Strensall ward Councillor and Leader of the Conservative Group on City of York Council, Paul Doughty has given a cautious welcome to news that a first step is to take place in the long overdue Castle Gateway scheme, however gives a warning that we are not being told the whole story.
Councillor Doughty said,
We have been waiting for years for a scheme to come forward to redevelop the Castle area into something that residents can actually enjoy and is more befitting of a world-class heritage destination so ofcourse it is good news that we finally see some potential progress, albeit at a very early stage with the planning application. Anyone would think there were local elections next year and the LibDem-led Council was desperate for some good news!”
There are however a couple of glaring omissions in the announcement. Nowhere does it mention about guaranteed replacement parking for the hundreds of spaces currently beside Cliffords Tower - critical to city centre retailers and businesses other than a suggestion of a few blue badge parking spaces on Tower Street. Let’s face it, there can’t be much space for disabled parking on Tower Street and I certainly doubt of the numbers that Cliffords Tower car park has. Another slap in the face for disabled residents after what the LibDem/Green Council has already done in removing blue badge parking and access in other parts of the city centre!
The Council leadership will no doubt point to St. George’s Field for general replacement car parking provision though despite that planning application having gone through some time ago, it has all gone suspiciously quiet and there has to be concern that is now being kicked into the long grass. We know the LibDems can’t be trusted having seen the way they increased the Councillor allowances between 20-50% directly after the last local elections and it is only the Conservatives who are fighting for residents vehicular access to the city centre. The Conservative Group formally ask the Lib Dem Leader Councillor Aspden and his Green coalition partner Councillor D’Agorne to publicly promise to commit to replace all the parking spaces that will be lost with the Castle Gateway scheme.
