Annex 1 – Performance – Council Plan Outcomes
1 In spite of the many challenges that the organisation and City has faced over the last eighteen months, performance across the wider organisation, not just the Council plan indicators, has continued to remain high and continues to compare favourably when benchmarked against other areas with similar characteristics to York. Whilst Covid and the actions taken to tackle the global pandemic have in places affected performance in the short-term, the general pattern for data and information monitored by the Council is that levels of resident and customer satisfaction, timeliness and responsiveness, as well as various directorate and service based indicators, have remained positive.
2 The Executive for the Council Plan (2019-23) agreed a core set of strategic indicators to help monitor the council priorities and these provide the structure for performance updates in this report. The indicators have been grouped around the eight outcome areas included in the Council Plan. Some indicators are not measured on a quarterly basis and the DoT (Direction of Travel) is calculated on the latest three results whether they are annual or quarterly. It is likely that due to impacts of COVID, a number of the Council Plan indicators will see a significant change both in terms of their numbers and their direction of travel in future reporting periods. The majority of the performance measures within the Council Plan have a lag between the data being available, and the current reporting period and therefore impacts will not be immediately seen, and may occur over several years as new data becomes available.
Well paid jobs and an inclusive economy
Business Rates
3 The 2021-22 collection rate for Business Rates up to the end of December 2021 was 78.33% (6.17% below the target collection rate but 1.37% above the collection rate as at the same point in 2020-21). The 2021-22 collection rate for Council Tax up to the end of December 2021 was 81.74% (2.69% below the target collection rate and 0.55% below the collection rate as at the same point in 2020-21).
Median earnings of residents – Gross weekly pay
4 In April 2021, the median gross weekly earnings for full-time resident employees in York were £597.90, which is an increase of 4.4% from £572.60 in 2020. Nationally in 2021, gross weekly earnings for full-time employees increased most in the lower paying occupations such as process plant and machine operatives (9.1%) and elementary occupations (7.7%). Skilled trades also saw a large increase (9%) after having the largest decrease between 2019 and 2020 (negative 6.5%) but the highest paying occupations had the smallest increases between 2020 and 2021.
% of working age population qualified – to at least L2 and above
5 No update since the Q4 2020-21 Monitor as annual data.
% of working age population qualified – to at least L4 and above
6 No update since the Q4 2020-21 Monitor as annual data.
GVA (Gross Value Added) per head (£)
7 No update since the Q1 2021-22 Monitor as annual data.
% of vacant city centre shops compared to other cities
8 Whilst acknowledging that a number of city centre streets and prime commercial locations seem to be experiencing higher vacancy levels than York’s average, overall at the end of December 2021, there were 56 vacant shops in the city centre, which equates to 8.8% of all city centre shops, and is lower than the national benchmark in Q2 2020-21 of 12.4%. Properties in York are owned by different commercial parties and CYC commercial properties have very low levels of vacancies. The York figure has not fluctuated a great deal in the past 10 years, with a high of 10.3% in 2017-18 and the national benchmark figure has remained stable too, with a high of 12.5% in Q1 2013-14.
9 This measure will continue to be monitored alongside looking at vacancy rates within secondary shopping centres, which are areas that the organisation has a long-term commitment towards investing in, in order to broaden the economic picture of the city. At the end of Q3 2021-22, the vacancy rates within secondary shopping centres were relatively low (7% at Clifton Moor, 0% in Haxby Village and 4% in Acomb High Street), apart from at Monks Cross where the vacancy rate was 16% (although this has reduced from 20% in Q2).
10 In the financial year up to the end of November 2021 (the latest available data), there were 407 new business start-ups in the City of York Council area, which is lower than in previous years. Nationally the number of new companies registered in the UK in 2020 rose significantly as small and local businesses emerged in response to the pandemic; this may indicate why the 2020-21 figures looked positive for York and why a lower number of registrations could be seen during 2021-22.
% of working age population in employment (16-64)
11 In Q2 2021-22 (the latest available data), 79.5% of the working age population were in employment, which is higher than the national and regional figures (74.6% and 73.3% respectively) and the York performance gives the city a ranking of first regionally. The figure for Q2 2021-22 in York is higher than in previous years.
12 At the end of December there were 11,608 people, in York, on Universal Credit which is an increase of 81% compared with February 2020 (pre-pandemic figures). However, there has been a decrease of -12% from April 2021. This trend should continue as restrictions continue to be lifted and the, nationally reported, staff vacancies in the service sector are filled.
Getting around sustainably
P&R Passenger Journeys
13 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
14 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.
% of ROAD and pathway network that are grade 4 (poor condition) or grade 5 (very poor condition) - Roadways / Pathways
15 In 2021-22, 22% of the road network was classed as in poor or very poor condition, which is the same as in 2020-21. In 2021-22, 4% of the pathway network was classed as in poor or very poor condition. This remains relatively low compared with previous years, with the highest being 6% in 2015-16.
Area Wide Traffic Levels (07:00 -19:00) (Excluding A64)
16 Between 2011-12 and 2016-17, the number of vehicles on the city’s roads increased year on year to a high of 2.2 million. Since then the numbers have decreased to a provisional figure of 1.34 million in 2020-21. This decrease in numbers is set against a backdrop of a city with an increasing population. However, the covid pandemic has brought with it numerous national lockdowns and local restrictions so the decrease in traffic levels is to be expected. Figures for 2021-22 will be available later in 2022 and are also expected to be lower than historic figures, due to further restrictions and working from home orders.
Index of cycling activity (12 hour)
17 There has been no new data since the Q1 2021-22 Monitor as an annual data production. The historic data for 2020 cycling levels has been updated as some data points were not manually extracted from the cycle counters during the pandemic, as visits to counter sites could not be made, with data being estimated. This data has now been cleaned and anomalies removed prior to final re-calculation of results, leaving a final level of 113% of baseline compared to 138% the previous year. At the end of December 2020 there was a 48% decrease in the use of public transport (Google mobility data). The drop in cycling levels in 2020 is therefore at a lesser level than the drop in the use of other forms of transport activities, which may suggest that cycling levels as a proportion of overall trips may well have increased, although it is recognised this is not a like-for-like comparison.
18 In order to put the fall in cycling levels in wider context of reduced movement activity during the pandemic, where there has been a work-at-home order and major businesses and establishments such as university have had reduced on-site activity, community mobility data has been tracked regularly from Google to see how visits to places such as shops and transit stations are changing. Data is sourced through phone location history, where consented, and changes for each day are compared to a baseline value. At the end of December 2021, in York, retail and recreation activity is 11% lower than the baseline, there has been a 12% increase in grocery and pharmacy activity, and a 43% decrease in the use of Public Transport, and therefore York has performed better than the national averages and comparison cities, with levels starting to return to pre-pandemic levels.
19 LTP4 is building on the work already undertaken on initiatives such as My City Centre and the Local Plan, and will complement the strategies being developed for York’s Economic Recovery and Carbon Reduction / Climate Change by addressing transport accessibility in terms of travelling around the city using different modes of transport.
Index of pedestrians walking to and from the City Centre (12 hour in and out combined)
20 No update since the Q4 2020-21 Monitor as annual data.
% of customers arriving at York Station by sustainable modes of transport (cycling, walking, taxi or bus – excluding cars, lift, motorcycle or train)
21 No update since the Q4 2020-21 Monitor as annual data.
A Greener and Cleaner City
Percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting
22 The latest provisional data for the amount of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting was 47.4% during Q2 2021-22 (the latest available data), which is a slight decrease from 48.8% during the same period in 2020-21.
Residual household waste per household (kg/household)
23 The latest provisional residual waste (i.e. non-recyclable) per household data shows that figures have increased slightly during Q2 2021-22 (the latest available data) to 135.0kg of residual household waste per household.
Incidents - Fly tipping / Rubbish / Cleansing (includes dog fouling, litter and all other cleansing cases) / Graffiti – On Public/Private Land
24 The number of service calls received during Q3 2021-22 due to fly-tipping and cleansing (including dog fouling and litter) have reduced since Q2 2021-22 (fly-tipping from 578 to 411 and cleansing from 518 to 436).
25 The number of service calls received due to graffiti increased from 78 in Q2 2021-22 to 129 in Q3 2021-22, however, the figure for Q3 is still lower than the 157 calls received during Q4 2020-21. To help tackle graffiti on private property, CYC have entered into a trial with Virgin O2 to assist the cleansing and painting of their utilities boxes. Discussions are currently underway with other utilities providers to extend the trial to their infrastructure, with a number of companies agreeing in principle to move to new arrangements when their existing contracts come to an end.
Air Quality
26 The Environment Bill was granted royal ascent in November 2021 and is now the Environment Act 2021. New legally binding standards around fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are expected through secondary legislation due in Autumn 2022. Measures in York’s fourth Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP4), currently under development, will aim to tackle emissions of NOx (responsible for the current city centre Air Quality Management Area) and PM2.5, to help improve public health.
27 The council have encouraged 25% of York taxis (170 vehicles as of April 2021) to switch to low emission alternatives (petrol hybrid or electric), supported through our Low Emission Taxi Grant. Money is still available to taxi drivers who want to switch their vehicles, save fuel costs and save the environment.
28 A Clean Air Zone (CAZ) for buses was introduced in January 2020 where buses making 5 or more entrances to the CAZ per day are now required to be Ultra Low Emission Buses (ULEB) (Euro VI diesel or electric). A total of £1.65m has been allocated by City of York Council to 5 bus operators to help replace/retrofit 93 buses to CAZ compliant vehicles.
29 Since 2012, reductions in air quality have been significant, although there were still areas for improvement, with one bus stop area not yet meeting air quality guidelines. The reduction of traffic during the Covid-19 pandemic has provided a snapshot for how the air quality could be in the future although the true impacts of such measures may only be apparent in subsequent years when/if traffic levels and travel behaviour return to ‘normal’.
30 The council are progressing work to understand the prevalence of solid fuel burning across the city, especially outside our current smoke control areas. The council have also commenced surveys of solid fuel sales in the city to ensure compliance with new regulations introduced in May 2021.
Trees Planted
31 During 2020-21, there were 271 trees planted, including 250 whips on Bootham Stray in February and larger trees in streets and parks in March. New trees are usually planted over late Winter due to the seasonal nature of the activity. Figures for 2021-22 will be available in April 2022.
% of Talkabout panel who think that the council and partners are doing well at improving green spaces
32 The second resident satisfaction survey taken biannually by the Talkabout panel took place during Q3. 544 members responded to the latest survey which is a little lower than the 606 respondents in Q1 but remains a higher response rate than seen in previous years.
33 The results for Q3 2021-22 showed that 43% of respondents agreed the Council and its partners are doing well at improving green spaces. Agreement has reduced from 51% in Q1 to more common levels seen for this area. Whilst the Council would like this percentage to be higher, the question in the survey is around improving green spaces, rather than maintaining them.
34 When asked about improving the quality of streets/public spaces, 37% of survey respondents thought that the Council and its partners are doing well which is a decrease from 41% in Q1. During 2020/2021 the percentage of respondents who felt the council were doing well in this area peaked with 48% agreeing throughout the year. The current results have returned to similar levels seen in the year before the pandemic of around 33-35%. 70% agreed they were doing well at conserving York’s heritage, although this has decreased from 76% in Q1 it this remains the top answer choice for this question with a consistently high percentage agreeing.