Issue details

Consultation Process:
Although planning and listed building consent were already in place for the York Station Gateway scheme, a series of workshops were held with the project team, highways officers and accessibility stakeholders present. The aim of the workshops was to identify non-material (in planning terms) changes that could be incorporated within the proposed scheme that were both acceptable to stakeholders and deliverable considering the scheme was already in delivery. In these workshops, changes to the geometrical design as well as the type and colour of materials were considered. The proposed changes to the layout are shown in a general arrangement drawing in Appendix 2 and Comparison Layout in Appendix 3, and the nature of the changes listed in Appendix 1. Graphical representations of the proposed change for the cycleways from granite setts to a coloured tarmac (terracotta and green) are shown in Appendix 4.

Highways Geometrical Design
Scheme designers and the Council’s highways officers were present at all stakeholder workshops to provide expertise and guidance to proceedings. Highways officers also attended follow on design workshops with the project team’s design consultants to approve updated layouts. Once layouts had been agreed, a full safety review was carried out by a third-party safety auditor and all comments received were responded to by the design team.

Choice of Materials
Consultation took place with the delivery contractor as well as material suppliers, Council highways officers, members of The Council’s Highways Adoptions and Asset Management Teams. All were invited to a presentation from coloured tarmac suppliers to understand the cost, and ongoing maintenance with adopting such materials. The contractor shared their experience of using pigmented tarmac in other schemes in other cities. Although, these materials require special installation techniques, they are widely used across cities in the UK. Both the Highways Adoptions and Asset Management Teams were reticent in the use of these materials, owing to future maintenance concerns. The teams suggested that maintaining these materials prove to be difficult and costly owing to problems with delivery restrictions and colour matching. The preference from both teams would be to use a standard tarmac that is readily available to maintainers and utility companies. However, it was acknowledged that granite setts also present maintenance issues as they are constructed on a concrete bed which presents reinstatement issues if the cycleway needed to be excavated or a utility company was required to carry out installation or maintenance.

Meetings were held with The Council’s Planning Department to discuss the proposed changes as well as to present material samples for comments. A detailed memorandum (Appendix 5) from The Council’s Landscape Architect providing a response providing comment on the impact that the proposed changes to materiality would have on the aesthetic and sense of space of the scheme, as well as the setting for the historic walls.

Traffic Signals
Consultation sessions were held with the scheme designers, together with the Council’s traffic signals team on what would be the most appropriate signaling system for the two proposed crossings. Though it is acknowledged that users can feel uncomfortable using nearside equipment in puffin crossings when traversing a wide road as they don’t have the perceived ‘comfort’ of a signal on the opposite side of the road, however as they simply countdown the blackout (that is, the period after the green person) regardless of the volume of pedestrians using the crossing the clearance period is the same. In the case of the southern crossing by the York RI, this will be approximately 15 seconds every time the sequence runs. This has the potential to increase delay for all road users (including the off-carriageway cyclists and pedestrians). Both the designers and the traffic signal team promoted the continued usage of nearside signals which also aligns with the wider strategy in York as these enable the presence of pedestrians on the crossing to be detected and the signal timings adjusted to reflect their speed of crossing. However, Council have now agreed to pilot the use of traffic countdown signals on York Station Gateway.
Cycleways
Discussions were held with the Council’s sustainable transport team to discuss the choice of materials. Officers suggested that the most appropriate material for cycleways in a tarmac material as cycleways are now considered by the DfT to be highway. Interrogation of Cycle Infrastructure Design standard LTN 1/20 advocates for the use of pigmented asphalt (para 6.7.3 to 6.7.6), but with emphasis for a consistent approach across urban environments. If a coloured tarmac was to substitute for the proposed granite setts, the choice of colour for the Station Gateway scheme should be carefully considered for consistency in use across the city.

Bus Layout
All options relating to bus stands and shelters have been considered in consultation with The Council’s Public Transport Team who has contributed to identifying and agreed to the recommended options described above.