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12
Mar
Civic society calls for a 'shared vision' on development of Ripon Cathedral Quarter
Ripon Civic Society has called for a 'shared vision and realistic plan' for development of a cathedral quarter following the withdrawal of the planning application for an £8 million annexe scheme on Minster Gardens.
A statement read out by the society's co-chair Richard Taylor at last week's full city council meeting said:
We call upon the city council on behalf of the city as a whole to work with the cathedral and key organisations in the city including the civic society to carry out a ‘Planning for Real’ exercise.
This would be best done by bringing in someone from outside to run a session with everyone round the table.
The aim would be to come up with a shared vision and realistic plan for the Cathedral Quarter flowing from the Neighbourhood Plan.
Mr Taylor, added:
Ripon Civic Society welcomes the decision of Ripon Cathedral to withdraw its application for an annexe. This removes the current threat to Kirkgate Park (known to some as Minster Gardens), a publicly-owned amenity open space with protected trees and one which provides an important heritage setting within the conservation area.
The society has always supported the need for the cathedral to provide new facilities. However, we and many others in the community felt strongly that this proposal was simply the wrong building on the wrong site.
We believe that the withdrawal of the application provides the City with an opportunity to make an entirely fresh start by going back to first principles to create a twenty-first century development of which everyone can be proud.
The Local Plan states that proposals for the improvement of Ripon city centre will be dealt with through the statutory Neighbourhood Plan, which was agreed by referendum. The Society believes we need to work together as a city to develop a shared vision for the Cathedral and Kirkgate Quarters, as envisaged in the Neighbourhood Plan.
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