York's face is its fortune: so we need to keep this jewel of a city looking good

There are many things that help make this such a great place to live: the quality of the city’s schools (though they’re chronically underfunded); the quirky shops; the great restaurants, cafes and bars; the museums, art and culture; the riverside walks; the fact that we’re plonked right in the middle of possibly the loveliest, most characterful county in England.

But the clincher is the sheer beauty of the York’s historic streets and buildings: the Minster; the bar walls; the streets of Tudor and Georgian houses; the medieval guildhalls; the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey in Museum Gardens.

Those of us who live here too often take these things for granted. But they provide a backdrop to our busy daily lives that most can only envy us for.

And they’re the main reason York has more than seven million visitors every year, Sir Ron says.

We sometimes grumble about those visitors. But we need to be clear about the contribution they make to York, the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of York says in his new book York: Changing the Face of the City.

York earns more than £440 million from tourists alone every year, he says: and they help sustain more than 23,000 jobs – about a quarter of York’s workforce.

The main reason those visitors give for coming to York is that they simply enjoy wandering around the city centre, Sir Ron says – soaking up the atmosphere and history. We underestimate that at our peril. And it means that protecting what makes the city centre special must always be one of our key priorities. “We must look after it.”

York: Changing the Face of the City is essentially his manifesto for how we can do that.

For much of his career, the former President of the Royal Geographical Society was a professional academic geographer. He spent much of his time in the field studying and observing landscapes and the way we use them and live in them. He came to York in 1993 to become the university’s vice chancellor – and over the last 23 years he has applied that same geographer’s eye to observing and analysing York.

York Minster is the wonderful building it is today because it has had 600 years of care at the hands of people who love it, he says. York itself deserves no less. And with other tourist cities in the UK and across Europe upping their game, we can’t afford to sit on our laurels.

Sir Ron’s new book is part love letter to York; part analysis of what we’re doing wrong; part a look at things we’ve done right; and part a programme for doing things better in the future.

Many of the issues he raises aren’t in themselves big or difficult big ones – he’s a believer in decluttering and tidying up our streets, by getting rid of ugly and unnecessary signs, bollards, poles and junction boxes, for example. And he’d like to see the city centre better maintained, so that broken paving is replaced with quality York stone, rather than asphalt.

He’s not the only one who feels that way, he points out. The ugly repair of cracked stones in Stonegate prompted a deluge of complaints: as did, more recently, the English Heritage proposal for a visitor centre at Clifford’s Tower. “These show that people really do care!”

The book looks at historic cities such as Chester in the UK and Bruges in Belgium to see if there’s anything we can learn from them.

There are plenty of opinions on offer, and some controversial and even radical suggestions – how about, for example, his proposal for rush-hour river buses from both Naburn and Rawcliffe Park&Rides into the city centre, or his idea for an underground car park next to Clifford’s Tower, with a “grassed roof sloping towards the River Foss”?

But then, it is a book that is intended to provoke debate. And it is a book that anyone with an interest in York’s future should read, says Andrew Scott, the chairman of York Civic Trust.

“Ron Cooke has been at the heart of thinking about the special nature of York for over a decade,” he says. “This book captures his developing ideas over that time, and projects them into the future. And it is typical of the selfless nature of the man that every penny raised by the book will go directly into the City Enhancement Fund and be spent to make our city a better place.”

• York: Changing the Face of the City by Sir Ron Cooke is published by York Civic Trust, priced £20. It is available from the York Civic Trust gift shop in Fairfax House, or online from York Publishing Services at www.ypdbooks.com. Every penny from sales of the book will go towards York Civic Trust’s City Enhancement Fund, which contributes to projects such as city centre ‘pocket parks’ (like that in the revamped churchyard of All Saints Pavement) and the restoration of the Rigg Monument at St Lawrence’s Church.

Sir Ron on... The Merchant's Quarter

THIS is Sir Ron’s name for the area of York bounded by the River Foss and the city walls, taking in Walmgate and Piccadilly.

There are already plans being prepared for the castle area and the former Reynard’s Garage site, Sir Ron accepts, under the city council’s ‘southern gateway’ project.

But he believes it is hugely important that there should be a coherent proposal for the whole area. “The real potential of... Fossgate/Walmgate and Piccadilly may be lost through... piecemeal development.”

Fishergate Postern, one of three listed entries into The Merchant's Quarter

It is an area that has three Grade I-listed entries, he points out - Walmgate Bar, Fishergate Bar and Fishergate Postern - and yet there seems, despite the southern gateway proposals, to be no overall coherent vision. In addition to that, he’d like to see, amongst other things:

• a new multi-storey car park in lower Piccadilly
• a pedestrian bridge across the Foss from Piccadilly to Clifford’s Tower
• pedestrianisation of Fossgate
• landscaping of ‘ad hoc’ car parks on sites where buildings used to be
• more parking near the National Centre for Early Music.

Sir Ron on... The Eye of York

THE Castle car park, Sir Ron says, offers “one of York’s few opportunities to create a new open space”.

An underground car park could be built, with a grass roof sloping towards the Foss – an idea that would no doubt delight York’s city archaeologist John Oxley, who recently described the Castle car park as “an obscenity”.

Castle car park. Put it underground, says Sir Ron - and grass over the roof

The grass roof would provide “an excellent arena and recreational space”, Sir Ron says. And he insists that an underground car park is feasible. Before 1939, there were plans to build city council offices right where the Castle car park is now, he points out. And in preparation for that, “a basement was created on the site”.

There is no mention of the English Heritage proposals for Cifford’s Tower, which were made public after Sir Ron’s book was written.

But he does have a proposal for the Castle Museum. The museum, he says, includes “one of the world’s first shopping malls. It could be extended into a new mall along the south bank of the Foss, and linked to Fenwicks.”

Sir Ron on... the Rivers

The Millennium Bridge hugely improved the riverside walks along the Ouse, and led to a big increase in the number of people using them, Sir Ron says. But far more could be done along the stretch of the river which runs through the city centre.

“The old idea of a walkway linking the Ouse and Lendal Bridges along the east side of the river is still excellent,” he writes. “It would link the riverside walks from the Millennium Bridge to beyond Clifton, and it would create a pedestrian highway parallel to Coney Street.

The Guildhall from the River Ouse: it's time to complete the riverside walkway here, says Sir Ron

“The walkway is already built in front of City Screen. A cantilever structure... is needed to complete the Guildhall section.”

Use of the River Ouse itself could be improved, Sir Ron adds. “For example, a rush-hour river bus from Naburn Park&Ride and Rawcliffe Bar Park&Ride to the centre of the city is entirely possible.”

The Foss basin, meanwhile, is crying out for improvement, he says. “It has the potential to become a centre for pleasure boats, boat repair and static barges with cafés etc, and perhaps with links along the Foss beneath Castle Mills Bridge to Piccadilly.”

Sir Ron on... walking from the railway station to the Minster

The walk from the station into town over Lendal Bridge is the first glimpse many visitors get of York.

It should, Sir Ron says, be the perfect introduction to the city, offering views of the city walls and gardens, the river, Lendal Bridge itself and the Minster.

Dreadful and unwelcoming: the confused, cluttered exit from York Railway Station

Yet when he walked the route in 2011 (before the trial closure of Lendal Bridge) he found there were “68 things wrong with it”. He lists them in his book. They included:

• cracked paving stones
• shabby public benches
• mismatched streetlights
• broken waste bins
• unnecessary street signs
• a bus stop blocking the pavement

Many things have improved since then, he concedes. Much of the clutter has gone, seats have been replaced, and lighting improved. But the whole area as you walk out of the station remains “dreadful; there is no welcome”.

There are, of course, plans afoot to improve the approach to the station if and when the York Central development ever goes ahead. But until then we wait. And wait...