Issued by City of York Council
Works to reinvigorate King’s Square and transform the popular city centre area by improving seating, making it easier for pedestrians to access and providing ample space for performers will get underway next week.
The 12-week first phased programme of works to repave and remodel King’s Square will start from Monday 2 September.
Key retailers in York backed City of York Council’s decision to postpone the works in May and praised the council for ensuring they were an integral part in any key decisions made, which will ensure retailers gain maximum benefits in the lead up to Christmas.
Works will be complete before St Nicholas Fair during the week of 28 November, with the second phase of works to reconstruct the highway due to be carried out in Spring 2014.
Councillor Dave Merrett, Cabinet Member for Planning, Sustainability and Transport at City of York Council, 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.”
Sir Ron Cooke, chair of Reinvigorate York, 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.
“Kings 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.”
For more details about the scheme please visit the Reinvigorate York page on the council’s website.
To read a copy of the report that was agreed by Cabinet, go here.
This content has not been created by YorkMix but by one of our trusted news sources. YorkMix is not responsible for the accuracy of the text.