York Minster has defended itself after a local business branded part of their latest development as "disgusting".

The Minster's Centre of Excellence project has been an £8.5 million undertaking hoping to establish themselves as a centre for the world's heritage industry.

Among the developments is a new works and technology hub, which sits between Deangate and Goodramgate.

The Minster created a neighbourhood plan for the wider development of their precinct in 2018. They insisted that this plan, and the plan for the Centre of Excellence, was made in consultation with local residents and businesses. 

However, the owner of The Fruit Tree Flats in 38a Goodramgate, said he was never consulted about the work. 

"They never spoke to me about any of it," said Nigel Walker - whose owned the site since 1993.

The view from the window of The Fruit Tree Flats, Goodramgate (Image: Harry Booth)

"I'm not happy about it. You're supposed to be able to look out our windows at the Minster, not at a breeze block wall."

Nigel said that he would've "said no" to any plans had he seen them.

"You're not doing any of it," he added.

The Fruit Tree Flats long-serving builder, Andrew Feetenby, who has worked on the site since 1996, said: "How does it fit into the surrounding area?

"We get governed on what brick we can use to stay in keeping with the area.

"It's disgusting."

A render of how the works and technology hub, which is behind Goodramgate, will look (Image: York Minster)

Andrew added that he "couldn't believe it" when he first saw the construction to the rear of the flats.

"It's a conservation area, that's not conservation."

Both Andrew and Nigel felt that they are met with harsh planning restrictions at their site, speaking of decisions they've taken to satisfy regulations - including not upgrading the kitchen's windows due to fears of being denied permission.

However, ahead of the development, the Minster maintained that they consulted residents and stakeholders nearby.

A spokesperson for the Minster said: "(We) ran 32 weeks of consultation on the neighbourhood plan over four years from 2018 to 2022.

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"The neighbourhood plan sets the planning policy against which planning applications in the precinct are determined. 

"There was extensive pre-application consultation on the Centre of Excellence in the autumn of 2021. The final planning application was widely consulted with letters sent by City of York Council notifying adjoining owners in 2022 as part of the statutory planning process.  

"Responses to the scheme were considered by planning committee. The committee's responses can be found on York City Council’s planning portal."

The Press visited the Centre of Excellence during its development, where the Director of Works and Precinct at York Minster, Alex McCallion expressed his thanks for everyone's cooperation in the development.