Agenda and draft minutes

Fire exits and emergency exit routes were highlighted to all in attendance at the meeting.

Approximately 10 residents were in attendance.

Item 1 - My Castle Gateway project presentation: The ward committee welcomed the guest speakers, and they began the presentation on My Castle Gateway: Katie Peeke-Vout and Sally Cawthorn were in attendance from the Regeneration team.

·        The presentation outlined the engagement and idea gathering exercise.

·        Recently refreshed city centre vision

·        Retaining the 30 blue badge spaces

·        Focusing on green spaces and play spaces

·        Bids for external funding to enhance, invest in, and better deliver the scheme had been unsuccessful in securing additional funding, leaving just the ‘core’ budget for the project

·        Due to this, CYC is pursuing designs and works that are lower cost and have lower and realistic maintenance cost, yet still deliver for the community in three main areas of development.

·        The planning application is still live, and this new scheme outlined will be submitted as revisions to the pending application.

·        Phase one is demonstrated on the figure in the PowerPoint by the blue lines on the mock-up

o   The car park

o   The base of the tower

o   The boardwalk (by the river and the museum)

Three main elements:

·        New green space

·        Designed for everyone - accessible.

·        Tells a story and recognises the history of the site.

o   For example ensuring that the design remembers and respects the story of the Jewish community in York past and present

The designers have come up with some emerging images

These images show an interpretation of the motte which would have been an element of the original castle and this would be remembered and illustrated through planting to recognise the history of the Moat and the water that would have surrounded the castle

Parking - ensuring that blue badge spaces are retained

Play - not creating a new park but, building play opportunities into the landscapes and exploring potentials for open available play

Current designs include a remembrance walk this would be to honour to Jewish community through the design

Engagement of the My Castle Gateway project is run between 15th August and 20th September 2024

Key CYC engagement questions about the designs and the use of the space was presented.

Next steps on the timeline were outlined.

BDP, the design company for this project, and the CYC Project Team will consider the engagement responses received and the costings. These will be used to influence   the detailed designs, which will revise the existing planning application.

Engagement on how to get involved. Response deadline is 20th of September. If you have got comments you’d like to share, have suggestions or feedback, residents signposted to e-mail regeneration@york.gov.uk

Item 2 - My Castle Gateway project Question and Answers: Following the presentation, it then moved on to the question and answer section

Resident: the castle car park has been used as an overflow site when the river floods Peckitt Street.  Where will we be able to put our cars now if there's going to be limited parking and will the agreement still be honoured that we can put our cars at the castle car park site when it floods? We would probably not be able to use St. Georges fields because it's in a similar situation with flooding, so is there a nearby car park that we will be able to use, and has this been considered in the plans?

Response: We will consider this, yes, and will look at an alternative arrangement. Is that a formal arrangement? Resident replied that: yes, it is a formal arrangement. Regeneration team and councillors said they would raise this and let residents know.

Resident: asked for a new design to be drawn up, for the project brief and bid to go back out to tender seeking an alternative designer that would have local knowledge of the area and its needs. Suggested that BDP design is not the ideal contractor in this project, asked will supply development? Does not believe that the design has been adapted for the area or is sustainable enough. The design line should be reviewed as well. (Three parts to their question.)

Response: City of York Council are encouraging active travel and this would include reducing use of cars in the city centre. The design is not final and the designs/plans on the website are also not final. The  final decision on the closure of the car park will be made as a members’ decision when the business case is taken back to  executive meeting in spring.

Resident: Plan for the my castle gateway has been going on for 30 years. What has taken so long and why has it not yet gone forwards? As to the car-free vision City of York council have for York – how would visitors be able to access the city centre? With this, there would be no parking in the city centre

Resident: Resident parking zones as one option for ensuring residents can park where they live

Resident: Agrees with other comments made this evening. Asked why spend money on designs before the business case is approved to close the car park though? Pensioners - where can pensioners sit – are there designs or plans for benches or picnic table? Doesn't just want to see concrete blocks offered as seating. Lots of ideas for young people and for people with accessibility issues but what about pensioners’ needs?

Response: benches are part of the wider scheme. Benches are planned to be circling the base of the tower. There will also be bike racks. There's more information about the plans on the YouTube video where it goes into more depth and detail.

Resident: people have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Item 3: Ward Funding and Ward Budget Updates

The community officer ran through the grant bids and ward budgets. Also talked through the Guildhall ward priorities. Highlighted the blank ward grant applications at the back of the room on the table, for anyone interested to apply.

Question from resident: will York BID get taxi Marshall funding again - that was £2000. Why should Guildhall have to fund that, and it is funding Marshalls to help people in taxis to leave the Guildhall Ward – benefitting those who live elsewhere – not those in the Guildhall Ward

Response from councillors: They have not submitted a bid for that in the current financial year. This scheme does address a vital measure which is community safety, and it did improve the safety of residents of Guildhall Ward in returning to their homes safely on a busy night.

Item 4Guildhall Planning Panel updates

Clerk of the Guildhall Planning Panel - explained what the panel do, explained that they are not experts in Planning, but they represent and do their best to consider how planning might affect residents. They are not an authoritative body, take comments and respond to planning applications. They meet every few weeks. Some of the updates: we have comments on the Coney St development, changes of use, advertisement signs, trees, domestic extensions and criticise retrospective applications. There are nine of us, and we welcome more volunteers - you don't need to come to every meeting and you don't have to be an expert. We make comments, not recommendations.

Contactable at guildhallplanningpanel@gmail.com – if you’d like to join, or email Shiona Marsh at shiona.marsh@york.gov.uk and can share details.

One resident came forward who would like to be involved again

A resident asked if they could get involved - even if they have no knowledge of the local area - as they have recently moved here.

Representative from planning panel said yes, you can still get involved. As long as you live or work in the Guildhall Ward.

Item 5– Election of Planning Panel for 2024/25

List of members recorded for selection process:

Win Derbyshire (Clerk – yes to be on Planning Panel again)

Sarah Daniel (yes to be on Planning Panel again)

June Tramner (yes to be on Planning Panel again)

Chris Donegani (yes to be on Planning Panel again)

Ann Petherick (yes to be on Planning Panel again)

Mary Pringle (yes to be on Planning Panel again)

Charlette Sheil-Small (yes to be on Planning Panel again)

Stephen Scott (yes to be on Planning Panel again)

Sarah Friar (yes to be on Planning Panel again)

Louise Elliot (yes to be on Planning Panel again)

Roger Pierce (new member volunteered at meeting)

David Chatfield (possible new member, volunteered at meeting)

Jennie Howells (new member, nominated by resident)

Resident asked: how are comments noted?

Response: planning officers approach the panel with an application on an individual basis and record those comments back. Any member of the public is welcome to place their comments on the planning portal also.

Move on to Item 6: Have Your Say

Resident: question about notice board locations Vyner Street and Lawrence Street

Cllr Merrett replied: there are no nearby noticeboards in those areas

Resident: asked about publicity of the meeting - noted low attendance. Was it publicised far and wide?

Cllr Melly responded: As far as we know, residents’ associations and community groups have their own keys to their own notice boards, the current noticeboards in Guildhall Ward are not CYC-owned and we don’t have keys or access ourselves.

Resident: Two points – firstly, next time suggest publicising in shop noticeboards. Secondly – is ward funding not covering the gaps in council services? Instead of ward funding spends, the taxi marshals should be funded by taxi drivers and the grass seeds and wildflowers should be funded by council gardening teams.

Cllr Melly replied: We’d be happy to advertise meetings and events in shops and community spaces, and we do do this, where appropriate. As regards seeds, they are advantageous for the environment, local wildlife and people. Guildhall Ward does not have that many green spaces. As regards the taxi marshals, this increases safety of local residents and there was a larger cost to the scheme, we just made a contribution – it was a funded by a combination of traders, drivers, residents, and council funding.

Cllr Merrett also replied: It's important to say that residents, businesses and taxi drivers themselves, all contributed to the funding of that scheme and its total cost. Without the addition of ward funding, they would not have had the amount to be able to proceed with the scheme. It has been match-funded with Community Safety funding. We discovered that the scheme would not have continued otherwise. Regarding publicity, we would be happy to increase visibility of the meetings and we are on the case about that.

Resident raised a concern about a fence: The fence structure (at _____ ) is faulty, would there be any volunteers able to help with it? Had asked but was told that it was not permitted due to Health and Safety concerns and risk.

Cllr Melly responded: aware of this issue and yes, the fence is in a state. Wood and metal are faulty. Painting the fence would be too close to the road and with the fast car speeds, it’s too risky for the fence and safety of pedestrians. Has been in conversations to progress this with Highways and other teams, and has been chasing this.

Resident: Works on Jewbury, re-do trees and mud has been left – what has or could be done – perhaps wildflowers? Could you take a look, it’s near the back of the Sainsburys

Cllr Melly responded: I will look into it. I can find out the land ownership and see what we could do.

Resident: Groves Community payback – cleaning up and planting of the area – can anyone help, who can I contact?

Cllr Melly: How about goodgym, asking them for help?

Resident: I’ve got  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.