Clifford's Tower: Campaigners may try to crowdfund judicial review

More than 2,400 people have now signed a petition against English Heritage's new visitor centre, which will be set into the base of the mound at Clifford's Tower.

City of York Council's planning committee approved the application last Thursday by 11 votes to 3. Only 13 individuals had objected ahead of the meeting, but there has been a large backlash online since.

Micklegate councillor Johnny Hayes and his wife Frankie are helping promote the campaign and are writing to the Royals to seek support.

Cllr Hayes said he would also write to the relevant secretary of state to ask for advice, to see whether the decision could be called in, and said the campaign might potentially look at crowdfunding for a judicial review.

He acknowledged that campaigners had been "late to the party" but said it was better late than never. He said the gulf between the number of formal objectors and petition signatories raised questions over whether the planning process was working adequately.

All planning applications are publicly available on the council website, and many generate large response rates.

Planning committee chair, Cllr Ann Reid, said on Sunday: “Given the coverage and amount of comments made in the media, I think myself and the committee were surprised that not more people put in formal objections.

Meanwhile, York Civic Trust said on Tuesday it was disappointed the visitor centre had been approved but said it respected the process and would not challenge the decision.

Chief executive David Fraser said they were very pleased with the interior works and English Heritage's commitment to spending money to stabilise and repair the tower.

He said they were happy with the process and "two thirds of the result".

He said he would have liked to have seen a bigger masterplan for the area, involving the council, English Heritage, the Castle Museum, the courts service and the civic trust, but said there was no such plan so English Heritage had to present a proposal they could do on their own.

He said: "The fact is we locals never got our act together. There was not a scheme which involved all those people and English Heritage went with what they could pull off on their own, so we are left with the visitor centre."

He said: "The city council took a decision we disagree with but you cannot take issue with every decision you disagree with."

He said the centre would not cause severe archaeological harm and said it could be removed in future if a better, bigger plan came off. He said: "This building of a visitor centre is a 21st-century addition which is appropriate for the of the Tower at the moment."