Ainsty Greens

24/03/2026

Community Litter Picks are held monthly. Here are the dates for 2026 🚮

24/02/2026

FYI

Dear Councillor Warneken

We know that you know it’s wrong that England’s water is privatised. But tonight’s “Dirty Business” on Channel 4 at 9pm will make you know in your bones that it’s wrong.

This new three-part Channel 4 docudrama could be the next “Mr Bates vs the Post Office”.

And YOU can help make that happen.

Watch it tonight. It will make you cry when kids get ill from raw sewage. It will make you furious when the privatised water companies choose *as a policy* not to upgrade infrastructure. It will give you a tingle when two campaigners - Ash and Peter at Windrush Against Sewage Pollution - stand up against injustice after noticing sewage in their local river.

Dirty Business brings it all to life (we found out at the premiere last Friday) - and hopefully it will do that for the whole country.

On Thursday we’ll be in your inbox explaining exactly how you can channel those feelings into a moment of reckoning for privatised water.

It’s not just water of course. Unfortunately the whole of privatisation - wherever you are in the UK - is a dirty business.

And it’s easy to think you don’t have much power. But actually, the only reason Channel 4 is still in public ownership - making amazing programmes like this - is because you and We Own It supporters like you fought for it!

You’ve won before, you’ll win again. We really hope you’ll watch Dirty Business tonight, get angry, get frustrated and then get ready to take action - starting with an action next week involving 14 giant inflatable poos in the Environment Minister’s constituency! (If you can't get there, we'll have another way for you to make yourself heard loud and clear for public ownership of water.)

THANK YOU for everything you do and we hope you enjoy the programme.

Cat, Johnbosco, Sophie, John and Anna - the We Own It team

Ash Smith and Peter Hammond from Windrush Against Sewage Pollution outside the High Court with us trying to stop the Thames Water bailout in 2024/2025...

We Own It website Bluesky Facebook X / Twitter Instagram YouTube TikTok
We Own It is 93% funded by small donations from individuals. We are a small team of five but we punch above our weight in impact. Every penny helps us to campaign for public services that belong to all of us.

2,200 generous people are regular donors who give £5, £10, £20 or whatever they can afford each month to make our campaigns possible. You can join them here.

We Own It campaigns solely for public ownership. We are a not for profit company that is independent of any political party.

16/02/2026

Read more:

A Green Party councillor has welcomed Yorkshire Water’s decision to compensate Harrogate villagers who were left without water for three days.

04/02/2026

Some of the frequently asked questions at surgeries re the NYC tax

Why are we seeing council tax increases when I thought local government reorganisation was supposed to save money?
Reorganisation has provided lots of opportunities for efficiencies and the savings plans since the first day of the new council add up to a total of £68m per year. That is at the top end of the estimates that were made at the start of re-organisation, so the council is well on track after less than three years.
However, the changes in funding of councils have seen North Yorkshire Council lose £34m in grants and pick up extra costs of £8.6m with the changes to employer's national insurance. Add on to that the increasing costs of providing services and the unrelenting demand, particularly in areas like child placements; adult social care; SEND and home to school transport, which together have added an extra £62m to next year's budget and you can see that the reorganisation savings are insufficient to offset all of those pressures.
The council therefore estimates that it will have a shortfall of about £17m per annum despite a council tax increase of 4.99% and the reorganisation savings. Without those savings the deficit would have been £85m per year.

What does the council spend on equality and diversity officers?
The council does not employ any equality and diversity officers. The Equalities Act requires the council to ensure that it considers the impacts of decisions on people with protected characteristics, and all staff therefore need to be aware of the duty.

What does the council spend on net zero officers?
The cost of officers engaged in net zero projects are entirely met by external funding. The council has an aspiration to be net zero by 2030 and the reduction in carbon can also see the council save money on energy and travel costs. The council will therefore continue to try and win further funding so that it can save both carbon and costs.

Why is the council tax going up by more than inflation?
Councils have a legal requirement to set a balanced budget. As outlined above the rapidly rising costs and demand for services together with reductions in government funding means the council, even after making substantial savings, has little choice other than to increase Council Tax to the maximum set by the government.

What support does the council provide to those who are most badly affected by the cost of living?
The Council offers a range of assistance from direct emergency funding, Council Tax discount schemes and a range of support and advice.
Further information on this can be found on the cost of living support page.

Is council tax increasing to pay for staff pensions?
Local government pensions for most retired North Yorkshire Council staff are not paid directly from council funds but through the North Yorkshire Pension Fund. This is a fully funded scheme financed through investment income and contributions from both employers and employees through their working life.
The budget for the employer pension contribution is £46 million which represents just over 3% of the total spend of the council. Due to the strong performance of the local Pension Fund it has been possible to reduce the cost of the employer’s contributions going forward which will save more than £8 million per year.


I hope this is useful information

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Arnold Warneken
Councillor for Ouseburn Division | North Yorkshire Council
m: 07702

15/01/2026

Burniston decision day is 30th January

Join the Frack Free Scarborough Zoom meeting
Tuesday 20th Jan at 7pm

Zoom ID: 827 489 7492
Password: 967537

All anti-frackers welcome

21/07/2025

01/06/2025

Good afternoon
Call for help. We need to stop the Himalayan Balsam spreading so please help us by visiting our nature reserve @ Goosemoor in Cowthorpe

Have an hour with nature pull 25 + Balsam and have a picnic by the Orchard and Hives and you will have helped us , helped yourself and helped nature
If I’m here I could even make you a cuppa!!
Please see below information on pulling Balsam

Thank you

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1CCW4Aufd4/?mibextid=wwXIfr

30/05/2025

In Grangetown, where life expectancy is 51.5, a 30-year waste deal risks locking in pollution and blocking progress. Will Teesside councils act?

27/05/2025

Good morning
I contacted the Highways over the weekend and have a reply this morning
Please see the explanation regarding the unexpected road closure
I hope this doesn’t cause to much disruption
You may want to establish why it’s not been sorted by the other Councillor !!

Arnold

START

Good morning Councillor Warneken

It is a pre-surfacing dressing package that is being delivered; this will patch a number of areas along Marston Road ready for a future surface dressing scheme.

These works were due to be delivered later in the year, but a very short notice change meant the intended site had to be postponed which led to Tockwith being moved up the programme.

I am sorry for not letting you know sooner, but this happened very quickly last week, and I was still awaiting the final confirmation, but the advance notice signs beat me to it.

We will be sending residents letters this week and I will send you a copy.

Kind regards

ENDS


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Arnold Warneken
Councillor for Ouseburn Division | North Yorkshire Council
m: 07702 121386
a: Goosemoor Organics, Cowthorpe, Wetherby LS22 5EU