OPPOSITION councillors have welcomed an ambitious overhaul plan for York station, but are calling for the same forward thinking to be rolled out across the city.

Yesterday City of York Council published a masterplan for York Station frontage - including the demolition of Queen Street Bridge and a major reorganisation of traffic, parking, bus stops and access.

Ruling councillors said it was a chance to improve the “less than ideal” arrangements at present, and now opposition parties have called for the same principles to be applied elsewhere in the city.

Labour spokesman Cllr Stuart Barnes said they “warmly welcome” the improvements - but said the moves would be “only the first step” in tackling poor air quality and congestion, especially when new homes on the York Central and British Sugar sites will bring more cars.

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“Overall it’s a welcome first step, but these principles of better integrated public transport and prioritisation of pedestrians need to be applied to other parts of the city too,” he added.

Campaigners from the York Central Action Group have also raised questions - saying they want to be sure the station plans are considered holistically with the wider hopes for former railway land behind the station.

The sites “cannot be parcelled up separately for the convenience of planners or developers,” a spokesman added, and they need joined up thinking on how people will travel between the new development and the rest of the city. Monday’s announcements came as a consultation opened to ask people in the city what they think of the plans.

Green party councillor Andy D’Agorne said the “devil would be in the detail” - especially when it comes to parking provision - while his party colleague Cllr Lars Kramm said the consultation process would be important when it comes to a decision on Queen Street Bridge - as the idea of demolition has not been well received in early consultations.

Cllr Kramm welcomed the move to deal with the station separately and not as a sub-element of York Central, and said that while the bus stop and cycle lane arrangements proposed are “not ideal”, better ideas may emerge during the consultation.