£3.3m revamp of York centre set to start amid battle for visitors

York Council announced yesterday that the bid to transform the city’s famous King’s Square, which is located at the top of the iconic Shambles, will begin on Monday as part of a multi-million pound programme to overhaul key locations to attract more shoppers and tourists.

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

The Reinvigorate York project’s chairman, Sir Ron Cooke, warned the improvements are vital to ensure the city can maintain its position as one of the UK’s most popular tourism locations.

He said: “The quality of York’s inner city public spaces are fundamental to sustaining the city’s present and future prosperity, and it is important to most people who live, work, visit and invest here.

“King’s Square is not only looking run down, it is also becoming much more congested, and there is increasing competition for space amongst important activities. The major aim of the project is therefore to improve quality while at the same time creating more space and improving effectiveness.”

The work on King’s Square is the first of six projects which will also focus on Parliament Street, the area around Exhibition Square and another scheme centred on Fossgate, Pavement and Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma Gate. The programme will also target Micklegate along with Duncombe Place and Blake Street.

The £500,000 revamp of King’s Square had been due to begin in June, but was delayed after concerns were raised by traders the work would undermine business during the summer tourism season. The re-paving and re-modelling of the square is expected to take 12 weeks.

To ensure retailers gain maximum benefits in the lead-up to Christmas, the scheme will be completed before the annual St Nicholas Fair is held from November 28. A second phase to reconstruct the highway will be carried out in the spring.

The regeneration of the city centre is seen as key to cater for the seven million tourists who arrive every year after research revealed the overwhelming majority are interested in simply wandering the streets. A survey showed fewer than two million of them actually went to one of the city’s main attractions as they strolled through the streets, browsed shops and visited restaurants and bars.

Senior politicians said the research highlighted the need to invest in the public realm and ensure York could compete with rival destinations both in the UK and abroad.

The council’s cabinet member for planning, sustainability and transport, Coun Dave Merrett, said: “King’s Square is the first of six Reinvigorate York schemes, and a difficult one to carry out, so it’s important that it sets a good precedent for scheme implementation.

“By transforming King’s Square we are maximising the benefits for residents, visitors and businesses. The square needs quite a radical rethink to make it a world-class space and by carrying out this transformation we are going to provide a much better quality public space.”

The £3.3m in funding will deliver the 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 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 Newgate Market, one of the North of England’s largest daily open air markets.

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