RESURFACING work on one of York’s most historic streets is to be delayed by nine months.

City of York Council said work to resurface the pavement on Stonegate has taken longer than expected due to problems being found with private cellars immediately beneath the surface.

The council spent £500,000 repaving the Stonegate carriageway in 2020, but broken and uneven slabs on the footpath mean it too needs repair. 

But the street is becoming busier as the weather begins to warm up and the council said it was now “more problematic to close sections of the footway safely”.

Stonegate is steeped in history and was one of the first paved roads in York, which was a direct route to transport the Minster stone whilst it was being built. 

Work has been paused on it before the busy Easter weekend.

The council said it wanted to work with as many businesses as possible to ensure the least amount of disruption for them and members of the public.

David Skaith, chair of York High Street Forum, said: “Underneath pretty much all the pavements around York you’ve got cellars, basically big holes, so I do have some sympathy there and I’m glad they’ve taken the decision to postpone it. 

“Hopefully we can get it all put back to normal so the streets can be opened and businesses can be too.”

Mr Skaith said he knew of some businesses that chose to close on the odd day while work was going on as it was so noisy.

He added: “Obviously it’s doing it when we’re quiet and not impacting our businesses, so to postpone it and do it at a quieter time I think is probably best.

“But I think it just highlights how much work York city centre needs in terms of the streets and the pavements.”

The scheme on Stonegate started on January 3 and was planned to be completed within nine weeks.

In February 2022, issues were identified with the condition and structure of private cellars which caused an extension to the programme. 

The remainder of the scheme will now take place over a period of approximately five weeks in January and February 2023.

The timetable for resurfacing Colliergate and Church Street remains unaffected.