A MASTERPLAN for a “Southern Gateway” to central York should be brought forward as soon as possible, according to the chief executive of the city’s civic trust.

David Fraser was reacting to plans for a new £25 million, 146-bed hotel in Piccadilly, which were revealed in The Press on Wednesday.

He said: “The site occupies an important historic area of central York and will affect the character of the York Castle complex (including Clifford’s Tower and the 18th-century prison and court buildings); and the character of the Piccadilly conservation area.

“It is part of the City of York Council’s Southern Gateway development area.

“All of this means that any proposed development should be of the highest design and quality so that the urban environment of our special city is enhanced in the future.”

York Press:

The city council hopes to draw up a broader plan for the southern area of the city centre, dubbed the Southern Gateway. Picture: Google Earth

Dr Fraser said the trust’s main concern related to the holistic planning of the larger area and the masterplan for Piccadilly should consider development guidelines for this site, the Reynards Garage one opposite and others that came forward in the vicinity.

“This is why the Southern Gateway plans should be brought forward as quickly as possible.

“York Civic Trust welcomes the opening of discussions here: we hope that the developers work in partnership with City of York Council and all others with an interest in the area to create a development which adds to the heritage of York so that we can all be proud of our developing city,” he said.

Graham Usher, chair of the York Hoteliers Association, welcomed the Piccadilly plans, saying: “York is a tremendous success as a destination city, we need more hotels to maintain that.”

Mr Usher has highlighted the shortage of workers in York’s hospitality sector and is heading a three-pronged campaign to draw more people to work in the industry, through flagging up hospitality as a good career option with schools and colleges, looking at recruitment and retention and using PR to promote this job path.

He said in addition attention should be paid to whether there was sufficient housing that hospitality workers could afford or that staff had the option to travel to work in York.

“There have to be provisions in place to ensure York can maintain a decent-sized workforce,” he said.

The city council was warned in November that its hopes for a broad vision for the area were in danger of unravelling unless they seized the initiative.