THE YORK BRIEF ⏰ Thursday, February 12, 2026

🌤️ Morning, York! Tonight's the night - council tax votes, traffic crackdowns, and dramatic late football. Your mayor's closing his shop, snow's incoming, and wait till you see what's landing at the Yorkshire Museum in May. Let's crack on.

📰 NEWS

🚗 Fed-up Groves residents get police backup on wrong-way drivers; Police are finally tackling motorists who think one-way signs are optional in The Groves. Officers are out patrolling after residents complained about dangerous driving, putting people at risk. Low traffic neighbourhood, my eye - some drivers need reminding.

⚖️ Tonight's the night - council tax showdown at 7 pm; Lib Dems want to save libraries, Tories want free green bins, but Labour's 4.99% council tax hike looks set to sail through. Budget proposals clash tonight as council faces £10m holes and £20m funding losses. Grab the popcorn.

Cllr Steward said: “Council tax is one of the most regressive taxes of all and we would rather money be in residents’ pockets.”

⚡ York pitches itself as Britain's geothermal energy capital; Rachael Maskell MP and University bosses just pitched pulling heat from deep underground to warm York homes and slash energy bills. The Energy Minister got the full sales pitch after a £40m government investment. Taking heat from the ground to your radiator - properly Yorkshire that.

⛪ Archbishop admits church 'over-promised' on divisions; Stephen Cottrell owned up to bishops getting ahead of themselves on what they could deliver over same-sex blessings. Church "remains divided" after the Living in Love and Faith process. At least he's honest about it.

🚂 Four weekends of rail chaos coming in March; York-Newcastle services are getting hammered across four weekends (March 7-29) while Network Rail renews 3.8km of track and builds Darlington's £140m station upgrade. Rail replacement buses - everyone's favourite words.

🏫 Wrong data used for school transport - councillors shrug; Council admitted using outdated school gate locations to decide who gets free transport, denying some families wrongly. Then councillors voted against doing anything about it until September. Families fuming.

🏘️ 'Bad and poor' 380-home estate could still get built; Taylor Wimpey's appealing after York councillors binned their plans for being rubbish. Now they've added two traveller pitches to the Stockton Lane scheme and public hearings are coming next month. Round two.

🚨 CRIME

💰 York-based team jails fraudster in £2m pensioner scam; Gyaltse Yolmo got 38 months for laundering £580,000 from computer support scams targeting older people. National Trading Standards eCrime Team (hosted by our council) exposed the India-based network. Six others already inside for 12+ years combined.

⚠️ ALERTS

❄️ Snow hits from 7pm tonight - Met Office warning; Yellow warning active 7pm Thursday through noon Friday with temps dropping to 2C by morning. Snow and ice incoming - dig out those scrapers.

🌊 River Ouse and Derwent on flood alert; Two flood warnings active and Rowntree Park is shut today due to high water. Keep an eye on those river levels. Check Floodings Here.

🏃 SPORT

⚽ Minstermen nick it in the 103rd minute - absolute scenes; Josh Stones buried a 103rd-minute penalty to complete York City's 3-2 comeback over Hartlepool. Alex Newby stunner, Hiram Boateng equaliser, then chaos in extra time. Promotion hunt stays alive.

💼 BUSINESS

👔 Mayor David Skaith shutting his Back Swinegate shop; Ten years of Winstons menswear ending as mayor focuses on the day job. "Incredibly difficult decision" but he swears it's not about business rates. Closes end of February.

🍰 Egg-free cake chain nearly ready to open in Piccadilly; Cake Box signage went up this week at 13a Piccadilly - been empty three years since Argos and William Hill left. Fresh celebration cakes made in-store, all egg-free. Opening soon.

🏨 REGIONAL

🤝 Scarborough Grand packs out for regional networking; York and North Yorkshire Network's Scarborough session was the best-attended yet despite rough weather.is Free networking sponsored by the mayor, some travelled from Leeds. Grand Hotel becoming the regional business hub.

👥 COMMUNITY

🐰 Saint Catherine's Bunny Run hopping back in March; Schools and clubs invited to hop, bounce and run anytime in March to raise funds for hospice patient care. Pick your own date, distance, location. Everyone gets bunny ears and event packs. Northstead Primary already signed up.

💃 York barn dance raises £12k for community groups; Over 100 guests at De Grey Rooms on Feb 6 raised £6k, doubled to £12k with match funding for Two Ridings Community Foundation's 25th anniversary. The Big Deal band (celebrating their 40th!) led the charge.

🎉 Age UK York landing National Lottery funding; Funding secured for their Information and Advice service that helped older people claim over £600k in unclaimed benefits last year alone. More to come this year.

🎨 ARTS & CULTURE

🏺is UK's biggest Iron Age find lands at Yorkshire Museum in May; Over 800 objects including cauldrons, chariot wheels and spears hit Yorkshire Museum from May 15. The Melsonby Hoard's never been on public display before - first look at late Iron Age Britain. Properly massive.

🎸 Tubular Bells is getting the full treatment at Barbican on Sunday; Mike Oldfield's masterpiece performed complete this Sunday (Feb 15) by Robin A Smith and the gang. Full Tubular Bells I plus highlights from II and III. Iconic doesn't cover it.

🕺 Daytime dancing hits York Barbican Saturday; Day Fever's bringing Sheffield's rapidly-growing dance party to York this Saturday (Feb 14). Hit the dancefloor before sunset - no guilt, just vibes.