Proposals aim to pump new life into the streets of York (From York Press)

Austerity measures,cut backs,no funding.It does not matter how broke this country is,or so we are told,we can always find money to waste and throw away.

CHISSY1 wrote:
Austerity measures,cut backs,no funding.It does not matter how broke this country is,or so we are told,we can always find money to waste and throw away.

If it were Selby I'd agree:-)

Garrowby Turnoff wrote:

CHISSY1 wrote:
Austerity measures,cut backs,no funding.It does not matter how broke this country is,or so we are told,we can always find money to waste and throw away.

If it were Selby I'd agree:-)

Why mention Selby?.

This could be the death-knell for out-of-town shopping.

campaign4something-o
r-other

The only thing visitors have to do is stroll around especially after 5.30pm. Some money should be invested to improve the evening ambience of the city. The 'fountain' in Parliament Street has been switched off since before Christmas and is an eyesore. Why not enhance Parliament Street with innovative water features like Sheffield?

Complete waste of money that could be used to help fix the many real problems in York!

I think that they should spend some money on giving some of the streets and buildings a good clean. York is filthy at the moment.

TheTruthHurts wrote:
I think that they should spend some money on giving some of the streets and buildings a good clean. York is filthy at the moment.

Could not agree with you more. Particularly the High Ousegate, Coney Street and Ouse bridge areas. I am sick of seeing bar flyers and stickers littering the pavements; why not charge the bars and clubs who cause the mess with their marketing print the cost of cleaning them?

The cheapest and best way of improving the market area is by getting rid of the management who spend most of their working hours posting on this site in any case!

sortyorkout wrote:

TheTruthHurts wrote:
I think that they should spend some money on giving some of the streets and buildings a good clean. York is filthy at the moment.

Could not agree with you more. Particularly the High Ousegate, Coney Street and Ouse bridge areas. I am sick of seeing bar flyers and stickers littering the pavements; why not charge the bars and clubs who cause the mess with their marketing print the cost of cleaning them?

yep - I agree too. The city is just generally really grimy- lots of minor graffitti, rubbish, filthy pavements. I've been on the continent a couple of times over the last year and it is noticeable how certainly in Northern Europe the cities are much much cleaner. York is looking very shabby at the moment, might be a good idea just to invest in a bit more day to day care before flagging up more capital expenditure. It is hard for city to promote itself to tourists when one of the distinctive features of the city, it's snickelways all smell of pi55. Currently the guide to the snickelways of York should be renamed 'guide to the public urinals' .

The streets are filthy and strewn with litter, especially in the evening.
How about installing some bins and employing some people to empty them on a regular basis?

mel wrote:
The only thing visitors have to do is stroll around especially after 5.30pm. Some money should be invested to improve the evening ambience of the city. The 'fountain' in Parliament Street has been switched off since before Christmas and is an eyesore. Why not enhance Parliament Street with innovative water features like Sheffield?

I think Sheffields water feature is a bloody eyesore....and I've seen the fountain on...

Just an idea regarding the market, move the market stalls that are in Newgate and have them on Parliament Street, leaving the Newgate area open for the use when we have specialist markets, also it would be a good area for other festivals in general. This would also mean more footfall for the market workers and hopefully lead to less empty market stalls.

So disappointing to see so many negative comments. We survive and thrive because of the tourism industry in York so it makes economic sense to invest, as well as making it more pleasant for local people.
To make a constructive suggestion, while renovating Exhibition Square, I hope the toilets are going to be replaced / refitted as they really do present a poor impression of the city.
Let's celebrate what is good news - another positive initiative further to enhance our beautiful city.

quote:
''Proposals aim to pump new life into the streets of York''
Wow! I thought, when I saw the header but soon was disillusioned by what's proposed.
More wishy-washy wasty-money projects. Here we go again.

I'll bet the instigators of all this think they have done a brilliant job. Yet it is simply papering over the cracks. Spending someone else's money is always easy without a care for efficiency or value for money.
Why aren't councillors and council officers (and all politicians for that matter) forced by law to have worked in real jobs where cost control is the make or break of a business?

Perhaps if they had to learn the commercial ropes the hard way they might be less wasteful with public money?
In manufacturing, a good question to ask before spending, say £1000, is how many items sold/hours work will it take to make the £1000 I'm about to spend?

Sadly we never have that care and attention to detail on cost reduction/ value for money with York Council officers or Calamity James' 3-ring circus (all clowns). Instead of getting the biggest bang for the buck we always get a disappointing damp squib.

Still with CYC elections looming it will be an embarressment for Labour to Lose York - especially if, as anticipated, Cons & Lib Dem losses occur elsewhere.

As ye sow, so shall ye reap''

Torycouncil2013 wrote:

Whistlejacket wrote:
The streets are filthy and strewn with litter, especially in the evening.
How about installing some bins and employing some people to empty them on a regular basis?

no more needs saying really

So you want to spend 3 million on bins and emptying them.....what a great idea!!! Glad I didn't think of that first.

Once again money being spent on tourists. £3.3 million pounds to be frittered on cosmetic improvements. Why not just declare the centre of York an open-air museum like Beamish. That way the council could charge an admission fee and us residents might get a reduction to our council tax.

Once again money being spent on tourists. £3.3 million pounds to be frittered on cosmetic improvements. Why not just declare the centre of York an open-air museum like Beamish. That way the council could charge an admission fee and us residents might get a reduction to our council tax.

tobefair wrote:
Once again money being spent on tourists. £3.3 million pounds to be frittered on cosmetic improvements. Why not just declare the centre of York an open-air museum like Beamish. That way the council could charge an admission fee and us residents might get a reduction to our council tax.

oh dear here we go again....we need the tourists like it or not.
So no tourists what happens then?............

3.3million for this,6 million for wifi/transport hub?yet essential services have to be cut to save money.Bunch of con artists.In my opinion.

3.3million for this,6 million for wifi/transport hub?yet essential services have to be cut to save money.Bunch of con artists.In my opinion.

Entirely predictable wave of negativity in response to a programme to make our city more attractive.

As for the suggestion of councillors being forced to have "real jobs" - if more than a third of people bothered to vote in local elections maybe this might come about.

"The money will come from the council’s Economic Infrastructure Fund, set up earlier this year."

Where does this money come from ? Is it a government grant, or, is it borrowed to be paid back through council tax receipts or from the sale of council assets ?

At a time of cuts, how can the Council afford this ?

Is this absolutely necessary ?

Is anybody here really saying that making York city centre a pleasanter place to be is a bad thing? It is not just visitors who benefit, and never forget that tourism is not the only part of the economy that gains. However firms may dress up thier justification for relocating or new developments, being a place that management would like to live in counts for a lot.
Resurfacing and improving public areas is expensive, but is anybody claiming that they would prefer St Helen's Square the way it used to be?

Just thinking about one particularly bad area of town- Piccadillly. Once you get past the Merchant Adventurers, it's a dive. However, I was wondering if anyone knows why that horrible white building that used to be laser quest or whatever can't be demolished. It just seems to stand there, full of holes, leaking horrible streams of water on wet days and sprouting a fuzz of unsightly green weeds. As a main route in from Kent Street, I'm curious about the value this eyesore holds.

piemagico wrote:
Entirely predictable wave of negativity in response to a programme to make our city more attractive.

As for the suggestion of councillors being forced to have "real jobs" - if more than a third of people bothered to vote in local elections maybe this might come about.

It's all about getting people 'here'. Okay, so the city can be improved in a number of ways but most people who visit York anyway do so because it's already a nice place to be and live.

Why not simply target wealthy foreign countries with some prime-time adverts? "Come to York because..." etc. You can dress anything up with propaganda - ask James Alexander. The city would benefit more from rich overseas visitors. London does well because it gets many foreign visitors. There are many wealthy Sheikhs and Oligarchs who have been to York. Target your top people, the wealthiest, the elite.

Innit.

'Work in Exhibition Square and King’s Square is earmarked to start first.'

Is this to create more room in the square for 'Cafe Chocolate'?

I’m in favour of money being spent making York a nicer place to visit, we all benefit from an improved environment and it creates much needed jobs. The first thing I would do however is reduce the budget by 0.3 million and reinstate the much needed care services that have recently been axed.

Beware - The "clutter" king is about to strike again!

Despite many obvious issues the City during 9am-6pm time is doing find due to ingenuity and hard work of its people.

After 6 pm York is a DEAD place. This is due to York-against-York City Council which killed evenings traffic/people influx and all possible parking places within its walls. The centre was getting more lively after 6pm few years ago when access to late-open Borders, Library, some Cafes etc. was easy. Then DOUBLE YELLOW lines appeared everywhere and after one magic York-against-York City Council decision life in the City centre dropped dead.

Can family with children pop in there for an hr or so - for a short walk, tea etc - at the evening (assuming car transport for the family)? No. The centre is at mercy of drunken men and women who arrive and depart by TAXIS.

The York-against-York City Council must finally understand that to invigorate the city it must be accessible NOT ONLY to pedestrians but to anybody who fancy a short visit there.
Exactly like putting chicanes and bumps on the streets complicates life and make traffic issues worse as the traffic should FLOW better - not be inhibited by some money-draining obstacles.

Save £3M by erasing double yellows and in 24hr the City Centre will be waking up at the evening.

Use this money to enable and attract in-city centre small business and, most of all, some CULTURAL attractions (e.g. based on Library/bookshops/ga
llery activities) that will be open and ACCESSIBLE AFTER 6pm.

Use this money - for example - to get rid off York-against-York City Council and regulate - finally - the epidemic devastation of the City by students-oriented landlords (the current law is rubbish and does not work at all (as expected from YAY City Council)).

If Church of England is really so poor (and cannot sell its Shell, Exxon, BP shares) subsidise tickets to the Minster - make them cheaper! Current charges are a disgrace and detrimental. Make your main attraction attractive! Etc etc.

DO-NOT-WASTE money on NEW HALF-BAKED initiatives!!!

York-against-York City Council 'artistic' taste is most awful (already well proven), cheap, claustrophobic, narrow-minded, and, actually, does not exist at all (sorry - the ONLY really modern and good-standard building erected in York in last 30 years (or so) is St John's College).
Any 'Esthetic" York-against-York initiative is a DISASTER and will result in an epidemic mushrooming of of the eyesores.

Daytime is OKish (thanks to the York citizens) - disaster starts after 6pm.

I deeply love this City and my heart is bleeding seeing the blow-after-blow to its integrity, life and beauty, thrown by wholly incompetent York-against-York City Council.

I am a foreigner living in York for more than 30 years. Maybe 'cos of that I have a broader perspective and see the damage done to York in a more acute form. I run away from communistic 'painting-the-grass-
green' before important visits, debilitating new-speak and overwhelming 'we are friends-of-the-world (and everybody)' political correctness. Therefore I am more in despair to see all these happening to this great country (and City).

"Revitalising Micklegate to “celebrate it as an important entrance” to York and reducing traffic."

Say what?

Reduce traffic in Micklegate where there are about a dozen empty shops and hardly any traffic?

Oncebitten wrote:

mel wrote:
The only thing visitors have to do is stroll around especially after 5.30pm. Some money should be invested to improve the evening ambience of the city. The 'fountain' in Parliament Street has been switched off since before Christmas and is an eyesore. Why not enhance Parliament Street with innovative water features like Sheffield?

I think Sheffields water feature is a bloody eyesore....and I've seen the fountain on...

Not since December you haven't seen the fountain on at all.

Yorklove wrote:
Despite many obvious issues the City during 9am-6pm time is doing find due to ingenuity and hard work of its people.

After 6 pm York is a DEAD place. This is due to York-against-York City Council which killed evenings traffic/people influx and all possible parking places within its walls. The centre was getting more lively after 6pm few years ago when access to late-open Borders, Library, some Cafes etc. was easy. Then DOUBLE YELLOW lines appeared everywhere and after one magic York-against-York City Council decision life in the City centre dropped dead.

Can family with children pop in there for an hr or so - for a short walk, tea etc - at the evening (assuming car transport for the family)? No. The centre is at mercy of drunken men and women who arrive and depart by TAXIS.

The York-against-York City Council must finally understand that to invigorate the city it must be accessible NOT ONLY to pedestrians but to anybody who fancy a short visit there.
Exactly like putting chicanes and bumps on the streets complicates life and make traffic issues worse as the traffic should FLOW better - not be inhibited by some money-draining obstacles.

Save £3M by erasing double yellows and in 24hr the City Centre will be waking up at the evening.

Use this money to enable and attract in-city centre small business and, most of all, some CULTURAL attractions (e.g. based on Library/bookshops/ga

llery activities) that will be open and ACCESSIBLE AFTER 6pm.

Use this money - for example - to get rid off York-against-York City Council and regulate - finally - the epidemic devastation of the City by students-oriented landlords (the current law is rubbish and does not work at all (as expected from YAY City Council)).

If Church of England is really so poor (and cannot sell its Shell, Exxon, BP shares) subsidise tickets to the Minster - make them cheaper! Current charges are a disgrace and detrimental. Make your main attraction attractive! Etc etc.

DO-NOT-WASTE money on NEW HALF-BAKED initiatives!!!

York-against-York City Council 'artistic' taste is most awful (already well proven), cheap, claustrophobic, narrow-minded, and, actually, does not exist at all (sorry - the ONLY really modern and good-standard building erected in York in last 30 years (or so) is St John's College).
Any 'Esthetic" York-against-York initiative is a DISASTER and will result in an epidemic mushrooming of of the eyesores.

Daytime is OKish (thanks to the York citizens) - disaster starts after 6pm.

I deeply love this City and my heart is bleeding seeing the blow-after-blow to its integrity, life and beauty, thrown by wholly incompetent York-against-York City Council.

I am a foreigner living in York for more than 30 years. Maybe 'cos of that I have a broader perspective and see the damage done to York in a more acute form. I run away from communistic 'painting-the-grass-

green' before important visits, debilitating new-speak and overwhelming 'we are friends-of-the-world (and everybody)' political correctness. Therefore I am more in despair to see all these happening to this great country (and City).

I agree about the evening economy plenty of wasted opportunity. Deserted streets unless you want to go to a bar. One good place has opened recently on Petergate and stays open late selling coffee, desserts and ice cream they have the right idea.
I would also like to defend the team of street cleaners who are out all night every night doing their best. They work hard I see them. Yes bars should be made to clean up flyers etc and there wouldn't be so much urine in doorways or alleys if there were any public toilets open!

TheTruthHurts wrote:
I think that they should spend some money on giving some of the streets and buildings a good clean. York is filthy at the moment.

That is part of what they are trying to do.
Please stop knocking the council down when they are trying to improve every ones life. that's why at times a lot of good things never get done.We have to keep moving with the times. so please every one wait and see what is being proposed, before we jump the gun.

Yorkie41 wrote:

TheTruthHurts wrote:
I think that they should spend some money on giving some of the streets and buildings a good clean. York is filthy at the moment.

That is part of what they are trying to do.
Please stop knocking the council down when they are trying to improve every ones life. that's why at times a lot of good things never get done.We have to keep moving with the times. so please every one wait and see what is being proposed, before we jump the gun.

Erm not sure that i was knocking the council down or jumping any gun. I was saying that york city centre is dirty! i wasnt referring to flyers or anything just the sheer dirtiness of the city centre streets. I watched that show on shoplifters a while back (not because i was bothered about the content but because York was on the tele) and even in that it looked grim. Lots of European tourist cities are sparkling in the main areas and by comparison York is a dump. Coney st, Parliment st, shambles, petergate, ousegate etc all need a good powerwash at the minimum and a good number of buildings need a scrub too!

Must agree York is going downhill fast. My wife and I parked in Castle car park one saturday afternoon and walked past a beggar sat against a wall between High Ousegate and Coppergate, a group of loud women dressed in Pink T shirts and not much else in Parliament street (not a pretty sight ) and then at the M&S end there was loud amplified noise booming out and at the Browns end that hideous noise of electrified violin playing, I don't know how the shop workers cope with it. Around 6pm groups of youths using foul language started to roam the streets. York is becoming like Blackpool without the sea , a few seats isn't going to sort it, it needs heavy policing, giving the city back to the residents and sightseers not handing it over to drunks, alcoholics and beggars.

TheTruthHurts wrote:

Yorkie41 wrote:

TheTruthHurts wrote:
I think that they should spend some money on giving some of the streets and buildings a good clean. York is filthy at the moment.

That is part of what they are trying to do.
Please stop knocking the council down when they are trying to improve every ones life. that's why at times a lot of good things never get done.We have to keep moving with the times. so please every one wait and see what is being proposed, before we jump the gun.

Erm not sure that i was knocking the council down or jumping any gun. I was saying that york city centre is dirty! i wasnt referring to flyers or anything just the sheer dirtiness of the city centre streets. I watched that show on shoplifters a while back (not because i was bothered about the content but because York was on the tele) and even in that it looked grim. Lots of European tourist cities are sparkling in the main areas and by comparison York is a dump. Coney st, Parliment st, shambles, petergate, ousegate etc all need a good powerwash at the minimum and a good number of buildings need a scrub too!

Because of all the rain my patio has required an extra treatment with a Karcher jet-sprayer. P'raps the rain is what has caused extra filth on the Cities buildings this year.

If CoYC are so skint they can borrow my Karcher.

Oncebitten wrote:

tobefair wrote:
Once again money being spent on tourists. £3.3 million pounds to be frittered on cosmetic improvements. Why not just declare the centre of York an open-air museum like Beamish. That way the council could charge an admission fee and us residents might get a reduction to our council tax.

oh dear here we go again....we need the tourists like it or not.
So no tourists what happens then?............

I agree we need tourists, thats why the centre of York should be an open-air museum with charges for entry. The tourists would then contribute to the upkeep. First York could then run buses from the suburbs direct to Monks Cross and Clifton Moor where the proper shops are instead of into town.

Can we grass over the squares and turn them into mini parklands? Some innovative water feature would look great too. Perhaps the guy who did the flame holder at the Olympics could design one? He lives nearby after all.

Excellent and exciting! Crack on with it.

TheTruthHurts wrote:

Yorkie41 wrote:

TheTruthHurts wrote:
I think that they should spend some money on giving some of the streets and buildings a good clean. York is filthy at the moment.

That is part of what they are trying to do.
Please stop knocking the council down when they are trying to improve every ones life. that's why at times a lot of good things never get done.We have to keep moving with the times. so please every one wait and see what is being proposed, before we jump the gun.

Erm not sure that i was knocking the council down or jumping any gun. I was saying that york city centre is dirty! i wasnt referring to flyers or anything just the sheer dirtiness of the city centre streets. I watched that show on shoplifters a while back (not because i was bothered about the content but because York was on the tele) and even in that it looked grim. Lots of European tourist cities are sparkling in the main areas and by comparison York is a dump. Coney st, Parliment st, shambles, petergate, ousegate etc all need a good powerwash at the minimum and a good number of buildings need a scrub too!

As I said wait and see what comes out of these proposals, as regards to dirty streets people need to get educated and not throw there litter all over the place, take it home if there is no place to put it, and if one is seen littering the streets make an example of them.there are by laws in place so lets use them or strengthen them.

metsaagain wrote:

sortyorkout wrote:

TheTruthHurts wrote:
I think that they should spend some money on giving some of the streets and buildings a good clean. York is filthy at the moment.

Could not agree with you more. Particularly the High Ousegate, Coney Street and Ouse bridge areas. I am sick of seeing bar flyers and stickers littering the pavements; why not charge the bars and clubs who cause the mess with their marketing print the cost of cleaning them?

yep - I agree too. The city is just generally really grimy- lots of minor graffitti, rubbish, filthy pavements. I've been on the continent a couple of times over the last year and it is noticeable how certainly in Northern Europe the cities are much much cleaner. York is looking very shabby at the moment, might be a good idea just to invest in a bit more day to day care before flagging up more capital expenditure. It is hard for city to promote itself to tourists when one of the distinctive features of the city, it's snickelways all smell of pi55. Currently the guide to the snickelways of York should be renamed 'guide to the public urinals' .

Quite. However, it should not be forgotten by the many who criticise the spending of public money on the appearance of the city that continental mainland cities have a lot of public money spent on their appearance. Street furniture and paving are generally of a high quality in France and Germany and the built environments look cared for because they are. Another factor which might be taken on board by critics of York is that litter and graffiti are not always attributable to visitors. However, on a positive note, whenever I say that I'm from York, people say what a lovely place it is. However, the best parts are looked after either by the Museums Trust or The Minster, not the City Council. The new piazza at Minster Gates is a Minster initiative.

Great idea, just do it. Public money ought to spent on something which we can all enjoy. This is a great city and deserves these improvements. Delighted that more areas are to be accessible to cars. It's pointless complaining about dirt and poor street furniture and then complaining that the council is wasting money. Sir Ron Cooke isn't on the council anyway but is looking at it as an informed observer.

Woody Mellor wrote:
Excellent and exciting! Crack on with it.

Stooge !

Alf Garnett wrote:
Great idea, just do it. Public money ought to spent on something which we can all enjoy. This is a great city and deserves these improvements. Delighted that more areas are to be accessible to cars. It's pointless complaining about dirt and poor street furniture and then complaining that the council is wasting money. Sir Ron Cooke isn't on the council anyway but is looking at it as an informed observer.

I wonder if they could find some money for the Rougier Street bus stops? I was walking through it a while ago and noticed the pigeon poop covering the pavement when about half a pint of fresh poop whizzed past my face and landed a foot in front of me.

How can you compare the dismal streets of York with ANY medium sized town in Europe. They have window displays in the shops, beautiful gems and watches sparkling away all night, superb suits and dresses in view, and not a shutter in sight. All you see in the Shambles is shutters, leaning against the windows during the day and blocking out any visual range at night. Why? because England is a total mess, from top to bottom, and we can't even stop people smashing shop windows from dusk till dawn, so we put prison type shutters over them. Go to Munich, Frankfurt, Rome, they have law and order, and quality shops, clean streets, no litter, and they are proud of same.

johnwill wrote:
Must agree York is going downhill fast. My wife and I parked in Castle car park one saturday afternoon and walked past a beggar sat against a wall between High Ousegate and Coppergate, a group of loud women dressed in Pink T shirts and not much else in Parliament street (not a pretty sight ) and then at the M&S end there was loud amplified noise booming out and at the Browns end that hideous noise of electrified violin playing, I don't know how the shop workers cope with it. Around 6pm groups of youths using foul language started to roam the streets. York is becoming like Blackpool without the sea , a few seats isn't going to sort it, it needs heavy policing, giving the city back to the residents and sightseers not handing it over to drunks, alcoholics and beggars.

That just about sums it up doesn't it? Litter,dirt,drunks,b
eggars,doorways and alleyways stinking of urine. Before wasting money in trying to give a false impression for goodness sake get the city cleaned up and instil some pride into it.

jumbojet wrote:
How can you compare the dismal streets of York with ANY medium sized town in Europe. They have window displays in the shops, beautiful gems and watches sparkling away all night, superb suits and dresses in view, and not a shutter in sight. All you see in the Shambles is shutters, leaning against the windows during the day and blocking out any visual range at night. Why? because England is a total mess, from top to bottom, and we can't even stop people smashing shop windows from dusk till dawn, so we put prison type shutters over them. Go to Munich, Frankfurt, Rome, they have law and order, and quality shops, clean streets, no litter, and they are proud of same.

Munich Frankfurt and Rome don't have chavs!

I am a bit ambivolent about these plans to, ahem, "Revitalise" the city, because if you read between the lines it likely means less room for traffic. My main concern is the Piccadilly and Coppergate junction... currently pedestrians step out in front of buses without a care in the world, thinking they are on footstreets; the railings in Parliament street have been removed thus redicing cycle parking capacity at the key location for cycle access; the traffic lights always have a green stage for parliament street when most of the time there's nothing there, which not only reduces capacity but also gives a false start to pedestrians who start crossing only for coppergate to then get a green light; and the entray area into High Ousegate is often used for vehicles whose drivers decide to try and turn around in the junction or who think that might be a good place to park.... If the junction is to be revised I would suggest removing Parliament Street from the junction and have it as left turn only into High Ousegate, with access from Piccadily/Stonebow into High Ousegate only (with access being where the burger van normally pars up); then move the park and ride bus stop from M&S back a few meters so it is roughly where the mail box is, thus removing the congestion that waiting number 9 buses cause every 10 minutes there beause nobody can get past, and also removing the pavement congestion caused by waiting tourists clogging up the pavement as they wait for the bus; the narrow pavement on the church side of coppergate could be removed as pedestrians can walk up High Ousegate and cut across, then the road slewed across more toward the church so as to give buses turning in to coppergate from piccadilly a better turning circle and at the same time allowing the pavement on the Jessops side of coppergate to be widened by about 1 meter.... In addition the parking along Piccadilly outside the bank and recruitment agency and Argos adds congestion as people pull up in their Micra's to see if they can squeeze in between a bollard and a cycle rack whilst there's 5 or 6 buses behind them. Lighting along Piccadilly and Parliament Street needs upgrading, as currently they stand out as sore thumbs amongst the rest of the main streets in the city centre which got new "white light" lanterns fitted a year or two ago, as Piccadilly and Parliament street still use orange sodium lighting in either 1980's fibreglass light fittings or wall mounted floodlights

If there was enough money to do it, I'd suggest flattening everything from the old white tram shed and the banana warehouse right back to the manky car park between Ryedale Building and the Wetherspoons, and then build a 3 floor shopping and entertainment complex with big shops including a Primark, but with restaurants, a Cinema or other entertainment facility such as a bowling alley, and at leats 1 floor (if not 2) for parking on the roof deck(s) above the complex. With a glass-fronted look like "Westfield" shopping complexes have, as it stretches out as a bridge over the road level from the old site of the banana warehouse to the old site of the tram shed, you'd get a nice shiny appealing modern end to the city that actually has stuff inside residents would use. A lot of cities, including Manchester, can mix together very old buildings with the very new (take a look on Streetview at Exchange Square... there is an old pub that is about the same age as the buildings down Shambles, right opposite Harvey Nicks and Selfridges which were all built after the bomb blast) and the mix works well. For some reason with York, anything 'new' is frowned upon... Well I have news for the council, Leeds is opening up the trinity shopping complex next year which will be rivalling the Metrocentre for square footage of retail space, right in the heart of the city - that is going to be a BIG draw to Leeds that WILL attract shoppers away from York... It's time to step up and properly invest in some decent "out of the rain" shopping space in the city centre, in addition to some central leisure outlets (not everybody wants to go to Clifton Moor to do anything fun!) with proper parking provision - and if it stayed open until 8pm or even 9pm it would generate a evening economy.

why the obsession with pedestrianising fossgate.get bloody parliament street sorted first.it should be the focal point of york but it has a defunct fountain,eyesoe bike racks and is unfortunately surrounded by banks and buildos.forget the agendas of the vocal few and listyen to the majority for a change.

Some views very negative some very grand in idea.....this is only 3 million....and yes to you and I it seems a massive amount, but in reality it will only allow a small hardly noticeable facelift to a few areas. Nobody is going to see a "new" city centre for 3 million......

and why when the topic of the centre of York crops up do people always mention Primark......not exactly the upmarket store for the city centre.

Anyhting that improves the city is good but how about
1 encouraging a street atmosphere by allowing more cafes and shops to display/trade on pavements in pedestrainised areas instead of stopping this all the time. Cost virtually nothing and bringd vibrancy to the city.
2 Make council devlop their eyesores such as the Piccadily building mentioned above as if it were privatly owned they would be going wild with owner
3 Encourage housebuilding in cntrte to bring residients into the city by relaxing some of the ridiculous planning rules ie affordable money payments which stop builders building
4 get rid of uneccesay signs and street obstacles
5 open up the new spaces ie former splash palace with lively uses chaiors tables and street performance
6 plant some trees in the city centre in pots if necessary
7 finish off the river walkway with floating pontoons if necessary to open up the river
8 Get volunteers to clean up litter/graffittee etc
9 get police to deal with drunken behaviour properly at night . i dont object to people going out drinking but if they go too far put them immedatly iinto a drunk tank for the night and get them off the streets

First reduce the parking restriction areas that were introduced a few years back and reduce parking charges. Some on here have said why not treat the centre as a museum and charge an entry fee – well the reality is many get at least a £5charge before they even leave a car park to see York.
Secondly reduce rates/rents.

Then just sit back and watch as the city centre rejuvenates itself – Simples!

Yorklove wrote:
Despite many obvious issues the City during 9am-6pm time is doing find due to ingenuity and hard work of its people.

After 6 pm York is a DEAD place. This is due to York-against-York City Council which killed evenings traffic/people influx and all possible parking places within its walls. The centre was getting more lively after 6pm few years ago when access to late-open Borders, Library, some Cafes etc. was easy. Then DOUBLE YELLOW lines appeared everywhere and after one magic York-against-York City Council decision life in the City centre dropped dead.

Can family with children pop in there for an hr or so - for a short walk, tea etc - at the evening (assuming car transport for the family)? No. The centre is at mercy of drunken men and women who arrive and depart by TAXIS.

The York-against-York City Council must finally understand that to invigorate the city it must be accessible NOT ONLY to pedestrians but to anybody who fancy a short visit there.
Exactly like putting chicanes and bumps on the streets complicates life and make traffic issues worse as the traffic should FLOW better - not be inhibited by some money-draining obstacles.

Save £3M by erasing double yellows and in 24hr the City Centre will be waking up at the evening.

Use this money to enable and attract in-city centre small business and, most of all, some CULTURAL attractions (e.g. based on Library/bookshops/ga

llery activities) that will be open and ACCESSIBLE AFTER 6pm.

Use this money - for example - to get rid off York-against-York City Council and regulate - finally - the epidemic devastation of the City by students-oriented landlords (the current law is rubbish and does not work at all (as expected from YAY City Council)).

If Church of England is really so poor (and cannot sell its Shell, Exxon, BP shares) subsidise tickets to the Minster - make them cheaper! Current charges are a disgrace and detrimental. Make your main attraction attractive! Etc etc.

DO-NOT-WASTE money on NEW HALF-BAKED initiatives!!!

York-against-York City Council 'artistic' taste is most awful (already well proven), cheap, claustrophobic, narrow-minded, and, actually, does not exist at all (sorry - the ONLY really modern and good-standard building erected in York in last 30 years (or so) is St John's College).
Any 'Esthetic" York-against-York initiative is a DISASTER and will result in an epidemic mushrooming of of the eyesores.

Daytime is OKish (thanks to the York citizens) - disaster starts after 6pm.

I deeply love this City and my heart is bleeding seeing the blow-after-blow to its integrity, life and beauty, thrown by wholly incompetent York-against-York City Council.

I am a foreigner living in York for more than 30 years. Maybe 'cos of that I have a broader perspective and see the damage done to York in a more acute form. I run away from communistic 'painting-the-grass-

green' before important visits, debilitating new-speak and overwhelming 'we are friends-of-the-world (and everybody)' political correctness. Therefore I am more in despair to see all these happening to this great country (and City).

Also as a " foreigner" ( English but not born in York) I agree with most of the above comments.
The problem as I see it is the lack ability to see the potential knock-on effects of decisions made.Comments from consultations, if read, are apparently ignored. Those of us with a broader perspective, who should be recruited listened to and valued are not. This applies to all age groups but those with experience outside of York may perhaps be free of the "blinkers" of the York Born and Bred gang. ( I will leave others to finish the rhyme!)
I keep on trying, but most people seem happier to complain rather than offer constructive suggestions, and yes I do speak from experience.

more global issue..

There were some comparisons here with Italian, Spanish = continental cities which centres were full of life late till the night. What was ONE of the main driving force behind this perky life-style? Plenty of restaurants - NO. Restaurants AND SHOPS were/are open as well. This is an amplifying and mutual effect of both venues that must be fulfilled. I am not sure CoYC can solve it - this may be a more UK legislation problem but why not to look into this? Have a far going vision then just blooming Primark (can you compare it to shiny Vienna high-class shops?...)
Try to encourage to extend shop opening hrs till 8pm (winter) and 10pm in warmer seasons. Liberate traffic in the City Centre at the same time and in few months the knock-out effect should be visible. And this will bring more jobs.
If shop owners would not be happy with costs related to extra personnel/longer ours is there any chance to look into tax relief for after-6pm trade as an incentive?
York does not need Paris-Champs-Elysee-
like shops. It is not Paris and any mimicking effort is doomed. York has plenty of small shops: antiques, booksellers, jewellery, bits-and-pieces etc etc. Let them flourish after six. York Gallery is frequently underrated - it has small but v interesting collection. Make it York-mini-Louvre: caffes, multimedia centre with late shows (even for children). And it is in such a unique settings...The same with York City Garden and Museums. Employ energetic and vision-driven managers for these places. Very interesting but evening-dead places. And nothing should stop City-located Debenhams, Browns etc to stay open late. They complain of, for example, unfair Monk's Cross competition but their equivalents there are open till 8 pm. ?????? Think?!
All the above is not £3M issue - it's a strategic vision which is missing in York. And that's really tragic - not some litter, graffiti and few beggars..these are part of life (not nice but can be easily cope with) an can be find anywhere in the world (maybe not Switzerland - but I am not sure..).

One thing that the council can do for free to improve the centre of york is to stop Dave Dee and his Banana warehouse staff from leaving items of furniture on the public road and causing an obstruction.
Also the van is always left on the yellow lines and not being loaded/unloaded all day with never a parking ticket on it!

Makes Piccadiliy look further like the dump it already is!

Start reducing Bus Fares and Parking Charges and we may see more residence use the City Centre, at the moment its cheaper for me to go to Monks Cross or McArthur Glen! Oh and hurry up and decide what is going with Piccadilly, 20 years is far too long!

Start reducing Bus Fares and Parking Charges and we may see more residence use the City Centre, at the moment its cheaper for me to go to Monks Cross or McArthur Glen! Oh and hurry up and decide what is going with Piccadilly, 20 years is far too long!

Yorklove and others are getting to the heart of the matter. York needs to be fully open for business in the evening including large stores, smaller shops, Banks & Post offices, museums and attractions with reasonable parking charges to welcome evening vistors.
If I go through the centre in the early evening there are plenty of folks wandering about like lost souls but all with holiday money to spend and nowhere to spend it. At the moment, cafes are winding down by 4 pm, and soon after, in the shops the vacuum cleaners are snapping at your heels and the staff have lost interest. A fully functioning evening economy in York would also attract locals into town to shop, and perhaps enjoy a meal/drink. An additional bonus could be job opportunities with wages to be fed back into the local economy. Also, the daily exodus of day trippers might not get snarled up with the people who work "office hours". Some of the £3million could then be spent to advertise that York is open for business after tea-time. Unfortunately, in some areas, York is a city with a market town mentality.

I was disgusted to see an extra attraction for our esteemed tourists today.After 5pm on Friday we passed the scene of the crime at Lendal bridge reported on the website today . There were large quantities of dried blood on the pavement and clearly there had been no attempt to remove it and it was extremely unpleasant to have to walk over it.

"Start reducing Bus Fares and Parking Charges and we may see more residents use the City Centre, at the moment its cheaper for me to go to Monks Cross or McArthur Glen!"

We are going to get a car focussed out of town John Lewis's etc, so why not make some serious investment in a pedestrian, cycle and public transport friendly city centre? Why dont city centre stores attract customers by offers like some supermarkets do for their petrol - eg spend more than £30 in our store and we will refund your park and ride fare (or one hour of your parking charge). When people complain about the high cost of council car parks, remember that income contributes about £7m pa that would otherwise have to be paid in higher council tax or cuts to other council services.

QUick thought: most people work roughly hours of 9am to 5pm give or take... so why not change shop opening hours from 9 until 5 to, for example, 11am to 7pm (with at least one day a week for banks to do the same). Those who are cooped up in offices all day getting the chance to shop and pay bills etc in the evenings, whilst at the same time not increasing the hours that shop employees have to work.

Why are we being compared to Leeds, Hull, Manchester and Newcastle? They are far larger, with none of the heritage we have.
Trying to attract even more Hen and Stag parties to York would be a disaster - the city centre is already unpleasant in the evening, and now getting to be a bit of a dodgem course to try and drive through after 7pm.

Highlight our heritage, make the city centre safe, family friendly. York is unique. We've just had the Mystery Plays!
Plenty of good stuff to work with.

So many negative comments. So few positive ideas. This forum is a magnet for depressives who aren't happy with their own personal circumstances.

I wonder who they think i will be this time

whenever they have new ideas they always form committees and groups, they never involve grass roots people, why not get people involved, let schools run competitions to design a new feature etc, get the tech college to get its students to make it work, and then make a day on unveiling it which would get local media and tv involved and is free advertising for the city to bring in more tourists with bulging pockets...

lezyork1966 wrote:
whenever they have new ideas they always form committees and groups, they never involve grass roots people, why not get people involved, let schools run competitions to design a new feature etc, get the tech college to get its students to make it work, and then make a day on unveiling it which would get local media and tv involved and is free advertising for the city to bring in more tourists with bulging pockets...

True in part, but the onus is on US to get involved, and too few seek out the chance to get involved in Council or voluntary organisation events and Meeting.
I know because I DO get involved ,ask questions and put forward ideas in area where I have knowledge or interests. The Media ( Press & Radio) are seldom in attendance and when they do they sometimes have "difficulties" in grasping what is going on!
You need to do your " homework" , make sure you have the facts, and preferably be able to make a valid contribution.
This doesnt guarantee they will listen but if more of us participated perhaps things would change!
lezyork1966 has some good ideas, I hope someone listens and hears.

I'd suggest stopping the drunks who appear each evening would be a better way to improve the city centre.

Perhaps we should encourage out of town drinking as well as out of town shopping. Bring back Icon and Diva

oldgoat wrote:
Why are we being compared to Leeds, Hull, Manchester and Newcastle? They are far larger, with none of the heritage we have.
Trying to attract even more Hen and Stag parties to York would be a disaster - the city centre is already unpleasant in the evening, and now getting to be a bit of a dodgem course to try and drive through after 7pm.

Highlight our heritage, make the city centre safe, family friendly. York is unique. We've just had the Mystery Plays!
Plenty of good stuff to work with.

Heritage only goes so far.

You have a city that combines heritage to attract foreign tourists AND lots of shopping space for people living in orbital towns and cities and then you have a properly thriving city. When Leeds Trinity Walk shopping opens next spring, it'll attract shoppers from Hull, Sheffield, Nottingham and Derby (potentially), Darlington, Durham, Northallerton, Scarborough, Doncaster, Harrogate....... all places that COULD have the locals there coming to York instead, IF York provided the attraction. Yes, York is old - but that has less attraction after a few visits, so you need another string in the bow to keep people coming back.