A Plan for York

New sites should have local shops, cafes&pubs, recreation space – and good public transport. They should also incorporate car clubs, market gardens and private gardens.

Local shops

A typical local corner shop needs a primary catchment population of about 1,000 to 1,500 residents (or roughly 400 to 600 households) to remain financially viable. New development, as envisaged above should be able to support local shops.

Cafes and pubs

A single local café generally requires a trade area of 1,000 to 2,500 residents to survive. Cafes are likely to be viable in new developments.

Recreation space

The Barker Review of Housing Supply (2004), reported that urban parks were valued 60 times as much as urban fringe green belt by the public. These developments should include parks and recreation space.

Public transport

For high-frequency, all-day service, transit guidelines suggest a threshold closer to 4,000 people per square kilometre. [1, 2] In the locations noted above public transport to the site will serve neighbouring locations so will benefit them too.

Where the transport is using bus services, waiting areas should be provided with live arrival and departure boards. If possible these should be combined with local shops or cafes.

Car clubs

Sites should have a Car Clubs – a residential base of 50 to 100 households is typically required to make vehicle rotation, maintenance, and booking management viable. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Car clubs provide residents, visitors or businesses with access to a vehicle as a short-term rental, usually by the hour. Car clubs may also include other vehicles such as vans alongside cars.

Car club operating models include commercial car clubs, peer-to-peer commercial car sharing and community car clubs.

Commercial car clubs, such as Co-Wheels, Enterprise, Hertz and Zipcar, own their own fleet of vehicles which they rent out to users. These clubs manage the vehicle tax, insurance and maintenance and may cover fuel costs. Typically, members pay a monthly or annual fee and an hourly rate to hire a vehicle.

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One report from the Department for Transport (DfT) viewed car clubs as a vital tool for cutting down traffic congestion, lowering carbon emissions, and helping people save money. However this was withdrawn.

Some driver advocacy groups remain sceptical of car club initiatives entirely. They sometimes view government promotion of shared mobility as an intentional effort to make private car ownership more difficult or expensive through measures like low-emission zones or reduced parking spaces. The DfT is thought by some to be car-centric and may be sympathetic to the views of the advocacy groups.

The document, Car clubs: local authority toolkit, starts:

[C]ar clubs can help deliver against wide-ranging objectives which include:

• achieving net zero targets
• improving air quality
• increasing vehicle occupancy rates
• reducing parking pressures and congestion
• offering a sustainable transport option that can fill gaps in public transport provision

In the context of a car-free development, the views of driver advocacy groups hardly seem relevant.

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Market gardens and community orchards

As mentioned earlier climate change and other global effects may make feeding the population a difficulty. In an AI-world employment opportunities may be scarce. Local market gardens will provide enhanced food security as well as local employment.

City of York Council has pushed for increased greenery, aiming to boost the city’s tree cover. Contemporary community-led organisations like Edible York manage local orchards, and housing providers like the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust continue to plant community orchards in new developments. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Private gardens

Professor Matthew Carmona of the Bartlett School, UCL, did a survey after the Covid Pandemic,of how residents coped in different types of housing. He found

Access to private open space from the home was the strongest home design-based predictor of comfort. Households with a private garden or terrace space were the most comfortable, followed by those with a private balcony or shared garden.

Schools

These developments will house about 10,000 residents. Normally, a population that size would have approximately 350 nursery age children, 400 infants, 750 juniors and 700 at secondary school aged children. That might require 3 nursery schools, 2 infants schools, 2 junior schools and supply over half the catchment for a secondary school. Of course, the projected population may not be a microcosm of the UK population, particularly in the early years but more schools are obviously necessary.

Planting and landscaping

Climate change means severe weather will increase: more heatwaves, more droughts, storms and heavy rainfall. If the Atlantic Meridional Overturning current slows substantially, the changes may bring very cold blasts to the UK. If the AMOC collapsed, York and the UK would lose the warm water conveyor that keeps the region much milder than its high latitude implies. Average winter temperatures could drop drastically by 5°C to 10°C, with extreme winter lows potentially plunging to near -20°C. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Tree planting should provide shade, wind breaks and local microclimates in developments. Water features should provide additional help. Plantings should include fruit trees and nut trees.