Chairman’s vote gives reprieve to York wheel

York’s answer to the London Eye has been given a new lease of life following a knife-edge vote to keep the giant observational wheel running until the autumn.

Members of City of York Council’s planning committee were split about whether the 53-metre observation wheel, in the Royal York Hotel’s grounds, should have a stay of execution this summer.

The wheel was due to be dismantled within days but a planning application was submitted by Wheels Entertainments Ltd to continue operating the attraction until September 30.

Last night councillors approved the application after committee chairman Councillor David Horton cast the deciding vote after an 8-8 tie.

Residents living in nearby Westgate Apartments opposed the application and said the wheel should be taken down after they branded it a “parasite” on the city’s landscape.

Councillor Julie Gunnell, who opposed the scheme, said that residents did not know that the wheel would be “put on their doorstep” when they purchased their homes.

The Yorkshire Post revealed last month the permission for the wheel required it to be dismantled by February 28. Following last night’s meeting, however, the wheel will now be removed by October 31 after councillors decided it should be taken down before the Remembrance Day service.

Permission to put up the wheel was approved at the end of 2011, in a move which brought the attraction back to the city after it was earlier scrapped.

Proposals were drawn up to build a 175ft high observation wheel in the gardens of the hotel and council planning bosses agreed it would remain in the city centre conservation area until January 2013.