Last night the decision was taken by Councillor Steve Galloway, Executive Member for City Strategy, to remove the narrowing of the entrance to Fulford Park from the A19 improvement plans.

This is obviously great news for residents who had opposed the plans believing the changes would cause problems for traffic, while providing little benefit to pedestrians.

The petition, signed by local residents that I handed to the Council in December also highlighted concerns about the impact new road markings would have on the conservation area. These concerns have also been addressed with Council Officers agreeing to slightly reduce the amount of new markings.

The revised scheme now has the support of local residents and the Parish Council and I look forward to the improvements being completed.

Thanks to all of you who signed the petition calling for a rethink on parts of the proposed A19 improvements around Fulford Park.

I submitted the petition at the Full Council meeting last night and I have already had constructive discussions with Council officers about the plans.

I hope to be able to update you all soon on the progress we have made.

The government took control of the East Coast Main Line rail franchise this weekend and with the take over came some good news about York station.

The government announced that it would not be pursuing the appeal started by National Express against the decision by the council’s planning committee to refuse planning permission for the barriers.

I campaigned against the introduction of barriers and  am glad that the government have finally realised that barriers were not appropriate for York station.

They would have created severe problems for people accessing the station, especially for elderly and disabled people entering from the short stay car park.

The barriers would also have had an unwelcome visual impact on the look of our historic station.

While attempts to cut down on people not buying tickets are legitimate, the barriers would have caused too many problems to be a sensible solution.

It is great to see that the campaign against the barriers in the station has been a success.

As promised in the latest edition of Focus I have added a page with more information on the suggestions made as part of the Sustainable Communities Act consultation.

Click here to visit the page or select the link on the left.

Today’s announcement that the government is set to take over the running of trains on the East Coast Mainline is a good opportunity to rethink plans for barriers at York station. The announcement means that it is very unlikely that barriers will be built at York station in the immediate future.

There is a great deal of local opposition to these plans and I think that now is the right time to look again at the proposals.

I am calling on the government to reconsider it’s position on station barriers. I would hope that they would take into account the views of local people before deciding whether or not to continue with the plans put forward by National Express.

The Council consulted with residents on plans for the Fulford Road corridor, including cycling, bus and pedestrian improvements earlier this year. Along with local residents I objected to various parts of the scheme, including the fact that there were plans for a significant reduction in local parking, the removal of the two lane exit from Heslington Lane, and that in one location new cycle ways were planned both on and off road going in the same direction.

After these successful representations, the Council agreed to look again at the Main Street and Heslington Lane aspects of the scheme.  Read the rest of this entry. Read the rest of this entry.