IN an exclusive ‘state of the city’ interview in The Press today, city council leader Ian Gillies talks up progress on a raft of key issues, from York Central to the local plan and finding a new use for the Castle Car Park.

He outlines plans for a new programme of council house-building, and discusses a possible strategy to tackle the growing number of empty shops in Coney Street.

But Cllr Gillies also acknowledges the problems the city faces, on issues such as potholes, the lack of affordable housing - and the council’s shrinking budget.

  • In a wide-ranging interview, Cllr Gillies told The Press:
  • - A planning application to build a new, multi-storey car park at St George’s Field will be lodged by the end of this year, as the council moves to free up the Castle Car Park for other uses
  • He is optimistic a deal can be struck to keep Bootham Park Hospital for use by local health services
  • He plans to invite government planning inspectors to sit-down talks to discuss what needs to be done to get York’s long-awaited Local Plan accepted
  • Coney Street is in ‘intensive care’ - but the council is ‘talking already’ to property owners to see if a way can be found to reduce both rates and rents of shops on the street
  • He is keen to see a new programme of council house-building, using housing revenue income (council house rents) to pay for more than 550 new homes across seven sites in York in the next few years
  • He is personally opposed to proposals to install traffic lights at the Marble Arch tunnel - but believes the residents of Leeman Road will have to accept their street being closed to through traffic
  • The council faces a funding crisis, having seen its budget trimmed by more than £100 million a year over the last 10 years, with more cuts to come.

On the issue of council funding, Cllr Gillies said by law, the authority could not increase council tax next year by more than 4.49 per cent, without a referendum first.

There was real pressure on budgets for adult social care and ‘looked after children’, he said.

“My biggest challenge is to deliver a budget we can afford but which will deliver services to the people of York,” he told The Press.

That would mean the council had to think hard about priorities, he added: including on things like potholes. “Would I like to fill every pothole? Of course. Do I have the money to do it? Unfortunately not.”