by Kate McMullen, Head of Visit York

Visit York remains deeply concerned about the impact of fines being issued to visitors who have inadvertently used Lendal Bridge when closed.  It’s crucial all visitors to York have an enjoyable stay, without their visit being marred by a follow up fine. 

It’s vitally important to protect York’s reputation as a welcoming friendly city.  Reducing the number of fines being issued is our greatest concern and we’d like to see measures put in place to address this.  It’s imperative this issue is resolved as a matter of urgency. 

We welcome initiatives which seek to investigate ways of improving the city centre environment and this is the reason we supported the principle of having this trial.

Since the trial began, Visit York has seen a mixed response from our members; some against the changes and some in favour. For example the idea of improving the streetscape and environment; ‘greener’ with less CO2 emissions and supporting cycle/bus usage has been welcomed.

The results of the trial will show whether use of public transport has increased or whether traffic has simply been displaced– another key concern for our business members.

Businesses have also told us that the trial has caused inconvenience for access around Lendal Bridge/Minster Yard/North Street, that they are concerned about the signage problems, Sat-Nav problems, costs of re-printing brochures/access maps etc.  Our members feel a lot more work would need to be done to ensure awareness and direct visitors if the trial were continued.

We welcome the fact that improvements to signage have been made, however, there is still a high number of motorists unintentionally contravening the new traffic restrictions.

Put yourself in the place of someone who is totally unfamiliar with the city - you arrive here for the first time, you’re concentrating on not getting lost; it’s still very difficult to understand the signage, in particular when driving from the Exhibition Square direction.  Even if you do realise you’ve made a mistake, it’s then difficult to rectify it.

Many visitors rely on Satellite Navigation systems and an added complication is that these currently direct drivers over the bridge when closed; understandably our visitors feel the fines are unfair when they’ve followed these instructions. 

If the trial continues, further work is needed to help drivers in understanding the guidelines and we hope it can also be made clearer what the alternative routes are.

Getting into and moving people around a heritage city like York will always be challenging and we need to achieve the right balance between having a pleasant city centre for pedestrians and not creating barriers to access.

We all need to work together in the city to find solutions to traffic congestion; one of Visit York’s priorities for example, is to encourage greater use of travel to York by train and increased use of the excellent Park and Ride services.  By working closely with the rail companies 27 per cent of visitors to York now arrive by train. 

The trial now has to be fully reviewed using all of the evidence gathered. 

City wide we do need to work together to address the issues of congestion and increase the use of public transport for non essential car journeys. The Lendal Bridge Trial needs to be assessed as part of a city wide strategy and we look forward to hearing the results of the trial in full.