PLANS to bring a big wheel back to York city centre have been dealt another blow as the city’s civic trust announced its opposition.

Trust director Peter Brown said it was concerned about the visual impact of the 53-metre wheel, pictured, for example, in the way it would block fine views of York Minster from as far away as Beckfield Lane and the outer ring road.

He said good views of the cathedral had already been lost in the past through developments permitted by planners.

One example was the design of the top extension of the HSBC building in Parliament Street, which he said obscured the view of the minster from Clifford’s Tower.

York Museums Trust and wheel operators Great City Attractions want planning permission to site the wheel for three years in the Museum Gardens, on land behind York Art Gallery where there are currently derelict huts.

The Press reported last week how York Conservation Trust and local residents were strongly opposing the application, and bowlers who will have to leave their green in the gardens spoke out yesterday.

Mr Brown said his organisation was “sympathetic to the (museums) trust’s aspirations” and was not opposed generally to a big wheel in York. He said it had supported the one which was installed at the National Railway Museum and also backed an application to site one at St George’s Field, which was rejected after objections from other organisations.

He said: “But we cannot support this application, because of the visual impact on surrounding buildings, during the day and during the night.”

He said long distance views of the Minster, for example from Beckfield Lane and the Outer Ring Road, would be obscured, and there would also be an impact closer by.

He asked whether the Hungate site had been looked at for York’s Wheel, as it seemed ideal and was unlikely to be fully developed in the next few years.

The Museums Trust said it and Great City Attractions would be giving a comprehensive response to criticisms of the wheel plans later this week.