RESIDENTS of a York street say they want to press ahead with a pioneering traffic-calming scheme.

A group of people living in Harcourt Street, Heworth, and three neighbouring streets, got together to show their support for their "home zone" scheme, as children planted flowers to brighten up their street.

David Halloways, of Harcourt Street, said the group had got together when the idea of "home zones" was suggested to city residents by City of York Council.

He said the zones, which were very popular in Holland and Germany, aimed to block off streets to through traffic, so "giving back" the space to pedestrians.

At the moment, the Harcourt Street scheme is a third of the way through a six-month period of trying out different ways of blocking off the road.

But it ran into opposition when businessman Gerard Dyson, of the Halifax Agency, started a petition against the scheme.

A number of Harcourt Street residents told the Evening Press there had been nothing wrong with how the street was before and said they were worried about vandalism after plants put into two large planters in the street were ripped out.

But Mr Halloways claimed the majority of residents did want the scheme to go ahead and it was hoped they would be able to allay the fears of the rest.

He said: "When these schemes were run in Holland, they found that where children had retired from the streets, they were able to come out and use them more. People felt safer and more comfortable. I understand that some older residents have concerns that it will attract vandals, but I believe community regeneration will reduce crime. Crime persists where people are allowed to get away with it - not where the community goes out and says 'This is our area, we take pride in it'."

He said that the scheme had only got off the ground and got support from the City of York Council because a majority of residents supported it, from Harcourt Street, Fleming Avenue, Glen Road and Emmerson Street.

One of the proposals was to increase the amount of parking bays in Glen Road, he said.

Another resident Michael Oglesby, of Glen Road, said: "Most people do think it's much better.

"It's great for the community because we're talking to people we wouldn't have talked to before and say 'Hello' to people in the street.

"We all share the same fears and we think this will be better for the community."

PICTURE: Emma Campbell, five, with residents of Harcourt Street, Heworth, York, who have planted flowers in their "home zone" Picture: Frank Dwyer