So what do you think the council should do this year?

New year, clean slate. Time to forget about all the things City of York Council did last year that annoyed you, and look to the future.

Education chief Carol Runciman has already set out her priorities for the year ahead - which include appointing a Young Person's Champion, pushing ahead with the shake-up of the three secondary schools in the west of York and establishing children's centres.

But what about other areas of council activities? What challenges would you like to set for the year ahead?

Here are a few suggestions:

Rubbish collection and street cleaning

Bring back the weekly grey bin collection, please, says Phyllis McEwan, chair of the Clifton Residents' Association.

"We found that we were getting a lot of fly tipping when the green bins came in. And people were using the green bins instead of grey bins for ordinary rubbish."

Don Spaven, chair of the Meadlands Residents' Association, agrees. "Our residents were quite happy with the previous situation where the rubbish was collected weekly."

And while the council is at it, adds Alison Sinclair, chair of the York Open Planning Forum, it should ensure the same attention is paid to cleaning up streets and back lanes across the city as is paid to those in the city centre.

Tourism

Let's make York a bit more fun for visitors, says Amy Langham, operations manager of York Dungeon - especially for younger people who, if they fall in love with the place, will bring their families back in future.

How? By celebrating the city's horrible, gory past, Amy says. After all, there's plenty of it. How about a Hallowe'en parade every year, featuring some of the city's many ghouls and ghosties, for a start? And we really should be doing more with Guy Fawkes and Dick Turpin.

On a more sober note, Paul Hepworth, of the Cyclists' Touring Club, suggests publishing a few cycle trails, showing great routes out of York into the surrounding countryside, to attract cycle tourists.

Alison Sinclair, meanwhile, would like to see "visible progress in the campaign to tidy up the clutter of street furniture and street signs in the city centre".

A tidier York would be a prettier York - better for visitors and residents alike.

Transport

Plug the gaps in existing cycle routes, says Paul Hepworth, of the Cyclists' Touring Club. It's an issue the council has basically agreed to address in its new Local Transport Plan 2, he says: but it does need doing. Any new cycle routes or on-road 'green lanes' for cyclists must be designed taking into account new housing development, he stresses.

He would also like to see secure cyclist parking facilities at all Park & Ride sites - there are cyclists who like to ride to Park & Ride and get the bus into town, he says - and more parking for cyclists in the town centre.

And what about a congestion charge for motorists, to try to reduce the number of cars in the city? If it improves conditions on the city's roads, then yes, he says.

Parking

Parking charges across the city should be reduced - and that includes the cost of residents' parking, says Alison Sinclair. Don Parlabean, of the York Older People's Assembly, agrees. Many older residents felt unable to go into the city centre of an evening when the parking charges went up, he says. And while there may have been a retreat on evening parking, the cost of residents' parking in York remains "diabolical". He himself can park on his drive. "But I would be absolutely furious if I had to pay the kind of rates that people do to park their cars on their own streets."

Elderly people

Don Parlabean knows the council has budget problems, he says, but every time it is services for older people that suffer. Not this year, please.

This time around, there are rumours - which the council denies, but Don is not sure he believes them - that it will be Meals on Wheels. The talk is that instead of having a delivery every couple of days, it could be one delivery a fortnight of frozen meals. Which misses the point.

"The visit of somebody with the Meals on Wheels is sometimes the only contact an elderly person has," Don says.

His challenge to the council: find somewhere else to make cuts instead of in services for the elderly. Such as where? "Cut back on cycle trails!"

Sally Hutchinson, of Age Concern York, is also worried about the city's older folk. With older people living longer and more of them expected to live at home, there is an increasing demand for proper support. That doesn't only relate to home care and meals on wheels. Older people may also require help in coping with the complexities of modern life, such as budgeting, dealings with bills and junk mail, and so forth.

She is happy to work in partnership with the council and the primary care trust, but hopes that "by the end of this year, we have something in place so that an older person feels that, no matter what their needs, they have somewhere to go".

Homelessness

The council still has to find a permanent home for a project which everybody acknowledges does a great job: the Arc Light centre for the homeless.

In addition, Phyllis McEwan points out, the council plans to bulldoze the Peaseholme Centre to move the council's new HQ to Hungate, a new site will have to be found for that, too. Solving the problem of where to put them will be an important priority, Phyllis said.

Planning

A planning brief for the Castle/Piccadilly area that "truly reflects the views and wishes of the people of York" is top of Alison Sinclair's list for this year. She would also like to see:

- The Terry's buildings acquired by a developer who is sympathetic with what the local people would like to see happen to the site

- The planning department under less pressure to meet tight deadlines in reaching decisions on planning applications.

For Tom Hughes, spokesman for the Meadlands Residents Association, one of the key issues is consultation.

A recent council report on progress on the Local Development Framework (which will replace the city's Local Plan, which was never finalised) was full of encouraging words about community involvement in the planning process, he said.

The council, however, must ensure that its commitment to community involvement is more than just words. His challenge to the council: prove through its actions that it means what it says about consultation.

Updated: 10:09 Tuesday, January 03, 2006