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York transport blueprint revealed – reduce car dependency and boost buses

Fri 6 Oct

Cars on Gillygate. Photograph: YorkMix

Fri 6 Oct 2023  @ 8:33am
Adam Laver - Local Democracy Reporter
News

City of York Council’s plan to improve transport infrastructure and reverse the ban on blue badge vehicles in the centre is set to be approved.

On Thursday (12 October), the council’s executive will discuss the new local transport plan.

It will vote on measures proposed by the transport executive councillor Pete Kilbane to reduce congestion, improve air quality and make the city more accessible.

A key pledge is to reduce car dependency. “We will manage parking to provide access for shops and business, while discouraging car use for journeys which could be made by sustainable modes,” the plan says.

“New developments will be planned so that active travel and public transport are the obvious choice.

“We will also promote behavioural change by supporting people as they switch travel modes, for example, through travel planning.

“Together these changes will reduce the number of miles travelled on York’s roads by at least 20% by 2030.”

Clear targets needed

An electric York bus near Clifford’s Tower. Photograph: YorkMix

Other key measures include:

  • Listen to the disabled community and review blue badge access to the city
  • Mitigate the carbon impact of upgrading and dualling the A1237, reducing congestion and enabling active travel.
  • Seek to extend the Clean Air Zone to include freight and taxis.
  • Become a fully electrified bus city, refresh the EV strategy including ebikes and e-scooters.
  • Improve York’s access to rail, completing the Station Frontage scheme and continue to support a station at Haxby.
  • Provide concessionary bus fares for age up to 25 years old.
  • Improve streets, cycleways and footpaths for walkers and wheelers.

Restoring access to the city centre for disabled drivers is a priority for the Labour administration.

Council leader Claire Douglas said: “We want to get access for people in a safe manner as soon as possible and that’s what we hope to achieve in executive.

“Then there will be a period of seeing what works well, what doesn’t and if we need to change anything.”

York Civic Trust published its own transport strategy for the city last year.

Tony May, chair of the trust’s environment committee, said: “What we would like to see in the November statement are a set of clear targets for 2030 against all of the council’s objectives; a set of specific policy actions, such as reducing traffic on the most polluted streets; and clear evidence that those policy actions will achieve the council’s targets.

“Recent pronouncements suggest that central government may be less likely to support such actions, so the council needs, urgently, to assess what its strategy will cost, and how the funding needed will be raised.

“We in York Civic Trust stand ready to support the council in these endeavours.”

You can read the transport plan as part of the agenda for the council’s executive meeting here


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