REPLACEMENT car parking must be in place before the closure of York's Castle car park for the sake of businesses and residents with cars, a councillor has warned.

As revealed by The Press yesterday, City of York Council has submitted plans for a multi-million pound regeneration project to turn the area around Clifford’s Tower, the Eye of York and castle car park into a “world-class public space”.

The plans include the removal of the car park at the foot of the tower, to be replaced with a new open space with fountains hosting events throughout the year. 

But the plans do not affect the controversial debate on whether to build a new multi-storey car park on St George’s Field to replace the Castle car park.

That proposal, which has attracted significant opposition, was put on hold last year to allow the council to conduct a review of car parking demand in light of the pandemic.

A report on St George’s Field and the wider car parking strategy in the city is expected to go before the council’s executive in April, having been pushed back from February.

Campaigners opposed to the St George’s Field car park have called on councillors to defer any decision until after the publication of the city’s local transport plan and carbon reduction strategy.

Conservative group leader Paul Doughty has given a cautious welcome to the latest planning application, but said that replacement parking must be in place before the closure of Castle car park for the sake of businesses and residents with cars.

He said:  “The council leadership will no doubt point to St George’s Field for general replacement car parking provision, though despite that planning application having gone through some time ago, it has all gone suspiciously quiet and there has to be concern that is now being kicked into the long grass.”

Cllr Doughty called on council leader Keith Aspden and his deputy Andy D’Agorne to publicly commit to replacing all the parking spaces that will be lost under the plans.

In a letter to campaigners this week, the council’s director for economy and place, Neil Ferris, said a decision on St George’s Field was “not being rushed”, adding: “Castle Car Park cannot close until a replacement parking strategy has been implemented”.

Greeting the overall plans on Tuesday, Councillor Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council, said: “This is another significant step forward for the Castle Gateway scheme.

“Castle Gateway is a part of our plans to make York an even better place to live and visit, creating a world-class public space for everyone to enjoy and attracting high quality events on our residents’ doorsteps.”