Campaign Updates
Extend Recycling
Our petition to extend recycling to terraces and blocks of flats got underway in 2007 and has seen progress made since that time. The Lib Dem Council has always been very keen to pat itself on the back for its efforts on recycling but Labour felt the efforts it was making did not give residents in central wards the opportunity to recycle as they wished to.
We undertook an extensive survey of all Labour wards and feedback from residents told us they wanted to recycle more than the standard collections the council undertook in other wards.
Our efforts have paid off with a pilot now taking place in part of the Groves, to find out what difficulties need to be overcome in collections from narrow, terraced streets. The pilot will also seek resident feedback on what they feel are the best solutions to the challenge of collections in such areas. Labour's proposed budget last year would have brought this pilot forward but this was defeated by a Lib Dem/Conservative alliance.
The council is obliged by law to provide a recycling collection service to all properties by 2011 so it is important that lessons are learnt from this pilot and further collections rolled out to other central areas across the city as soon as possible.
Affordable Housing
Also launched in 2007, Local Labour's petition for more affordable housing in the city received a great response from you. Residents felt very strongly that there was an over-emphasis on high density developments of city centre flats, and not on affordable family housing.
There are problems with planning rules in this regard but as well as this, the council has allowed numerous developments which did not address the city's housing needs. There is ample evidence to show that this kind of housing does not meet the needs of families.
So through our petition we have put pressure on the council to bring forward more brownfield sites for family housing within the city. In addition to this we have backed a council 50% affordable housing policy for all developments of 15 or more dwellings. This means that given the right economic conditions, affordable family housing will come forward.
It has been acknowledged that this is not delivering housing at present due to the economic downturn, but that this would be the case even if the level were set at 10, 20, or 30% for example.
Labour has also supported the Derwenthorpe development by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust which will deliver 540 new homes for the city, of which over 40% will be affordable.
We believe the current economic situation will make the affordable housing problem more acute and so it is more critical than ever that the council accelerates those brownfield sites at its disposal for planning as soon as possible. Labour has campaigned locally for an eco-district on the York North-West site, comprising the former British Sugar site and the old railway 'Teardrop' site.
The Government is very interested in looking at providing funding to make this an exemplar development in sustainable living, but sadly the council was slow off the mark in submitting a bid so only time will tell if this funding gets agreed.
Plastic bag free city
Labour has been fighting on this issue for a significant length of time now and our latest petition on plastic bags was presented to council on 10th April 2008. This called for a plastic bag free city (meaning no more disposable plastic bags given out) OR for government to introduce a tax to encourage people to think more carefully about how much they need plastic bags when shopping.
The campaign caught the imagination of local people, from those members of the public we spoke to shopping to our own MP who also supported the bid to become a plastic bag free city. Even the Conservative Parliamentary Candidates got on board, copying our campaign outside Marks and Spencer on a sunny Saturday last summer!
But Labour's commitment has been more sustained than an afternoon in the city centre and has the backing of 100s of members of the public who signed the petition. Reusable shopping bags have become a much more common sight these days as pressure has mounted nationally.
In last year's budget the Chancellor, Alistair Darling announced that retailers would be forced to charge for plastic bags under Climate Change legislation unless they made sufficient steps to reduce the number given out by early 2009. We will keep you updated with what progress retailers have made and what action the Government will take as and when it is announced.
Waste Minimisation
The plastic bag campaign formed part of a wider campaign relating to supermarkets which saw Labour also calling on supermarkets to reduce food packaging in order to minimise waste.
We felt that the amount of packaging used, in supermarkets particularly, is excessive and should be reduced. So we undertook a survey of our own to find out what supermarkets are doing to reduce packaging so it does not end up in landfill - and costing the council money in landfill tax.
We posted have the results of our survey on this page: Supermarkets Responses
The results were perhaps not surprising with stores like Marks and Spencer demonstrating a much stronger commitment to reducing its carbon footprint, including providing more recyclable materials in its packaging.
Sainsbury's and Waitrose also performed well but it was disappointing not to receive any response from major supermarkets Tesco and Asda. We believe Corporate Social Responsibility is really important but it seems some supermarkets do not.
This is a shame as it is they that will benefit in increased sales if they can demonstrate to the public that they share their concerns and are doing something about them.
Pensioner and disabled travel tokens
We petitioned extensively in February and March 2008 when we learnt that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats were set on cutting the travel token entitlement to the over 60s and disabled from £40 to £20 per year.
This was a quite shocking decision which, like much Conservative policy, penalised the most vulnerable and needy the most. Again, we received fantastic support from the public collecting many signatures.
The Conservatives said they wanted this money to use for undertaking yet another council review of public transport provision, a review which a year later has still not materialised. We will be asking questions as to where this money has gone in the absence of the review.
20mph city
Labour launched a campaign to have a 20mph speed limit imposed in all residential areas of the city last year. Cutting speed by just a few miles per hour can have a significant impact in terms of saving lives.
We proposed following the examples of Portsmouth, Norwich, Oxford, Leicester, Warrington and Newcastle-upon-Tyne in order to reduce risk and improve road safety. Unfortunately to date the council is unreceptive to the idea and is more concerned about the cost of changing signs.
Signatures are continuing to come in, so much so that we needed to present a second petition to the last council meeting. We will continue to garner support for what we feel will be implemented in only a matter of time.
Leisure Facilities Survey
We wanted to ask you about what you think of existing facilities and what other things you would like to do in the city with your leisure time. This was prompted by a lack of attention to leisure provision by this council.
The Barbican closed over 5 years ago, and we are now no nearer seeing the venue open up to the public. The major loss there is the swimming facilities in the long term as the council has taken money from its sale and committed it to a publicly accessible pool at the University of York. This proposed facility currently hangs in the balance.
We were pleased to get your responses to ideas such as a city centre play facility for parents and carers to take their children. We have also heard from people who have reiterated the need for replacement swimming facilities since the Barbican closed, while others have said they want a permanent ice rink in the city.
We are currently collating the responses to this latest survey and will let you know the results as soon as possible.
Save our Bus
This campaign got underway when First Bus decided to unilaterally make changes to a number of existing bus routes, with the No. 13 service in Heworth being worst affected.
The campaign has borne fruit already with First agreeing to make some alterations to its No. 11 service to take in some areas affected by recent route changes.
We are still not entirely happy with the situation as the main problems resulting from the changes still exist. On 22nd February the No. 13 service as currently exists will cease and a new No. 13 will be launched which provides no direct access to both York College and Monks Cross for Heworth residents.
We think this is unacceptable, and means residents have to travel into town and change bus if they want to go to Monks Cross. If they do not have a monthly or weekly ticket, this will mean they have to purchase a day ticket, now at almost £4 each.
Our campaign to get First to act on residents' concerns will continue. We are pleased to say the bus company has committed to addressing the lack of information on bus stops in Heworth and will post up to date information on the new timetables in the week prior to the changes coming into effect.