In response to your letter received 15 March, I offer the following comments:

1.  The restricted hours are not currently 1030-1700, which you state a couple of times.  Would that they were.  They were extended to 1900 and this has made living in the city centre even more difficult than it was before.  May I infer from your letter that they are returning to 1030-1700?

2.  Can you describe the new process to be introduced to request access?  Many requests are time-sensitive, so any process involving emails and waiting for responses will not satisfy the need. It would be very useful for residents and business-owners to have an emergency phone number to call to arrange an exemption, which would be answered by a person with the necessary authority.

For example, as well as living in High Petergate I also have a holiday let there.  Last year the drains over-ran and the guest let me know mid-morning.  It was not practical or sanitary to wait until 1700 for a plumber and drainage specialist and indeed this would have been after they had stopped working for the day, so I was forced to breach the access guidelines.  I would have been much less anxious about doing so if I could have run this by someone.  I had to fight with the traffic warden and the council employee who manages the bollard at Bootham Bar in order to secure access for the drainage truck and plumber.  They were just doing their job but all of us would have benefited from being able to make immediate contact with someone with the authority to grant an emergency exemption.

I hope these comments are useful.

Hope you’re well.  In response to your letter dated 10 March 2022 relating to proposed changes to city centre vehicle access, please could you confirm whether any temporary signage will be placed at Monk Bar to notify road users of the changes to access?  When temporary signage was installed at Monk Bar previously to advise road users of the temporary closures, we often had problems with deliveries to site.  Many drivers turned round at Monk Bar – not great for us but also not safe for road users with the vans turning round in front of Monk Bar.  If there is new temporary signage planned, would it be possible to have signage to say that vehicle access to York Minster (deliveries and staff) remains?

I have received as a york city centre business owner a letter and notice informing me of some changes.

I believe from this notice that I will be able to access my premises in Market St before 10.30 in the morning and after 5pm in the evening but not between those hours, can you confirm this.

I received the information below.

Please could you let me know from which location these new rules would apply?

As a pharmacy we receive medicines deliveries many times each day. Although these mainly fall between 7:30am-11am and between 3pm and 5pm in the afternoon they are often for urgent items that patients require and we are not able to only use wholesalers who can deliver outside of those times as not all medicines are available from all suppliers. These deliveries are not able to be made to an alternate holding place for onwards deliveries due to them being medication, often needing specialist storage and compliance with relevant legislation.

I anticipate that the other pharmacies in the city centre will also find difficulties with this.

We also deliver to those unable to get out to a pharmacy to collect their own medication. We work these deliveries around existing restrictions but will not be able to work this around the proposed hours. If the proposed restrictions affect the access for these purposes to Monkbar then this will be the nail in the coffin for our delivery service that is already struggling with no funding and having to deal with parking tickets issued whilst delivering to very vulnerable residents in restricted areas who cannot answer the door quickly enough for the drivers to avoid the ticket. This will leave the vulnerable folk whom we deliver to with no alternative as most of them have come to us due to cuts to other similar services. There is no safety net in place within healthcare services for the purpose of medication delivery. This would also lead to at least two employments needing termination.

I await any information that you could give me eagerly,

Dear Sir

We have been in the retail business in York City Centre and we can confirm that we strongly object to:

1.   The barriers preventing access to the city centre

2.   The decision to stop Blue Badge holders being able to park in Goodramgate

The limited access for Blue Badge holders has had a massive detrimental affect on our business.  If disables access continues to be restricted down Goodramgate, a large large percentage of our business is eliminated during the working week and I cannot see a future for our business in York City Centre.

After years of Brexit uncertainty and two years of Covid restrictions, retailers are in a pretty desperate situation as it is and would have welcome support to help business from York City Council.

I wish that York City Council would also consider the state of car parking generally in the city centre.  In order for retail shops to survive something desperately needs to be done.

I hope that you will consider our comments.

I'd like to register an objection to the proposed foot street restrictions. I think it would be beneficial if residents could access their homes on the street and also deliveries being made to businesses.

I have a business on Goodramgate and send this email following the letter we received regarding vehicle access.

I apologise as I'm aware I have missed the deadline of Friday. 

I don't have any objections as such, I just want to confirm a couple of points in the letter:

• The letter states access would be available (as now) after 5pm. Currently it is 7pm on Godramgate, not 5pm. Will it become 5pm after the consultation? 
• Is it going to only be access for brief loading and deliveries, as now?
• Are waivers / permits actually available for business owners? I have asked about these several times with the staff from Gough and Kelly who say to apply to the Council for one, then someone at the Council tells me there is no such thing. Singing from the same hymn sheet would help clear up confusion, contradictions and frustration.
• I run the cat cafe. Logistics often means I return back from vet visits after the road has closed at 10:30am. If there is a way to apply for a waiver please can you advise me how to do it? I don't feel carrying the cats down the busy street is appropriate when I can't access the cafe directly.

I'm guessing none of this applies to the cyclists though who continue to ride up the street (both ways even though it's a one way street), even during the restrictions!

I object to this proposal, because there is insufficient clarity regarding  who can and cannot get access during footstreet hours.  It places powers with the police, civil enforcement officers, the Councils Head of Transport or the Councils Traffic Management team to grant permits (see section below), but does not clarify on what grounds they can grant permits. I believe that this should be publicly available information, so that the public can guage just who will be able to get a permit.

Does this mean that a person with a Blue Badge may be granted a permit?

Proceeding upon the direction/permission of a Police Constable, a Civil Enforcement Officer, The Council’s Head of Transport or vehicle issued with a city centre permit by the City of York Council’s Traffic Manager