More building works at Glen Lodge start

May 25, 2024 ~ Steve Galloway ~ Leave a comment

After adding 27 extra homes to Glen Lodge in 2018, work is starting to refurbish and make the 32 original apartments more energy-efficient, accessible and comfortable.

This popular independent living community in Heworth was originally built in the 1970s and a £4 million investment in 2018 added 25 new apartments and two new bungalows to it.

The extensive refurbishment of the original building will put the original living and communal spaces on a par with the new extension.

The refurbishment includes:

complete rewiring and replumbing
installing a new heating system compatible with a low-energy and low-carbon air source heat pump
increasing current levels of insulation including insulating balconies to keep temperatures more constant in all seasons
fitting new double-glazed windows
completely replacing all kitchens and bathrooms with accessible fittings
giving three ground floor apartments improved access to the scheme’s gardens by adding external doors, and adding patios – where space permits.

The work is due to complete in spring 2025 when residents will be able to move in.

Earlier 18th October 2016

£4m project to provide more extra care at Glen Lodge gets underway

Work to extend a City of York Council sheltered accommodation scheme is starting to deliver a £4 million investment to increase and further improve care services for older people.

Glen Lodge Housing with Extra Care Scheme is being extended as part of the council’s plans to modernise accommodation for older people in the city with 25 new flats and two new bungalows being built.

As well as the proposed extension, the council is also working to extend the existing help and support available to residents – known as ‘extra care’ – so it is available 24 hrs a day, seven days a week. This will enable even more people with higher care and support needs to live at Glen Lodge.

The work is part of the Older People’s Accommodation Programme which aims to give older people more choice and control about the care and support they receive.

Local contractor William Birch is carrying out the works and will have a number of apprentices working on the project. Danny Langdon, David Hayes and Chris Horsley, all at various stages of their bricklaying apprenticeships with York College, are working under their mentor, Steve Bailey, a highly-skilled bricklayer. They will initially be working on the new bungalows and will then move on to the main building. Continue reading “More building works at Glen Lodge start” →

Lowfields residents unhappy about latest delays to completion of building works

January 25, 2024 ~ Steve Galloway ~ 1 Comment

According to the Lowfields Action Group Facebook page (click), it could be months before the York Council makes a decision on the future of two empty building plots on the Lowfield Green development.

It appears that the new Labour-controlled Council has shelved work on providing either a care home or sheltered accommodation on the site reserved for an elderly persons facility.

It is three years since tenders were invited for the use of the site.

12 months ago the council seemed to be on the brink of making a decision only for the item to be withdrawn from a Council meeting agenda.

Since then officials have remained tight-lipped about the future of the site although sources at West Offices said that tenderers had criticised the proposed Council contract as “being too restrictive”.

It is three years since tenders for use of the elderly care site were invited

So it seems that there will no homes for the elderly built in the foreseeable future.

Neighbours are now being told that part of the site will be grassed over and part will be used as a site compound for the Yorspace development (if that ever actually gets built)

The Councils Shape homes developers are still marketing empty homes on the site referring to a “public service building” (currently occupied by the Wates building compound) . A few weeks ago the York Council successfully applied for a subsidy to build houses on the plot.

Yet according to official sources at West Offices “no decision” has apparently been taken on its future.

This is hardly a way to treat either long term residents or those who have recently moved into new homes in the area. Communication has at best been patchy.

The access from Tudor Road is now open. It will close again when final resurfacing work takes place on roads and footpaths in the area.

The fate of roads in the surroundinging area is less clear.

The developer says “In regards to the remedial highways works, I am currently undertaking a comparison exercise of the highways pre-construction, and current conditions. I will undertake another dilapidation survey when Wates vacate the site, and will work with the Highways Authority with the aim to develop a full remediation plan in collaboration with them to address some of the wider highways issues, as well as those caused by the construction vehicles. The extent of the works will be shared with the residents once confirmed”.

In the meantime the Council seems to have suspended all highway maintenance work in the area leaving several potentially hazardous potholes, in the Lowfield Drive area, unfilled.

Bootham Park Hospital site redevelopment – public access secured

December 2, 2021 ~ Steve Galloway ~ 1 Comment

A report to a meeting taking place next week confirms that public access to the Bootham Hospital grounds will be maintained when the building is redeveloped as a care home.

The report states that

Public use of the Lawns; (Public, Curriculum and Sports use with new paths and facilities to enhance the use of the lawns and the provision of an 11-a-side and a 7-a-side football pitches).
Pedestrian and cycle routes through the BPH Site and the District Hospital Trust Site;
Protection and restoration of the Historic Boundary Railings
The use the historic buildings for Extra Care Housing for older people.
Emergency landing site for the air ambulance; and the
Preservation of the integrity and access to the District Hospital Trust Site so that this can be developed, at a later date, to deliver medical training facilities and other hospital services.

In return for an access route lease, the Council will also get a payment together with a profit share (overage) agreement on the development.

The agreement is subject to the final granting of planning permission.

NB. The Grade 1 listed Bootham Hospital building opened its doors in 1777, one of the first purpose-built mental health ‘asylums’ in England. For the next 240 years the hospital’s, at times controversial, history reflects the country’s changing social attitudes and medical approaches to mental health. Those approaches finally outgrew the hospital in 2015. It closed after proving unable to provide an appropriate environment for modern mental health services. These modern mental health services now provided in a new £37 million, 72-bed, hospital on Haxby Road, called Foss Park Hospital. The state-of-the-art facility provides two adult, single sex wards and two older people’s wards – one for people with dementia and one for people with mental health conditions such as psychosis, severe depression or anxiety.

York Council supine, confused and incompetent – Auditors report into York Older Peoples care plan

July 23, 2015July 23, 2015 ~ Steve Galloway ~ Leave a comment

It is generally accepted that the greatest ongoing financial challenge faced by local authorities is the additional costs which they will face for looking after increasing numbers of elderly people in society.

Two reports into residential care provision in the City have been published over the last 24 hours.

An auditors report lifts the lid on the collapse of the last Labour Council administrations plans to establish two super care homes in the City.

The second report, which will be considered by the Council’s Executive on 30^th July, tries to identify a “way forward” for ailing social care services in the City.

The detailed auditors report from Mazars simply confirms what most interested residents had already worked out.

Extract from auditors report click to enlarge

The Council had neither the skills nor processes available to manage a complex £30 million project which was hamstrung by political posturing from 2011.

Initially time was lost as Labour Councillors sought to appease trades union interests, while later the three responsible Cabinet members (Simpson-Laing, Cunningham-Cross and Alexander all of whom lost their seats in the May elections) failed for 3 years to get to grips with a project that had effectively stalled.

As we pointed out at the time, refusing to answer questions at Council meetings on the project, on spurious grounds of commercial confidentiality, was simply a smokescreen for the indecision which heralded the complete collapse of the project.

Reports had been presented to various Cabinet meetings but the auditors confirm but “There is no evidence of discussion in these key areas at Cabinet”.

In total over £350,000 of taxpayers money was wasted on the project with the subsequent delay also costing taxpayers around £300,000 a year in subsidies to keep existing arrangements in place

Mazars audit report concludes with comments on the new business plan. They say

“The operational and financial modelling aspects have not been finalised and this is an area which requires further development”.

Despite this comment, a second report will be presented to next week’s Executive meeting which proposes a revised plan.

There are worrying omissions from the report. It is muddled and makes the mistake of not setting out, early on, basic demand assumptions. It is questionable whether many of the criticisms in the audit report have been heeded (not least the need to consider all options at every stage in the process)

324 pages of documentation have been sent to Executive members to consider covering a wide range of important topics. The agenda is far too long to be considered at one sitting. To avoid the mistakes of the past, new Councillors would be wise to defer some items to a special meeting.

Few issues are more worthy of reflection that the Older Persons Homes strategy.

The new approach seeks to replace a project which became a major embarrassment for the Council.

It concerns the most vulnerable members of society.
It is potentially hugely expensive.
The “business case” implies additional borrowing. (The Council needs to reduce its debts not increase them).

The business case claims there will be ongoing revenue savings. Maybe, but the bigger picture needs to be addressed (including increasing expenditure on non residential care services).

The report implies that some existing frail residents may have to move home twice within a couple of years?

The full capital costs and revenue consequences (divided between debt financing and other costs) should be tabulated. At the moment only top level revenue consequences are listed.

The programme management costs are ridiculously high

The Lowfields issue

Redevelopment of the built footprint of the Lowfields site will be developer led but must be aimed at older people (not starter homes as the officer report suggests).

The site is ideally located near to the kind of essential amenities that older people require. Refocusing on an elderly care village approach will also minimise traffic issues in the Lowfields area.

The layout should include some “downsizing” homes aimed at over 50’s (thereby releasing family accommodation elsewhere) but otherwise needs to provide a mix of styles and tenures (flats, bungalows and sheltered accommodation with some communal facilities). The setting should be respected with the former school playing fields being conserved and enhanced.

One of the weaknesses of the officer report – which seems to rest on a misplaced loyalty to the grand designs of the previous regime – is that provision for older people on the west of the city is given little consideration.

Acomb residents want to remain to a setting with which they are familiar and where most of the friends and family will probably continue to live.

£4m project to provide more extra care at Glen Lodge gets underway

Work to extend a City of York Council sheltered accommodation scheme is starting to deliver a £4 million investment to increase and further improve care services for older people.

It is generally accepted that the greatest ongoing financial challenge faced by local authorities is the additional costs which they will face for looking after increasing numbers of elderly people in society.

The Lowfields issue

A cautious and discursive approach is required from the Council new Executive