PLANS to pedestrianise Fossgate will be considered at a City of York Council meeting.

Green party councillors asked the local authority to look again at the £500,000 scheme to upgrade the street, saying it fails to “achieve a pedestrianised environment” or link the street to the rest of the city centre.

Cllr Denise Craghill, speaking at a council meeting last night, said the plans are “timid, half-hearted and half a job”.

The current scheme includes widening the pavement, planting trees and better road crossings.

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Sarah Lakin, of the Fossgate Association, said: “It’s very much our wish to see Fossgate pedestrianised. One of the reasons we set up the Fossgate Festival was to show that you could pedestrianise that street quite happily. We do support the current proposals but it still looks pretty much like a standard street.”

Under the current proposals, Fossgate would be narrowed so the pavements can be widened. Benches and bike stands will be installed and traffic signs will be put up. A council report says construction work is due to take place on the improvement scheme in February and March 2019, and council officers raised concerns over funding if the project does not go ahead as planned.

At the meeting, council officers said pedestrianising the street at this stage could risk a public inquiry because there has not been a consultation on the matter. They said it would be better to look at pedestrianising the street after the work is completed and added that it is unlikely many changes would be needed to the works if pedestrianisation went ahead. Councillors asked that the executive member for transport, Cllr Peter Dew, consider pedestrianisation at a decision session on the Fossgate plans on November 15.