Coppergate looks to future

WHERE there was discord, now there is harmony.

Years of bitterness and recriminations over the Coppergate Riverside proposal ended in the plans for a £60 million development next to Clifford's Tower being thrown out by a Government planning inspector.

City of York Council, looking for a fresh start, devised a unique approach. It set up the Castle Piccadilly reference group, invited interested parties to join, and asked them to help draft a planning brief for the site.

The group is run by independent facilitators the Icarus Collective. So far it has met three times. Everyone we spoke to says the system is working well and broad areas of agreement have been sketched out on, for example, the need to include affordable housing and to enhance the riverside.

The next step involves you. Saturday sees the Castle Piccadilly Open Forum at York St John College, Lord Mayor's Walk, from 10am to 4pm. This is the chance for the people of York to have their say.

After introductions there will follow group discussions under the headings heritage, use of riverside, buildings in the area, the use of spaces and movement.

The forum is open to everyone, but you have to register first by leaving your details by the end of tomorrow on this telephone number: (01904) 551415.

The reference group will meet twice more, to consider the results of the open forum and to discuss next month's report by independent consultants into York's retail needs.

To set the scene, we asked interested parties for their thoughts on the future of this contentious, and important, corner of York.

Peter Brown

Company secretary of York Civic Trust

All the points that the planning inspector raised in his report on Coppergate II, and the Secretary of State agreed with, should be taken on board and inform the planning brief.

The historic environment is the overriding principle by which all plans are to be judged. That certainly wasn't the case with the last scheme.

We are quite encouraged by the issues being raised such as transport access to the site. In respect of the buildings we should aspire to the highest standards of construction.

Gillian Cruddas

Chief executive, York Tourism Bureau

From a tourism perspective, the Castle Piccadilly development is crucial to York's position as one of the top tourist destinations in the country.

We'd like to see the site having the best possible mix of attractive open spaces in keeping with York's heritage and also providing much needed space for high street retailers and independent traders.

A flagship store such as Selfridges, John Lewis or Harvey Nichols would provide a huge boost to York as a regional shopping destination.

Gerald Jennings

Regional director of Land Securities, the Coppergate Riverside developer

We are pleased to be involved in this extensive consultation process and hope that the views being gathered from those engaged in it will enable City of York Council to produce a planning brief that is robust and enjoys wide support.

However, as this process is still on-going we feel it is inappropriate for us to comment further at this stage.

Alison Sinclair

Chair, York Conservation Area Advisory Panel

My main guiding principle is one of the recommendations of the Coppergate Inquiry inspector, which was that the historic environment should be the overriding consideration in formulating proposals for this scheme.

The Piccadilly area of the site will probably merit different treatment from the Castle car park part of the site. The car park was an historic castle precinct. That's what should be respected and enhanced. There are lots of ways of doing that.

I also think there should be no prescription that every building in Piccadilly could be demolished without examining the contribution it may make to the character and appearance of the conservation area.

Andrew Eccles

Chartered surveyor representing landowners on Piccadilly

The Castle Piccadilly reference group is part of the process, and other parts of the process are yet to come - in particular the city is expecting to receive in October the report on the retail needs of York.

I thought the Hungate site should be seriously investigated as a retail site. We do need to find out whether major retail endeavours in York can be concentrated away from Castle Piccadilly, which would take off some of the unacceptable pressures that were inherent in the previous schemes for it.

If this land is agreed to be a very important site and should change into an exciting public place, contributing to the listed buildings and the vibrancy of that area, it can't continue as an uneven, puddled car park.

But what's the strategy to get rid of the car park?

Barry Potter

Vice-chairman, York Natural Environment Trust

YNET is very much in favour of the redevelopment of Piccadilly and we hope when that happens it will include aspirations for high quality green landscaping.

What we would like to see is the start of a process that will see the regeneration of the River Foss as a green wildlife corridor.

If you create a landscape that is also a good wildlife habitat, that's almost always enjoyed by people.

If you create something that's all railings and stone flags and lampposts and signs, it may be neat and tidy but it doesn't do anything for wildlife. And people won't usually enjoy it as much because what they really need in urban areas is a place of peace and tranquillity.

We are very much supporters of the people who say the Castle site should become public open space.

Coun Ann Reid

City of York Council executive member for planning and transport

We have said that it's a clean sheet of paper. All parties want to avoid what happened over Coppergate II.

It's an exciting opportunity for the city to produce something that meets its long-term aspirations by ensuring York's position as both an historical city and a shopping destination.

Obviously the council, the planning body, has an interest in the site. The council owns part of the site which is used as a car park. Issues like that will have to be taken into consideration.

Other landowners in the area would also need to ensure that any proposals sat with their long-term plans. I wouldn't want the fact that the council is a landowner to overwhelm everything else.

We recognise that Piccadilly certainly needs an injection of something. Some of it could be developed now, but I think we do need to look at the bigger picture.

Piccadilly is like it is partly because it is out of the way and doesn't have the footfall coming by. It isn't seen as a particularly effective part of the city. Piccadilly on its own might well continue that trend.

I do hope that people will take the opportunity to come and give us their views.

Philip Crowe

York Tomorrow

The site under consideration has been restricted to the area of the old Land Securities planning application. Many of us feel we should expand the remit of the reference group to cover additional areas, such as the old Reynards garage on Piccadilly and possibly even further along Piccadilly as far as the White Swan.

Whether we will be able to come to agreement on this we don't yet know, as the reference group has not yet completed its deliberations. And whether its conclusions will be acceptable to the city council is another matter.

Stuart Wilson

Castle Area Campaign Group

We still believe that the two areas which are joined as one should be developed as two separate aspects.

Piccadilly is a built environment now and certainly could do with some redevelopment. The Castle area is an open environment and should be retained as one as much as possible.

We know there are questions of how to fund a green, open space. But you can apply the same argument to Museum Gardens, Rowntree Park and other open spaces. These are definitely required as more and more people live in the city centre.

Coun Tracey Simpson-Laing

Labour spokesperson for planning and transport

I do feel this needs the widest possible consultation so this time people can't turn around and say "we weren't consulted".

I would like something about the plans to go to every house, and the council Portakabin displaying details in the city centre and the suburbs. York needs to feel it has had its chance to have a say.

This is going to be as important as York Central, if not more important.

Adam Sinclair

Chairman of York Business Pride

We need something that enhances the conservation area and realises its true potential to be a World Heritage Site.

If at the same time we can realise a commercial improvement, then all well and good. But the price of commercial enhancement must not be the deterioration of the conservation area.

There are business considerations other than retail. People would say, quite rightly, that inward investment, tourism, offices and city living are just as important to retail, some more important.

That said, it would be nice to enhance the retail offering of the city as part of this scheme. But we can do that with or without Coppergate.

You can talk about Morrisons and the rest of the Foss Islands Road regeneration, Jigsaw coming into Stonegate, H&M and Zara in Spurriergate and Molton Brown in Davygate.

Why is all this happening now? It's because we have got out of the quagmire which was Coppergate. It was actually a blight on inward investment to the city, with shop agents saying 'wait until Coppergate is resolved, it will shift the footfall in the city'.

What retail development we do see has to hug the existing city as much as possible. In my view it doesn't want to be stretched all the way down to the bottom of Piccadilly.

We have got to aim for the visitor coming to the Castle and saying 'wow'.

Updated: 11:07 Thursday, September 30, 2004