York council officials have given an update on the removal of bollards from Acomb Front Street, plans for pedestrianisation, the cost of murals and upcoming road resurfacing works.
Councillors heard Acomb Front Street is set for about three weeks of 24-hour road closures for resurfacing during works set to start from October.
Council Deputy Leader Cllr Pete Kilbane said forthcoming works were designed to be future-proof following the controversial installation of bollards in January last year.
But a council meeting on Monday (9 September) heard questions remained over where the removed bollards would go, how pedestrianisation and planters would work and the cost of public art.
It comes council officials continue to work to spend all of the £570,000 of UK Shared Prosperity Funding allocated to the project before the March deadline to do so.
Councillors heard officials were trying to spend it all by the deadline so that funding did not get clawed back by the Government.
Works on the project would start in early October and finish by mid-February if Cllr Kilbane gives them the go-ahead later this month.
The council’s corporate services, climate change and scrutiny management committee heard almost 90 of the 131 bollards currently in Front Street would be removed during the works.
The installation of around 100 bollards in January provoked a backlash including a petition calling for them to be removed.
The committee heard that they would be replaced with planters and widened crossings.
New branding
Councillors also heard the street would feature newly-designed branding featuring oak leaves.
They draw on the Old English word that Acomb derives from, acum, meaning at the oak trees.
Officials said the rebrand was part of efforts to promote an identity for Front Street and the wider Acomb area.
Council plans showed an new welcome entrance would be created at the west end of the road and it would feature widened pedestrian crossings to make it more pedestrian-friendly.
Councillors heard there were plans for studies to explore whether pedestrianisation could be expanded beyond the current six hours a day.
But they also heard that while many locals backed greater pedestrianisation businesses were concerned about the impact on deliveries.
Committee member Cllr Jonny Crawshaw, of the Labour group, said local artists could be approached to work on proposed murals and public art following estimates it could cost around £40,000.
The council is in talks with local artists and the final cost of public art was yet to be decided.
Liberal Democrat Cllr Paula Widdowson said she feared that planters may become neglected despite pledges from local volunteers and businesses to look after them.
The committee member said: “Others elsewhere in the city have ended up full of cigarette butts with dead trees in them.
“Lots of people said they would look after them but they don’t, that’s been proven time and again.”
But Cllr Kilbane said there were many examples of where volunteers had looked after and taken ownership over such features.
He added the decision to planters instead of bollards followed public engagement undertaken as part of efforts to restore confidence in the council following the controversy over the bollards.
The Labour deputy leader said: “What we’re proposing is something that’s future-proof though I know there will be a lot of different views.
“The timescales are tight and it’s a herculean task but the money’s burning a hole in our pockets because we need to spend it before March.”