If you receive universal credit and not already claiming free school meals you may not be eligible after 1 April. The government are introducing a Universal Credit earning threshold of £7,400 per year for parents who apply for free school meals. Children eligible for free school meals by 1 April will continue to receive them until at least 2022. Apply now to make sure you don’t miss out. https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/free-school-meals

Valley Bridge to be closed North Yorkshire Highways will be laying a high friction surface, pedestrian crossing studs and road markings on Valley Bridge Parade and Valley Bridge Road, Scarborough tonight and tomorrow night from 7pm to 2am. Valley Bridge, Valley Bridge Parade and Valley Bridge Road will be closed and there will be a signposted diversion in place. Drivers are asked to allow extra time for their journeys. Access to the 24-hour Tesco store will be via Valley Road and Westwood Road. We apologise for any inconvenience essential works may. It is hoped the the work will be complete by Saturday morning.

Work will begin to resurface Seamer Road in Scarborough this evening. The A64 will be closed between the traffic lights at the Queen Margaret’s Road junction and the traffic lights at the retail park/Phoenix Drive junction from 8pm to 2am. A diversion will be clearly signposted. Access for residents will be maintained. The old surface will be removed and first layer of new tarmac applied tonight and tomorrow. Work will be stopped over the weekend and will continue on Monday and Tuesday nights. Next Wednesday and Thursday a high friction surface and lining will be added. Thank you for your patience while we complete this essential work and apologies for any disruption caused. https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/roadworks-road-closures-and-diversions

Roadworks on B6480 Settle Bridge complete The road closure at Settle Bridge, Settle for resurfacing and kerb repairs has been lifted two days ahead of schedule. The white lining was completed late last night and the road reopened earlier this morning. The work, between the junctions with Langcliffe Road and Kirkgate, started on 19 March.

It's just six weeks until this year's Tour de Yorkshire. A great chance to see world class cyclists racing through our beautiful county. Find useful race information here https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/tour 🚴‍♂️🚴‍♀️

Hades the seal pup recovering UPDATED: A seal pup rescued by North Yorkshire Highways officers when it was washed ashore in stormy conditions at high tide in Scarborough is recovering in the seal hospital at the Sea Life centre. The pup, around three to four months old and nicknamed Hades by Sea Life centre staff after the god of the underworld, was found on a traffic island in Foreshore Road during the second ‘Beast from the East’ storm. Highways officers called Sea Life staff after finding him exhausted on the traffic island. Seal hospital staff think he comes from a colony on the Farne Islands, off the Northumberland coast. The pup has numerous cuts and is being treated with antibiotics. It is hoped to release him back into the sea at Ravenscar in about a month’s time. Meanwhile visitors to Sea Life in Scarborough can see Hades in the seal hospital along with several other victims of the storm.

Community order for fireworks seller A fireworks seller was given a community order with a curfew after pleading guilty to offences of storing them without a licence and failing to provide age warning information. The case was brought by North Yorkshire County Council and Scarborough Magistrates’ Court was told yesterday that, following a complaint, a trading standards officer had made a test purchase of fireworks from Liam Driscoll, of Barrowcliffe Road, Scarborough on 31 October 2017. Driscoll’s car was then searched and found to contain fireworks with a net explosive content of 9.45kg. Sentencing Mr Driscoll, the magistrates acknowledged that he had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity but noted the serious nature of the offences and the potential consequences of fireworks being stored incorrectly without proper safety measures in place. Driscoll is now subject to a curfew order between 7pm and 7am for three months and must pay £235 towards prosecution and court costs. The court also ordered the the remaining stock of fireworks be forfeited and destroyed. County Councillor Andrew Lee, portfolio holder for trading standards, said: “It is simply not safe for fireworks to be stored in a vehicle. I would urge anyone who is planning to sell fireworks to contact the trading standards service to arrange for an inspection of their premises and obtain a licence.” Anyone who sees fireworks being sold from vehicles or other insecure premises such as car boot sales, or via social media, is asked to report it to trading standards via the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 03454 04 05 06.

The Tour de Yorkshire trophies were shown some seaside hospitality when they visited Scarborough and Filey on Monday. Scarborough will once again host the race’s stage three finish on Saturday 5 May. The trophies toured places of interest along the route, including the giant Ray Lonsdale sculpture ‘High tide in short wellies’ on Filey seafront. They also visited the location of the finish line in Scarborough North Bay to see some fabulous Honda Goldwing trikes, which will take part in a parade along the seafront as part of the pre-finish entertainment. The official charity partner of Tour de Yorkshire 2018 is the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, and money raised over the four-day race will go directly towards the lifesaving service the air ambulance provides to five million people across the whole of Yorkshire. Polly the Paramedic and Percy the Pilot from Yorkshire Air Ambulance visited Filey Junior School in their Helivan, where the children were treated to a fun assembly. The trophies were on display and everyone enjoyed learning about the race from Alan Rowley, the official trophy chaperone from Welcome to Yorkshire Later, at Overdale Community Primary School in Eastfield, Scarborough, children donned T-shirts spelling S-C-A-R-B-O-R-O-U-G-H and rode bikes provided by the school for Bikeability training. County Councillor Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council said: “We’re really keen for local businesses to take advantage of the opportunities that the tour brings and it’s great to see Scarborough and Filey getting behind the race and supporting the trophy tour. “The tour this year is set to be another great event and we know the benefits to North Yorkshire will be enormous, both immediately and in the long-term.” Leader of Scarborough Borough Council, Councillor Derek Bastiman, said: “Once again, the trophy tour has created a great amount of excitement ahead of this year’s Tour de Yorkshire. People of all ages enjoyed seeing the impressive trophies up close and school children had lots of fun learning about the race and getting out on their bikes. “Our focus now is on delivering a great race stage in our borough, to ensure that we provide the very best atmosphere and entertainment for spectators and help to deliver an excellent race experience for the pro-riders and their teams.” The Tour de Yorkshire starts in Beverley on Thursday 3 May and finishes on Sunday 6 May in Leeds, where the winners will be crowned. With just over a month to go before the event, work is well under way on the final preparations for the race weekend. There will be rolling road closures in place before, during and immediately after the race has passed and these are expected to last for about an hour. Some areas, including the stage starts and finishes, will have longer closures. Full details of the roads affected will soon be on the County Council’s website www.northyorks.gov.uk/tour. The Tour passes near many towns and villages so anyone going to see the race should plan ahead and choose where they want to watch. Full details of the routes of all three stages can be found at http://letour.yorkshire.com. https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/news/article/tour-de-yorkshire-trophies-are-prize-catch

Today is World Social Work Day. If you've ever wondered what it's like to become a social worker read Micheal's story to find out more. #WSWD2018

Our gritters will be out across most priority one routes tonight. The morning plans will be decided overnight when road conditions are assessed with crews loaded and ready to head out once they receive their instructions. Find more gritting information here https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/gritting

Our #gritters are out tonight on some priority one roads across most of #northyorks, and in the morning on roads in the #Richmondshire and #Harrogate areas. View #gritting routes at http://northyorks.gov.uk/gritting and our roadside cameras at http://northyorks.gov.uk/cameras. Drive safely! #snow