Area Housing Board

We have had a few enquiries about these and can confirm that yes there is one for Wyke. Originally there was not going to be one, but with less than fond memories of trying to get agenda time for the estate when we were with northern area a decade or so ago I persuaded the Cabinet memebr we needed one. To be fair he disagreed but was very agreeable and saw our point.

It does meet but frankly has not lived up to hopes. there is no real strategic overview, no policy direction, no real challenge, just a lot of criticism of the wyke staff (from certain quarters) and endless quibbling over a minor statistic. It is also more expensive to run than Bransholme the chairman claiming nearly £1,000 and the deputy £750!!

Cllr Percy and I have been quite clear we always supported direct control of the estate by local residents, or if not that at least run it by professionals under democratic control as an alternative. We continue to campaign to abolish ALL Area Housing Boards (which has had Cllr Percy referred to an interim Deputy Chief Executive, and me to the Standards Board) as we continue to show the pointlessness of these meetings and boards. Our complaint is not necessarily the individuals, the structure is no great help either.

In the meantime we know there are exciting new developments to introduce a greater sense of urgency and focus into the meetings which we fully support.

Newland Park

Many thanks to those of you who responded to our survey (and for the kind remarks about other matters we attempt as well).

The overwhelming view was improvements to the carriageway would be welcome and complement the pavement works we spearheaded. in second place was a clear preference for the red aggregate. We have put these views forward and are awaiting a reply. We will issue another CONTACT soon

Mobile library

We are pleased the mobile library continues to be a success with steadily growing figures in the ward. This is very much a case of using it or not having it since demand for it exceeds supply of mobile libraries, and if you have further suggestions on timings or locations please do contact us. The head librarian, while as steely as her forbears, is very approachable snd eager to improve the service so we will be assured a sympathetic hearing - unlike some parts of the council where you know the answer is "no" before you get in the room (though that never stops Andrew and i who press on anyway and risk Sandards Board condemnation)

Park and ride

we are concerned at a contract going to Hackney Community Transport. Even if they are based in West Yorkshire with a satellite office profitability moves outside the local area, and the sustainability and capacity issues are not clealry resolved to our knowledge.

YPI Houses

The matter of the houses proposed on parts of the YPI car park was deferred at the recent planning meeting. the Committee decided they wanted to see the land in question. The matter will now go to the October Plannign Committee

Kenilworth Ave/Abbottsford Close

At Wyke yesterday we expressed our annoyance at the prolonged klack of reality in disposing of the land to local resdients at anything resembling a reasonable price.

We have demanded a report to come to committee and the officers to attend so we can grill them on this matter. If we are lucky it may see some action before then

Goddard Avenue playing fields

A long meeting of wyke area committee yesterday agreed to endorse the continuing efforts to bring all the land back to Sports use with public access on the non-sporting bits, to be roughly 8-8.

Colleagues from Avenue and Newland wards were kind enough to volunteer some of their funds to restore the gating area so wilfully broken by those who believe they are above the law. There will now be a lockable pedestrian access suitable for the mobility impaired, and of course a gate suitable for a mower.

We have also agreed to review the southern boundary fence, which we are uncertain who owns. Much of this will depend on finding the necessary leagla paerwork since this area was bought by the county council.

The good news is this blog site was read by at least one memebr of the consortium who own the bulk of the land and he was kind enough to get in touch so avenues for discussion are now even more open.

Bricknell children's centre

This came to planning recently. the committee went on site and were impressed by the Norway Maple, the existence of two undamaged buildings near to it, and the large area of land nearby.

We decided to delegate approval to the officers following a discussion with the applicant whereby they accepted the tree stayed. We are only simple politicians but we know about root walls and the fact the building can be moved a few feet here and there.

Chants Ave Railway Bridge

I've blogged about this before but a few people have contacted me recently raising yet more concerns.

There are a number of problems at the bridge which are basically -

1. The pigeons and associated muck
2. The graffiti which appears at regular intervals
3. The state of the railings.

The graffiti is being dealt with when it appears as per the graffiti scheme I pioneered for Wyke last year. I have reported the most recent graffiti and it will be removed.

I have raised the railings as a possible scheme for funding from the Community Initiative Budget but this will require the agreement of our colleagues in Avenue Ward too. It will also be quite an expensive scheme so i am not making any promises at this stage.

The pigeon problem could be solved by a net under the bridge. That sounds simple enough but there is a dispute between who is responsible, Network Rail or the Council. I am hoping that this will go to an Independent Adjudicator who will determine who is responsible. I was always told it was the Council as it was they in the 1920s who dug the road under the track.

Once that has happened, and we know who is responsible, we can then try and get the netting sorted. In the meantime, I shall continue to arrange for the path to be jetted and cleared of the pigeon muck.

The wheels of local government turn very slowly I am afraid to say!!

Kirkham Drive & Bricknell Avenue Footpaths

Work has now started on the footpaths on Kirkham Drive whilst the work on Bricknell Avenue has been completed.

John and I approved these schemes last year so we are pleased that they have progressed. We are however looking to see if we can put a little extra money in to complete Bricknell Avenue up to the Primary School. The works recently completed only go as far as about number 27 or so and the sudden ending of the new footpath doesn't really look very nice.

We shall do our best to try to get the path extended up to the school.

David Cameron

Our Party Leader was in Hull again, showing his usual grasp of issues and charisma. More follows, suffice it to say as ever he found time to talk to us and we used our time with him.

However the office is due to close soon so I must leave more follows when i stop the Ward based activities of the next few days. remember though, this is Conservatism with a difference, no previous Leader has come so often to this City in my 23 years. Conservativism is rising across the country, the Days of Hull as a Labour state are over

Children's centre at Bricknell Primary

A worrying rumour reached us today from one of our alert constituents who had the foresight to contact us.

We can confirm the current proposals are weekday use only. 5 days a week - Monday - Friday. The opening times will be 8am ish - 6pm; if there is a demand for the centre to open earlier, the centre may open from 7am.

Because the Bricknell Children's centre is a spoke of the Fenchurch children's centre as such it is not a full children's centre. Some children's centres do open on a weekend but this is only for specific arranged events/activities and as Bricknell children's centre is a spoke of Fenchurch children's centre, any planned activities are more than likely to be held at Fenchurch street. There may sometimes be staff training events held at the Bricknell children's centre; when training occurs, there will probably be a sessional crèche at the centre.

We hope this helps. As ever if you hear anything do let us know. If we do not know instantly we can and will find out. That is the partnership: we speak for you in the Guildhall, you keep us in touch with Ward events - even though we are out and about a lot we cannot be everywhere all the time.

Goddard Avenue Playing Fields

The Report is being prepared on this. The officers are being helpful and trying to aid the councillors produce the balanced result favoured by all and wished for.

Goddard Avenue playing Fields

Following continued damage to locks and the gates wilfully carried out we have reluctantly authorised the welding of the gates shut on a temporary basis. In this we match our colleagues in Avenues Ward who saw the large entrance off Ella Street closed off also to protect their residents' local residential amenity which also suffered by the anti-social elements who used the field. (indeed also colleagues in other wards as well).

Talks are under way (and have been for a while) with a "blue chip" sporting provider and they ahve approached the owners of the largest portion of that area to try and get a good package put together. We are actively encouraging this and have allocated staff time to try and make this happen as we pursue a "Cropton park style solution". We believe in access to open space and belieev this way we will achieve it without encouraging the anti-social use it has been put to.

We welcome the talks recently, between John and the Sports Portfolio holder, to provide greater support to our efforts being willing to work with anyone for a common good.

It is to be hoped this will soon reopen and, if the Blue chip talks break down then John and Andrew are committed to a "Plan B" which will turn it into a mini-park and believe the access issues can be sorted if an exciting initiative John Robinson is pursuing (and I am supporting) for the "back block" of the former Newland School comes off. We very much hope for "Plan A" because that involves us in less expense and reduces the need to delineate the (rather small percentage) of land the council owns and fence off the other piece. In the era of cutbacks we will also have to consider charging for cutting their land.

Bins latest

According to a briefing I have received only a few minutes ago some 29 binmen have all gone off sick.

I do not intend to comment on this, there are rules and procedures (knowing local govnt also a "toolkit" probably) but this will fill you in that there is an "issue" here

Bricknell Avenue Footpath

John and I are pleased that works has now started on improvements to the footpath between 295 Chants Ave and 29 Bricknell Avenue.

We have been trying to get improvements to the entire stretch between Chants and Bricknell Primary for some time so we welcome this start. The work will comprise of a footpath rebuild and improvements to the drainage.

Sadly, the Council was very poor at communicating the start date of these works to us or else we would have written to residents to let them know the work was upcoming!

Abbotsford Close Bins

These have not been collected for two weeks and following a complaint by a local resident we have called for action on this as well.

If yuo have a problem, if 300300 can't help you, then don't hesitate to call the Action Team of Andrew and I ably supported by John Abbott and Andy Forster

Millers Walk National Avenue Windsor road bins

The latest news brought to you by your cyber team! CONTACT will follow

Thank you for making me aware of the situation in Millers Walk, National Avenue and Windsor Road.
The revised day of collection for these streets is Tuesday. Regretfully, the collection was missed on Tuesday and this was rectified yesterday, with all side waste being taken.
Since 20 July, we have made day changes to the waste collection rounds in the city, to all 117,000 individual homes. It takes a few weeks for the collection crews and residents to get used to new days and we thank all our customers for their co-operation and patience.
When we have had to pick up missed bins, we will always take side waste.
With regard to having to telephone 300300, we understand that this was a leaflet pushed through letter boxes by a resident of Windsor Road. Although we encourage our customers to let us know if we have failed to provide the service we should by telephoning 300300, this is absolutely not necessary for the routine weekly collection of waste or the fortnightly/ monthly collection of the black box or blue bin.

Please bear with us during the 'bedding in' of the revised service. We have made fundamental changes to the way in which the crews work, including the removal of 'task and finish'. This stands us in good stead for the introduction of the new wheeled bins for the collections of organic waste and mixed dry recyclables in September this year. As there will not be changes to the day of collection, but additional bins collected on the same day, this provides the least disruption to our customers and hopefully keeps our residents steadfast in their recycling efforts, of whom residents in Bricknell Ward are amongst the most committed!

Please do not hesitate to contact either myself with any concerns NAMES REDACTED TO AVOID POLITICISING STAFF

Kind regards

Buirniston Road bins

More bin chaos, below the reply from the officer. You heard it first here, it is official: unlike others with their so-called newsletters we really do work all year round!

A crew has been dispatched to Burniston Road on receipt of your e.mail. It would be helpful if you could let me know who is telling residents to give individual addresses. I understand for the ops team that a report has just come in that numbers 20 - 42 Burniston have been reported by a single resident this morning adn we would act on this as soon as reported - your report was first!

Kind regards

(name redacted to avoid politicising the officers)

Millers Walk bins

Fresh from our Windsor road posting your interactive councillors receive more news!


We have now been contacted by residents in Millers Walk who have informed us that they too have not had their bins collected and that they have been informed that they must ring 300300 on an individual basis to have their bins emptied. In addition, they have also been informed that if their bin lids are not closed properly that their bins will not be collected and emptied. However, as residents quite rightly point out since their bins have not been emptied on the designated day the bins will of course already be full and therefore the lids will not be closed properly because of the extra days rubbish that will be in them. It would appear that this problem is now unfortunately spreading across the Ward, and indeed the City as a whole if we are given to understand our colleagues correctly, and therefore this unsatisfactory situation surely now requires some urgent action to resolve this very unsatisfactory state of affairs

Windsor Road

the appalling introduction of this service, especially down Windsor Road, has been reported and we are on the case. It is not satisfactory if the council cannot do a core competency, and makes it hardedr to defend the council should be doing this!

Drain Newland Park

happy to report the drainage ditch for the Park which actually is in the allotments was cleared.

I can understand, if not condone however, allotment waste in there, even failure to cut back natural vegetation......but who carted the concrete street lampost there in its entirety!!!!???

bishop Alcock shops

we have made clear the lack of progress on settling the pub wall issue is not satisfactory and Andrew is being robust on that.

I am ensuring a satisfactory planting scheme now the grass has been established.

Ultimately we still believe it should be sold for private housing

Area Housing Board

These are not brilliant and it remains Conservative policy to get rid of them. However there is a vacancy for one member at the moment the sole requirement being they are a tenant.

Meetings are on a Tuesday afternoon generally and there is a flat fee of £25 for each meeting attended.

Anyone interested please let us know and we will forward to the officer. (We do not name officers or politicise them on this site, or elesewhere, otherwise we would point you in the direct route, but can assure you we will forward all applications received and will not vet any)

Kelvin Hall

We can announce that the successful applicant to rebuild this school on the existing site was Balfour Beatty.

Andrew and I have had concept meetings with the BSF team and made clear the parameters this should be done to. Alas we lost the battle about numbers and Kelvin Hall again loses community focus as the catchment area goes into Derringham ward. Currently it attracts Bricknell residents, those from the Avenues Ward and those from North Hull estate.

Once firm proposals emerge we will of course keep you in touch and may even organise a public meeting

Children's centre at Bricknell Primary

Proposals for this came to Planning Committee which Andrew turned up for.

The committee were mystified why a tree needed to be felled given there was so much space and in view of that, plus the contradictory evidence they were presented with, agreed to make a site Visit on the morning of September 9th and the decision in the afternoon.

We continue the Goddard Avenue playing fields mess which the Avenues lovvies are meddling in (not the members, local residents abusing Andrew and I as well as you for daring to want some privacy and protection from anti-social behaviour).

long standing residents will remember when I fought the campaign to stop houses on there (Andrew was still at school) and Ella street residents all said "nothing to do with us" and took no part in the successful campaign? Now, after blocking off an access because they felt they needed protection from anti-social behaviour, they decide it is a matter for them.

Let us be clear:-

• we do NOT intend long-term closure of the fields to the public
• we DO intend sports use (since they are sports fields!), with public use like we have achieved in Cropton Road
• Talks ARE proposed between the owners of the private land which people are unlawfully claiming use of and the council
• there are NO plans to gate off the piece of land immediately adjacent to Jack Kaye walk
• there are NO plans to park cars on Jack Kaye walk

I hope that addresses the delusional accusations flying around and reassures local residents that we are acting in their best interests as well as recognising wider responsibilities. I will not comment on the nonsense we are enduring, people can read the facts here and draw their own conclusions from the different attitudes shown.

needless to say nobody from Ella Street gas spoken to Andrew or I about the matter - they just seem to divine it all by osmosis!

Windsor Road Gullies & Railway Bridge

Good news today on two fronts.

Firstly, following complaints I received about blocked gullies on Windsor Road, the Council has been down to have a look and will clear the detritus from the grates which are causing the blockages. There were particular problems yesterday during the heavy rain with a couple of these grates.

Secondly, following our action, the Council have been a cleaned the pigeon muck from under the railway bridge on Chants Ave. There is still a dispute as to whether the Council or Network Rail are responsible for the bridge and the assocaited pigeon problem. An independent adjudicator will now make a decision on who is responsible.

I am also pursuing a seperate issue related to the bridge which relates to the barriers whih run along the pavements under the bridge. These need re-paiting and we are working with the Lib Dem Councillors in Avenue Ward to try to acheive this.

Up and Running Again

Please accept our apologies for the delay in updating the blog. We had some technical issues, or rather we lost the passwords, but everything is now up and running again.

Rest assured, we have been working as hard as ever, as residents should have seen from the local newsletters. Current on-going campaigns include -

• Tidying up the Chants Ave railway bridge and seeking a permanent solution to the pigeon issue.
• The re-painting of the footbridge on Hotham Road North, terracotta in the hope of deterring graffiti.
• Removing the graffiti on the clubhouse on the Cropton Park.
• New flagpoles for Commonwealth Homes and the Cropton Park.
• Tidying up the roundabout on Cott Rd/Farifax Avenue.
• Protecting grassed areas and grass verges against irresponsible parking.

Obviously, there are more but these should give an idea of our continued commitment to working hard for you all year round.