Historic conservation experts have criticised large-scale plans to build apartments, hotels, and a Roman museum.
Historic England claims that the development of the Roman Quarter would cause damage to York’s centre.
After the original plans were thrown out by City of York Council, revised plans were submitted, to include a new Roman museum, to be called Eboracum. The scheme includes an aparthotel of 88 rooms, 153 new apartments, and new office space.
Historic England, the public body which champions the historic environment and has objected, however. It says:
The city’s rich history will be lessened by the current proposals.
The archaeology would suffer severe damage if the entire site was excavated.
We find the reasoning for this contradictory and confusing.
A significant harm would also be done to the York Central Conservation Area’s character and the setting for listed buildings such as the Grade I All Saints Church..
The organisation is critical about the plans for the possible archaeology under the site. They were made in consultation with the York Archaeological Trust.
It regrets “the proposed wholesale removal of the archaeology across a third of the site to enable the construction of a visitor attraction” which “involves the complete removal of an irreplaceable resource”.
Historic England continues:
If this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it is worth evaluating the entire site to determine the most archaeologically significant area, so that the full impact of the development can be understood and the appropriate mitigation strategies can be developed.
Overbearing contrast
The Roman Quarter plan, which was submitted for planning permission, was submitted by Rougier Street Developments, owners, and York Archaeological Trust.
According to the developers, the scheme has been completely redesigned after taking into account feedback from the council and other stakeholders following the rejection of the original version. Councillors deemed the original version monolithic.
Historic England stated that it did not have any discussions with developers before the new plans for Northern House were submitted. It says the building proposed to replace Northern House on Rougier Street “is taller, occupies a larger footprint and fails to provide the transition to its neighbours that, for all its faults, Northern House achieves”.
It goes on: “The two-storey building at No1 Rougier Street will be replaced by an apart-hotel that will be 5 storeys with a roof terrace at its lowest point.
“The consequent contrast with the cluster of modest medieval buildings around All Saints Church will be stark and the presence of the new building overbearing.
“These proposals will have a considerable detrimental affect on the immediate setting of the Grade I church and degrade its presence as a landmark in views from vantage points within the city, such as from Cliffords Tower.”
You can find all the details about the plans at Here is the City of York Council planning portal.
