Councillors voted unanimously today (October 1) to support a formal public consultation on the pedestrianisation of Kirkgate in Ripon.

Members of North Yorkshire Council’s Skipton and Ripon area committee said the move would give supporters and opponents an opportunity to air their views.

The issue was debated after more than 500 people signed a petition calling for a consultation.

The area committee is only an advisory body so there is still no guarantee a consultation will proceed.

Nevertheless, this was a boost for those in favour of pedestrianisation, who say it would boost trade, improve the environment and bring an outdoor café culture to Ripon.

Ripon resident Jeremy Dunford, a trustee of Ripon Disability Forum, told the committee Kirkgate was already a designated pedestrian zone but it wasn’t effectively managed.

Mr Dunford said the stone setts had become uneven, partly due to HGVs, and disabled and older people using the street were “particularly disadvantaged”.

He said moveable planters could be an alternative to bollards — which a council officer suggested in a report before the meeting might be expensive and difficult to manage.

Mr Dunford added a consultation, “ideally supported by a fixed-term trial” would enable everyone to assess the options.

Cllr Andrew Williams, a member of the Conservative and Independents group whose Ripon Minster and Moorside division includes Kirkgate, proposed writing to Karl Battersby, the council’s corporate director for environment, urging him to implement a trial.

Cllr Williams said:

'A street with no comparison'

Cllr Williams said Ripon was the only place in the North Yorkshire Council area with a cathedral, and it was accessed via Kirkgate.

He added:

“It is a street which has no comparison with anywhere else within North Yorkshire other than, perhaps the Shambles, although I would contend that what you get to at the end of Kirkgate is rather better than you have either end of the Shambles in York.”

But Cllr Williams said residents on Court Terrace, which is accessed off Kirkgate, had concerns and support wasn’t “wholly unanimous”.

Cllr Robert Heseltine, the Conservative committee chair, said a consultation was “eminently sensible” and seconded Cllr Williams’ proposal.

Cllr Barbara Brodigan, a Liberal Democrat who represents Ripon Ure Bank and Spa, also spoke in favour. She said the pedestrianisation of Kirkgate needed to be viewed in the context of a “wider place-making strategy” rather than viewed as “an isolated highways scheme”.

Tory council leader, Cllr Carl Les, was at the meeting but didn’t vote because he isn’t a committee member.

It will now be up to him and his cabinet to decide if the issue goes to a vote at full council.