Latest news with #KatieLomas
BBC News
11-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Revised York Castle car park redevelopment plans submitted
Revised plans to upgrade the area around Clifford's Tower in York have been submitted for Castle Gateway scheme covers the Eye of York area where the River Foss meets the River project, which has been amended in order to cut costs, would now include a new park, play areas and 30 Blue Badge parking bays instead of a paved event to close Castle Car Park will be put before senior councillors later in the year and Pete Kilbane, deputy leader of the authority, said: "We are working to transform this area from a car park to a people park." The revised plans are based on responses to a public consultation that took place last consultants BDP said they had focused on accessibility, heritage and maintenance when drawing up the new said: "Our proposals include new play areas for families, something people have been asking for more of in the city centre, and green open space for people to relax and take some time out." The council said the revised proposals aimed to make the scheme more affordable so that it could still be January councillors were told the first phase of the scheme would cost an estimated £3.5 Foale, the council's city development lead at the time, said the cost of plans for the scheme approved in 2020 would now be close to £16m, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Katie Lomas, the council's Labour finance and major projects spokesperson, said submission of the planning application was an "important step forward for the scheme"."These plans seek to create a versatile public space where people of all ages want to spend time, making it greener and more accessible, as well as more affordable and deliverable, when compared to previous plans," she said. A planned multi-storey car park at St George's Fields is no longer set to go ahead, though improvements to existing facilities are still being revised Castle Gateway proposals are set to go before the council's executive in September and a decision will be made separately on the planning application. Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
BBC News
28-02-2025
- Business
- BBC News
York council tax bills for 2025/26 set
Council tax bills in York are set to rise by almost 5% after the city council agreed an increase which will add an extra £90 to the average annual Band D increase was agreed at a full City of York Council meeting on Thursday was part of a package of measures - including "significant" increases to car parking charges - put forward by the Labour-run council as it looks to balance next year's meeting also saw the council agree a document that will shape the city's development for the next 15 Local Plan - York's first for nearly 70 years - says the city needs 20,000 new homes between now and 2038. Two per cent of the increase will go towards the cost of social care, and the other 2.99% will fund council overall budget proposals include plans to invest £8m in adult social care and £2.7m in children's social £9m has been allocated to cover the costs of inflation, and the effect it has had on the cost of delivering council council tax increase will take effect from April. Current 2024/25 City of York council tax rates (non-parish areas)Band A £1,359.11Band B £1,585.62Band C £1,812.14Band D £2,038.66Band E £2,491.70Band F £2,944.73Band G £3,397.77Band H £4,077.32 Katie Lomas, senior Labour councillor in charge of finance, said the authority's finances were now looking "solid"."We're fixing all the things that were wrong with them."We've got that grip back and we're able to control our spending and make positive decisions about how we spend, and not end up in a mess by the end of the year."Our budget this year is a hopeful budget with no new cuts to services."But Chris Steward, leader of the council's Conservative group, said York residents "aren't getting a great deal of value from this Labour council".He said: "When it came to power they promised to freeze council tax, it wasn't done."The Labour government promised to freeze council tax and it wasn't done. Instead, people are, again, having to pay for a maximum council tax increase."Councillor Nigel Ayre, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said a chronic lack of public spending in York was "beginning to hit hard". "If that doesn't change in the next 12 months then next year's budget will be catastrophic," he to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
