BUSINESSES on a city centre street have begun talks on a joint plan to try and improve the outlook for their neighbourhood.

Traders from Micklegate met last week to talk about working together to deal with worrying and growing problems in the area.

Organised by independent ward councillor Johnny Hayes, the meeting took place at the Your Bike Shed Cafe on Micklegate and saw around 50 people join discussions about the number of empty shops on the street, and the problems of drunkenness and anti-social behaviour blighting the area during the day on weekends.

A pledge to tackle the drunkenness problems came from Cllr David Carr, the council executive member for safer neighbourhoods, who said: "As ever, it is a small minority who cause disturbance and discomfort to others who are enjoying the experience of visiting York.

"This is not a situation we are going to resolve overnight, but we are putting in a lot of investment and effort in working together with the police and other agencies and I am confident we will see a noticeable reduction in this sort of behaviour in coming months."

The business owners also met police officers PC Nick Plumb and PCSO Jonathan Heilds, who talked about the Saturday daytime drunkenness problems, and City of York Council's community safety manager Paul Morrison.

Cllr Hayes is chairman of the Bishopthorpe Road Traders Association which has spearheaded the booming local economy on that street, and he said the lessons of businesses working together and linking with the local community would be simply to learn.

He added: "The meeting was called to bring together local businesses and those people that might help address their concerns and offer a way forward to improve the street.

"It was a brilliant opportunity to allow concerned businesses to speak to North Yorkshire Police and City of York Council officers responsible for community safety about worries. But also to hear from the York BID about how it might be able to improve the city centre and Micklegate in particular in the future."

The meeting came ahead of November's ballot of business ratepayers on whether to launch a Business Improvement District (BID) in the city.

York BID chairman Adam Sinclair said: "The BID would invest in the city and in particular streets like Micklegate. This would improve the environment and encourage business growth."