Views on the Tower Gardens draft Open Brief
A conversation with David J Nicholson, Green Howards
25th August 2020
The Green Howards want to see the re-siting of the South African War Memorial (their reasons can be explored in depth in this blog). Their preference would be for resiting in the centre of the current green area in the Eye of York (this is logged in the New Public Spaces Open Brief). Their second choice is Tower Gardens, seeing Tower Gardens reflecting the peaceful and green space that was intended (before the advent of cars).
There are two possible places it could be sited. On the plinth in the middle of the path, near the centre of the gardens. Alternatively, if that was seen as too dominant then nearer the edge of Tower Gardens, the Tower Street side.
In both cases, they are keen it is protected from flooding.
The issue of costs for resiting were also raised – would this be supported by the Section 106 money currently on the table or would it be covered in some other way (e.g. by the Section 106 money from the multistorey car park)?
Other comments on the Open Brief drafted, included support for pollarding trees to let more light into the gardens and aid the recovery of the grass.