York residents give their verdict on public safety and policing
Residents in York are broadly positive about the city in terms of public safety and their attitudes towards the police, according to a new survey.
The survey gave residents the opportunity to express their views on York and their local areas in terms of crime, anti-social behaviour and policing.
Academics at the York Management School at the University of York, led by Professor Kiran Fernandes, devised and delivered the survey alongside City of York Council with the support of North Yorkshire Police and Safer York Partnership.
The survey gathered the views of over 2,400 residents and former residents of York between April and June this year. It revealed that three-quarters of respondents felt that York is a safe place overall and more than 90 per cent of respondents indicated they were satisfied with their local area as a place in which to live.
Approximately 70 per cent of respondents had confidence in the police in York and over 80 per cent felt that they could rely on them to treat them with respect. Most also had positive views about the levels of crime and anti-social behaviour in their areas with the issue of rubbish or litter generally being the biggest cause for concern.
We’re not entirely convinced that the Councils “Castle Gateway” plans, which would see the car park grassed over, are quite as urgent as some might wish residents to believe.
The economic impact of losing so many conveniently located car parking spaces has never been properly evaluated (whether a replacement multi storey is built on St Georges Field or not).
Any assumptions made were clearly pre pandemic. Some reassessment is surely needed before millions more of taxpayers money is committed.
The Council have, however, now published a schematic which shows what some apparently want to see done in the area.
This may or may not be what residents and visitors wouldsee as a “world class” open space
The Council has issued the following media release
City of York Council has shared the emerging plans for new public space in one of York’s most historic and important areas – and wants residents to keep shaping the proposals.
The draft sketch from designers BDP imagines how the area could meet residents ambitions for the public space to replace Castle Car Park, while still meeting the current and future needs of the museum, the courts and the Coppergate Centre.
It shows how people could move around, a mix of soft and hard surfaces, a location for events, how to open up the river Foss, and how water and family-friendly play spaces can be created.
The council has worked with local partners My Future York to put residents’ views at the heart of plans to transform the car park, Eye of York and the wider area.
The extensive My Castle Gateway engagement has provided a public brief for the community space and connected residents to the designers BDP as they bring those ideas to life. Anyone can catch up with the story so far in this blog on the My Castle Gateway website.
This feedback will then allow detailed proposals and options to be developed and shared with the public through the spring, with a planning application to be submitted in the summer.
Residents are invited to join the conversation on social media or through the next phase of My Castle Gateway events. Visit the blog and get involved onTwitter and Facebook.
The My Castle Gateway public engagement has already led to bold plans being put forward to transform the area, including creating community and business space on Piccadilly, new walkways and cycle-routes, and a bridge over the Foss.
The public realm work is moving ahead after the council secured planning permission for a multi-storey car park and public space on St George’s Field, and a residential development and pedestrian and cycle bridge over the Foss at Castle Mills.
The council is committed to providing parking to replace the closure of Castle Car Park, and will retain Blue Badge parking on Tower Street. Work has been delayed on the multi-storey car park in order to better understand the impact of COVID and carry out further engagement with blue badge holders within the development of the Local Transport Plan.
Councillor Nigel Ayre, Executive Member for Finance and Performance, said:
We want the Castle area to be a place all our residents love to spend time, to interpret its history and make fantastic memories.
“Our commitment to quality public engagement has allowed us to deliver where decades of other proposals failed.
“These are ideas in response to what residents have told us. And they ask even more important questions, like whether the mix of uses is right, and whether the Eye of York should stay as it is or become an open air museum or exhibition space?
“We want residents to help answer those questions so please take a look and get involved in the conversation.”
Illustrative York Central Masterplan approved in 2019
The council’s “continued role” in unlocking a new generation of jobs, homes and cultural facilities in the York Central site will be considered by the Executive next Thursday, 22 April.
Funding to complete infrastructure works at the York central site (located behind the railway station) is being made direct to the landowners – led by Homes England – by the government.
It means that the Council’s role will be peripheral despite many millions having already been invested in the project. That may be good news for taxpayers who have seen projects like the Community Stadium and Guildhall refurbishment delayed and go over budget in recent years.
Now contract supervision and liability will rest mainly with Homes England.
Transparency isn’t a strong point for any of the “partners” involved in the York Central project (or the current York Council for that matter). We doubt if engagement will improve under the new governance arrangements.
The Council does remain the planning authority although that role could be undermined as they pursue “Enterprise Zone” status for the project. Planning rules are lax in such areas.
Council report April 2021
The Council is still set to spend nearly £50 million on the project and is dependent on the additional business rate income from Enterprise Zone new businesses to repay its borrowing.
The report being considered next week skates over the risks of this approach,. Those risks appear to have increased since the pandemic with office based developments likely to be less attractive for a while at least.
There are a number of significant planning issues still to be resolved.
These include the (bizarre) suggestion for making the Leeman Road tunnel one way, the absence of an attractive pedestrian/cycle access from the Wilton Rise area and continuing doubts about severing the existing Leeman Road footpath link near the Railway Museum
“Despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, the council has worked with York Central partners Network Rail, Homes England and National Railway Museum to maintain momentum and progress on the 42 hectareYork Centralsite.
After partners finalised the £155 million funding, secured planning permission and started work on the infrastructure to unlock the site, which will deliver up to 2,500 homes and space for up to 6,500 jobs.
Executive will be asked to approve changes to the way the project will be delivered and managed.
This includes the main grant holder, Homes England, taking on the delivery of the bridges, footways, cycleways, roads and other infrastructure to open up the site.
The council will also receive £3.86 million from the government grant to cover the costs incurred advancing the infrastructure project”.
“Events bring residents ideas to life on public spaces”
The Council has issued the following statement about (still more) consultation events about the future of the Eye of York and the Castle car park area. The Council is pursuing its “world class open space” vision which involves the closure of York’s best used car park.
The current concern is that if people shun the City centre, or it simply becomes a regional “playground”, then we could end up with a world class empty space.
The Council is currently waiting to see whether central government will stump up the cost of the project.
An announcement is expected towards the end of next week. One of the designs that has been leaked suggests that a highly imaginative approach can be expected.
2017 plans
The Council says “My Castle Gateway continues to put residents views at the heart of plans to transform the car park, Eye of York and the wider area.
Run in partnership with local group My Future York, it has led to bold plans being put forward to transform the area, including creating community and business space on Piccadilly, new walkways and cycle-routes, and a bridge over the Foss.
The engagement approach returns this month, as designers BDP explore the options for the world class public space around Clifford’s Tower and Eye of York.
Residents are invited to join the conversation on social media or attend online events to explore options to deliver some of the big themes from the community brief:
The most controversial aspect is likely to remain the continued use of the Leeman Road (Marble Arch) tunnel for general traffic and cyclists. The proposers persist with the idea of reducing the carriageway to one – signal controlled – lane with cyclists using the other lane. They seem blithely unaware that neither the carriageway or pedestrian sections of the tunnel have a waterproof membrane. Quite simply pedestrians and cyclists will continue to face – in wet weather – an unpleasant introduction to what had been billed as a 21st century experience. Lack of forethought means that any link onto the Scarborough cycle bridge will also be awkward.
Marble Arch tunnel transport layout
There are few surprises in the rest of the package although those cycling from Wilton Rise might have hoped for more details of an alternative route to the existing archaic footbridge.
What to expect according to the Council
The Council has published the following media release, having leaked it to the commercial media over the weekend.
“City of York Council says it has unveiled proposals for the access routes which enable the York Central partnership to unlock the jobs, homes and public spaces developed through the award-winning Masterplan.
The council is working in partnership with Network Rail, Homes England and the National Railway Museum to develop proposals to regenerate the 45 hectare-site – one of the largest brownfield sites in the UK.
As the largest landowners, Network Rail and Homes England secured outline planning permission in 2019. This established the principles of the regeneration, creating up to 2500 homes, an estimated 6500 jobs, and a range of public spaces, including the city’s first new park in a century.
Each partner will now develop detailed ‘Reserved Matters’ planning applications covering different parts of the scheme. The council has prepared the first of these, in line with the outline planning application, as it is responsible for the funding and delivery of the essential infrastructure. Homes England and Network Rail are responsible for future applications for housing and employment space.
The first Reserved Matters application proposals include:
New access routes throughout the site, including 1.85km (1.1m) of segregated cycle and pedestrians pathways;
A new 3.5m wide bus lane on Cinder Street, and routes for two park and ride services to run through the site;
A new bridge in weathering steel – the material used on the new Scarborough Bridge foot and cycleway – across the east coast mainline;
A new 4m shared pedestrian and cycle bridge added to the Water End bridge;
New streets and access points, including Leeman Road Spur, change to Leeman Road tunnel and Marble Arch;
A replacement rail link which will be used by the National Railway Museum;
Mature tree planting along the routes, new pathways and landscaping through Millennium Green”.
Councillor Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council, said:
“York Central has enormous potential to deliver a wide-range of benefits to the city, including new homes, new jobs and new sustainable transport links in the heart of the city.”
“Together with our partners, we have placed public engagement at the centre of our proposals to provide the homes, jobs and public spaces which the city needs. We are sharing these plans to demonstrate how we have responded to what residents have been telling us, particularly with regards to pedestrian, cycle and bus routes.”
“I would strongly encourage everyone to look and engage with these proposals, as it is incredibly important to us that the York Central development happens and works to the benefit of everyone in the city.”
People can see the proposals from Monday 24 February in several ways:
The council has submitted its plans to create a new public park at the rear of the Castle Museum, a new pedestrian and cycle bridge over the Foss, commercial spaces for local independent traders, and 106 new apartments, including new council housing.
This is another major milestone in the delivery of the regeneration of the Castle Gateway. As well as bringing life to the old Castle Mills car park site and a place for growing York businesses on Piccadilly, the residential development would fund the construction of a new multi-storey car park on St George’s Field.
This parking would then allow Castle car park to close and be replaced by additional public space.
The Castle Mills plans would see two residential apartment blocks built, with the entire southern block of 20 apartments being new council housing. The northern block will include 86 flats ranging in size from 1 bed apartments to 2 bed duplexes. The ground floor of both apartment blocks will feature commercial spaces.
The council are taking a lead on environmental sustainability, with homes benefiting from renewable energy sources and the proposals providing a car free development with high level of cycle parking.
The proposals also include a new pedestrian and cycle bridge over the river Foss linking up with the new pedestrian/cycle crossing over the inner ring and connecting up wider cycle routes to create safer and sustainable journeys in to and through the city centre.
The bridge will also link across to the area at the rear of the Castle Museum. This space, which is currently part of the museum grounds, will be opened to the public as a new riverside park, creating a place to relax in the shadow of the Castle Walls.
The proposals have been shaped and developed with stakeholders, partners and residents through the innovative My Castle Gateway public engagement project. The design will create new landmark riverside buildings for Piccadilly whilst generating the financial return to help pay for the regeneration proposals for the Castle Gateway.
The main features of the masterplan are:
replacing Castle Car Park with a multi-storey car park and visitor arrival point on St George’s Field
Castle Car Park and the Eye of York to become a new public space, hosting events throughout the year
a new residential and leisure building visually enhancing and covering the servicing yard at the rear of the Coppergate Centre
a new riverside walk by the Foss from the south of the city and a pedestrian/cycle bridge connecting with Piccadilly
bringing life to the Foss Basin, including a new apartment development
new commercial and residential developments on the sites of Castle Mills Car Park and 17-21 Piccadilly
significant improvements to public spaces and streets throughout the area
After the planning application has been validated by the council’s planning team in the coming days, it will be available to view at www.york.gov.uk/planning under reference number 19/02415/FUL
Plans for the new St George’s Field multi-storey car park and coach park have been submitted and are available for viewing and comments as part of the next steps in the Castle Gateway project.
The submission of the planning application for St George’s Field is a major milestone in the delivery of the regeneration of the Castle Gateway. Once complete, the new car park will allow for the permanent closure of Castle Car Park, to create an expanse of new high quality public space for the city.
The relocation of the car parking would also remove a significant number of car journeys from inside the inner ring road, helping residents and visitors get around more sustainably in this part of city.
The planning application has been developed through a range of in depth public engagement events that took place throughout the spring and summer to explore the design options for the multi-storey car park and public spaces..
The new, modern four-storey car park would provide 372 large car parking spaces over 5 levels, with the fifth level of parking situated on the roof. 15 % of the parking spaces will be for electric vehicle charging with the ability to increase these as demand grows.
City of York Council have worked closely with the Environment Agency and Historic England, to ensure the proposed plans have minimal impact on the functioning floodplain and surrounding heritage, creating high quality architectural design. Vehicle and pedestrian access at first floor level of the car park means it would continue to be in use even when the River Ouse is in flood.
After the planning application has been validated by the council’s planning team in the coming days, it will be available to view at www.york.gov.uk/planning under reference number 19/02063/FULM
The new car park would be funded through a new residential development on the site of the now demolished Castle Mills Car Park. As part of the plans a new public bridge spanning the River Foss would connect Piccadilly and the rear of the Castle Museum, opening up a planned cycle and pedestrian route along the river into town.
The planning application for the residential development on the site of the Castle Mills building, providing new riverside apartments for sale, council housing and a pedestrian/cycle bridge across the Foss can be expected later in October.
Councillor Nigel Ayre, executive member for finance and performance, said:
“The planning application for St George’s Field Car Park marks a key stage in the Castle Gateway regeneration. The Castle Gateway area offers a great opportunity to put family-friendly public spaces, better transport links and places for York businesses at the heart of the city.
“The design of St George’s Field car park is built on extensive public engagement, bringing together the diverse range of opinions on an important part of our city. The application is now open for comments, so please take a look and participate in this important process.”
The proposed building includes living walls, a feature external staircase, and solar panels. New government regulations that have been introduced since the plans were last shared with the public have restricted the use of timber cladding on car parks, so the plans propose an alternative natural and sustainable material to achieve the same effect alongside the green ‘living’ wall.
Public sector partners say that they will propose a sustainable and achievable development master plan for the Bootham Hospital site.
It will “support the longer term sustainable delivery of a range of service to meet health and social care need”s.
Using monies granted by the government under the One Public Estate programme, the partnership will prepare a Site Development Plan. This will examine the constraints and opportunities of the site and will involve extensive stakeholder and public engagement.
A schedule of public consultation is being planned for this autumn to focus on the future of the 240-year-old site – one of the UK’s first mental health hospitals.
The partnership has been working on plan for a number of months and it could include:
the development of a residential / nursing care facility to support earlier discharge and relieve pressures on acute care
a new primary care / GP base, bringing together practices into a single building and provide an urgent care centre and voluntary sector led space for carers and others who need support
affordable housing targeted to key worker to support NHS staffing
an extra care facility, particularly care for those living with dementia
improved access to the York Teaching Hospital for pedestrians, bikes, buses, taxis and ambulances; and
better use of the parkland at the front of the historic hospital building for sport, play and leisure
The Council are saying that the opening of the replacement for the Oakhaven care home on York Road will be delayed until the end of 2019 “at the earliest”.
The existing home was closed in 2015 and most recently was used as a homeless hostel.
Bed availability trends
A Council reportreveals that there will still be a shortfall in residential care places for the elderly of 654 by 2020. This is slightly down on the inherited shortfall of 701.
“Extra Care” facilities – like those planned for Oakhaven – should reduce the excess of demand over supply from 330 to 9 by 2020.
The number of care beds available has remained fairly level over recent years while the number of delayed discharges from hospital (so called “bed blocking”) remains high as the winter approaches.
The report blames the Councils “partner” for the delays at Oakhaven.
“The delivery of this scheme is running later than originally planned as this procurement was launched later than anticipated due to lengthier examination of the procurement and legal options associated with the plan.
Further delays have occurred as Ashley House develop their design.
At present, we would expect completion of the building, subject to grant of planning permission, in Q3 2019 at the earliest”.
On the Lowfields Plans the report says,
“Plans for the development of a care home, health hub, homes (including bungalows and apartments for the over 55s) and public open space at Lowfield Green, in their final draft form, were the subject of further public engagement in July.
Engagement has shown support for the proposed development.
Lowfields school site is overgrown
However, there is strong objection to the development from the Save Lowfields Playing Field Action Group.
We will be ready to submit the planning application for this proposed development in September 2017.
Later in the autumn Executive will be asked to decide if we are to build the new homes ourselves or sell the land so that another developer can do so”.
NB. Opposition to the development at Lowfields centres around the houses planned for the playing field. The elderly persons accommodation proposals enjoy broad support as they are to be built on the “footprint” of the old school buildings.
Tory Councillor Sam Lisle has praised controversial plans to build on the playing fields at Lowfields.
The revised plans see still more of the green field being built on with the nominal “village green” reduced in size to the equivalent of the grassed area on Dijon Avenue.
Lowfields plans 2016
Layout July 2017
He did so on the day that the Council confirmed its plans for an exhibition of the proposals which could see nearly 200 homes (including the rooms in the care home) crammed into the small site. It also revealed that any additional homes built on brownfield former Ministry of Defence land will not be used to offset the pressure to build on green fields like Lowfields.
The Lowfields plans also include relatively uncontroversial proposals for an elderly persons care home and bungalows on the east of the site (on the built footprint of the former school).
The school finally moved its activities from the Lowfield sports field in 2010 although usage by sports teams continues to this day.
The Council says the site, to be known as Lowfield Green, is at the pre-planning stage.
“Suggestions are now invited and comments can be submitted on plans for older people’s accommodation, housing, a health hub and public open space. The latest plans follow on from previous public engagement in October 2016.
The drop-in event this month will be held at the Gateway Centre, Front Street, Acomb YO24 3BZ on Tuesday 18 July from 4:30 – 7pm and is open to all. Invitations have been sent to the immediate neighbours of the site.
At the drop-in event people can see and discuss the plans with officers and learn more about changes to the plans since the last event. Once comments are reviewed and final plans drawn up, the council will submit a planning application this summer.
The proposals for the site include:
Over 55’s accommodation including flats and bungalows
Family housing
York’s first self-build housing plots to be offered by the council
Land for community-led housing group, YorSpace
A health hub
Public open space”.
The Council are coy about a plan to provide a police station on the site. This would have meant the closure of the police depot on York Road and is controversial (although currently located outside the playing field part of the site). Similar unanswered questions remain about the Council ‘s paln to estbalsih a “health centre” on the site with no funding having been allocated for such a function by the NHS.
The Council says that “anyone unable to go to that event can see the plans at a display at Explore Acomb Learning Library Centre, Front Street, Acomb YO24 3BZ from 18 to 28 July 2017, or they can be viewed and commented on at www.york.gov.uk/consultations. (NB. There are no plans on the Councils web site at present) (more…)
Public sector partners say that they will propose a sustainable and achievable development master plan for the Bootham Hospital site.
