How Parliament Street was 'improved' to become York's 'new heart'

He was keen to hear local people's views on a series of alternatives for a proposed new look for the thoroughfare, which was to be the flagship of the city's centre's pedestrianised 'footstreets' zone.

Cllr Cowen even had his photograph taken with a huge poster proclaiming that this would be 'York's new heart'. "How can we improve Parliament Street, St Sampson's Square and Newgate?" the wording on the poster asked.

The council, it appeared, had shortlisted seven possible designs for a revamp which aimed to:

- provide a spacious pedestrian area

- maintain the viability of York Market

- encourage outdoor activities

- ensure a 'lively and vibrant' city centre in the day and in the evening

"The city council has set aside £900,000 for this major improvement project,"the poster added.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, by the time the work was underway 18 months later, that £900,000 had risen to £1.3 million: such is so often the way with public projects.

Perhaps more surprising is that, 30 years on, we're still as a city trying to work out how to make the most of a street which really should be the beating heart of York, but which so often seems too wide for its own good, too bumpy - and not quite right for anything. Except, perhaps, for holding a regular market - the purpose for which the street was actually built in the 1830s. Just saying...

The market had actually been moved out of Parliament Street to Newgate in 1964, after a compulsory purchase order cleared buildings to the rear of Shambles.

The move to pedestrianise much of the centre of York began a couple of years later, with the Esher Report.

According to the History of York website, York had been identified in 1966 as one of five cities to gain special assistance because of their ‘character, beauty and historic interest’. Lord Esher, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, was asked to report on the city’s future.

Completed in 1967, his report called for the city centre to be improved. People should be brought back to live in the centre, he recommended, historic buildings should be restored, and tough new restrictions should be introduced so that only new buildings of the 'highest standards' could be built within the city walls.

Recognising the danger that cars and lorries posed to the city’s historic walls and buildings, Lord Esher also recommended that Bootham Bar be closed to traffic, access be restricted through Micklegate Bar and only residents’ cars allowed through Walmgate and Monk Bars. Four multi-storey car parks should be built outside the walls, he concluded.

It was the beginning of a process of gradual pedestrianisation of large parts of the city centre.

In 1968 the entire historic centre of York was designated a conservation area. Stonegate became York’s first 'foot-street’, with cars banned from it in 1971 (it was paved over four years later). But it wasn’t until the 1980s that the city’s other main shopping streets were pedestrianised.

In the face of fierce opposition from traders, who thought they would lose business, the footstreets scheme was officially opened by Albert Cowen on September 28, 1987. Deangate, next to the Minster, was pedestrianised two years later: and in 1990 Cllr Cowen published details of the rival schemes to 'improve' Parliament Street.

Because we're in lockdown and don't have access to The Press' original archives (other than those which have been digitised), we can't bring you chapter and verse on the final scheme chosen.

We do have some photographs of the work under way, however (including construction of the later-to-be much-maligned 'splash palace'), as well as photographs showing the street before and after the improvements.

We also have a photograph showing the Parliament Street Fountain - in the days when it actually had water. Remember that anyone? Both splash palace and fountain have since fallen victim to later attempts to 'improve' Parliament Street. And we're still trying to work out how to create that 'lively and vibrant' street that should be right at the heart of York...

Stephen Lewis