Planning application for front of York Station submitted

Plans that will see the front of York Railway Station transformed with the removal of Queen Street Bridge and reorganising the layout leading into the station have been submitted today.

It seems that successive Councils chose to take potentially risky decisions in the weeks leading up to an election. In 2015, the then Labour led Council, was in turmoil following the disastrous closure of Lendal Bridge.

Now the coalition has announced that the Queen Street bridge will be demolished.

The present Councils plan has a better chance of gaining public support. It is after all a bridge that serves no purpose and its removal would kick start the regeneration of the Railway Station precinct.

The Council says that the planning application has been submitted following an extensive public consultation in summer 2018 “which saw over 1,500 people share their feedback on the scheme”.

Following this feedback designers altered the master plan to take into account the comments. This lead to several changes, including:

  • moving the cycleway on Queen Street to reduce conflict with on street parking spaces
  • providing safe access for cyclists to the station from the west-bound carriageway
  • provision for a suitable system for managing rail replacement buses
  • incorporating appropriate counter-terrorism measures that are sympathetic to the station setting

After the planning application has been validated by the council’s planning team in the coming days. Once it has been validated, it will be available to view at www.york.gov.uk/planning

City of York Council is working closely with Network Rail, London North Eastern Railway and Northern Powerhouse to deliver the proposals. Different landowners and funding arrangements mean that plans for the area will be delivered in phases.

The project to transform the front of York Station will receive funding through the West Yorkshire-plus Transport Fund, and the Leeds City Region Growth Deal – a £1 billion package of Government investment through the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) and Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to accelerate growth and create jobs across Leeds City Region.

For more information about York Station front visit www.york.gov.uk/stationfront

First day of spring and some good news

The first day of spring sees some daffodils blooming on Askham Lane. The Council has cut back the hedge to allow improved visibility from the bus shelter. That’s good progress after the problems that there have been in recent years.

A little further long Askham Lane, near the flats, we understand that the Council may start to install, the much delayed, parking lay-by in the next few days. If true, it is another piece of good news following years of frustration with parking problems.

Chickens continuing to roost

York Council scandal refuses to die

We reported a few years ago on a scandal that the York Council presided over between 2013 and 2015.

Public relations contracts had been awarded without being properly tendered.

Now national magazine Private Eye is onto a similar case at a different Council.

In York the affair still drags on and indirectly led to the recent furore over the suspension of a couple of Councillors who were (incorrectly) accused of whistleblowing.

The Labour Councillors involved in the 2014 affair have now mostly left the authority. At least one, however,  hopes to make a come back at the polls  in May.