Facelift for city centre to stave off rival threat

More than £3m is due to be spent to give York’s central streets a facelift in the hope that the city’s hugely important tourism trade is not undermined amid concerns that potential visitors could look to other destinations including Bruges and Barcelona.

The cash will be employed by York Council to improve paving, lighting and seating while introducing more bins and removing clutter from public spaces.

The move is seen as vital to cater for the £7m tourists who descend on York every year after research revealed the overwhelming majority are interested in simply wandering the streets rather than heading to attractions.

An annual survey showed that less than two million of the visitors actually went to one of the city’s main attractions as they instead opted to stroll through York’s streets and browse shops and stop off at restaurants and bars.

Senior politicians claimed the research highlights the need to invest in the public realm and ensure York can compete with rival destinations both in the UK and abroad.

The council’s cabinet member for transport, planning and sustainability, Coun Dave Merrett, said: “York is competing with smart new city centre investments in places such as Hull and Leeds, and further afield in Manchester and Newcastle upon Tyne, as well as heritage cities like Bath, Bruges and Barcelona.

“It also faces challenges in current market trends, such as the increased use of online retailing. The funding identified to support the Reinvigorate York initiative is key to the council’s ambition to work towards creating a world class, diverse and dynamic city centre of the quality required to attract more visitors and businesses.

“It will allow significant improvements to the quality of public spaces and to enhance the pedestrian experience by moderating traffic intrusion in the city centre, which in turn will return social and economic benefits, increase investor confidence and create new jobs in the city.”

There are growing fears that York will lose trade to rival cities after a lack of major investment in the last three decades since the Coppergate shopping centre opened. The Yorkshire Post revealed in March that Coun Merrett had warned while York’s turnover is “holding its own”, it is facing increasing competition from other towns and cities including Leeds, Sheffield and Hull.

The £3.3m in funding will deliver six city centre projects over the next three years, together with improvements to pedestrian areas such as Spurriergate and High Ousegate.

Cash will finance the transformation of York Art Gallery and improvements to the nearby Royal Theatre and St Leonard’s Place.

A newly-created open space after Parliament Street’s public toilets were demolished in April and King’s Square have both been identified as key locations to entice more visitors.

Improved disabled access will be introduced to build on King’s Square’s reputation as a performance area. Cash will also improve the nearby historic Newgate Market, which is one of the North of England’s largest daily open air markets.

Long-mooted plans to pedestrianise Fossgate are set to become a reality, and Duncombe Place and Blake Street, which provide one of the key approaches to York Minster, are also in line for improvements.

In a separate initiative, a wide-ranging partnership, dubbed City Team York, involving both the public and private sector to attract new business was launched last week.

The council’s cabinet is due to meet on Tuesday to approve the £3.3m in funding.