Unanswered Questions – YCA Letter to York Central Partnership

For many months York Central Action (YCA) has been pressing for more detailed information to be made public about the preparations for the development of the York Central site. Despite making some promising noises about openness, the York Central Partnership has shared little of significance with a consequent loss of public confidence in the way the project is being managed.

The public consultation over the access road run by the Partnership brought this loss of confidence to a new low. Members of the public were frustrated by the materials on display at the public conslutation events and the answers they were given to questions they asked, repeatedly saying that they could not give an informed opinion about community impacts on the basis of the partial information presented.

On Thursday 26 October YCA wrote to the York Central Partnership to express this growing sense of frustration and headlined the following questions:

  • Who, and what is the development of York Central for? Specifically, how will the development contribute to the City’s aims to achieve greater fairness, reduce inequality and transform York for a sustainable future?
  • What are the projected traffic levels and how much will this increase traffic congestion and air pollution?
  • Why have access options other than Southern, Western 1 and Western 2 been ruled out?

 

Read the full text of the letter here.

The timeline for the crucial coming weeks is as follows

Friday 27 October – expected decision on access road option by York Central Partnership
late October – early November City of York Council lead officers write a report of the Partnership’s road recommendation to go to Council Executive
around 7 November Agenda for following week’s Council Executive will be published and this is when it is expected that the recommended option will be made public
Wednesday 15 November Council Executive will decide whether to ratify the choice made by the Partnership and authorise drawing up plans for an application to build the road

Citizen Jane – Wednesday 2nd August

On Wednesday 2nd August at 6pm City Screen York has kindly agreed to screen Citizen Jane: Battle For The City. York Central Action have partnered with My Castle Gateway and there will be a panel discussion after the film to provide an opportunity to debate possible lessons for planning in York with reference to The Local Plan, Castle Gateway and York Central.

Film Synopsis

Arguably no one did more to shape understanding of the modern American city than Jane Jacobs, the visionary activist and author of “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” who fought to preserve urban communities in the face of destructive development projects. Here, she fights against the ruthless redevelopment projects of urban planner Robert Moses.

Citizen Jane flyer

Pollution Worries Grow

    
Many more people signed up for York Central Action when we held a great pop-up event in West Bank Park on Sunday 9th July. We had large aerial photos of the York Central Site and many useful discussions around the opportunities and worries of the development. So many people are worried about health and well-being, especially with increased traffic flow and air pollution.
 
City of York Council is planning TWO consultations this year. The first is in August and focused on ACCESS OPTIONS. Watch out for this! The second one in the autumn will be around the Masterplan for York Central.
 
If you want to be on our mailing list write to info@yorkcentralaction.co.uk and we will keep you informed.