YORK’S new transport boss, Cllr David Levene, should not underestimate the task he faces after the fiasco of the Lendal Bridge Trial.

Whatever new measures he brings in, we suspect it will take some time to heal the rift between drivers and businesses and the city council over its attempts to reduce congestion.

His first move has been to set up a new Motorist User Forum to consult drivers and he says he wants the council to be much more responsive to residents’ ideas and suggestions.

We are not convinced that setting up another talking shop will do anything to solve some of the major problems our city now faces, but the idea of listening to the views of other people in the city is, at least, a step in the right direction.

We hope he is true to his word because the particular problems faced by York, including being hemmed in by the city walls and criss-crossed by waterways, require much more than a determination to press ahead with a political ideology.

At a time when the public purse is so stretched, a pragmatic approach is absolutely essential, for the sake of both the environment and the commercial well-being of the city.

A difficult balancing act indeed and one which will need more than the £300,000 planned to improve traffic light signalling and sequencing.

We wish him luck.