It was welcome news that City of York Council have committed £500,000 towards the much needed riverside path improvements beside Leeman Park(The Press, April 22).

However, the devil is in the detail and residents are facing the risk of having just half the job done. Also it might come too late to mitigate the impact of the Leeman Road closure.

The National Railway Museum intend to start construction and close Leeman Road in October 2023.

The Planning Inspectorate very clearly put a strong onus on York council to improve the safety, accessibility and dependability of the riverside path as a mitigation. The issue is that the council hasn’t proposed a design or timeline for the riverside improvements yet and hasn’t even consulted residents so far.

Also, the vague estimated cost is potentially double the amount promised so the safety issues might only get partly fixed if more money can’t be found.

The path construction will close the riverside route for some time and if it isn’t built before Leeman Road closes there will be a period when the riverside route will be closed and Leeman Road will have a long detour.

This would leave thousands of residents without a direct pedestrian route to the city for months. The riverside route improvements must be finished before Leeman Road closes. Time is running out.

David Finch,

Chairperson: Friends of Leeman Park