Spark Out on Piccadilly?

It looks like major building delays are eating into the three year maximum lease that the Sparks shipping container village on Piccadilly has.

In July the operator said they would open by 22nd September, in time for the food festival.

That date has long passed and now potential tenants are being told that opening may be delayed until after Christmas.

That would be bad news for the controversial project as the York City centre economy usually bottoms out during January and February and sometimes doesn’t get going again much before April.

It could be a difficult few months for Piccadilly traders.

The project has already been criticised for blighting a site which is key to the long term revival of the Castle/Piccadilly area.

The shipping containers are in place but the – Council taxpayer  funded – infrastructure works seem to be taking longer to complete than anticipated.

 

Carlton Tavern to be demolished

..as Council prepares to oppose development plans for former Sugar Works on Boroughbridge Road

Planning committee Councillors voted last night to approve a proposal to demolish the Carlton Tavern and replace it with an elderly care facility.  Ironically the decision was taken on the casting vote of a Chairman who would not have been in that position had he not been arbitrarily removed from his Executive post in September by the Council Leader.  With a different Chair, the decision might have gone the other way, although the applicants would no doubt feel that they would have had a good chance of winning the inevitable subsequent appeal.

Next up, in an important series of planning decisions pending on the Acomb side of the City, is consideration of plans for the Sugar Works and former Manor school site on Boroughbridge Road.

The Council has dithered for over 3 years in getting this, apparently ideal, brown field housing site off the drawing board. The owners finally lost patience and have appealed to the Secretary of State to intervene on grounds of “non-determination” by the York Council. The planning application was first submitted in 2014.

Consultation had started in 2013

Bizarrely the Planning committee must now formally say whether they would have approved the application had it been presented to them.

They are being asked to consider “the development of the site comprising up to 1,100 residential units, community uses (D1/D2) and new public open space with details of access (to include new access points at Millfield Lane and Boroughbridge Road and a new link road, crossing the Former Manor School Site) and demolition of the Former Manor School buildings”

Officials are recommending that the proposal be opposed.

They list many deficiencies in the plan while acknowledging that the site was slated for housing development in the Draft Local Plan tabled in 2011 (by the then LibDem led Council), by the Labour Council in their 2014 Draft Local Plan and again by the new Coalition administration last year.

The main reasons for refusing the application are listed as:

  • Inadequate financial contributions toward pre-school, primary school, secondary school funding and off-site sports provision
  • The absence of any affordable housing

There has been a lot of talk recently about allocating the former Manor School playing field as a public park. In 2012 the then Labour controlled Council identified the need for a more central area of public open space as part of a “community hub” on the site.

Over 9 ha is identified in the current proposals for this purpose (In addition an “off site” new cricket pitch will be provided).

In 2013 the Council sold the former Manor School site, including the playing fields, to ABF – the current planning applicants. The sale was not conditional.

At the very least, the planning meeting should determine whether centralised or peripheral open space is the desired way forward for this development.

NB Proposals to develop the Lowfields playing fields will go before the Planning committee in January.

Applications are also expected soon for the former Oakhaven elderly persons home site on Acomb Road, the adjacent police buildings and for the redevelopment of Windsor House in Ascot Way

Rougier Street bus stops set for upgrade

 

From Monday 23 October City of York Council is set to start the next phase of work to improve the Rougier Street bus stops which are some of the most used in the city.

The improvements include installing new paving and kerbs to help ready the area for the new bus shelter in January. The work is expected to take four weeks to complete with the stops ready for passengers on Monday 20 November.

Unfortunately, it will not be possible for buses to stop on the Roman House side of Rougier Street whilst the repaving works is underway.  Because of this, bus stops on this side of the road (CA-CC) will be closed for four weeks whilst the work takes place.

Depending on the bus route, the nearest alternative stops will be at Low Ousegate, Station Avenue, the Railway Station or a temporary stop at Micklegate.  A list of bus services showing the nearest alternative stops during the closure period is available at www.itravelyork.info .

The Rougier Street bus stops will reopen on 20 November, for the Christmas and New Year period, then will close in January for the new shelter to be installed.

The work is part of the Better Bus Area Fund which has also seen improvements to the bus stop on Museum Street. Work is also taking place to enhance the Stonebow bus interchange.

What’s on in York: The Ebor Singers – Dusk Songs

 

  • 21st Oct 2017

19.30-21.30

From £5

BOOK TICKETS

Dusk Songs is an evocative setting of the service of Compline, drawing on different texts, musical influences and vocal techniques. Commissioned by The Ebor Singers in 2006, this special performance will see the choir move around the building, exploring the auditory space of York Minster.

Join us as we journey from the renaissance to the present day, with the commissioned Dusk Songs interspersed with English Tudor polyphony, and hear spaces in the Minster like you have never heard them before!
Our audience will walk alongside us around the building as we sing the components of the programme.

“Dusk Songs is a captivating, enthralling journey which delves deeply into the rich and broad heritage of sacred choral music” – Cross Rhythms

‘Stunning’ – Classic FM

Copies of The Ebor Singers’ recording of Dusk Songs will be available at the concert.