyclists choice is a detour to the riverside path, take a gamble on squeezing through on the inside or illegally ride on the largely empty footpath. One consolation you can see is crossing the road is a bit easier if the traffic is really jammed up!

Over the next few years, 600 dwellings in Hungate, 300+ at the Barbican, possibly 700 at Germany Beck, will all have occupants wanting to get up and down this road, and so will shoppers at the new Morrisons on James St, which is not on a direct bus route. A new office building on Hospital Fields has just got planning permission to add to the traffic from the premises down there, including the 100 dwellings in 'Fulford Place'.

So what do you think we should do about it? The 'Fulford Road corridor study' recommended various things including bus lanes (about 7 years ago) but opposition from Fulford residents ended that idea. The updated version has been delayed until after a decision on the proposed Germany Beck housing development.

The latest suggestion, to speed the buses is not the ftr ticket machine (thank God!) but to make the Park and Ride buses limited stop (picking up only at Designer Outlet and Fulford) Why Fulford? Well which party represents Fulford at present? What about all the residents of Fishergate who catch the no 7 bus to the station (the 415 goes to Piccadilly)? Well they can just walk or get on their bikes cant they! If you dont want this to happen you had better start sending those emails and letters to Cllr Ann Reid, before they finalise the Park and Ride contract for the next five years this summer!

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Posted by: andydag

We now have a council provided noticeboard near to Blue Bridge, on which to advertise ward meetings (next one Feb 6th 2007) and other local information, including information about New Walk itself. If you are a tourist, there is nothing by way of explanatory signs to give you a little of the history of New Walk and the various features on the way.

 So I have printed out some of the information from the Friends of New Walk website, laminated it and took it down to attach to the board. One slight problem is that the black wooden board is as tough as old boots - staples just crumple, sellotape wont outlive the next downpour and drawing pins remain steadfastly on the surface or buckle too. So today I had to resort to hammering drawing pins in - Hopefully the people who tore down the last display, just before the floods will leave alone after my efforts. My main concern was to have something on the board again so that it is not used for grafitti work - others who want to advertise local activities or businesses are welcome to post their notices if they can manage to find a way of securing them to the board!