money from the £1.6m North Clifton Regeneration project is beginning to be turned into concrete improvements.

The cash was awarded in September 1999 after a successful bid by City of York Council to the Government.

It is due to be spent on a whole host of improvements over the next three years.

Project manager Judith Jones said: "Residents said they wanted to see improvements at the outset of the project and now they are beginning to happen. We have spent a lot of time getting ready but we didn't get the go-ahead to spend the money until recently."

In addition to promising developments concerning the future of the former Imperial Hotel site in Crichton Avenue, Burton Stone Community Centre is expecting a long-awaited facelift.

The building, which residents have complained has an uninviting entrance hall, will be given a reception desk.

The brick walls will be plastered and painted and there will be improvements to toilets and disabled access with work starting in the next few weeks.

In Kingsway North, residents will get the chance to work with community architect Phil Bixby and plan a new vision for the central green area which will be surrounded by wooden fencing similar to Clifton Green and Burton Green.

Clifton Residents' Association is leading the project but all residents are asked to take part in the "planning for real" exercise which will take place at the end of the month.

Officers from North Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service will be visiting homes in Newborough Street and Bur Dyke Avenue to advise residents on improving security and reducing the risk of accidental fire. And at the community house at 23 Burton Green, community workers William Heywood and Rachel Cowan have been taken on as housing workers on a full-time basis.

Youth Worker Steve Rouse is now working in Clifton to help develop leisure opportunities and is based at the Kingswater Centre.

Judith Jones is available at the community house at 23 Burton Green or on York 672825.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.