Issue - items at meetings - My City Centre Project – Establishing a Strategic Vision for York City Centre

The Corporate Director of Economy & Place to present a report which sets out proposals to create a My City Centre project, using the budget set aside to devise a strategy in response to the social, economic and environmental challenges facing York city centre.

Resolved: (i) That the aims and outcomes for the My City Centre project be approved.

Reason: To provide a strategic vision for the city centre that reflects stakeholder and public views and can guide development, regeneration and investment decisions.

(ii) That the approach, scope and governance for the My City Centre project be approved.

Reason: To ensure that the aims and objectives of the My City Centre project are delivered.

(iii) That the proposed spend of the £100k previously allocated to the project be approved.

Reason: To provide the resources required to deliver the My City Centre project.

(iv) That approval be given to procure a contract for the identified public engagement support required to deliver the project and that authority be delegated to the Assistant Director for Regeneration and Asset Management, in consultation with the Assistant Director of Legal and Governance or his/her delegated officers, to take such steps as are necessary to award and enter into the resulting contract.

Reason: To provide the necessary external support to deliver the public engagement that will sit at the heart of shaping the strategic vision.

The Head of Regeneration Programmes presented a report which set out proposals to create a My City Centre project (the project), using the £100k budget set aside in February to devise a strategy in response to the social, economic and environmental challenges facing York city centre.

The challenges in York, though less extensive than in some areas of the UK and masked to an extent by York’s successful evening and leisure economy, included issues associated with larger retail units in the city, and a need to balance the conflicting interests of bar / restaurant users, traditional family shoppers, visitors and residents. Challenges identified to date were set out in Annex 1 to the report.

The aim of the project was ‘To engage the public and stakeholders to develop a long term social, environmental and economic strategic vision for a sustainable future for York city centre’. Led by the Major Projects and Regeneration team, it would be overseen by the Assistant Director for Regeneration and Asset Management, with regular update reports to the Executive Member for Economy & Strategic Planning. The approach to stakeholder consultation would be similar to that used successfully in the My Castle Gateway project. A Project Initiation Document (PID) was attached as Annex 2. It was proposed that the budget be split between internal resources to manage the project and external resources to support stakeholder engagement work.

Members welcomed the proposals and the chance to bring people together and to re-connect residents with the city centre. Officers confirmed that the project was intended to cover the core city centre area, but there was no bar to including other areas.