York Guides

New figures show that streets in York were not as clean last summer as they have been in the past. Between July and September council officers scored cleanliness at 91.5 per cent, down from 96.4 per cent the previous quarter. How they score the cleanliness of a street as a percentage is anyone’s guess. How would one declare that a street is 100% clean, perhaps if you could eat your dinner off it?

The period responsible for the drop in cleanliness is compared to the previous quarter when Royal Ascot was at York and extra street cleaning funds were allocated via a grant from Yorkshire Forward, making the report pretty much meaningless anyway. They say the July-September period saw the first fall below the 95 per cent target since January 2004 and that contractor CSO is blaming a "natural variation" after hitting or exceeding the target in the preceding 18 months. There is perhaps some truth in this, as we all know there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. Statistics are often used to lie to the public because most people do not understand how statistics work. If you are one of these people I suggest reading Statistics for Dummies to see what they actually mean, if anything.

Percentages are perhaps the more misleading of statistics, something we can all understand though is that ‘in the same three months the number of calls or complaints to the council about street sweeping fell to its lowest level since January 2004, when it dropped to just over six complaints per 1,000 households’ and ‘After an increase in patrols in problem areas by street environment officers, fewer households were putting out their rubbish on the wrong days and fly tippers appeared to have dumped less domestic refuse’ and ‘The council received more calls about unauthorised "traveller" encampments and by September fewer abandoned cars were being set on fire, although the total is higher than the same period in 2004’. These things we can all be pleased about I’m sure.