Car park to be removed under approved tower plan

A large car park next to Clifford's Tower in York is to be removed as part of a £10m city redevelopment plan.

The Castle Gateway scheme covers the area around the 13th Century landmark, the largest surviving part of York Castle.

The project will see the 298-space Castle car park next to the tower replaced with a park and children's play area, with 30 blue-badge parking spaces retained. A circular path will be created at the base of the mound around the tower.

The scheme was approved at a City of York Council meeting on Thursday, despite claims plans for a memorial to a medieval atrocity on the site were inadequate.

The decision comes ahead of the closure of the car park next spring, replaced by an area dubbed The Castle Gardens.

It will include The Swathe, an area of seasonal planting representing York Castle's moat.

A section called Castlegate Garden will feature wall sculptures in a nod to the site's history.

David Staniland, agent for the council, told the authority's planning committee the project aimed to strike the balance of meeting the "needs and aspirations of different people in a sensitive way".

But, Lilian Coulson, of the York Liberal Jewish Community, said a call for a peace garden to mark the massacre of 150 people at the site in 1190 had been ignored.

Ms Coulson told councillors the plans should be amended to include a "proper reflective space where people can quietly think and school and tour groups can learn about Clifford's Tower and its history".

She added: "This should all be provided in a designated landscaped space where people can sit overlooking Clifford's Tower away from the children's play area."

Labour councillor Jonny Crawshaw, planning committee chair, said talks about how best to use the space would continue.

The cost of the scheme includes £200,000 of improvements to the nearby Coppergate car park, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Mr Staniland said the scheme would transform the area into a "high-quality public realm and garden space", providing opportunities for recreation and improving "the setting of a number of designated heritage assets".

Disability rights activist Flick Williams, who also spoke at the meeting, said she welcomed keeping 30 blue badge spaces at the site.

However, after she queried whether people with disabilities would be left without parking spaces during construction, councillors approved a condition calling for arrangements to be made for them.

Six committee members voted in favour of the scheme, two voted against and two abstained.

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