TRANSPORT bosses have abandoned plans to lay a cycle path beneath York’s historic Walmgate Bar, after conservationists objected to the plans.

English Heritage said the difference in height between the bike route and pedestrian area would spoil the appearance of the medieval gateway. The existing tarmac will now be retained, saving the council £22,000.

City of York Council has spent recent weeks rearranging the road and pavement on the Walmgate side of the bar, to improve access for pedestrians and cyclists.

In a written report, council transport engineers Graham Kelly and Mike Durkin state: “English Heritage do not like the proposed level difference from an aesthetic point of view.

“Indeed they have indicated that they would prefer to see the existing tarmac surface retained.”

If the council were to press ahead with the new paving under the bar’s barbican, it would need Scheduled Monument Consent, which English Heritage would likely contest.

In December, the council’s city strategy panel debated a range of options for improving traffic and pedestrian flow in the area.

Currently, pedestrians and people walking on the Bar Walls have had to walk up Walmgate before continuing their journey.

Councillors agreed to create a signal-controlled pedestrian crossing about ten metres from the city walls.

They also ruled that paved footway areas around and under the bar would be extended and enlarged, to try to reduce conflict between traffic and pedestrians in the area.

Workmen on site have been told not to do any work under the bar, but have instead focussed on the pavement and re-laying the curve of the road.

That work is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

Mr Kelly and Mr Durkin said English Heritage had not objected when the decision was first made, as at that time the cycle path and pavement would have been at the same height. The height change was proposed later, by safety experts, to minimise the risk of cyclists hitting pedestrians.