York Council's view
Seeing the opinions
from the variety of user groups within York has been very
informative, but it is equally important to see the views from the
people making the changes. Afterall, it is the council's job to
react to these voices. From the offset, we have known that
“Reinvigorate York” aims to
• Reinvigorating the
city centre economy.
• Increasing footfall
in the city centre.
• Improving the
overall quality of life for residents.
• Increasing the
sense of York as a special place.
• Maintaining York as
a top tourist destination
But what specifically
are they addressing and how have they come to realise the issues
surrounding
the six areas they have
targeted? So far, the initial stage is being carried out: King's
square's and the Lendal bridge closure trial. The
initial pages about the projects are very vague and concentrate only
on the short term; how its implemented and diversion routes etc.
However, digging through the council's website, they have documents
of the imposed plans, and issues they are planning to address in much
more detail. This is their opening line which inform residents of
the Lendal Bridge closure:
“Running
for an initial period of six months from August 27, a traffic
restriction trial aims to reduce daytime traffic across Lendal Bridge
as part of a wider long-term vision to address city centre congestion
and improve the reliability of public transport.”
Communication,
Consultations and Complaints
The
biggest issue I found was navigating around the website. It took me
a long time to find relevant information, plus the format in which
the information was shown is very not user-friendly. There are a
handful of PDF documents which summarise meetings, discussions and
plans for York. But in almost all the cases, there is a huge amount
of text, eventhough they are bullet pointed. This makes for a very
cumbersome experience for anyone trying to find out information.
Especially for residents; when they know something is happening to
their city, and they are coming to this website. It may be part of
the reason for some of the attitudes directed at the council.
The
earliest document summarises the first project dealing with the
Station-Minster route, as well as St. Leonard's place and
Bootham/Gillygate junction. This document shows that site surveys
have already been done and issues identified. Furthermore, the
council have consulted key stakeholders in the area and agreed on the
aims; Museum Trust, University, Theatre, Rushbond and English
Heritage. So far, it seems that the council has really worked and
communicated their plans well. There is a clear theme running
through this document to improve the bus system.
“The
volume of vehicular traffic using St Leonard’s Place and Gillygate/
Bootham junction is a key constraint to realising transformational
change in the area. The road acts as a major barrier to pedestrian
and cycle movement and has been identified as an accident cluster
site.” (Private
Cabinet – Improvements to Exhibition Square - 5th
March 2013)
“The
re-prioritisation of traffic using Lendal Bridge...... to see where
other improvements can be made along the route from the station and
beyond. It will help to enable the transformation of gateways at
Duncombe and Gillygate/ Bootham and the movement corridor along St
Leonard’s Place. It provides an opportunity to transform and uplift
Exhibition Square and the Art Gallery in order to complete the
cultural package of initiatives.” (Private
Cabinet – Improvements to Exhibition Square - 5th
March 2013)
Next,
looking at aims in the cabinet report of 7th
May 2013, there is clear issues that have been identified. They
specifically look towards public transport services to be improved
and also an interchange station for buses at the rail station.
Re-prioritising the traffic over Lendal bridge to buses and taxis,
aims to help bus flow and encourage public transportation. It aims
to reduce traffic along St Leonard's place/Boothham Bar so that
Exhibition square can be transformed. A reduction in congestion at
Lendal bridge has been identified as important for bus service
reliability. Finally, station area has also been identified as
needing major improvement for movement into the city centre.
It
is clear that improvement of ths Station-Minster route as well as St
leonard's Place is very heavily dependant on the success of the
vehicular flow across Lendal bridge. But so far public consultations
still have not taken place yet and there are already rough plans been
drawn out for changes. Eventhough these planned changes are aimed to
improve the experience for residents as well as visitors; residents
within York clearly feel that they are kept in the dark. Residents
feel that tourists are considered more important in the eyes of the
council, and they are only aiming to improve visitor footfall.
Whatever the case, there clearly needs to be more communication
between the citizens of York and the city council. The actual
dates that public exhibitions did take place was on early august
september and october; a six month gap from the private cabinet in
March.
“Please
note that five public exhibitions have already taken place on 7 &
8 August, 11 & 12 September, and 5 October. York's business
community were also invited to attend one of two business briefings
on 14 August.” (http://www.york.gov.uk/citycentreimprovements)
“The
York Visitor Survey 2011-12 found that the overwhelmingly top
activity of our 7 million visitors each year is to “stroll around
and enjoy the ambience of York”, together with “eating and
drinking out”. Less
than 2 million of the 7 million visitors actually go into the major
attractions.” (Cabinet
report – Improving movement and public realm in the city - 7th
May 2013 p.5)
An interesting note:
many visitors of York come here without much expectation of what to
do. They appear to have somehow been convinced to visit without much
knowledge other than that it is an old historic city. But once, they
do arrive, it appears that many enjoy exploring the city without too
much direction. I think this is a special aspect of York. There is
little expectation, and visitors are pleasantly satisfied with whats
to offer. Whether it's because they have little time to uncover the
unappealing parts of York, I am not sure.
“Significantly
reducing motorised traffic offers the scope to improve air quality in
some key central locations, improve bus reliability and enhance the
attractiveness of the city centre. As the city grows the public
transport system will become more vital for residents and visitors
to in and around the city. More predictable journey times and less
traffic in the city centre will improve the reliability and
efficiency of bus services.” (Cabinet
report – Improving movement and public realm in the city - 7th
May 2013 p.2)
“9.
In the longer term removal of traffic has the potential to open up
opportunities for the York
Central development, a bus interchange at the rail station and
options over Queen Street Bridge.”(Cabinet
report – Improving movement and public realm in the city - 7th
May 2013 p.5)
Cabinet
Report 7.5.13 Annexes Band C:
“A
10% reduction in bus travel times is resulting in a 2% increase in
patronage. Improvements to reliability and frequency of services
change the elasticity, making them more elastic. However, this is
outside the scope of the model, although the local and national
experience is that increasing the frequency of bus services is the
biggest influence on patronage.”
“Significant
reductions in traffic volumes are predicted on the corridor from
Queen Street (-290) past the station frontage (-400), Lendal Arch
Gyratory (-600), Lendal Bridge (-700), Museum Street, St Leonards
Place (-500) and Gillygate (-150).”
“The
largest increase is at the Walmgate Bar (+200 northbound, +125
southbound). Increases in flow are also predicted for Water End at
Clifton Bridge (+150 heading to Clifton Green, +200 coming from
Clifton Green).”
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