RESIDENTS and traders in Micklegate believe a street party to welcome the Queen to York will now take place.

The Micklegate Quarter held a meeting with North Yorkshire Police and City of York Council on Monday night to discuss licensing responsibilities surrounding the plans.

Jack Baber, one of the organisers behind the Micklegate Quarter, which was created to help promote the street as a destination and its businesses, said they had some paperwork to fill in this week, but they could see no barriers to their plans.

He said: “There’s nothing which the police or local council are too worried about or objecting to. We now feel we have got the green light to go ahead with the street party plans and everybody can get on board with it.”

The Quarter is hoping to hold a street festival on April 5 after the Queen enters the city through Micklegate Bar to meet the Lord Mayor and local people. The event is expected to attract about 10,000 visitors to Micklegate, so the Micklegate Quarter hopes to extend the traffic restrictions and keep visitors in the street following the event.

Ideas for the festival include hosting a civil war re-enactment group at Holy Trinity Church, which will hold demonstrations during the day and will form an honour guard during the visit. They hope to decorate the area with 1,000 metres of red, white and blue bunting and 500 Micklegate Quarter balloons to create a festival atmosphere and have stalls and street performers including acrobats and facepainters and a brass band to encourage people to stay on the street.

Local businesses may produce flyers offering discounts and art displays may be displayed in the windows of any vacant shops.