New designs have been revealed for the space around Clifford’s Tower once Castle Car Park closes.
It includes a new park with play spaces and picnic lawns, as well as a riverside walkway.
There would be a boardwalk behind the museum linking the Eye of York with Castle Mills and Piccadilly.
A ‘Castle Approach / Castlegate Walk’ walkway will reinstate an historic processional route for judges.
The revised scheme proposes to retain 30 blue badge parking spaces, the same number as in Castle Car Park today.
A riverside garden would run alongside the water’s edge, described as “a linear green corridor connecting the wooded area behind Female Prison and the Coppergate Centre”.
And a riverside walk would open up the river edge along the top of the Georgian prison walls, with viewing points, so people can get close to River Foss.
Around the Eye of York, there would be three zones: a quiet area near the Crown Court, an educational area opposite Clifford’s Tower and an area that can be used for outdoor exhibitions, performances or a pop-up café near to York Castle Museum.
Revised plans
The updated plans for the Castle Gateway area come after the original, more ambitious, plan was hit by a lack of funding.
The scheme failed to get £10m from the government’s levelling up fund. Then the linked Castle Mills redevelopment stalled due to spiralling costs – and money from its proposed luxury apartments was meant to underwrite the project.
City of York Council has said it now wants to build all-affordable housing on the Castle Mills site.
It asked landscape architects BDP to review the scheme to:
- deliver flexible green space with children’s play provision
- retain blue badge parking numbers
- reduce capital and management costs.
Now they’re looking for feedback from residents and businesses on the revised scheme. You can ask questions and learn more about the plans at these events:
- Saturday 7 September – My Castle Gateway on-site tours will take place at 9:30, 11am, 12:30pm and 2pm
- Monday 9 September – My Castle Gateway online event at 7.30pm
- Thursday 12 September – Guildhall Ward Committee meeting at 5.30pm at the Quaker Meeting House, Friargate.
To book a place for the the on-site tour or online event go here.
The new scheme would go ahead in phases when funding is available. Changes to the Castle Car Park and the boardwalk will be in the first phase.
Meanwhile the original planning application, submitted in February 2022, would be revised so that a scheme is developed for the whole area, which can then be implemented when funding becomes available.
“We want to get on with delivering these improvements,” said executive member of York council Katie Lomas.
“Your thoughts and feedback are vital in helping shape the scheme design before a revised planning application is submitted, so please take a look at the updated concept designs and have your say.”
Full information on the revised plans can be found here.