Tomorrow's world

JUST as it seemed there could be no further plot twists to the Coppergate Riverside story, up popped York Tomorrow. Don't slap a shopping centre on to the Castle car park site, this mysterious group told the council. Turn it into parkland for residents and visitors to enjoy instead.

And York Tomorrow promptly submitted a planning application to do just that.

It was an audacious move that clearly caught City of York Council and Coppergate Riverside's potential developers, Land Securities, by surprise.

Like the rest of the city, they were left asking: what is York Tomorrow? Who are the tomorrow people?

Today the answer can be revealed. This is a pressure group made up of six key city figures, although it claims support from many other concerned citizens.

The six have all brought their different expertise to the campaign against Coppergate II. Philip Crowe, the spokesman for the group, is an architect with a practice in Clifton. Alison Sinclair is an historic buildings consultant and Jonathan Tyler is a transport planner.

Consulting engineer Jim Taylor, city centre retailer Allan Strauss and former councillor Ken Beavan make up the team.

The origins of York Tomorrow go back almost as far as the Coppergate II saga itself. Two years ago another pressure group, the York Alliance, was formed to oppose Land Securities' original plans for a £60 million shopping centre on Piccadilly and the Castle car park site.

This was subsequently rejected by the council. When revised, scaled-down plans were submitted, some members of York Alliance felt they had achieved as much as they could.

But others vowed to fight on under a new name. York Tomorrow was born.

The group objects to Coppergate Riverside on two grounds. Firstly, it encroaches on Clifford's Tower and the Eye of York, one of the most historic areas of an historic city.

And secondly the scale of the retail development is excessive (at 250,000 square feet it would make up one-fifth of the city's total shopping area). York Tomorrow contests a retail study commissioned by the council which says York can support such a large shopping expansion.

Mr Crowe is convinced the public back his group's plan to turn Castle car park into Castle park.

He said: "We submitted our planning application for an alternative to the Land Securities scheme as a result of the Evening Press's poll, where it was clearly seen that there was very strong feeling that the area around Clifford's Tower should be kept as open space."

That reference is to an Evening Press survey in September. Readers who completed an in-paper coupon voted four to one in favour of scrapping the shopping centre. A survey of shoppers conducted at the same time showed a clear majority in favour of the development, however.

"If the public, through the Press, hadn't come out so forcefully, I don't think we would have felt justified in submitting a formal application," Mr Crowe added.

It was certainly an ambitious undertaking. And the group has gone to great lengths to ensure the park plan is credible.

Before drawing up the application members carried out many hours of research and drew on the expertise of environmentalists, retail analysts and archaeologists sympathetic to the cause. All this had to be completed against a tight deadline.

The resulting £360,000 plan for a park is designed to "establish a worthy setting for the buildings around it, and provide a much-needed green parkland to the south of the city centre to complement the Museum Gardens on the north".

Meanwhile, Piccadilly would still be developed with smaller scale shops and houses.

For the first time in this long-running saga, City of York Council planners had a second vision for the site to consider. The schemes by York Tomorrow and Land Securities will go head-to-head at next Wednesday's crucial planning meeting.

Mr Crowe believes his group has established a viable, long-term alternative to the full-scale commercial exploitation of the site envisaged by Land Securities.

"We are showing the council in our application how easy it is to transform the car park into a park.

"We believe that the funding of a park should be no problem.We suggest that the Lottery bodies be approached. There may also be other sources of funding which remain to be explored."

The parkland proposal has support from the York Natural Environment Trust and Adam Sinclair, owner of Mulberry Hall in Stonegate. Both are long-standing opponents of Coppergate Riverside.

Earlier this week, a 200-strong public meeting also gave the scheme a near-unanimous endorsement. But that proved to be the high-point of a roller-coaster week for York Tomorrow.

On Wednesday, the York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce performed a U-turn and decided to support Coppergate Riverside. Independent retailers, led by Adam Sinclair, resigned in protest and set about forming a rival body.

An even bigger body blow followed. Planning officers are recommending that the Land Securities scheme is approved, albeit with many strings attached.

But they are asking councillors to throw out York Tomorrow's plan. The main reason: loss of car parking spaces.

This angered the group. York Tomorrow transport expert Jonathan Tyler had conducted an analysis of car park usage. He felt this proved there was enough capacity at other, under-used car parks to cover for the loss of the Castle spaces.

Despite the setbacks, York Tomorrow fights on. It is ready to take the scheme all the way to a public inquiry if need be, such is its opposition to Coppergate Riverside. "If Land Securities succeed in their application and their scheme is implemented we believe it would be a disaster for the city on economic and environmental grounds," Mr Crowe said.

"It will be another Stonebow House."

When the Coppergate Riverside issue is finally resolved, York Tomorrow must consider its own future. Members may decide to keep it going, with the intention of scrutinising other city developments such as that planned for the 'teardrop' site near the railway station.

But that is for tomorrow. Today all its energies are focused on Coppergate II, and that planning meeting on Wednesday.

"We believe that our application provides what the citizens of York want," Mr Crowe said. "We believe we have a very strong case which has overwhelming public support.

"We trust that the city fathers will take note of this."

York Tomorrow can be contacted at 49 Stonegate, York, or on (01904) 611187