Let’s make Piccadilly: Festival of Castle Gateway February events

Piccadilly ideas from the first phase of My Castle Gateway

We’re kicking off My Castle Gateway 2 with a focus on Piccadilly. In the Castle Gateway masterplan the vision for Piccadilly was as follows:

THE NEW CITY CENTRE NEIGHBOURHOOD
2.4.1 Piccadilly will be the heart of a thriving city centre neighbourhood, with city centre living appealing to those attracted by proximity to the historic city centre and by the lively atmosphere generated by small and independent businesses including creative industries, workspace, cafés and bars clustered around the pedestrian friendly avenue of Piccadilly. The area will build upon the growing attractions and reputation of Fossgate and Walmgate, as a place to find interesting and independent shops, bars and restaurants which attract city residents and students as well as visitors looking for an alternative to national ‘high street’ brands and experiences.

Read more about the Castle Gateway masterplan ideas.

Now we’re moving on to refining the public brief for Piccadilly.

How can we make the most of the connection between Piccadilly and the Foss? Join us to discuss on 27th February.

This has moved up the Caste Gateway priority list because there are a lot of new developments on, or planned for, Piccadilly at the moment and the Council has developed a collaborative approach to working with Piccadilly’s private developers that will help realise the masterplan ideas.

Andy Kerr, Castle Gateway Project Manager:
We can’t control the number or nature of planning applications coming in on the street, but we can influence how the proposals interact with the public space and the quality of the design. The big idea – which we are close to agreeing with all of the landowners – would see all the major landowners sign up to deliver a section of a single plan for the streetscape. What this looks and feels like will be shaped by you. There will of course be constraints – finance, minimum widths for roads on which buses travel, and the most keenly felt factor of all at the moment is time. The developer of Ryedale House are progressing at pace with their project and they need the universal design in place by April so they can start to put in to place the area in front of their site.

Read Andy Kerr’s catch up blog here.

The way this will work is that together we’ll develop a brief for Piccadilly, the designers (BDP) will then turn it into a plan and then each private developer will implement the part of the street that is outside of their specific development. This means it can be done to specific developer’s timetables – and as part of their financial contribution to improving the public realm – but all changes will be to an overarching, shared vision.

And so it’s time to get involved and to shape that vision.

We’ve set up a series of events over the next few weeks to explore Piccadilly from many different angles. With one exception – which is a focused workshop – the events are drop in and designed to enable lots of different people to contribute. You could pop in for 10mins or stay for an hour or two mulling over ideas.

We’re running these events in collaboration with Spark! where a new approach to placemaking has already put into practice some of the masterplan ideas for Piccadilly. Come along, tweet us or join the discussions on facebook to help shape the vison.

The Let’s Make Piccadilly events:

Green and the City – Wednesday 13th February, 3-8pm Eventbrite booking here

Moving and lingering: Getting to and through Piccadilly – Tuesday 19th February, 3-8pm Eventbrite booking here

A Gyratory, a junction and a Supercrossing: Exploring the nitty gritty of Castle Gateway transport planning – Wednesday 20th February, 2-4pm Eventbrite booking here

A very public-private partnership?: How might businesses use the street and the street use the businesses? – Thursday 21st February, 3-8pm Eventbrite booking here

What would the best bus stop in York be like? – Tuesday 26th February, 3-8pm Eventbrite booking here

The Foss and Piccadilly – how can they be friends? – Wednesday 27th February, 3-8pm Eventbrite booking here

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