by Frank Wood, chair of the York Retail Forum.

When this trial closure was first proposed, I thought it was madness, and so it has turned out.

This is a main arterial route and part of the inner ring road. One of the reasons given for the closure was that it would improve air quality. It’s probably done that for the ducks in that area, but not for people living and working in other areas which have seen a resultant increase in traffic.

It was also meant to improve journeys for buses. It may have speeded up their journeys across the bridge but they have to slow down again when they get off it because of increased congestion caused by the closure. Buses using routes other than across the bridge have seen a deterioration in their times.

It was meant to improve pedestrian safety but pedestrians trying to cross the road on the bridge or in Museum Street are now actually in greater danger, because the buses and taxis are travelling faster than when there was slower moving traffic.

When people come to York to shop, we want them to come back again and again, but many visitors are saying they won’’t be returning because they feel they have been cheated and conned by being fined for crossing the bridge when they didn’t even realise this wasn’t allowed, and when their sat navs are telling them they can use it.

Members of the forum have noticed a distinct downturn in trade in the city centre which dates precisely back to the moment the bridge was closed. They are very concerned that business will only decline even further when the new stores open at Monks Cross in the spring.

Of course, their customers will have free parking and easy access while motorists face increasing problems in gaining access to the city centre and are still having to pay to park in city centre car parks.

All these problems are little nails in the coffin. Retail is the city’s biggest employer and the reduction in trade threatens not only to result in the loss of jobs but also deter investment and prevent the creation of new jobs.

York is a fabulous city, at the heart of which is a unique and varied retail offering. What must be remembered is that it is a commercial city and without a successful business centre it will decline. We need to attract visitors, not push them away, and cars are an integral part of that.

Not everyone will travel on public transport, we need to make sure the city is available to all visitors. If we continue on this path, I am sure traffic will reduce - it will go to the out of town developments, to Leeds, to Sheffield, and other towns around York, and the city will suffer.

I hope we wake up and realise this closure is something that needs to be reversed as soon as possible.