Fossgate traffic; “We cocked it up” admits Council

The Council is taking urgent action to change access arrangements on Fossgate and part of Walmgate.

It follows complaints from residents and traders who have been unable to service their premises during the extended pedestrian hours.

It is understood that this has adversely affected trade.,

The Council says, “The current arrangements were installed as part of the Councils emergency COVID response to facilitate pavement cafes and reduce vehicles to support the Economic Recovery. Although consultation was undertaken, the businesses on Fossgate and the yards are reporting negative impacts. This change would allow resolve many of the issues with the temporary arrangements currently in place.

This change continues the displacement of blue badge parking. The council is conscious of this and has put in place mitigations including off street and on street blue badge holders and continues to keep this under review. Understanding the impact is a focus of the current consultation”

The Council has now agreed two modificatiosn to teh traffic order.

1. To approve an emergency change to the Temporary TRO currently in place on Fossgate, to manage one way vehicular access on Walmgate/Fossgate during the day through a “no motorised vehicles, except for access” restriction between 10.30am and 8pm, with two dedicated loading bays on Walmgate/Fossgate and a loading ban for the remainder of the street, and a staffed access point during footstreet hours..

2. To undertake further engagement with traders and residents on Fossgate (including Walmgate, between Fossgate and the junction with Merchantgate) and those gaining access to properties through Fossgate on what future temporary arrangements look like.

As usual the decision was taken at a “behind closed doors” decision session without any prior notice being given.

Fossgate to be pedestrianised….sort of

The York Council is edging towards pedestrianising Fossgate. The aspiration has been a long held ambition of the Council but traders and residents on the street have expressed had mixed views.

Now a new plan being considered on 22nd June.

The Council claims that the changes are proposed to “reduce the impact of vehicle traffic and to improve the pedestrian environment in the street”.

The report recommends several changes following the consultation, including, making the street a “pedestrian zone”, reversing the one way traffic flow and allocating road space for street cafes.

However delivery lorries, cyclists and residents will still be able to drive down the street making the idea of highway cafes an awkward one.

It’s recommended that the changes are made using an experimental 18 month traffic regulation order (TRO). (more…)

City centre access review by York Council

The Council’s Executive agreed last week to reinstate the access restriction times of 8:00am to 6:00pm on Coppergate (although they will apply 7 days a week).

It remains unclear whether spy cameras will be deployed again to enforce restrictions.

The Council report says, “York has one of the largest pedestrian zones in Europe, which creates a safer and more attractive city centre for residents, businesses, shoppers and visitors.”

City of York Council carried out a review of its city centre pedestrian zone in 2012, which identified a number of improvements to help reduce city centre through traffic and ensure pedestrians continued to have safe access.

Building on this review, further proposals outlined at the time are now being put forward for consideration to simplify restrictions in the pedestrian zone further and create a better understanding of the traffic regulations in this area (e.g. loading and unloading times),

These include:

Extending loading and unloading times either side of the pedestrian zone to 7am (previously 8am) to 10.30am and 5pm to 7pm (previously 6pm). This will give delivery drivers more time and greater priority over general traffic.
Unify the access restrictions outside the pedestrian and loading only hours (as above). This will ensure drivers have more clarity on restriction timings whilst aiming to help reducing the volume of traffic in the city centre in the early evening and through the night.
Extend the road closure at the Nessgate / Spurriergate into the evening or through the night. Also investigate extending the period of time when the bollards are in place, to either reopen at some point during the evening or in the early hours of the morning.
Review the Blue Badge and Green Permit holders access in the pedestrian zone and reviewing the Piccadilly / Pavement / Stonebow vehicle access and enforcement.
Investigating vehicle access and enforcement on Piccadilly / Pavement / Stonebow / Fossgate / St. Saviourgate. These recommendations would tie in with the outcome of the Coppergate proposals, which will improve driver compliance with the regulations and reduce general traffic on key public transport routes through the city centre.

(more…)

York Council snubs iconic City centre business

The Council has decided to rescind the use of a permit allowing a small van to service the Mulberry Hall shop on Stonegate

The business had been issued with the permit since 1988.

The shop said, in an appeal against the highways department ruling, that it would only, in future, access premises during pedestrian hours on “no more than 2 occasions each week”.

The business is understood to be facing a major challenge from out of town and internet competitors and wanted to be able to continue to provide a prompt and accessible service for its customers.

The owner of Mulberry Hall – Adam Sinclair – is leading the campaign to have a Business Improvement District (BID) established in the City.

The Council decision was taken at another “behind closed doors” meeting with the agenda only being published on the Council’s web site after the meeting had concluded.

York Council finally publishes its Fossgate pedestrianisation plans

The York Council has published its plans to pave Fossgate.

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The scheme is a long standing one. It was scheduled to be done after the Deangate project in 2011, but Labour changed priorities and allocated money to the Kings Square scheme instead. Only a limited amount of work is now planned at the northern end of Fossgate.

Nevertheless the scheme is likely to cost in excess of £300,000.

This is likely to inflame opinion in sub-urban areas.

Investment in the – much busier and arguably more run down – Front Street area was limited to £30,000 by the Council last year.

The Council says, “Following a city-wide consultation, proposals outlining the future look of Fossgate will be taken to a Cabinet meeting next week (Tuesday 1 April) for approval.

Over 600 individual responses were submitted during the latest consultation for three of the six priority Reinvigorate York schemes including Fossgate, which took place in January/February this year.

Other schemes include Exhibition Square / Theatre Interchange and the Duncombe Place/Blake Street junction, which will separately be taken to Cabinet in June.

The report provides an overview and detailed feedback of the consultation undertaken and outlines the preferred junction improvement option for the Fossgate scheme.