by Susie Cawood, head of York & North Yorkshire Chamber

The Chamber of Commerce has received an overwhelming condemnation of the Lendal Bridge closure.

York is a modern, vibrant and ambitious European city that has embraced development and growth and successfully adapted its economy to compensate for the deindustrialisation which adversely affected many of our Northern cities; it is not a ‘chocolate box’ city to be preserved in cellophane.

Having moved away from being solely reliant on its principal industries; chocolate and railways, York has embarked on imaginative and ambitious reform which has resulted in substantial growth in science & technology, IT & digital, financial & business services, education, retail, culture and tourism.

This diversity in business sectors, its highly skilled workforce, world class universities and excellent quality of life has proved a real strength to York and has reinforced the claim that the city’s economy is one of the most resilient in the UK.

Now that confidence in the economy is returning and investment and job creation is restarting it is imperative that businesses are given as much assistance as possible to thrive and grow and are not hindered by idealistic transport strategies

The Chamber recognises the need for the City Council to address York’s increasing transport congestion challenges in line with the city’s growth but feels that closing Lendal Bridge to cars has proved to be impractical and damaging to the region.

It is adding unacceptable pressure to a creaking transport system and is having a negative impact on business and economic growth.  The only way car journeys into and out of the city centre can be reduced is to increase the capacity of the outer ring road, and by improving public transport in order to make it a viable alternative proposition. 

The Chamber has received a huge amount of feedback from both businesses and individuals from within the city and throughout the region about the detrimental effect that the closure of Lendal Bridge is having on them.

Closing a main arterial route through the city is causing congestion elsewhere and is having a harmful effect on very many businesses whether they be retailers in the city centre, many of whom have seen a downturn in business since the bridge closed, or manufacturers from outside the city who are using the East Coast Main Line.

This bridge closure is causing economic difficulties with people being increasingly reluctant to come to York to do business.

One of our members from outside of York explained how it is affecting his business: ‘I don’t know if anyone has considered the impact of the Lendal Bridge closure on companies like ours to the east of York.

'We have noticed a significant increase in difficulty in collecting and depositing visitors who get the train to York. We make great play of the fact that you can get from King's Cross to York in under two hours but then you need to allow an hour to travel the remaining 20 miles to the factory.

'We are the best in the world at what we do and try very hard to present a competent international image which is somewhat undermined by sitting in unpredictable York traffic.’

Businesses create the wealth in the economy and provide jobs, they have to be allowed to trade and anything that hinders this will severely impede economic growth.