Are incentives to come to York needed?

A quiet day today in York City centre with locals enjoying the fine weather.

More seating is now available in Parliament Street and this is proving to be popular.

A £60,000 campaign to bring “staycation” visitors to York has also been announced, while the Council has launched a range of transport incentives (see below).

The further easing of restrictions scheduled for Monday may, however, brings its own challenges, with pent up demand likely to test compacity at a time when coronavirus is still prevalent, particularly among younger age groups.

*York will attract a lot of visitors this summer*

New travel incentives announced

City of York Council have announced a range of parking and travel incentives to encourage residents and visitors back to the city centre to support the city’s ongoing economic recovery.

New offers include a discounted resident’s Minster Badge for city centre parking, as well as a 50% off All York Family Ticket to launch as step three of the government’s Road Map is rolled out next week, from17 May 2021.

Half Price All York Family Ticket

The announcement includes a 50% discount for residents and visitors off the All York Family Ticket. The All York Family Ticket allows unlimited travel for the day, on all bus operators in York, including Park & Ride (excluding tourist and event services such as City Sightseeing and race day shuttles) for 2 adults and up to 3 children. It normally costs £11, but will be discounted to £5.50 under the offer.

Tickets can be bought at the discounted price from 17 May 2021.

With well-established hygiene practices on-board and the maintenance of low COVID-19 cases numbers across York, now is a great time to enjoy the convenience and sustainability of York public transport network. Please follow the on-board guidance and remember hands, face, space when travelling.

Find out more on the iTravel website at https://www.itravelyork.info/allyork

Minster Badge Discount

Residents will be able to apply for a £10 Minster Badge up until the end of March 2022 that lasts for 2 years. The badge gives residents discounts on parking in council car parks and on-street parking bays. The badge also entitles holders to park for free after 5pm in most council car parks – perfect for evening shopping or to enjoy the many excellent hospitality businesses across the city.

Minster Badges can be bought at the discounted price from 17 May 2021.

The discount will come into play as part of the next stage of lockdown restriction easing, at step three of the government’s Road Map.

To find out more visit: https://www.york.gov.uk/MinsterBadge

TIER E-Scooter and E-Bikes

With an expanded range of electric vehicles to hire across the city, residents and visitors can enjoy TIER’s e-scooters and now e-bikes from almost 40 parking bays across the city.

TIER currently have an active code that enables 5 free unlocks for users of the app: TIERXYORK

Find out more on the iTravel website at https://www.itravelyork.info/e-scooter-trial

Download the app to ride today at www.tier.app

Any questions? Feel free to reach out to the TIER team on +44 151 3174276 or yorksupport@tier.app.

Bleak and quiet in York today

A combination of wet weather and COVID restrictions has meant that York has been quiet once again today.

This may be the last weekend opportunity for a while for traders to attract customers. The prospect of another national lockdown becomes more likely.

Lets hope for a more considered approach by the authorities as they seek to address the effects of the second wave. We don’t need any more poorly considered road and car park closures.

Parliament Street and Coney Street today

The Museum Gardens are attractive in the Autumn. There are good social distancing guidelines in place. This amenity must remain accessible if a lockdown is reintroduced

The river Ouse water level is high but not yet threatening properties

Marygate car park still well used although unnecessary “cycle path” is still in place

Station car park still deserted. Not difficult to see why

Mixed reactions to this year’s Christmas market

The Christmas Market was quite busy today with many visitors strolling around the Parliament Street area.

The stalls in St Sampson’s Square were popular as were the large numbers of buskers in the area.

Ugly security barriers may dent the Christmas atmosphere

It seems that the old Post Office on Lendal may be turned into a Restaurant

Some regulars have commented that the Christmas market needs to spread out more.

There will be no stalls at the Judges Lodgings this year as a planning application covering their siting has been withdrawn by the building owners.

We think there is scope to expand the stalls onto areas like Duncombe Place. The area near the Minster would be ideal for a Christmas themed event.

Better Parliament Street cycle parking info from Council

…..but two months too late and what happened to consultation?

The following information has been provided by the Council in response to complaints about lack of consultation about the removal of cycle parking from Parliament Street. It would have been better if the information had been published a couple of months ago rather than the day after the racks disappeared!!

“The old individual cycle racks are being removed this week and will be replaced with ones on rails. Any bikes which have been left locked to a rack will be removed to the Council’s secure store.

What is happening? – The old individual cycle racks are being replaced with ones on rails where the racks are spaced wider apart that the current ones (1200mm as opposed to 800mm). As construction of the cabins for the Christmas Market will start later this week (02/12/19) the new racks will be temporarily relocated to the following locations:

Davygate – outside Debenhams
Davygate – outside the former French Connection shop
Davygate – outside the former Halifax Bank
Church Street – at the side of St Sampson’s Church
Church Street – outside The Works
St Andrewgate – at the Kings Square end
Piccadilly – outside Lloyds Bank
Parliament Street – outside Barclays Bank
Walkway at the rear of All Saints Church
Lendal as soon as the skips associated with the Guildhall works are removed

When are the old racks being removed? – The racks are being removed on the 29^th October. Notices were placed on the affected racks a week in advance to forewarn users of their imminent removal. Any cycles which have been left locked to a rack will be removed to the Council’s secure store. Anyone wishing to reclaim a cycle should contact network.management@york.gov.uk to arrange collection.

Why is this work being done? – Following last year’s Christmas Market concerns were raised by the city centre safety advisory group about the relatively few accesses / exits from the central area and the narrowness of these accesses. In order to enable the cabins to be better laid out and to increase the number and width of the accesses / exits it has been agreed that the cycle parking will be temporarily removed for the duration of the large events which take place on Parliament Street including the Christmas Market and Food & Drink Festival.

The racks will be relocated to the above locations during the event and then reinstalled on Parliament Street as soon as possible after the event. At this stage it is not envisaged that the cycle parking will need to be relocated during the Yorkshire Fringe Festival or smaller markets. In previous years several of the racks were unavailable during large events because cabins or marquees were installed immediately next to them therefore cycle parking capacity was reduced.

By relocating the racks elsewhere in the city centre there should be no net loss of capacity during these busy events.

City centre economy facing a challenge

City centre traders are likely to be looking with concern at the numbers of people who are visiting the City centre. New footfall figures have been published.

The figures suggest that visitor numbers to the City may have plateaued.

Long periods of hot weather haven’t, in the past, been good for York with some tourists preferring to visit coastal areas.

This years weather has been mixed.

Special attractions like the Rose Theatre, although generally successful, are not sold out while interest in events like the current “Great Yorkshire Fringe” are at best comparable with last year.

During June several York streets saw a 10% drop in visitor numbers in 2019 compared to the same month in 2018.

Early figures for July in Parliament Street suggest a 4% drop in visitor numbers during July.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the number of empty shops on Coney Street, that area has seen visitor numbers drop from 812,808 in June 2017 to 713,762 in June of this year.

There is no shortage of excellent “Festivals“ in York while the work of the BID has seen several parts of the city centre tidied up.

The most important time for many City centre traders is the period between now and Christmas.

Lets hope that the City continues to be “best day out” in the region

Gradual decline in visitor numbers to Parliament Street.

Smaller shopping streets are doing better with visitor numbers to Stonegate stable and numbers in Micklegate increasing.

High winds bring renewed calls for better tree maintenance

Large, unbalanced, trees need to be checked for safety

At least one large tree has been blown over by the high winds today. It is reported to be blocking a road near Elvington.

The incident has produced a renewed call for the Council to lop some of its older highway trees.

Tree detritus has been falling on passers by in Wetherby Road

Residents in streets like Wetherby Road and (little) Green Lane have previously called on the Council to lop – or maybe pollard – overgrown trees. They have had little response.

Trees in Wetherby Road were shedding small branches yesterday.

Some trees in Ridgeway have been pruned this week

Contractors were undertaking minor works nearby in Ridgeway but larger trees were being left.

In due course high sided vehicles are likely to impact overgrowing branches.

Trees on Parliament Street have been pollarded

The council has pollarded trees on Parliament Street. They will grown back quickly, but to a scale in line with the function of the street.

Some ward committees have allocated funds for lopping work but non of it appears to have been spent to reduce the hazards caused by large,old trees.

Any work must be competed before the start of the bird nesting season.

Temporary repairs on Parliament Street

Over the years, the paving has become worn and damaged. One of the main reasons for this is because the trees on Parliament Street are taking a huge amount of water from the underlying clay, which is shrinking the clay underneath the paved areas. As a result an entire new section of pavement from the area near the old fountain to Mark’s and Spencer is required.

The council listened to businesses and retailers in June, when works were originally due to be carried out, and postponed these during the busy summer months.

Following further assessment of the highway, the paving has deteriorated even more – to a level which now requires immediate repairs ahead of the busy Christmas period. This is in order ensure the area is safe for pedestrians.

The temporary measures will include taking up broken and uneven paving slabs/flags and laying two new layers of tarmac surface.

The temporary repairs will start week commencing the 1 October and be completed by the 2 November.

This is not a permanent solution and plans to resurface the full area are in development.

Businesses and retailers were hand delivered letters outlining the works on Thursday 27 September.

City of York Council will be carrying out the works and will be responsible for public safety and for providing access while the work is ongoing.

Works are scheduled to take place between 7am and 4pm Monday to Friday. However some out of hours working will be required (early morning and weekends) to reconstruct access to retailers premises to reduce the impact of this work to businesses in the area.

As with any construction work there is likely to be a certain amount of disruption and inconvenience, but the council will be doing everything reasonably possible to keep this to a minimum.

Ritual hand wringing over future of St Sampsons Square toilets

St Sampsons Square 40 years ago

Councillors are being called to a special meeting to discuss the future of both the St Samsons Square (former) toilets and the “Fountain” on Parliament Street.

A proposal to demolish the disabled toilet block – last used 8 years ago and replaced by facilities at nearby Silver Street – has been called in for further consideration. Surprisingly one of the reasons given for the objection is the lack of alternative disabled facilities.

The Council says, ” Its removal will enable the square to be better used offering increased space for the temporary cultural, recreational and retail events that happen in the city. The water and drain connections will remain to allow toilet facilities to be provided for such events if needed”.

NB The former St Sampsons Square underground toilets were just about the least accessible facilities in the north of England! They were replaced 25 years ago by the unlamented “splash palace” at the other end of Parliament Street.

Redundant St Sampsons Square toilet block

Green party Councillors also now seem to be wanting to distance themselves from their budget plan to erect advertising hoardings on Parliament Street. They describe – with some justification – the existing (water-less) fountain as a key meeting point.

Extensive repairs would be required to bring the fountain – which was the preferred choice of residents who took part in a public consultation poll 25 years ago – back into use. Other options for use the space would also incur costs.

A council report says,

“A permanent replacement will need to be considered by key stakeholders including the Civic Trust, York Business Improvement District, Make it York and will need to be sufficiently iconic that it may well require planning permission”.

It is unclear what, if any, public consultation will take place over the future of the site.

The same meeting will consider how to implement new government rules on houses in “multiple occupation”

Parliament Street fountain’s days are numbered

Parliament Street fountain

It looks like the Council are set on removing the fountain from Parliament Street. It was provided over 25 years ago following a poll of York residents who were asked what features they wanted to see in the remodelled street.

Now the Council says that it is beyond repair and gets in the way of other activities.

In other words, it reduces the amount of commercial events that can take place there.

St Sampson’s Square 30 years ago

A report to a meeting in April will also consider the future of the – long disused – underground toilets which are located in St Sampsons Square.

In both cases is is unclear what alternative use the spaces would be put to.

“Make it York” caused a storm a couple of years ago when they targeted the fountain for removal.

Repair works to Parliament Street ahead of festive season

City of York Council is carrying out essential repair works to Parliament Street this Sunday (12 November) ahead of the busy festive season.

All shops and businesses will be open as usual while the work takes place from Pavement down to Shambles Market.

The council is acting to remove the growing risk of slips and trips by temporarily replacing 300 square metres of flagstones with tarmac, before relaying the flagstones early next year.

Laying the temporary tarmac surface now, and delaying the more disruptive and lengthier flag relaying work, means the area can be safe and welcoming to the large number of city-centre visitors over the festive season