Cover photo credit: Andy D’Agorne 

Kate opened by saying that while it might appear that not much had happened on the ground since May 2023, 18 months ago it had been important to get an adopted Strategy in place first. 

Need to tackle the barriers to safe cycling – congestion, unsafe routes, poor lighting, potholes. Strengths in place to do this- Highway Authority, Mayors office, Police Fire and Crime deputy, council administration and government are all now Labour-led and the Bus Service Improvement Plan partnership with operators is in place. 

Issues to tackle include a car dependent culture, and while there are many excellent officers there does need to be a ‘culture shift’ for them away from their traditional training and experience of highways work. In York there is also the legacy of the Lendal Bridge trial and subsequent reversal which may have ‘knocked confidence’ for some. 

Now progressing an ‘Implementation Plan’. The choice had been ‘Go Dutch’ high quality (too slow and expensive) or ‘roadspace reallocation’ which is the approach they are taking, learning from the experience of Ghent a few years ago. 

The sorts of measures to tip the balance towards bus and active travel include: 

• Budget proposal to significantly raise short stay city centre car parking charges to £9.60 for 2hrs which makes it equivalent to a family bus ticket, so promoting park and ride. 
• Consulting on extending 20mph zones across York – already a trial for Bishopthorpe. 
• ‘Get a grip’ on parking around the city with a kerbside strategy learning from Lambeth. This would mean removing free on-street parking within 2km of the city centre through expansion of Respark, replacing parking with bus lanes, additional cycle hanger parking for residential areas, designated loading bays to replace widespread loading on double yellow lines etc. 
• A new car club deal for the city from Aug 2025
• A replacement ebike hire scheme following on from TIER 
• ‘Traffic filters’ such as the sustainable travel route proposed for the Station – Clifford St over Ouse Bridge which would be limited to buses taxis and ‘essential car journeys’ which would hugely benefit cyclists as well by cutting through traffic. This would be delivered ‘within 18 months’ – the funding is already available from the Bus Service Improvement Plan. 

The government granted York new ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) traffic enforcement powers last week, which could be really helpful enabling the creation of ‘school streets’ with camera enforcement to remove most cars from the road outside a school at key times of the day. The council can also use these for box junction or banned turn enforcement. To start with, its use has to be trialled, issuing warnings, not fines for first offence over a 6 month period – likely to be applied to drivers going through a ‘no entry’ at Micklegate Bar! 

Movement and Place Plan – a proposed new circulation plan is a longer term piece of work which is being funded by the Mayor for feasibility study. 

The Highway Maintenance Plan being revised to give higher priority to bus routes, walk/ cycle routes. As part of this will also tackle quick wins such as dropped kerbs or other repairs, planting etc. 

Work is progressing on removing inaccessible barriers, and the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan will be coming to Executive in December outlining long term strategies, including desire routes to link up planned new developments which developers can then be required to help to fund.

A new Highway Design Guide is being developed – York Central will be a great opportunity to demonstrate a low car development. 

Kate is currently undertaking a review of the Active Travel England funding to assess what can be delivered quickly. One option would be high quality segregated radial route which could be an exemplar for future projects. 

The iTravel/ ‘behavioural change’ team are working on a range of ideas including replacing taxi transport for some SEN children with ‘bike buddies’ to give them confidence safely cycling to school. There is a plan to develop active travel maps for each secondary school catchment, to encourage more to walk or cycle when they transition to the school in September. Ongoing work includes Bikeability training in schools and plans for Active City York national conference hosted here in July 2025. 

Kate is keen to work with YCC on security marking, ideas like ‘bike buses’, and has been talking to the University and Hospital about their travel plans. 

Active Travel England has already provided officer training on the principles of Bike Better and LTN1/20 statutory guidance for all transport schemes. The council is planning to get out more to meet residents and help to set ambitious targets for changes to our approach to transport. 

City centre access and parking continues to be developed and Kate is planning to ‘reopen the question’ of creating a cross city centre cycle route’ possibly starting with a trial scheme to facilitate access to the footstreets for disabled cyclists and cargo bikes. 

Finally she said that the council Communications Team are working on short videos to ‘showcase enjoyment of cycling’ and the vision for how we can transform travel in York as a result of the proposed changes.