Agenda item

This report presents the final report of the “Cultural Quarter” Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee regarding their review on the proposed “Cultural Quarter” for York.

Members received a report that presented the final report of the “Cultural Quarter” Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee regarding their review on the proposed “Cultural Quarter” for York.

Councillor Taylor, Chair of the Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee, went through the key findings and recommendations arising from the review.  He stressed that the recommendations should be seen within the context of York being a “Cultural City” and its culture not being confined to any one area.  Attention was drawn to Annex J of the report, which demonstrated the suggested model.

The Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee had seen the development of a “Cultural Quarter” as being particularly beneficial to the city during the economic downturn.  It would be a mechanism of attracting funding and would provide opportunities to enhance educational, historical, horticultural and other cultural experiences.  The Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee had heard a great deal of evidence, including information gathered at a public drop in held at the Minster. There had been both positive and negative comments from the public. Issues in respect of branding and of the boundary remained to be addressed and the Committee had recommended that further consideration be given to these matters.  It was envisaged that the Council’s role would be to co-ordinate and lead the developments and to make improvements to the public realm. 

Concerns were expressed that the Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee, as part of its evidence gathering, had not visited or collected information from cities that appeared to have greater similarities to York in terms of cultural heritage.  It was suggested that those selected by the Ad Hoc Scrutiny were not comparable to York and were likely to have attracted European funding for economic and social reasons.

Members welcomed the suggestions regarding “living above the shop” and the possibility of live/work units being included.

It was noted that some of the recommendations contained within the report were long standing aspirations that had not been achieved, for example improving access to the station. 

Clarification was sought as to why there had been no recommendation regarding traffic and yet this had been mentioned in the report.  Councillor Taylor explained that the Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee were concerned about traffic pollution, for example in the Gillygate area.  They had heard evidence from Highways Officers but, at that stage, future plans for transportation in the area of the proposed “Cultural Quarter” were not complete and hence the Committee had decided not to make any specific recommendations in their report.

It was noted that the report would be presented to the Executive for consideration.  Once an implementation plan was in place it would be monitored and tracked by the Scrutiny Management Committee.

RESOLVED:(i)         That the contents of the final reports and its annexes be

                                    noted¹.

(ii)               That thanks be recorded to the “Cultural Quarter” Ad Hoc Scrutiny Committee for the work that they had carried out during the review.

REASON:            To inform the Executive’s consideration of the final report.