York’s flagship Castle Gateway project could lose support from city businesses if an adequate replacement for Castle car park is not guaranteed.
That was the message to City of York Council from a business leader last night.
Executive director of the York BID (Business Improvement District) Andrew Lowson was speaking at a meeting of the council’s executive.
The Castle Gateway project intends to turn the area around Clifford’s Tower and the Eye of York into public realm. Mr Lowson said the BID supported it on the basis that a multi-storey car park (MSCP) would be built on St George’s Field to replace the Castle car park, which disappears under the plans.
However, it now seems increasingly likely that the St George’s MSCP – which already has planning permission – will be scrapped. The council’s deputy leader Andy D’Agorne has already said it is ‘dead in the water’.
“So reading the ‘mood music’, you will understand why key businesses in the city have told me that they have no assurance that the multi-storey car park will go ahead and for some, this will change their support for the Castle Gateway Project,” Mr Lowson said.
More spaces go
He said axing Castle car park would lose 327 spaces. Parking capacity has already been shrunk at Bootham Row and Marygate and the opening hours at Coppergate have been reduced.
Meanwhile, out of town retail parks have seen a huge increase in parking, including 1,300 spaces at Vangarde, with another 630 spaces planned at the York Designer Outlet.
“York city centre still has a great retail offer and adequate car parking capacity is important to those businesses,” Mr Lowson told councillors.
“If this executive is not going to provide a commitment to the multi storey car park, very quickly it needs to show the business community a tangible alternative.”
He made two suggestions:
- the council invests in car park occupancy counters and shows the results in real-time on their website – “this will help all stakeholders better understand usage levels”
- the BID and the council set up a working group that looks at car park occupancy strategically to understand demand and what parking capacity is required.