Council reminds drivers that Marygate car park will be closed for several days
Work to resurface and reconstruct the road and footpath on Marygate for the first time in a generation will resume this week – with access to Marygate Car Park affected later this month.
Marygate car park
Since works started in September, significant progress has been made before the works were paused for the festive period.
From Wednesday 4 January drainage and other preparation work in advance of the resurfacing work will resume on Marygate, Hetherton Street, Esplanade Court, Frederic Street and Marygate Lane.
Then from 9 January until mid-February a full road closure will be in place for the resurfacing work. This will include Marygate, Hetherton Street, Esplanade Court, Frederic Street and Marygate Lane on weekdays between 9.30am and 4pm, which will mean access to the car park will be affected.
Due to the full road closure, there will be no access for vehicles and on street parking will be suspended during the working hours. Emergency services will be permitted through the works as needed.
Diversions are in place for cyclists who would normally use Marygate, so they can use the Sustrans Route – Railway walk, which is at the back of Marygate Car Park. There will be signs, traffic management precautions and traffic marshalls in place to assist with this diversion.
This road closure will mean that Marygate car park will be closed to the public on weekdays.
During working hours, vehicles will not be able to be parked on Marygate due to restricted access. Vehicle movements will need to be planned outside working hours.
Residents and businesses will be permitted to park in Marygate car park, free of charge, when the road is closed. The car park will be closed to other visitors during this time.
Disabled parking bays will also be available in Marygate car park during the full road closures.
Residents and businesses in the area have been written to with advice on alternative options whilst on street parking is suspended. This will include the option of using Marygate car park, however due to the road closures access will be restricted during the day.
Residents and visitors to the city are encouraged to plan ahead and use public transport such as the park and ride where possible.
The works have been split into phases to ensure safe pedestrian access to all homes and nearby businesses is maintained throughout the works, with doorways will be predominantly resurfaced outside business hours.
The works have taken into consideration the historic importance of the area and are working closely with conservation officers, given the close proximity to the city walls.
Marygate car park will be closed for a few weeks early in 2023 as a result of a road resurfacing scheme on adjacent highways.
The scheme was announced by the Council on Tuesday (see below)
Impact on traffic and parking
The Council web site confirms that that the plan will involve the closure of the Marygate public car park. for about 2 weeks in January 2023.
“Before the works start, we will install signage along the route explaining what we are doing, and will place ‘open as usual messages’ clearly in the area.
Traffic marshalls will be on site between 7.00am and 5.00pm seven days a week to assist.
The works will be carried out in phases so that residential parking will be available throughout the works, but sections of road will be closed off at certain times.;
Throughout the works (not including during full road closures), resident disabled parking will remain on Marygate.
There are no planned full road closures in 2022.
Road closures in 2023
A full road closure will be required for up to eight days between 9 and 18 January 2023 and again on 20 January 2023 (to tarmac the road).
During this time, you will not be able to park any vehicle on Marygate due to restricted access.
Residents and businesses will be permitted to park in Marygate car park, free of charge, when the road is closed. The car park will be closed to other visitors during this time.
Disabled parking bays will also be available in Marygate car park during the full road closures.
During the closures access will be available for residents and businesses only, during the hours before 9.30am and after 3.30pm.
Impact on pedestrians
Access will be available for pedestrians at all times but a section of footpath on each side will be restricted.
Access to Museum Gardens will be maintained at all times, and we will install ‘Open as usual messages’ in the area.
Pedestrian routes and access to all businesses and properties will be retained throughout the duration of the works. If you have any issues, please speak to the staff on site so they can be resolved as soon as possible”.
The Council media release read:
“Marygate being resurfaced for first time in a generation
For the first time in a generation, City of York Council is reconstructing and resurfacing Marygate, located in the city centre.
The scheme will take around 17 weeks to complete, weather permitting, and works are hoped to be finished by mid-February 2023. Work will be paused in the lead up to the Christmas festivities, as is normal practice, and will resume on 9 January 2023.
A series of drop-in sessions will take place this month inviting residents and businesses to find out more about the scheme. The drop-in sessions will take place at The Hospitium, Museum Gardens, on Tuesday 19 July and Wednesday 20 July from 10.00am to 7.00pm.
Currently, there are significant defects in the surface of both the road and footways, making it uneven and unsafe for pedestrians and vehicles to use.
The scheme involves:
completely renewing the road and damaged footpaths; the new surface will better withstand vehicle use
introducing a number of formal, uncontrolled pedestrian crossings along the busy route
removing and replacing any damaged York stone flags, kerbs and concrete pavers
The works will be split into phases to ensure safe pedestrian access to all homes and nearby businesses is maintained throughout the works. Doorways will be predominantly resurfaced outside business hours.
Undertaking archaeological watching briefs will be an important part of the scheme, as well as working closely with conservation officers, as the road and footway are in close proximity of the city walls.
The contractor carrying out the work will be Lane Rentals, who will be responsible for safety while the work is ongoing.
The contractor will be working Monday to Friday only and will not work past 11.00pm on an evening”.
From this week, Marygate and Coppergate Centre Car Parks (formally known as Piccadilly) now offer new ‘pay on exit’ car parking.
Not so long ago – no card payments!
Car parking space availability signs
Piccadilly car park
Barriers at Marygate car park have been unreliable
We think that this is a step forward but the top priority remains to improve digital signage and communications to prevent unnecessary trips by drivers seeking parking spaces. That is particularly important at these two car parks which are accessible only by awkward routes.
It is several years since the Council switched of some of its advance car parking space availability signs. A promise that available space information would be integrated into “Sat Nav” systems has not yet materialised., although this si common on electric vehicle charging platforms
The result is unnecessarily long journeys with all that entails in terms of extra pollution.
So now the City of York Council, in partnership with York BID, have introduced the new ‘pay on exit’ equipment, which has been upgraded to enable customers to pay for parking as they leave the car park, in a hope to improve the customer experience.
The new ticketless systems will enable residents and visitors to pay for parking as they leave, rather than in advance.
A successful ‘pay on exit’ trial was undertaken in Marygate car park back in 2016 and the new system has now been expanded to the Coppergate Centre car park too.
The new system uses ANPR cameras to provide ticketless parking at both car parks. ANPR cameras will read the car registration plate on entering the car park. When visitors leave, all they need to do is go to the payment machine and type in their car registration plate.
Blue badge holders are able to scan their barcode or QR code for free or discounted parking at the Coppergate Centre car park. At Marygate, where designated disabled parking bays are outside the car park and occupied, blue badge holders wishing to park inside the car park are able to scan their barcode or QR code for free or discounted parking.
ANPR cameras will read the car registration plate on leaving the car park and all visitors need to do is pay any required charge for their stay.
The ticketless parking system will recognise that payment has been made and the barrier will raise automatically to allow drivers to exit.
The introduction of ANPR systems mean car park scratch cards are no longer able to be used in the car parks. If anyone holds a parking permit for a car park where ANPR ticketless parking is in place, they’ll still be able to use the car park as normal. To find out more on this visit the page on the council website.
It’s hoped that the ‘pay on exit’ system will be rolled out across other city car parks.
Please note: Marygate car park currently has reduced capacity during the important Environment Agency works taking place in the area, and larger vehicles will be operating/using the narrow access road.
The new pay on exit payment systems have been introduced as the new national restrictions change from 12 April to include:
Non-essential retail reopening
Outdoor hospitality is allowed
Personal care premises such as hairdressers and nail salons can resume
Libraries, community centres and indoor leisure facilities can reopen (but only for use by people on their own or in household groups)
The rule of six or two households still applies and we can only spend time with those we don’t live with outside.
Restrictions remain in place, which means you will still need to sanitise your hands, wear face coverings and keep socially distanced.
The council is continuing to support local businesses and has prepared for the next stage of lockdown rule easing on 12 April. Extra measures introduced in the city will include:
The installation of temporary public toilets, additional litter bins and additional cleaning taking place in the city centre
extending the Covid Support Marshalls programme until the end of June
submitting planning applications required for temporary managed outdoor spaces to help people see friends and family safely
making it easier for people to get tested, offering a collect option at our testing sites and opening up symptom-free testing to all adults and children of secondary school age and above.
A combination of wet weather and COVID restrictions has meant that York has been quiet once again today.
This may be the last weekend opportunity for a while for traders to attract customers. The prospect of another national lockdown becomes more likely.
Lets hope for a more considered approach by the authorities as they seek to address the effects of the second wave. We don’t need any more poorly considered road and car park closures.
Parliament Street and Coney Street todaySwinegate deserted at noon today
The Museum Gardens are attractive in the Autumn. There are good social distancing guidelines in place. This amenity must remain accessible if a lockdown is reintroducedThe river Ouse water level is high but not yet threatening properties
Marygate car park still well used although unnecessary “cycle path” is still in place
Station car park still deserted. Not difficult to see why
A report being presented to a decision meeting next week recommends thatMarygate car parkbe reduced in size by six spaces.
It is part of the fall-out from a proposal which would see the adjacent railway cycle path widened.
Marygate car park was often full during the summer. Railway cycle path on left
There have already been complaints from season pass holders that they have been unable to find space to park because of an impulsive, and totally unjustified, initiative which saw 70 spaces coned off a few months ago.
More welcome, are plans to provide a ramp access to St Mary’s. This will help both disabled buggy users and cyclists.
A design for new traffic lights at the St Mary’s junction with Bootham is also suggested.
More accessible link for cyclists is promised at the bottom of St Mary’s
Objections to the plans are dismissed out of hand by officials although the report does say that a safety audit on the proposals has been completed (the results of it are not detailed in the papers).
The scheme will cost around £360,000 including £60,000 for the path widening part of the project.
Yesterday we revealed that the Council had started consultation on changes to the pedestrian/cycle route from the railway station to Bootham.
We pointed out that the impact on the Marygate car park had not been explained in the Councils documents.
We are now led to understand that a drawing, which details what will happen at the car park, was for some reason omitted from the consultation papers. It has now been added (click)
This new layout apparently requires virtually all the spaces in the car park to be re-marked.
Officials claim that, overall, 6 spaces will be lost.
The Railway Walk path would be widened to 3.4 metres.
The 40 spaces currently coned off would be restored for parking use.
There may be access, turning radius and other implications for users which are not clear from the large scale map provided, so we will hope that residents will be given sight of the stage 1 and 2 safety audit reports.
It is still unclear why the Council launched this consultationwithout telling anyone how to participate.
Marygate car park has been full today with around half a dozen cars at anytime patrolling the service roads waiting for someone to vacate a space.
The 40 odd spaces on the railway side of the car park are still coned off. There is little use made of these by cyclists and an alternative is available – using the service road – only a couple of feet away.
The old shared use footpath is also very lightly used making social distancing easy.
Residents will wonder what it takes to get the Council to review this obviously perverse decision.
Perhaps the Groves counter-revolutionaries will pay a visit and realign the cones?
In the meantime the Council is losing around £400 a day in car park charge income.
Marygate car park full todayStation car park largely empty
With City centre car parks very busy this week, it is surprising that LNER haven’t taken the opportunity to sell more spaces on their otherwise largely empty car park at the railway station.
Not many people are going to pay £18 for a days parking but the company could help themselves by marketing spaces at a discounted rate.
At the moment they are bringing in no income for the beleaguered, state owned, outfit.
Little used cycle lane at Marygate car park (4:00pm 17th August 202o)
The popular shoppers car park in Marygate was even more popular yesterday (Sunday) as faulty ticket machines were allowing free parking.
It is not the first time that drivers have found the exit barriers permanently raised.
The car park was full at lunchtime and was still 80% occupied at 4:00pm.
Driver must have been tempted to move the bollards which still block 40 spaces as part of an ill considered scheme to provide more room for cyclists. The few cyclists who were in the area used either the shared use footpath or the car park service road.
It does make residents wonder how long ill judged schemes like these have to continue before the Council reverts to a more considered alternative?
It is clear that, at the moment, most visitors are opting to use personal, rather than public, transport. If the City centre economy is to be sustained, then the Council will have to recognise that reality, at least until a COVID-19 vaccine is rolled out.
Face masks will have to be worn in shops from today. It remains to be seen how effective this government policy will be.
What is now clear is that some of the impulsive decisions taken a couple of months ago, at the peak of the pandemic by the York Council, have not met the test of time.
Tinkering with traffic systems without proper consultation or impact assessments was always a recipe for failure.
Crucially no attempt was made to define how success would be measured.
So how have they fared?
Bishopthore Road lane closure
This was intended to provide queuing space for shoppers. It was claimed that it would make social distancing easier.
Critics pointed to new hazards for cyclists on the contraflow lane, increased congestion & pollution on alternative routes and a missed opportunity to trial an off peak pedestrian area (10:30am – 4:00pm) approach.
The results have been disappointing with the alternative Nunnery Lane/Blossom Street/ Scarcroft Road suffering for increased congestion. Bus services have been adversely affected. There has been short cutting through residential areas like St Benedict Road where parking is also now a problem
There is little footpath queuing on the east of the shopping area. The forecourted shops on the other side have adequate space although bollards have reduced flexibility.
Verdict – scrap it
An ill considered scheme which missed the opportunity that part time pedestrianisation might have offered.
Fortunately there have been no accidents involving cyclists yet, although northbound traffic levels remain below average (as they do across the whole of the highway network)
Reduced social distancing requirements (now one metre rather than two) and the introduction of face masks should lead to this trial being abandoned. A more thorough consultation on the options for the Bishopthorpe Road area could then take place.
Bollards have not improved social distancing on Bishopthorpe RoadProblems with car parking and short cutting through the St Benedict’s Road area
Foss Bridge
One of the general traffic lanes across Foss Bridge on the inner ring road was repurposed for cyclists (southbound) . The lane had been coned off while maintenance work on the bridge was carried out in the early spring.
Most cyclists opt to use the riverside off road path. Comparatively few choose to use the inner ring road.
Verdict – retain and consult on its future
There has been little congestion on this section of the inner ring road although general travel patterns are not expected to return to pre COVID levels before September.
The cycle lane has been obstructed on occasions by delivery drivers, taxi pick ups etc. so the solution is less than perfect.
Vehicle numbers on this section of the inner ring road greatly exceed the number of cyclists
Monk Bar car park disabled spaces
The Council allocated 40 spaces at the Monk Bar car park for blue badge holders when additional access & parking restrictions were introduced in the City centre (e.g. Goodramgate). A “free” taxi service link to the rear of Kings Square is offered. The decision – like several others – was taken by the Councils acting chief executive with no prior consultation.
Blue badge holders can park on single yellow lines and park free of charge at Council car parks.
The little used taxi service is costing taxpayers £354 a day.
It appears that no attempt was made to assess the demand for disabled parking spaces at Monk Bar or for the taxi link. The Council didn’t specify the use of low emission vehicles on the taxi contract
Typically no more than five blue badge holders are parking at Monk Bar at any one time. The remaining general parking spaces are being increasingly used but the car park has yet to reach the full occupation levels seen before the pandemic. The Council has also recently allocated more on street parking spaces for blue badge holders in streets like Duncombe Place.
While the initiative was well intentioned, the Council hopelessly misjudged the demand for the service.
Verdict – revise the scheme
The number of reserved spaces can be reduced and the taxi link abandoned. Consultations can take place with disabled group representatives and traders on other options. These might include a “home to city centre” subsidised taxi service for the disabled where costs are recompensed when goods are bought.
Monk Bar blue badge spaces unusedNarrow access path at Monk Bar car park. No provision made for social distancing (see Maygate below)
Marygate car park
Around 40 parking spaces have been cordoned off. The Council claimed it was to allow cyclists to avoid joint use of the footpath (which links Scarborough Bridge to Bootham Terrace). In turn this helped to maintain a two metre social distancing zone.
The scheme was criticised when proposed because if failed to assess the effectiveness of the obvious alternative (encouraging cyclists to use the internal car park service road) which would have involved the loss of only one parking space.
There were bigger problems on other routes from Scarborough Bridge both at the north (Marygate) end of the bridge and crucially at the station itself. A narrow tunnel connects the shared cycle/footpath to Bootham Terrace.
The introduction of one metre social distancing guidelines and the use of face masks will reduce any health threat.
Observations at the car park suggest that the cycle route through the parking spaces is very little used (with some cyclists opting to use the service road anyway).
The car park has been busy on occasions but has not yet reached capacity. This may change if August is as busy as it has been in the past
Verdict – amend the scheme to allow cyclists to use the car park service road.
There is no Coronavirus heath justification for routing cyclists through car parking spaces. The break in the perimeter fence can be retained – and one place bollarded off – to allow access via the service road to Bootham Tce and Almery Garth. A ramp to St Mary’s – promised but never delivered – would be a useful for both cyclists and disabled buggy users.
The Council should sort out an acceptable route for cyclists wishing to access the route from Scarborough bridge to Lowther Tce (long term plans for the station frontage remodelling need to recognise this demand)
Conned off section on Marygate car park is little used by cyclistsNo cycling when you reach the station
Few more on Spurriergate todayMuseum Gardens – with social distancing well organised by Museum staff – was popular todayMarygate car park close to capacity today apart from the completely useless coned off area. Not being used by anyone for social distancing. Meanwhile, at the other end of the Scarborough bridge cycle link to the station, cyclists wanting access the exit towards Holgate Road, have to dismount and walk through the congested portico or bus stop areas.Cycle parking still poor in York. These were chained to railings today. They had enforcement notices attached but, given the large sums of taxpayers money being thrown at some peoples idea of “sustainable transport”, installing a few extra parking frames (Sheffield stands) wouldn’t be amiss. The York Council offices are still closed. The gates are padlocked. Given the new government advice about “getting back to work” there should now be a road-map leading to the reopening of services where customers need personal contact. No information, forward plans or meeting agendas on Council, noticeboards. This one, outside West Offices, simply says that meetings are cancelled “until 30th May”. No noticeboards at all now outside the Guildhall. Although the building itself is closed for refurbishment, the noticeboards, previously displayed there, provided an easy, accessible location where residents could read about what the Council planned to consider. (Very few people routinely walk past the small noticeboard outside West Offices)
York News Focus 