YORK Civic Trust claims a new transport blueprint for the city is not enough to tackle congestion and pollution - and has suggested a four-point plan to 'reclaim our streets.'

The conservation and heritage body says it welcomes City of York Council's draft Local Transport Strategy and it also supports the proposal to dual the outer ring road - but only if it is used to tackle traffic problems within York

It says a key council target is to reduce carbon from transport by 71 per cent by 2030. 

"To achieve this, the council suggests that car use will have to fall by 20 per cent,"it says. "But what will this mean for York’s congested and polluted streets?

"The council offers several suggestions, include dualling the whole of the A1237, improving footways and highway margins for pedestrians and cyclists, more low traffic neighbourhoods and school streets, and better use of urban traffic control and intelligent transport systems. 

"York Civic Trust is unsure whether these measures will achieve the outcomes that we all need."

Tony May, chair of the trust’s Transport Advisory Group, said: “We need to reclaim our streets for the people of York, reduce congestion and pollution, and make our roads safer places for pedestrians, cyclists and children generally.

"The council’s strategy hints at ways of achieving this, but needs to be much more robust.”

He said congestion remains a serious problem for York. Bus passengers suffered delays of up to 90 minutes before Christmas, emergency vehicles are being held up by traffic jams and drivers find themselves stuck in bottlenecks like Gillygate.

The trust said that in York surveys in 2019 and 2021, 90 per cent of respondents were concerned or very concerned about levels of congestion, 80 per cent about air pollution and the impacts of transport on climate change and 66 per cent about traffic noise.

It argued that a much more comprehensive strategy was needed, and key to it were four coordinated actions:

*Managing traffic flows entering the city: It says queue management policy as on the Hull Road, if extended to all radial roads, would help manage the flow of traffic into the city centre, discourage through traffic and give greater priority to buses and cyclists.

*Using Urban Traffic Control to collect real time information and to moderate flows, remove queues from sensitive locations, and protect buses and cyclists from congestion.

*Discouraging through movement, with traffic filters, as in The Groves, and bus gates as in Coppergate, which would encourage longer distance traffic to use the outer ring road.

*Increasing the number of quiet streets and 20mph zones: "We envisage the whole inner ring road being a 20mph zone, reflecting its intensive use by pedestrians."