We need a clear vision for York's future

In 2016 City of York Council published a new vision: ‘York 2030 – still making history’.

Over the last couple of years the council has consulted widely through its One Big Conversation initiative in order to inform a range of strategies and plans to take the city forward out of the COVID health crisis. This work is being brought together in a new 10-year plan.

A number of organisations in the city have published their own forward strategies which plan for their futures in the city and how they will help to develop York.

Parish councils are working towards, or have developed, Neighbourhood Plans looking forward into 2030s. Uniquely York Minster has developed a neighbourhood plan for its own estate for the next 15 years.

York’s Local Plan, which will set the framework for development across the city for the next 20 years, is currently undergoing public examination before Planning Inspectors make a decision on whether to approve the plan.

All in all this is a lot of strategies and plans – all of which, of course, are needed.

But if someone asked any of these organisations for a sense of what the vision for the overall city was, would a common answer prevail? Probably not, as we all have our own views on the city and what we would like it to become.

This disparate set of views probably share a lot of common ground but with a range of differing priorities.

Would it help us as a small, compact city if there existed a simple, clear and impactful way of describing York’s ambition for the future that all of York’s organisations and ourselves as individuals could come together to buy into?

As the city moves forward into a new relationship with the much larger County of North Yorkshire - with a new single-tier County Council, and potentially an elected Mayor - it could be very important to be able to sum up the wider city’s aspirations for the future clearly and succinctly.

Throughout history, our city leaders, royalty and the national organisations have at times possessed strong visions for the future and also had the individual power and influence to act on them.

William the Conqueror wished to create York as a Royal seat of power in the North in the 11th Century, so laid waste to a large part of the early-medieval city and its surrounding land to lay out out and build his two castles – Clifford’s Tower and Baile Hill.

Archbishops and Abbots were bequeathed large landed estates from which to profit and construct fabulous churches and monasteries, creating York as a city of religious power. More recently, industrialists created a city based on commercial and manufacturing success with factories and power stations dominating the city skyline.

When the city does come together with a strong vision for the future it can be very powerful. Imagine the city without the University of York – an institution that was only established after organisations in York led by the Civic Trust came together.

In the last 50 years, this high-level control of the city’s future has dissipated as the city has reacted to strong economic pressures and surprise discoveries - such as of Viking remains - which have sparked a more independent and diverse economy.

The historic texture of the city has become more important as its beauty is more widely recognised, fuelling tourism and an increased desire to live in the city.

As generations pass, York has felt and acted very differently and it will do in the future. In all of these guises York has not been an independent city. It has always had a close and complex relationship with the rest of Yorkshire.

As we head into a new era for the city, perhaps it would be worthwhile to think what we all want the city to be like in the 2050s, planning ahead for when the next iteration of the city appears.

We will, of course, have different priorities, and there will be disagreements about the steps needed to navigate along the road. But would working towards a common sense of purpose for the city - one that is arrived at and more importantly maintained by the wider city and not just a single organisation, individual or group – be a good way to prepare for our future?