The Council has agreed that English Heritage can use part of the Castle Car Park as a building compound over then next few months.
Cliffords Tower with ticket van
The decision comes as a £4.7 million contract starts which will see external works to Clifford’s Tower including improvements to handrails for existing access stair up the motte, introduction of resting places to the sides of the stairs, internal works within the Tower to include the installation of new staircase, tower floor, walkways, balustrade, plaza and roof deck.
£900K will be spent on the public realm.
English Heritage still plan on providing a hard landscaped plaza with street furniture, in front of the steps leading to the Tower. This would result in the loss of 5 car parking spaces.
A small Piaggio vehicle will be parked there and used as a ticket and information guide point,
A diverse and spectacular programme of over 150 free online and in-person events featuring world-class speakers, performances, family activities and walking trails, with events for all interests and ages.
To celebrate Europe Day on Sunday May 9th, York for Europe is publishing a new trail “York in Europe, Europe in York”.
York has always been in the heart of Europe. Whilst Roman Eboracum and Viking Jorvik are all around us, many more countries of Europe have their markers in the city to the present day.
The trail explores York’s wide European heritage – through buildings, businesses, communities, individual stories and belongings.
The trail starts with three key points of York’s European connections, which merit a special visit in themselves: the old trading rivers of the Ouse and Foss, the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, and the National Railway Museum which exhibits our historic and modern rail links across the Channel.
The trail then moves on to highlight 19 individual European countries present in York today, from Italy to Iceland, France to Finland, Portugal to Poland, Sweden to Slovakia and Norway to the Netherlands – allowing of course for the changes of country names and borders over time. The compilers of the trail offer an “apology” to York’s Romans and Vikings: since they are already visible everywhere, they are side-lined a little to allow the limelight onto other countries. However, they are still there in some remarkable personal items they left behind.
Sketch maps of the trail as well as a list of the countries in the trail with their numbered sites are attached.
York for Europe hopes that York people will enjoy a different way of looking at their city with perhaps some surprises, that our fellow European residents in York will find their longer history here, and that tourists from mainland Europe will have fun finding out if a bit of their country is built into York.
We reported a few weeks ago that Council owned land to the rear of Acomb Library – and which had been hijacked for use as a building compound – was now available once again for its original purpose.
The and had been purchased by the Council over 10 years ago to establish a “one stop shop” for public services as part of a plan to expand the library site. The need for a local Council base became more urgent when the Acomb Housing Office was subsequently closed in 2013.
Nothing much happened on the site until the new Liberal Democrat led Council announced a plan to invest £4 million in the library sites at Acomb and Clifton. That was two years ago. Things once again have fallen silent in the interim.
It appears though, from a progress reportbeing considered by the Council next week, that plans for the site have already been drawn up.
York Council Acomb Library expansion update report April 2021
No public consultation has taken place and the Front Street survey – which ended a few days ago – failed to offer any options for the library site.
The original aspiration was for housing estate managers, the police, the NHS and neighbourhood workers to have a base at the new building. It remains to be seen whether this concept will be pursued.
In the interim the Council has constructed a new small housing office as part of the Lincoln Court redevelopment.
The land to the rear of Chancery Court (not Council owned) would have been landscaped as part of the project.
It was hoped that many more residents would make use of the Front Street facility as a result of the new investment. It would become a natural “hub” for the local community.
Apparently, the early plans for the site have been costed at £3 million. They are currently being scaled back to something “more affordable”.
The recently opened new library at Burnholme cost £4.6 million.
The Council needs to engage with potential users of facilities like these before plans are firmed up.
The York Council is urging residents to plant at least one additional tree in their garden, allotment “or park”.
Well, last autumn – following consultation with the Council – volunteers did just that in Dickson park in the Foxwood area.
Dickson Park
Four months later, a Council early morning “hit squad” arrived and chopped down eight of the trees.
The local residents association is up in arms over the action.
They point out, in a formal complaint to the Council (to which there has, so far, been no response), that two of the trees that were removed had been memorialised as a mark of respect to relatives who had passed.
Residents are asking for the two trees to be reinstated immediately with the other six to be replaced following further consultation on siting, species etc.
Rather too much posturing going on in parts of the York Council these days we think!
The Council’s media release reads.
“York’s Tree Canopy to expand for next 30 years.
City of York Council’s Climate Change Policy and Scrutiny Committee have proposed to expand York’s tree canopy to achieve 13% coverage by 2050, approximately increasing tree population by 10,000/year.
A report will be taken to a Decision Session for the Executive Member for Environment and Climate Change on 5 May 2021. It proposes to Increase York’s tree cover from the current 10.76% of total area to13% (national average) by 2050, as the council creates a greener, cleaner city for its residents and visitors.
This expansion will be around 22-27 hectares each year which equates to an area of over 30 football pitches. Alternatively, the city would be well on its way to reaching this expansion target if every household in York which had space, either in a garden, allotment or park, planted just one tree.
The target would result in more carbon dioxide (CO2) being removed from the atmosphere and stored in the trees. This absorbing of the harmful pollutant across the city is equivalent to around 1% of the regions total CO2 emissions between 2020-2050.
Achieving 21 hectares of tree planting every year in York would result in the annual removal of 1-2% of the estimated regional emissions in 2038, after most of our carbon-neutral initiatives have been implemented. This would increase to remove 8-15% of remaining emissions in 2050.
This initiative forms one of the many priorities which will contribute to the city’s Climate Change Strategy which will be published this Autumn, and is one of the many tactics being implemented to achieve city-wide carbon neutrality by 2030.
Cllr Paula Widdowson, Executive Member for Climate Change said;
“To become a carbon neutral city we need to make the most of every tool at our disposal and I’m pleased to see that the expansion of our city’s Tree Canopy will help us catch up to the national average and contribute to our goal to make our city’s carbon emissions net-zero by 2030.
“The ever changing landscape of York offers us the opportunity to reduce the CO2 in our atmosphere as well as to create a healthier and happier environment that we can all enjoy. Increasing the biodiversity of our city is a key priority in our response to the Climate Emergency and this also contributes to our management of flood risks, use of public space and creation of green jobs across the city.”
As a member of the White Rose Forest Partnership, a local authority joint venture hosted by Kirklees Council, City of York Council is working to:
increase tree coverage across York
improve access to green space for citizens
enhance wildlife habitats and biodiversity
address climate change through carbon sequestration (or absorption) “
Cherry blossom is making a prefect backdrop as more shops and sporting activities get going again in York’s Westfield neighbourhood.
Sunday morning football leagues are being completed.
This seasons Saturday fixtures in the York and District Football League were abandoned several months ago because of COVID restrictions.
It is anticipated that Rugby League matches – including those involving the local York Acorn side which plays in the NCL Premier Division – will be scheduled and will welcome back some spectators when restrictions are further eased on 17th May.
The Acomb Cricket Club is currently playing with no spectators. They won their fixture yesterday against Driffield. They are scheduled to play an attractive Premier League home fixture against the Yorkshire Academy on 29th May, by which time some restrictions on spectator numbers may have been eased.
Less welcome has been the increase in litter which has been seen since economic activity increased. There has been a rise in the number of volunteer litter pickers helping during the lockdown. Hopefully this effort will continue (although it shouldn’t really be necessary!)
