All councillor meetings to discuss neurodiversity
News Release from City of York Council Labour Group Immediate Release: 22nd November, 2023 All councillor…
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Councillors shine light on York’s mental health challenge
News Release from City of York Council Labour Group Immediate Release: 22nd November, 2023 Councillors…
Autumn Statement Response from City of York Council
Leader of City of York Council, Cllr Claire Douglas, said: “The Chancellor’s reduction in growth forecasts for this year and next are concerning and…
Council Takes Big Step in Free School Meals Promise
PRESS RELEASE The Labour Council administration has taken a major step to delivering on…
Transport Hustings Report from 24th April 2023
By Christopher Copland HUSTINGS HIGHLIGHTS York Civic Trust organised a local election transport hustings on…
Join us in the York Labour Fundraiser for the General Election 2024. The Spirit of…
Council losing focus on residents
Labour will instigate a debate on how the council is responding – or not responding…
Resident views encouraged on riverside improvements
Investment could be made to the riverside path linking Scarborough Bridge with Leeman Road, and…
Fear of gridlock as Lib Dem-Green council plans multiple road closures
Fears have been expressed that ruling Lib Dem and Green councillors’ plans to store up…
Choose targets to improve health of residents, says councillor
A councillor has urged the city’s Health and Wellbeing Board to establish meaningful health targets,…
City’s Economy Committee Chair blocked by ruling Lib Dems from speaking on their Economic Strategy
A meeting tonight to discuss an economic strategy for York will not involve the Chair…
Pension Credit advice taken out to residents in Hull Road ward
A new trial is taking advice on claiming Pension Credit out directly to residents in…
Council must switch position on developer giveaway
Labour has said it’s time for the local council to stop bending to the will…
Pension Credit advice taken out to residents in Hull Road ward
A new trial is taking advice on claiming Pension Credit out directly to residents in…
Action needed to stem loss of family housing
A loss of family housing to the short-term holiday lets market requires a response before…
Equality for Disabled people
Councillors in York will discuss how the council can help to deliver equality for Disabled…
Residents urged to have their say at public meeting
A public meeting next week will be discussing the standard of York’s roads and footpaths,…
HM The Queen
Opposition Labour Group Leader on City of York Council, Cllr Claire Douglas said: “Our thoughts…
Labour highlights inequity in distribution of planning payments
Payments made by developers to the council for public benefit are mired in secrecy, meaning…
Council undercounting street homeless
Labour Councillors have questioned the validity of the way rough sleepers are officially counted in…
Follow Edinburgh’s lead to control short term lets
York should be allowed to follow the lead of Edinburgh and bring in controls on…
A Rough Guide to the Climate Emergency
Three years ago, to loud applause from the public gallery, York City Council unanimously declared…
Labour in talks over under threat bowls club
Labour representatives will meet with New Earswick Indoor Bowling Club next week to discuss its…
Summer school ‘Dream’ thanks to ward funding
Children took centre stage at Joseph Rowntree Theatre’s Summer School last week, thanks to funding…
Labour pushes for York base – should new Mayor role get councils’ backing
A widely anticipated Mayoral Combined Authority for York and North Yorkshire bringing extra powers and…
Councillor fails to justify ‘net zero’ claim
A leading councillor has struggled to back up a public claim made over the past…
Council being seen as ‘soft touch’, after planning rules flouted
The council is increasingly being seen as a soft touch by developers looking to cut…
Solution needed over NRM impasse
The recent decision of York’s Planning Committee to defer a decision over the National Railway Museum’s expansion plans must prompt a more collaborative approach says the council’s main opposition. Labour Group Leader, Cllr Claire Douglas, says the equalities implications of the NRM closing Leeman Road and restricting public access at…
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Residents sign petition for low traffic neighbourhood
A petition will be presented to the council next week seeking investigation of a low traffic neighbourhood for Harcourt Street in Heworth. The street has the benefit of having other roads running off it at each end that provide a convenient, viable alternative for drivers to use, one that would…
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Labour pushes for formal opposition to proposed fire cuts
The council’s main opposition Labour Group is calling for a united response from city councillors in opposing planned cuts to Huntington Fire Station. The county’s Conservative Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC), Zoe Metcalfe, is currently consulting on moves to crew the station with on-call staff rather than a full-time…
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Economic Strategy ignores stark health inequalities
A key council strategy for boosting jobs, pay, and economic growth is completely silent on York’s major health inequalities – even though low incomes and poverty are major causes of ill health and premature deaths, according to the Council’s own statistics. The glaring omission was highlighted at a public meeting…
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Council confirms scaling back of support for holiday hunger
Concerns have been expressed about the extent to which some children will get support to eat in school holidays, as the council launches a new, less generous application-based support system – part way through a school holiday. Previously the council used Government funding during the Covid pandemic to issue free…
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Clifton Youth Club back up and running
A youth club that used to run from the old Burton Stone Community Centre is back up and running on Friday nights in a brand-new venue. Children and young people aged 11 to 18 can now drop in fortnightly to the new community hall at Marjorie Waite Court on Friday…
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Council Leader confirms sacking after poor Ofsted inspections
Labour has welcomed the sacking of the council’s lead councillor for children, after consecutive poor Ofsted inspections of children’s services. Ofsted identified poor service practice around children at risk of harm years ago, before saying those same services has deteriorated when they revisited York. The latest inspection this year confirmed…
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Councillors to write to Government on need for holiday hunger funding
Councillors are to write to Government seeking a longer term solution to the problem of children going hungry in school holidays, after ruling councillors in York made a single year commitment to help tackle the problem. Eligibility for free school meals has risen by 33% overall in York over the…
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Plans ‘called in’ over loss of community space
Plans to turn a dance studio and boxing club into nine apartments will be decided by councillors, after Holgate Labour Councillor David Heaton requested the application be considered in public. Most planning applications are decided by council officers, under delegated powers. But due to the level of public interest, and…
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Footfall recovering, but picture more mixed on post-Covid spending
York is in the top ten of cities in the country for footfall recovery, indicating a city centre economy that is bouncing back. Latest figures come from Centre for Cities, a national think tank, and are based on anonymised mobile phone data and offline credit card spend. However, city councillors…
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Costs of maintaining disabled access ban confirmed, as safety gaps exposed
The council’s ban on disabled blue badge holder access to York city centre is continuing to cost the local taxpayer, latest costs confirm. The overall cost for security staffing of access barriers since the measures were implemented is approaching £250k, since the start of April 2020. Around half that cost…
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Questions over future of York Local Plan after Parish Council seeks its withdrawal
Fresh doubts have surfaced about the council’s approach to getting a Local Plan adopted, after a Parish Council on which the council leader sits pulled the Plan to shreds. Representing Fulford Parish Council, Michael Courcier spent significant time during yesterday’s examination hearings explaining how the Local Plan was seriously flawed,…
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York council services still failing local children
York’s Children’s Services have been judged as requiring improvement, according to the national inspectorate, Ofsted. The widely anticipated judgement means services in many areas are deemed to be failing children and young people in York. The judgement follows a number of other poor judgements by Ofsted which have seen a…
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Labour elects Claire Douglas to lead party into Office
The council’s main opposition Labour Group has elected Cllr Claire Douglas to be its new leader, meaning she will lead the Group into the 2023 local council election next year. Cllr Douglas has been working closely with Cllr Pete Kilbane for the past 12 months as Labour’s Deputy Group Leader…
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Ruling Lib Dem councillor cancels committee attendance for THIRD time running
A ruling Lib Dem councillor has cancelled her attendance at a scrutiny committee for the third time in a row, in what Labour says is an attempt to avoid accountability for misleading public comments. Lib Dem councillor Paula Widdowson has been scheduled several times to attend the council’s Economy scrutiny…
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Labour commits to reversing access ban
North Yorkshire Police has confirmed there was no specific terrorism threat to York despite the prospect of a hostile vehicle attack being the main justification for banning blue badge holders from large parts of York city centre. The council’s main opposition Labour Group has recently confirmed it will reverse the…
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Council to break own policy on unadopted private road repair
The council’s policy of not maintaining private roads in the city is to be ignored in a special case affecting three properties in Springfield Close, in ruling Lib Dem councillor Nigel Ayre’s Heworth Without ward. A council director made what was termed an ‘emergency decision’ last week, in consultation with…
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Labour welcomes changing places funding
Labour has welcomed Government funding for York to improve accessible toilets in the city, under its national ‘Changing Places’ Fund. City of York Council bid for national funding following a Labour council motion last July on improving accessibility to York city centre. The motion called for ‘sufficient provision of fully…
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City Centre Access Statement
The council’s main opposition Labour Group reaffirms its opposition to the ruling Lib Dem-Green Council’s…
York Council and Government do deal to tackle education budget deficit
City of York Council has agreed to a deal with the Conservative Government to make cutbacks to the council’s education department in order to tackle one of the biggest per head budget deficits in the country. The deal sees the council signing up to a raft of changes, including cutting…
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Democracy in chaos at York council
Tonight’s meeting of all city councillors in York has been dramatically cancelled with less than 3 hours’ notice. The decision comes less than 24 hours after the council’s top officer moved the meeting from in person to online, to accommodate a Liberal Democrat request after they indicated some of its…
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Lib Dems threaten Covid attendances at key meeting
Labour has condemned a decision to move a crucial meeting to take place online after some Liberal Democrat councillors tested positive for Covid, meaning the meeting isn’t legal and councillors can no longer take any decisions. Lib Dem Council Leader Keith Aspden has intimated both publicly and in private that…
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Big increase in fuel poverty without action, say Labour
The numbers of York households falling into fuel poverty will only accelerate unless significant action…
Labour shines light on shameful ‘fire and rehire’ practice
Labour councillors on City of York Council have initiated a council debate on the practice…
Human Rights City silent on Ukraine
The absence of a functioning Human Rights Board for the city has led to a…
Labour submits alternative budget
The council’s Main Opposition Labour Group has submitted its proposed council budget for 2022-23. It…
Bill continues to mount for Leader’s ejection of Chief Exec
It has been revealed that City of York Council spent £45,000 of local taxpayers’ money…
Double no-show from ruling Lib Dem councillor
A ruling Lib Dem councillor has been accused of hiding from scrutiny after making a…
Councillors criticise halving of cycle lane scheme plans
Plans to take advantage of Government funding to introduce cycle lanes between Holgate and Acomb…
Labour councillors hail cash and carbon savings in Hull Road Park
Councillors Michael Pavlovic, George Norman and Aisling Musson have unveiled an innovative solar powered lighting…
Labour Councillors secure speed calming measures
Measures to slow traffic and improve public safety on Burton Stone Lane in Clifton have…
Disabled residents now ‘barred from town, barred from country’
A Labour councillor has hit out at City of York Council over delays to removing…
Labour representatives talk with small business owners
The city’s Opposition Labour Group Leader and Deputy Leader joined York Central MP Rachael Maskell…