City of York Council have removed almost 500 street lights from York's streets over the past few weeks, but the Labour Cabinet have yet to identify any funding to replace them.

The lights have been removed following a safety inspection, but many residents have been surprised by their removal as the work was carried out without warning and without explaining to residents what was happening.

Despite facing large cuts to their Council services, residents will not be able to scrutinise the Cabinet's budget proposals until just before a decision is made as the Labour Cabinet have decided to keep their proposals secret for as long as possible.

The Cabinet's budget proposals will only be made public when the papers for the February 7th Cabinet meeting are published, following a Cabinet decision not to allow discussion of the budget at Cabinet Member Decision Sessions.

Residents will be prevented from receiving information about the Council's budget at the next round of Ward Committees it has been revealed, after the Cabinet decided not to allow any discussion of the budget outside their set consultation framework.

Heworth Without's Liberal Democrat Councillor, Nigel Ayre had requested that Council Officers attend the next Ward Committee meeting to provide information for residents ahead of the budget Council meeting, but was told the Council wasn't willing to discuss the budget at the meetings until after decisions had been made.

As the Labour Cabinet look set to decide to abandon York's historic Guildhall, Liberal Democrat Group Leader Councillor Carol Runciman said she was concerned that they had not yet set out a vision for the future of the building.

She said, "The original plan set out by the Liberal Democrat administration was that the new Council Headquarters would be a building for Council officers and local residents, with Politicians and public meetings remaining in the Guildhall. Labour now seem to have revised that plan, but without any real vision for what might happen to the Guildhall."

Fulford's Liberal Democrat Councillor Keith Aspden has said he still has concerns about plans to turn the Fantasy World shop in Fulford into an 8 bedroom student house, despite the plans being grated planning permission yesterday.

At the meeting of the Council's East Area Planning Committee yesterday five members of the committee voted for the application to be approved and five for it to be rejected. The application was only passed after the Committee Chair used their casting vote to break the tie.

Residents awaiting the start of Ward Committee funded schemes to improve their local area look set to be disappointed, after it emerged that City of York Council's Labour Cabinet are planning to axe a number of schemes planned for this year.

The Council's Cabinet are attempting to claw back any money from Ward Committees that hasn't yet been spent, even if it has been committed to a project. The move means that many schemes chosen by local residents to be funded by their local Ward Committee will have to be scrapped in order to help the Labour Cabinet deal with their inability to control overspending.

Residents in Fulford have been showing their concern over the limited engagement with residents on new plans for the Germany Beck development by backing a petition organised by local Liberal Democrat Councillor Keith Aspden.

The petition, which calls for greater consultation with the local community, has already gained almost 100 signatures from villagers concerned about the proposed development and the limited opportunities to express their views ahead of the detailed plans being submitted.

Residents in Applecroft Road, Heworth Without will soon benefit from a much improved road surface thanks to the local Ward Committee, but they may be some of the last to benefit as local Liberal Democrat Councillor, Nigel Ayre warned residents to expect fewer road surface improvements over coming years.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Keith Hyman will be the next Lord Mayor of York it has been announced today.

Councillor Hyman, who has represented the Huntington and New Earswick Ward since 2003, will be formally nominated to be Lord Mayor for 2012/13 by Liberal Democrat Leader Councillor Carol Runciman at tonight's Full Council meeting.

As anger grows in Fulford over the limited community consultation planned ahead of the submission of the latest planning application for the controversial Germany Beck housing development, local Liberal Democrat Councillor Keith Aspden has launched a petition calling for more engagement with local residents.