A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
York’s sports hall, often referred to as "the tent", was intended to be a temporary facility to be used while a permanent replacement was built. In 2005 the university was given permission to run the hall until July this year, but as a new centre has not been built the university has requested a ten year extension to the hall’s planning permission. The council's east area planning sub-committee will meet next week to discuss this proposal.
If granted, the request will keep the tent open until July 2020, but a report on the proposal has recommended that the request is refused. The report notes: "Temporary planning permission was granted because the applicant specifically volunteered that intention and because it was expected the planning circumstances would have changed at the end of the five-year period and a replacement permanent sports hall would have been constructed.
"However, the university appears at this stage to have no firm plans for a replacement despite the continuing need for a sports hall at Heslington West. This uncertainty is insufficient reason to justify extending the planning permission by ten years."
Former Football President Greg Gardner, who graduated from York this summer, told The Yorker: "It would be savage for sport as a whole at York should the tent close. Whilst the football club use the astro turf more often, come the winter months weather regularly forces training to be moved inside and provides a lifeline for maintaining sharpness. "
Gardner added: "Other clubs such as netball and futsal rely almost 100% on the tent. With zero availability at the York College 3G pitch, a poorly kept campus AstroTurf and the now possibility of this, York Sport clubs must be concerned."
Netball President Kate Copson agreed with Gardner, noting that the netball club would be hard hit by the closure of the tent. Copson said: "The University of York Netball Club would most certainly be affected by this closure. UYNC train thrice a week and when matches are at home on a Wednesday and a Saturday our total time in the tent per week can reach up to 14 hours. I have every faith that York Sport and the university will do all they can to ensure that UYNC and all other affected clubs can, and will, continue as usual."
Former Chair of Union Council David Levene, who ran for YUSU President earlier this year, has launched a campaign to try and ensure that planning permission for the sports tent is renewed. In a message sent to members of the Facebook group "SOS: Save Our Sports! Campaign", which was originally campaigning for a Heslington swimming pool, Levene said: "We need to mobilise as many people as possible to ensure planning permission for the Sports Tent is renewed, or at least extended, until a new permanent facility can be built. We will be organising a petition, a presentation to the planning committee, and possibly a rally on the day the committee meets."
Speaking to York Press, executive head-teacher of Fulford School Steve Smith commented that with University of York sports centre was "an essential lifeline" for his school, and noted that the closure of the tent would leave pupils of Fulford School with no alternative venue for indoor facilities.
Smith told The Press: "While we do have a range of outdoor pitches, these suffer from inadequate drainage and this, plus our lack of indoor facilities, means we rely heavily on the university all year round, but even more so in inclement weather." He has written to City of York Council backing the university’s request to keep the sports hall open.
O'Neill Associates, the University of York's planning agents, added: "The removal of the facilities would reduce the level of sports provision the university is able to offer current and prospective students and would be detrimental to the overall student experience." The university declined to comment ahead of the meeting.
To join the SOS: Save Our Sports! Campaign Facebook group, click here.
Where are indoor sports such as Fencing going to practice without the sports tent? The Dance Studio will be too small - and obviously impossible for other sports such as futsal!
"Former Chair of Union Council David Levene, who ran for YUSU President earlier this year, has launched a campaign to try and ensure that planning permission for the sports tent is renewed."
Pure political posturing.
Sam and Tim and the rest of the sabb team are involved in ALL discussions on the matter, and there'll be comments released as and when a decision is made. Absolute hyperbole - poorly researched article, just as the York Press and Nouse...
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