As part of a National Day of Action teams from the council and Veritau have carried out a crack-down on badge misuse.
The crack-down on badge misuse and fraud took place on Friday 24 May as part of the National Blue Badge Day of Action.
Parking enforcement officers and fraud investigators at City of York Council worked together to ensure that only legitimate Blue Badges were being used correctly. This means it must be displayed in a parked vehicle used by the badge owner, or by a driver parking to pick up or drop off the badge owner.
Badges are identified by the council’s enforcement officers, with Veritau’s fraud officers contacting the badge owner, to ensure that it’s use is appropriate.
Over the course of the day, 73 Blue badges were checked with one ticket issued for a parking contravention.
a) In Blake Street and Lendal, which will be accessible for Blue Badge holders during and outside the footstreet hours (between 10.30am and 6am the next day), and
b) On Davygate outside of footstreet hours (between 5pm and 6am the next day).
The trial is expected to cost around £10,000.
Critics have pointed out that the plan will prevent City Centre traders from loading in the evening period while some blue badge holders feel that the first come first served system will block the bays at times when others, with more pressing needs, want to park.
Over three years after consultants were commissioned to come up with regenerationplans for the Front Street shopping area, their proposals have been published. Resident and business responses to a survey have also been publsijhed
Consultants ideas for change
10 ideas are described as “high level views” and “have not been tested for feasibility or been subject to public consultation”.
On the face of it the report fails to move the issue forward with future change dependent on successful bids for funding from a range of sources. The absence of an agreed strategy or masterplan makes the likely success of any such bids problematic.
Some of the plans are likely to be contentious particularly the proposal to move blue badge parking further away from key shopping opportunities. Several representations were made for blue badge holders to be able to access parking spaces in the pedestrian area on at least one day a week – thereby helping to counter the Council’s insensitive changes to disabled access arrangements in the City centre.
These and many other suggestions from residents have been brushed aside.
A large majority of consultees felt that the existing parking/access hours should be retained
The consultants are recommending that vehicles be banned for the access road 24/7.
Major issues like the aeras vulnerability to anti social behavior aren’t recognised much less addressed. Similarly the ongoing maintenance costs and sources of funding for features like “linear parks” is ignored.
There are some sound ideas are fighting to extricate themselves from the Middle England consultants ethos. Few would, for example ,argue that the ramp down to Morrisons is anything other than a blight on the area..
The report makes clear what the projects £37,500 revenue budget has been spent on
Expenditure on Front Street project
Most will acknowledge that there has been a modest improvement in recent years in maintenance standards. Waste storage is generally better although are still occasional problems on the lane behind the Front Street shops. Weed growth has been brought under control.
However, the – privately owned – forecourts are still uneven and the absence of any recommendation for the leveling and paving of the whole area, is one obvious omission from the report.
Just how transient some of the ideas are is revealed by a throw away comment in the report which says
It is important to note that, there is no further identified council funding for future Christmas lights in our secondary centres (such as Acomb) .
The exclusion of disabled blue badge holders from parts of York City centre may be the most political inept action taken by the York Council since it unilaterally tried to sell off the Union Terrace car park in 2012.
It seems that flexibility and compromise was off the agenda from an early stage. Worryingly the opportunity to trial options was not adopted.
The York Councils leadership on this, and on some other issues, has adopted a stubborn approach.
The Groves
Onetraffic management scheme that is currently coming to the end of its “trial” excludes traffic from The Groves area. What look to be permanent “cul de sac” signs have recently been erected suggesting that “leaders” have already decided to make the extended trial permanent.
The scheme has been widely criticised, not for its intention of creating a quieter street environment, but because of its execution. Traffic congestion has increased on roads like Lord Mayors Walk with a consequent rise in pollution levels and an impact on emergency vehicles and public transport. (not to mention car and van driver frustration).
Pleas for a compromise, where emergency vehicles and utilities (at least) would be able to go into and out of the Groves via the shortest route, have been ignored. There has been plenty of time to trial the use of a vehicle activated gate but the opportunity has now passed. Ahead we can see only resentment and confrontation between different interest groups, if the scheme is imposed on an unconvinced City.
University parking
We have seen correspondence from a (rightly) enraged local Councillor who has seenindiscriminate parking causing chaos on the streets of his ward in the wake of the introduction of a “ResPark” scheme in Badger Hill.
Labour and Green Councillors point to a planning decision of several years ago which required the University of York to reduce car journeys as a condition of a planning application which allowed the institution to expand.
The Councillors point to congestion and pollution as a reason for the condition. The subsequent “Travel Plan” drawn up by the University always lacked credibility. They never had the will, or possibly the means, to dictate how individuals might choose to travel to the campus. They have subsequently shown a marked lack of interest in the consequences for neighbours of the failed plan. They only offer the idea of extending ResPark schemes to an ever-increasing area of east York, pushing the problem into more and more communities.
They should reflect that the pandemic has changed peoples priorities and many potential bus users now chose, for safety reasons, to use personal transport. Bus use in the City is down by 25% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
The authorities should agree to revisit the planning conditions in the light of public lifestyle choices. The first step should be to talk to those who choose to park on streets like Tranby Avenue. Solutions can then be tailored to needs.
Clearly there are some quick fixes available. These might include
Relaxation of the ban on people, using Park and Ride sites like the one on Hull Road, from walking to their destinations. The park and ride sites are half full in the wake of the pandemic so there are no obvious losers to such an initiative.
Allow free use of University car parks (which again are mostly half empty at present) for anyone arriving and leaving outside the rush hours. This will address the concerns of those who fear added congestion and might help to spread the demand for road space.
Allow similar free use of university car parks for those driving EVs. This will address the concerns regarding pollution although use would be likely to be modest initially given the number of EVs currently on the road.
There is little evidence to suggest that the University, Council officials and Executive Councillors are even considering options.
NB. For completeness this report details some options for easing access problems for blue badge holders click
Blue badge access to City centre
The Council does have a difficulty in reconciling threats to public safety by terrorists and the need to be an inclusive City. It has bungled badly in making the ban on blue badge access permanent without at least trialing options.
Even its own proposals for a dedicated road train running through the area is months, possibly years, away. The Council should already have the results of a survey detailing the ultimate destination of those blue badge holders who used to park on Blake Street, Kings Square etc. That is important information that needs to be shared.
In a spirit of compromise, after the Christmas peak has died down, the Council could trial
Allowing blue badged access to the old parking areas on at least one day per week. That would indicate what the ongoing demand was for the service. (Clearly if 7000 blue badge holders tried to access the spaces at the same time then it would fail!).
Try an accredited access scheme, where the most severely disabled are able to get closer to their ultimate destination, possibly by being able to reserve an on street parking space using a digital solution.
Routing the railway museums “road train” through the City centre to link the dedicated blue badge spaces at the Castle car park. The existing train is not specifically designed for disabled use and is, of course, diesel powered, but a trial would provide valuable data on the potential use of a purpose designed “bus”. This happens on the continent where similar trains proceed through pedestrian areas at walking pace – sometimes preceded by someone walking in front waving a red flag. (This might be an ideal voluntary job for a Labour Councillor?)
Do we expect ideas like these to be trialled?
Sadly, in the day of conviction politicians who think that they can dictate to the population on lifestyle choices, we doubt whether compromise and flexibility is on the agenda?
They may however enjoy a renaissance after the next local elections in 18 months time.
The York Councils leadership are going ahead with their threat to ban blue badge car drivers from entering the City centre.
Current restricitons will be made permanent.
We think that the Council are wrong on this issue and should have considered a compromise which would have allowed the severely disabled to continue to access facilities on, at least, one day each week.
Public car parks have been busy in York since August
The is better news though for taxpayers with news that the income that the Council receives from car parking charges. has soared. After a barren time during lockdown, use of the car parks bounced back with a 27% increase recorded in August. compared to the budget.
This means that the Council is expecting a year end surplus of around £70,000.
Clearly many residents are opting to use personal transport instead of buses. No doubt fear of infection remains a key concern. This choice provides another financial benefit for the Council as the amount that they will have to spend on concessionary fare subsidies has reduced.
The negative side to the change in travel habits is that there may be more congestion on some roads in the City.
Council transport budget update report Nov 2021
NB. The Councils latest performance figures confirm a substantial reduction in the numbers using public transport in the City. The figures cover the July/September period.
P&R Passenger Journeys 14 Passenger journeys for park and ride customers totalled 0.71m (provisional) for Q2 2021-22. This is a large increase on the 0.33m journeys made during the same period in 2020-21 showing signs of recovery, but lower than the 1.11m journeys made during the same period in 2019-20. Local bus passenger journeys 15 Passenger journeys on local buses totalled 1.68m (provisional) for Q2 2021-22. This is a large increase on the 1.04m journeys made during the same period in 2020-21, showing signs of recovery, but lower than the 2.74m journeys made during the same period in 2019-20
The numbers choosing cycling as a means of transport has reduced by 1%
As well as the report on parking, the Councils Executive will also consider who should be able to access the City centre pedestrianised area and by what means. The main issue – also considered in a separate report – concerns blue badge parking. Deliveries, cycling facilities and food couriers are also considered.
No major changes are proposed other than the already announced permanent extension to 7:00pm of foot street hours.
The report confirms the existing position that cycling is not permitted in the foot streets during foot street hours,
However, Improvements to existing city centre cycle routes and investment in improving secure city centre cycle parking in strategic locations are promised.
On deliveries, “the aim is for all city centre business deliveries to be by ultra-low emission vehicles or cargo bikes by 2030. The Council will explore options for a trans-shipment hub for city centre (DEFRA funding secured”
The Council are missing an opportunity to react positivity to complaints about their insensitivity to disabled persons travel needs.
The opportunity of designating one day (or even morning) where blue badge parking on City centre streets would be allowed is being missed. There are obvious marketing opportunities, for both traders and blue badge holders, if each (say) Monday was designated as a “Blue Badge Day”.
Instead, the worthy idea of a EV internal shuttle service has been dusted off for the umpteenth time in the last decade while modest improvements to footpaths, seating and toilets are promised.
An “access officer” will be employed.
The proposals are lacking in ambition and understanding.
City of York Council wants York’s Blue Badge Holders views on potential new parking in York city centre.
Front Street
Unfortunately the survey does not extend to suburban shopping areas like Acomb Front Street. One suggestion there is that the pedestrian area should be suspended on one day per week to allow access for Blue Badge holders.
The council says it is reviewing options to provide additional Disabled Parking locations at the edges of the pedestrianised ‘footstreets’ area. It is doing so before considering whether to make permanent the temporary changes to access arrangements introduced last year, potentially removing Blue Badge access exemptions on specific streets.
This would make the current temporary arrangements permanent, with no vehicles allowed to enter the footstreets area between 10:30am and 5pm (apart from emergency vehicles and a very limited number of service exemptions).
A separate consultation will take place over the decision. For now the council wants to understand how useful these potential additional Blue Badge parking locations next to the footstreets would be.
The new locations represent a mix of new parking bays, potential shared spaces and options to improve some double yellow line parking with dedicated bays.
The areas under consideration are:
Junction of Blake Street and Duncombe Place – next to the Visit York building and Grays Solicitors,
Duncombe Place Horse and Carriage Bay – on the road leading to the Minster,
St Andrewgate – the road leading down the side of Barnitt’s onto King’s Square,
St Andrews Place, off St Andrewgate,
Deangate – between the Cross Keys and the Minster,
Stonebow – outside Calvert’s carpets,
St Denys Road – near St Denys’ Church,
Cumberland Street – by the York Opera House,
Lord Mayor’s Walk – alongside the wall near Monk Bar,
St Leonard’s Place – near the De Grey Rooms.
As part of the consultation, the council is also talking to other users of these spaces, including taxi associations, neighbouring businesses and residents.
The York Council has revealed a whole raft of decisions taken on Wednesday at “behind closed doors” meetings. Although the Council could have chosen to publish the agendas and supporting papers (such as they are) before the meeting took place, it chose not to.
Even those sympathetic to the current administration are now losing confidence in the leadership and its aversion to transparency.
This is likely to weigh against the status quo when the future of the unitary authority is considered during the next few months.
The Business and Planning Act 2020 came into force w/c 20th July and has immediate operational impacts associated to the Covid 19 emergency requiring officers to take actions on behalf of the Council in order to comply with new legal obligations. This therefore requires officers to have appropriate delegations to implement this new legislation.
NB. This legislation provides for
A new “Pavement Licence” regime, to be administered by local authorities, designed to make it easier for premises in England serving food and drink such as bars, restaurants and pubs to seat and serve customers outdoors through temporary changes to planning procedures and alcohol licensing.
Alcohol licensing changes that will allow operators with existing alcohol on-sales licences to also serve alcohol for consumption off the premises and to make deliveries.
So with the Alcohol Restriction Zone/PSPOs policy still up in the air, we seem likely to have nameless officials nodding though even more alcohol consumption on the streets of central York.
The fee for an annual café licence has been set at £100/application, with the option to apply for a shorter, 3 month licence, for a £25 fee “to enable shorter term trials by business who have previously not operated licences and who need to accommodate Covid distancing measures to re open”
To approve a Temporary TRO to change existing access restrictions on Castlegate, implementing the following: a. No vehicular access between 10:30 and 20:00 seven days a week (no exemptions for cyclists or Blue Badge holders, extended hours in line with extended footstreet hours) – between number 12 and number 28 Castlegate; b. Loading ban between 10:30 and 20:00 for the whole length of Castlegate; and c. Enable two way traffic between number 28 Castlegate and the junction with Tower Street 24h/day.
This was the decision publicised on Wednesday. Turns out that the meeting did not receive any statistical analysis or impact assessment. The background is restricted to 13 lines of hand wringing.
Having reviewed the current impacts of the TTRO on Bishopthorpe Road, it is evident as the economy reopens there is increased traffic in the area, in particular there is a negative impact on queue lengths on the inner ring road and the level of traffic on adjacent residential streets e.g. St Benedict’s Road. There will also be additional traffic diversions operating in the area when the Micklegate Bar is closed on 10th August due to gasworks which have already commenced on 24 July. Having considered the latest public health advice and traffic impacts, I confirm the decision to not extend TTRO. This location will be kept under review in light of prevailing Covid 19 advice and further considerations of sustainable traffic interventions at this location will be considered as part of the Local Transport plan development. The feedback collected on the scheme will be reviewed and presented in a future decision session.
Face masks will have to be worn in shops from today. It remains to be seen how effective this government policy will be.
What is now clear is that some of the impulsive decisions taken a couple of months ago, at the peak of the pandemic by the York Council, have not met the test of time.
Tinkering with traffic systems without proper consultation or impact assessments was always a recipe for failure.
Crucially no attempt was made to define how success would be measured.
So how have they fared?
Bishopthore Road lane closure
This was intended to provide queuing space for shoppers. It was claimed that it would make social distancing easier.
Critics pointed to new hazards for cyclists on the contraflow lane, increased congestion & pollution on alternative routes and a missed opportunity to trial an off peak pedestrian area (10:30am – 4:00pm) approach.
The results have been disappointing with the alternative Nunnery Lane/Blossom Street/ Scarcroft Road suffering for increased congestion. Bus services have been adversely affected. There has been short cutting through residential areas like St Benedict Road where parking is also now a problem
There is little footpath queuing on the east of the shopping area. The forecourted shops on the other side have adequate space although bollards have reduced flexibility.
Verdict – scrap it
An ill considered scheme which missed the opportunity that part time pedestrianisation might have offered.
Fortunately there have been no accidents involving cyclists yet, although northbound traffic levels remain below average (as they do across the whole of the highway network)
Reduced social distancing requirements (now one metre rather than two) and the introduction of face masks should lead to this trial being abandoned. A more thorough consultation on the options for the Bishopthorpe Road area could then take place.
Bollards have not improved social distancing on Bishopthorpe RoadProblems with car parking and short cutting through the St Benedict’s Road area
Foss Bridge
One of the general traffic lanes across Foss Bridge on the inner ring road was repurposed for cyclists (southbound) . The lane had been coned off while maintenance work on the bridge was carried out in the early spring.
Most cyclists opt to use the riverside off road path. Comparatively few choose to use the inner ring road.
Verdict – retain and consult on its future
There has been little congestion on this section of the inner ring road although general travel patterns are not expected to return to pre COVID levels before September.
The cycle lane has been obstructed on occasions by delivery drivers, taxi pick ups etc. so the solution is less than perfect.
Vehicle numbers on this section of the inner ring road greatly exceed the number of cyclists
Monk Bar car park disabled spaces
The Council allocated 40 spaces at the Monk Bar car park for blue badge holders when additional access & parking restrictions were introduced in the City centre (e.g. Goodramgate). A “free” taxi service link to the rear of Kings Square is offered. The decision – like several others – was taken by the Councils acting chief executive with no prior consultation.
Blue badge holders can park on single yellow lines and park free of charge at Council car parks.
The little used taxi service is costing taxpayers £354 a day.
It appears that no attempt was made to assess the demand for disabled parking spaces at Monk Bar or for the taxi link. The Council didn’t specify the use of low emission vehicles on the taxi contract
Typically no more than five blue badge holders are parking at Monk Bar at any one time. The remaining general parking spaces are being increasingly used but the car park has yet to reach the full occupation levels seen before the pandemic. The Council has also recently allocated more on street parking spaces for blue badge holders in streets like Duncombe Place.
While the initiative was well intentioned, the Council hopelessly misjudged the demand for the service.
Verdict – revise the scheme
The number of reserved spaces can be reduced and the taxi link abandoned. Consultations can take place with disabled group representatives and traders on other options. These might include a “home to city centre” subsidised taxi service for the disabled where costs are recompensed when goods are bought.
Monk Bar blue badge spaces unusedNarrow access path at Monk Bar car park. No provision made for social distancing (see Maygate below)
Marygate car park
Around 40 parking spaces have been cordoned off. The Council claimed it was to allow cyclists to avoid joint use of the footpath (which links Scarborough Bridge to Bootham Terrace). In turn this helped to maintain a two metre social distancing zone.
The scheme was criticised when proposed because if failed to assess the effectiveness of the obvious alternative (encouraging cyclists to use the internal car park service road) which would have involved the loss of only one parking space.
There were bigger problems on other routes from Scarborough Bridge both at the north (Marygate) end of the bridge and crucially at the station itself. A narrow tunnel connects the shared cycle/footpath to Bootham Terrace.
The introduction of one metre social distancing guidelines and the use of face masks will reduce any health threat.
Observations at the car park suggest that the cycle route through the parking spaces is very little used (with some cyclists opting to use the service road anyway).
The car park has been busy on occasions but has not yet reached capacity. This may change if August is as busy as it has been in the past
Verdict – amend the scheme to allow cyclists to use the car park service road.
There is no Coronavirus heath justification for routing cyclists through car parking spaces. The break in the perimeter fence can be retained – and one place bollarded off – to allow access via the service road to Bootham Tce and Almery Garth. A ramp to St Mary’s – promised but never delivered – would be a useful for both cyclists and disabled buggy users.
The Council should sort out an acceptable route for cyclists wishing to access the route from Scarborough bridge to Lowther Tce (long term plans for the station frontage remodelling need to recognise this demand)
Conned off section on Marygate car park is little used by cyclistsNo cycling when you reach the station
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