Pie & Quiz Evening
Cross Keys Pub, TadcasterRoad
Wednesday March 28th @ 7.30 pm
Tickets £4 from your local representative*or at the door
Pie or baked potato supper included
Quiz with prizes
* 4 Aintree Court – 30 Goodwood Grove (701695)
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Annual General Meeting at Marroiot on 26th April… Please come!
Latest Minutes from the Open Meeting Posted
Chase Residents Association Presentation
The Future of the Public Open Space
For those that missed it – here is the Powerpoint presentation that was made by the Residents Association on the possible future of the Public Open Space and pond at the Ward Committee meeting in January.
Fisherman!! – You have a New Facebook Page
The fisherman now have a new Facebook site to keep track of activities on the pond. Go to: York railway pond
Road safety concerns
There is an on-going concern within our community regarding the dangers posed by the traffic using the roads within our estate. In most instances this danger is caused by a few inconsiderate drivers either travelling too fast or parking inappropriately. There are also other instances where the danger comes from a combination of poor kerb side visibility and inadequate road markings.
The Committee has presented the situation as we see it to City of York Council Road Safety and Highways Departments. The outcome has been mixed in that there have been some successes, some failures and some opportunities still to take up in the near future.
For a full illustrated report you can download the PDF here:
Road Safety Report – July 2011
A summary of the active topics and their current status is as follows:
Maintaining clear site lines
Maintaining clear sight lines has been successful on Nelsons Lane through the s-bends where City of York Council Street Scene have accepted their responsibility and now regularly cut the undergrowth.
Unfortunately we have been less successful in our attempts to improve visibility at the junction of Hob Moor Terrace and Nelsons Lane with a proposal to use a convex mirror. CoYC Traffic Management advised that such mirrors are not authorised for use on the highway as they reflect light and interfere with a driver’s vision, reduce the ability to judge speed of oncoming vehicles and distort the view, especially when dirty. But at least a mirror would inform drivers of an approaching vehicle.
Reducing the speed limit
Reducing the speed limit has thus far been unsuccessful although some encouraging statements have been made.
Following the submission of a ‘speeding complaint’ to the North Yorkshire Police (NYP) 95 ALIVE initiative and a subsequent survey of vehicle speed along Nelsons Lane, both the NYP Road Safety Partnership Team and the CoYC Road Safety Officer advised that the measured speeds were well within the 30 MPH limit. Also, as no speed related accidents had occurred within the last three years no action in relation to the speeding complaint would be taken. They did state that our community location was suitable for a Speed Indicator Device (SID) which just tells drivers their actual speed. Such an ‘information only’ device may not have sufficient impact on the few inconsiderate drivers exposing our families and friends to risk of injury or worse.
If the comments of the Moor Lane residents, observed at the recent Ward Review, are to be believed the installation of a SID has done little to solve the speeding problem. Further consultation with residents on the best way forward is needed with regard to the estate speed limit.
Establishing junction priorities
The CoYC Traffic Management Unit states that establishing junction priorities through the use of give way markings and signs are not a statutory requirement on minor residential estate road junctions. They state that national research studies on unmarked junctions show they perform well on low speed estate roads, with negligible accident and injury occurring. Unmarked junctions tend to make people more aware of their surroundings, which from a safety perspective is beneficial and as such many estates built in recent years have been designed with this in mind.
CoYC Traffic Management stated that a technician or engineer would make an assessment of the junctions within the Farriers Chase estate and should it be deemed necessary give ways markings will then be considered.
With regard to our request for centreline marking CoYC TM state that this is not used on roads with an overall width of less than 5.5m and as much of Nelsons Lane is under that limit the use of such a line would not be recommended. CoYC TM seem to have ignored the fact that we were only looking for a centre-line marking through the s-bends in the vicinity of the children’s play park.
Establishing effective parking restrictions
CoYC Traffic Management stated that our suggestion to introduce waiting restrictions along part of Nelsons Lane will be added to the next Dringhouses & Woodthorpe Ward review, scheduled for Thursday 7th July. Unfortunately, the subject of parking was not a formal agenda item at the review and while the issue was discussed nobody from Traffic Management was present to answer specific questions. Councillor Ann Reid did however give a commitment to bring the issue of parking in the Ward to the next review and ensure that Traffic Management was represented.
How can you help?
As a community we need to act. Whether as individuals or as part of the Chase Residents Association we need to continue to present our case to City of York Council Highways and even to our local councillors at Ward Reviews and Surgeries. The recent action by the Council to restore the sightline through the bends on Nelsons Lane demonstrates a willingness to listen and act effectively, so let us keep up the pressure for action on our road safety concerns.
In support of such action the following contact details, email addresses and web links will be of assistance:
Road Safety Officer, Transport Planning Unit, 9 St Leonard’s Place York YO1 7ET
tel: (01904) 551331, fax: (01904) 551340, email: road.safety@york.gov.uk
City of York Council web link
http://www.york.gov.uk/transport/roads/traffic_restrictions/Speed_limits/
Application form for speed limit change
http://www.york.gov.uk/content/45053/64877/64887/571/Speedlimitapplicationform.pdf
If you have any questions about this please contact Dave Munley.
Care of our Playground
The Chase Residents have already taken over the responsibility for locking up the playground each day to ensure that it remains a pleasant place for children, parents and carers to visit. However, the playground is in desperate need of some maintenance this autumn. We are looking for interested Dads, Mums, Aunts, Uncles, Grandads, Grandmas and caring friends to help with general tidying and painting of the equipment.
Please contact one of our representatives if you can help in any way.
This is your chance to be involved with some local action!
Possible new equipment for our playground.
In the future, we will be investigating the possibility of installing equipment that will improve access for disabled visitors. We also intend to provide some area of shade in the playground. The possibility of planting suitable trees is under consideration as well.
Do you have any ideas? Please let us know.
Speed and Traffic Calming on Nelsons Lane
Dave Munley, our Vice-Chairman has produced a comprehensive report entitled “Road Safety Concerns in the Chase Residents’ Area”.
Copies will be available at the residents meeting on 28th July, or from your local representative.
Potential Future Projects
How do you feel about us tidying up odd pieces of land around you?
A first piece of land we would like to improve is the triangle behind Breary Close.
Suggestions have been made to turn it into a scented/herb garden?
Other suggestions include:
- Planting of Bulbs in front of playground?
- Raised beds on verge by car park Nelson’s Lane? Maybe for Edible York?
- Clearance of area alongside Lakeside Court/Aintree Court and replanting?
We want your ideas? Please contact us or come to the next meeting!
Safer Neighbourhood
We have heard distressing reports of burglaries in our area, and hope you will continue to be vigilant.
This may be a good moment to encourage residents to apply to belong to a Neighbourhood Watch scheme or a Cold Calling scheme. If there isn’t one of these in your area and you would like to participate, please approach one of the representatives listed below. We will be happy to pass on your details to our local Police representative who will set things in motion for you.
Progress on the management of S106 land Public Open Space/Nature Reserve
It is now more than 14 years since this land was dedicated to the community and 8 years since City of York Council (CYC) accepted that the land was completed to their satisfaction. The Council then transferred a considerable amount of money to YNET to maintain the land to a high standard on behalf of the community. However, for various reasons the land was not officially transferred to YNET, resulting in no money being spent on maintenance meaning it has not been kept to a high standard.
This all came to light 18 months ago and in that time a number of individual residents and more recently the Chase Residents Association Committee, have studied all the planning documentation relevant to the housing development marketed as Farriers Chase and have worked diligently to help CYC to resolve the situation.
All this documentation can be seen on request.
Questions to YNET
You may remember that all residents were asked to submit their questions to YNET (originally for our residents meeting 31/3/2011) at their presentation on “Mayfield’s Nature Reserve Past, Present and Future”. However although some of the questions were touched upon in this presentation most still required an answer. At our open residents meeting on 18/4/2011 it was requested that the questions should be resubmitted to be answered in writing. After much prevarication we finally (24/5/2011) received YNETs answers to these questions (see the Blog page on the questions and answers).
The document was circulated to many residents and feedback was sought through the committee and after much discussion the committee decided that the answers received were not acceptable. The Chase Residents Association proposed a motion was that YNET are not a suitable organisation to manage the S106 land known as Mayfield’s Pond/ Nature Reserve and therefore unanimously declared a vote of no confidence in YNET.
This was communicated as a complaint to ALL the trustees of YNET in time for their monthly meeting on 31/5/2011. We received an acknowledgement of our “documents” on 31.5.2011 and a letter on11/6/2011 stating that the trustees had discussed our correspondence fully and noted our concerns; that legal advice had been taken and that for avoidance of doubt that the trustees are fully aware of their statuary and other duties as trustees. We were also advised by YNET that our complaint should not be published outside of the committee and that we should confirm that no such publication has been made. However our complaint was not addressed, neither were we given a time scale in which to expect a response to our complaint. We have not responded as yet to this communication.
The Chase Residents Association is a properly constituted residents association, the committee are duly elected and act in the best interests of the community therefore all our minutes and communications are available to all residents in a transparent and accountable form.
We would like YOUR opinions at our open meeting on 28th July!!
Complaint to City of York Council
At the 18th April residents meeting a motion was proposed and unanimously agreed that an official complaint should be submitted to CYC expressing the residents’ dissatisfaction with the Councils handling of the S106 agreement and particularly the management of the enforcement of the Section 106 planning obligation. This was submitted on be-half of all residents on 10/5/2011.
We now have a response from Mr. Bill Woolley (Director of Planning and Strategy, CYC). He has confirmed that the sale of a strip of land behind Hobmoor Terrace (recently fenced off) is not in accordance with the obligations under the 106 agreement and that action has been taken to rescind this sale. The City of York Council’s Legal Department have written to both the Landowner (Taylor Wimpey) and the Purchaser (Woodhead Developments). As a result Taylor Wimpey has accepted that Planning Permission (S106) which protects this Public Open Space has been breached. Taylor Wimpey is now in negotiation with Woodhead Developments to rescind this illegal sale.
CYC has stated to both parties that litigation will commence should the sale not be rescinded. The fence was erected as a result of the onerous sale, when the onerous sale is rescinded the fence will come down. They have advised us that, once the onerous land sale is rescinded, the land will be transferred to the Council who will manage the land until a suitable alternative management body is chosen.
In the meantime, work will continue to prepare the land to be transferred to CYC. Representatives from the Chase Residents’ Association have recently met both with representatives of Taylor Wimpey and CYC to discuss work re-quired to address some of the maintenance that has not been undertaken in the last 8 years. This includes demolish-ing the derelict building, polling and coppicing large trees , Health and Safety works including repair of the gas vents. The costs for these works will be met by C.Y C. and Taylor Wimpey.
Please note this work may be noisy and may cause some disturbance, please be patient and if you have any con-cerns please speak to Anne Leggett, Dave Munley, Jacqui North or Nikki Long.
Please come to the meeting so we can update you of the latest position.
Response letter from Bill Wooley – City of York Council
Here is a PDF copy of the letter – with the full text below…
City of York Council
City Strategy
9 St Leonard’sPlace
York
Y017ET
Telephone: 01904551550
http://www.york.gov.uk
BillWoolley
01904551330
bill.woolley@york.gov.uk
Dear Ms Leggett
I am writing in response to your various letters and in particular your letter to the Council’s Chief Executive on the 12thJune 2011. In this letter you set out the history of activity relating to the “Farrier’s Chase Development” and I will not re-rehearse that in my reply.
There are two main issues that now need to be resolved to bring this matter to a conclusion. Firstly the Council needs to take ownership of all of the land covered in the original Section 106 agreement. Secondly we need to enter into an agreement with a third party over the long-termEnvironment and Conservation Management of the Land.
Regarding the first matter the Council is pursuing through its legal team the reversal of the sale of the land around Hobmoor Terrace by Taylor Wimpey to Mr Woodhead. The Council originally wrote to the solicitors of both of the above and we have now received positive replies from both. Taylor Wimpey has acknowledged that they are fully aware of their legal positionand their obligations under the Section 106 agreement. They have freely admitted that an error has been made by the transfer of the small parcel of land at Hobmoor Terrace. They are now seeking to recover the land from Mr Woodhead and they have told him to remove the fence he erected, which I believe has now been done. Mr Woodhead’s solicitors have responded to say that they are willing to return the land although they are making claim to the land immediately to the rear of the Terrace through possessory title. I am taking advice on this latter matter.
In summary therefore good progress is now being made on recovering the land that was sold in error to Mr Woodhead. Once this is resolved I expect that the Council will take possession of the whole of the site. At that time I will then resolve the second matter concerning the ongoing stewardship of the land. Your summary of options as set out at the end of your letter of 12th June and whilst I feel option 1 – The Council “retain the land themselves and manage accordingly” is the least likely, I do not dismiss any of the options are this stage.
I hope this letter adequately explains where we are and you are as encourage as I am that we will soon have a successful resolutionto the problems.
Yours sincerely,
Bill Woolley
Directorof City Strategyand Deputy Chief Executive
Director:BillWoolley
chaseresidentsassociation
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