Weed treatment on hard surfaces starts in York?

UPDATE: The Council has clarified that the request for no weed treatement on Ascot Way relates to the area outside one dwelling only. The rest of the street, including hopefully the garage area, will be treated

The much delayed weed control programme has started in the City according to Council officials. They have sent a schedule of works to local Councillors. Earlier in the year the Council decided to reduce the number of sprays on gutters and paths to two (from 3)

Some Councilllors have shared the treatment programme with local residents. Most haven’t!

They have also provided some background information on their interpretation of the situation. Residents who have noted a marked deterioration in public service quality this summer may have differing views

The Council says, .

Weed Spraying

Weed spraying commences from Monday 17^th June 2024. The spraying is scheduled to take place between Monday 17^th June and Tuesday 4^th July. The contractor’s schedule is attached for your information. Please note there is a programmed and completed box against each ward but these dates may be subject to change depending on weather conditions and resources. 

I have also attached the list of streets/areas put forward by members as exclusions from weed spraying (see below). Please note that the contractor has received all maps of areas to be sprayed as well as all of the exclusion areas. 

Rural Grass Cutting

The rural grass cutting commences from Monday 17^th June 2024. The contractor will start on the West side of the city and work their way Eastwards. Cutting will take approximately three weeks but may need to be adjusted depending on weather conditions. This is line with previous years and the Councils stated approach which can be found at https://www.york.gov.uk/ReportGrass#rural

Buzz About York

The team have done a fantastic job planting up some trial beds on Station Rise, Duncombe Place/Blake Street and at the memorial on Skeldergate Bridge. The beds are filled with sustainable planting in a move away from the more traditional summer and winter bedding that was in place previously. We will evaluate how these beds perform with a view to making further changes in the future. I have attached a picture from a few weeks ago that you may have seen in the local media.

City Centre

The city centre cleansing team have taken delivery of a new electric Goupil vehicle. This has provided the team with greater flexibility and the means to perform more tasks through their daily work. The vehicle has been in operation for a couple of weeks now and has proved extremely useful.

Officials have provided a list of streets where local ward members have asked for no weed control activities to take place. We very much doubt whether residents on all these streets were consulted. On some, the stability of buildings may be at risk if no control of dominant weeds is undertaken.

The excluded list is

Weed Control Contract 2024 – Exclusion Areas (No Spraying) as requested by local ward Councillors

• Holgate Ward
  • Watson Street
  • Watson Terrace
  • Cecelia Place
  • St Paul’s Square
  • Enfield Crescent
  • St Paul’s Terrace
  • Railway Terrace
  • Upper St Paul’s Terrace
  • Cleveland Street
  • Wilton Rise
  • Playground area including Holgate Community Gardens
• Fulford and Heslington Ward
  • Prospect Terrace
  • Palace View
• Copmanthorpe Ward
  • No spraying of wildflower meadow where Horseman Lane meets Horseman Drive
• Westfield Ward
  • Ascot Way
• Osbaldwick and Derwent Ward
  • No spraying alongside the village greens in (i) Osbaldwick (ii) Murton or (iii) Dunnington Villages.
• Wheldrake Ward
  • No spraying in Elvington
• Fishergate Ward
  • New Walk
  • Farndale Street
  • Hartoft Street
  • Grange Street
  • Lastingham Terrace
  • Levisham Street
  • Rosedale Street
  • Grange Garth
  • The alleyway between Gordon Street and Wolsley Street

Wilton Rise area weed growth two weeks ago. It is a hazard for pedestrians but apparently it will not be treated by the York Council

No doubt the first sighting of a quad bike will be made shortly. It will then become clear whether the treatment schedules have been adjusted to include the various areas which seem to get missed each year.

It’s likely to be a couple of weeks after teatment before die back will become evident

Local Councillors in several wards have some explaining to do.

Now Private Eye magazine highlights scale of muddle over York Council grass cutting policies.

Seems the York Council is being criticised from all sides with even Private Eye magazine taking time to comment on another bizarre mistake.

It seems that Council – or more likely one of its contractors – has cut a wildflower verge just as the carefully cultivated plants were beginning to bloom.

Something similar happened in Foxwood, where the Council failed to cut the Foxwood Park wildflower meadow in the spring. Without regular maitenance the wildflowers have little chance of getting established.

A request, for a 1 metre wide footpath to be cut round the perimeter of the madow, has also been ignored. The path would have allowed park users to avoid trampling down the wildflowers.

Elsewhere residents have criticised the Council for failing to cut back hazadous weeds on public footpaths (see below).

The Council claims that its new “no cut” policies are aiding biodiversty.

In reality, the reverse is the case. Dominant weeds like nettes are smothering the very types of flowers which are most important for pollinators.

Those currently in charge seem to have honed their environmental credentials from the most cursory use of Google search.

Getting the balance of nature right is complicated. It is also expensive and not something therefore that the Council leadership are likely to embrace with any enthusiasm

Adding insult to injury, the Council are currently bombarding social media with”Get York Buzzing” propaganda messages. They show a staggering lack of self awareness

Earlier: Is this a record? Examples of poor public service standards in – York 6th June 2024

2 metre high thistle on residential verge in Kingsway West.

Potentially hazardous weeds like these are supposed to be treated by the York Council, but the strimmg and weed control programme has been chaotic this year

There are many other examples of poor maintenance standards around the City

Westfield

Osbaldwick

Westfield

Westfield

Lowfield Green

Rawcliffe – cycle access obstructed

Holgate weeds

Westfield weeds

Holgate verges uncut

Delay in letting York Council weed treatment contract

Weeds and potholes a feature of many York streets

The delay in starting the weed control programme on hard-surfaced areas and paths in York is set to continue. Officials have admitted that it will be the 17th June before a newly appointed contractor starts work.

This could be further delayed if weather conditions are poor.

The treatment will take a few weeks to complete so it means that it will be July before any dieback occurs.

The delays are on top of the decision taken in February to restrict the application of weed killer to only two treatments a year (it was three last year in most of the City). The late application of the first treatment makes it less likely that the streets will be weed-free at any time this summer.

As well as amenity reasons, excessive weed growth can block paths, cause trip hazards, obstruct sight lines at junctions, interfere with street furniture and, in extreme cases, even lead to the destabilisation of built structures.

In some neighbourhoods, residents have formed groups to treat the weeds themselves.

The Council had also promised to strim round lampposts, street nameplates and verge trees this summer.

But this also hasn’t happened.

Six companies bid for the weed control contract

So what public service maintenance standards should we expect?

The York Council long ago stopped publishing “customer contracts”.

These – a Labour idea in the 1990s – set out a written statement saying what basic service standards residents could expect.

Performance targets were listed.

An annual performance report was published indicating outcomes. A summary was circulated to each household.

Now, performance measures are largely opaque for the average resident. The quality of many street level services can only judged by what residents personally witness.

Criticisms of grass cutting and weed control have tended to focus on the City centre this week, although some suburban areas have also seen a sharp decline in standards.

So what do residents, who live in wards where Labour Councillors have been elected for many years, expect to get in return for their unwavering loyality?

The current Councillor responsible for public service standards is Jenny Kent. She has represented the Holgate area for just over a year and lives in the ward in St Pauls Square.

St Pauls Square does indeed provide an exemplar for public space standards. The inner garden area manages to combine both a pleasant environment, suitable for sitting out, with informal natural planting. It is not however, maintained by the Council.

St Pauls Square garden area

Just round the corner in St Cecelia Place are some Council flats. Standards there are very different with substantial weed growth on the boundaries. Verges get only a cursory cut.

There is a stark contrast between wealthier areas and their neighbours

Perhaps standards are better in the terraced areas of Leeman Road?

Residents here had made representations on weed growth problems in the past They were among the guinea pig areas which received only two applications of hard surface weed killer last year (instead of three).

For many the trial was not a success yet the decision taken in February was to apply weed killer only twice this year. across the whole City.

Four months later and we are still waiting for the first application.

Amenity areas not cut

Weeds growing in gutters

Weeds growing up the side of houses

Those who want to see more wildflower planting have also missed an opportunity. Cow parsley has now reached a record height of over 2 metres adjacent to the Leeman Road cycle track. The weeds have grown between the cracks in the paving.

Had the paving been removed first then an attactive wildflower bed might have been created.

Leeman Road cycle track. Dominated by docks and cow parsley

Elsewhere decling standards are also a matter of concern.. Many verges are overgrown.

The Council promised to strim round trees, street signs and furniture instead of using weed killer.

No work has taken place.

Beckfield Lane roundabout overgrown – affecting sight lines

Danebury Drive posts need strimmng

Hamilton Drive East bollards also need strimming

Almsford Road carriageway covered in potholes

and finally what of the disabled? . Are they among those most at risk as standards fall?.

Wheelers face a nettle obstacle course near Windsor Garth

Access to Hob Moor is obstructed

Mobility gate at Hob Stones blocked

It seems that declining service standards are affecting the whole of the City!

York Councils grass cutting woes

Update 18th April 2024

The Council has now started to cut the verges

Earlier: It seems that the warnings given to the rooky executive Councillor, who decided to reduce verge and open space maintenance standards in February (click), are proving to have been well founded. The decision to reduce the number of grass cuts from 10 to 6 times a year was taken despite warnings that staff shortages, vehicle malfunctions and bad weather would reduce frequencies still further

Weeds and docks are overgrowing grassed areas

So it has proved to be although we are only in mid April.

The Council has not been able to mow large amenity areas and parks as they fear that  tractors would become bogged down. This is putting events like the Knavesmire race meetings at risk. I

n turn the important first (of two) cuts on wildflower meadows are also delayed, putting new growth (and thereby pollinators) at risk.

The City of York Council have started their first grass cut on small amenity areas.  No work has been completed on the verges which have been overgrown, in some locations, with problem weeds.

Problems with invasive weeds are escalating around the City. One example is the docks on the Corlett Court forecourt which are completely out of control.

There are also increasing problems with moss growth on some footpaths. This increases the hazards for pedestrians during wet weather.

Moss and overgrowth on footpaths is an increasing risk

Residents can report any issues via the Councils online reporting service. https://www.york.gov.uk/ReportProblems

York Councils income from sponsored planting schemes disappearing?

Update March 2024

Summer 2023 and roundabouts are overgrown

Despite claims that it is strapped for cash, the York Council is set to lose the income stream it enjoys from sponsored roundabouts.

It has decided to allow them to be uncut and covered in “long grass”. In practice this will mean that nettles and thistles will dominate the views as people travel into the city.

In the past, sponsorship has attracted over £60,000 a year to the Councils coffers with some being spent on establishing wildflower areas. The roundabout on Hull Road was widely praised in 2020 when a combination of the efforts of local Councillor Mark Warters (who is a professional gardener) and the local authority produced a stunning display.

A tree was planted in the centre, the area rotovated up, an annual seed mix was sown with very impressive results in the first year. It was proposed to oversow with a perennial wildflower mix which, with the correct management, would have provided equally good results on being cut just once a year.

This never happened.

The advent of fhe COVID pandemic saw momentum fade but there were high hopes that last summer roundabouts, central reservations and rural verges would once again become a blaze of colour and insect life.

The contrary happened. By the summer of 2023 roundabouts and amenity verges across the City had become overgrown with weeds.

Hopes of an improvement this year have now been dashed by the new Labour Councils austerity policies. Ironically, they will result in even less income for the Council as sponsorship dwindles..

Earlier 28th August 2022

A couple of years ago the roundabout on Hull Road near the University offered a stunning display

Hull Road roundabout with wildflowers June 2020

A response to a Freedom of Information request has revealed that the York Councils’ income, from the sponsorship of roundabouts, has fallen by nearly 50% in the last 5 years.

In 2016 the authority gained £60,935 from sponsorship in 2016/17. By 2020/21 that had fallen to £39,906. No figures have yet been published for 2021/22.

There are 27 sites available for sponsors. Of these, 23 are currently taken.

The authority says that it doesn’t have a record of when the last maintenance visit was made to the roundabouts. It does say though that they should get 10 grass cuts per year.

However, in rural areas, there may only be 2 cuts per year.

There has been no update report to any Council Executive member meeting, on the performance of the scheme, for over 2 years.

The original intention of the scheme – as well as supplementing the Council’s income – was to improve the appearance of the City at key access points.

While the pandemic may have prompted some difficulties, the fact that most roundabouts are still sponsored suggests that there remains a commercial interest in the the scheme.

A59/A1237 roundabout

Moor Lane roundabout

Wetherby Road roundabout

Central verge of the A1079 Hull Road between B&Q and Grimston Roundabout.

An informal audit of the roundabouts suggests that they have been badly neglected. There is no sign of the target cutting program on those roundabouts that are grassed.

Most flower beds are overgrown. Even if sponsors had opted for a “natural” wildflower scheme, standards seem to have slipped.

There is scope for more imaginative low maintenance wildflower schemes.

Leaves blocking cycle lane on The Mount

A cycle lane on The Mount is one of a number of routes still affected by fallen leaves.

In previous years, the York Council has cleared gutters and footpaths before Christmas.

That hasn’t happened this year and the authority has remained tight lipped about the issue.

The leaves are slippery in wet & icy weather while accumalations in gutters can cause drains to block leading to surface level flooding.

Leaves on cycle lane and in draage gutters

The situation on The Mount is surprising as at least one Councillor, from the ruling Labour group, must cycle past the location on his way from meetings at West Offices. 

It is surprising – if Council systems have failed – that local Coucillors haven’t organised volunteers to remove the leaves from the most hazardous locations.

The Council should tell residents when they expect to complete the clear up operation in each ward

Failure to clear the weeds will result in them decaying, forming a perfect seeding ground for weeds. In turn weed growth will damage the infrastructure. This will lead to the need for expensive repairs.

It would be much cheaper to just sweep the detritus up now,

If you want a wildflower bed at least remove the flagstones first

A hardsurfaced area next to the Leeman Road cycle track has disappeared under a blanket of weeds.

The area has little use and could have become a wildflower haven if that is what local people wanted.

But instead of raisng the flagstones and planting out the area it has simply been abandoned.

A poor advert for a route on which the Council has promised to invest heavilly.

York Council public service standards – time to take stock

The end of the summer period brings an opportunity to review the quality of the maintenance standards seen on York’s’streets this year.

It took a while to get brambles cut back from the footpath on a popular walking route to a local primary school

Surface weeds and overgrowth on a local footpath

Footpath obstructed on Foss Islands Road by overgrowth

Some paved areas were not treated with weed killer this year. Paving is now being destablised

Weed growth on paths and in gulleys has been a point of contention for several years. Weed treatment standards hit a nadir in 2019 – pre pandemic – when the Coucil paid for treatments that simply didn’t take place on many roads.

Traffic island weeds still not removed despite being reported to the Council

The Council claims that weed growth in the gutter on Acomb Green has been cleared. Doesn’t look like it has to us

Since then, contractor performance has been patchy with the final 2023 treatment only being completed over the last few days

Now is the time for the Council to publicly review its performance. Residents and local Councillors must take the opportunity to scrutinise the inventory of paths, snickets and paved areas to ensure that all are covered by the contract.

A similar review is needed of the grass cutting and tree management ptogrammes. Grass cutting has generally been better this year (with some exceptions) but growth around trees and signposts has been largely unchecked.

Overgrowth remains a hazard for pedestrians in many locations

Leaf fall and winter maintenance will be the next challenges for the York Council.

We will see how effect the Council is in keeping footpath clear of slippery leaves over the next few weeks.

Weeds still growing strongly

The recent, relatively good, autumn weather means that overgrowth continues to be a problem .

The York Council still hasn’t got its systems right.

Trees and signs haven’t been treated with weedkiller at the their bases (or strimmed). No maintenance programmes have been published.

There are similar problems with weed growth. In some streets footpaths are now completely blocked by vegetation.

The Council will need to improve their performance next summer.

Weed control programme around street furniture has failed

Some footpaths are completely blocked