YoCo News (May 2023)
…with an update on the York Central master development partner appointment process, our small tent at Big Tent, Don’t Extract, Redistribute! How to Co-Own Your Local Economy, York Central Heritage Forum and our upcoming Monthly Open Meetings.
York Central master development partner
Homes England and Network Rail are currently going through a process to appoint a master development partner. There are now only two on the shortlist preparing final bids. The decision will be announced in September. YoCo has been talking to both about the My York Central Big Ideas and Vision and the YoCo Community Plan for York Central.
Foundry Buildings incubator space
We took our plans for turning the Foundry Buildings into an incubator space to the York Central Strategy Board last month and have submitted a bid into the Shared Prosperity Fund. It looks like any decisions about use of the Foundry Buildings will be made after the Master Developer is appointed.
An extraordinary campaign by local residents and supporters, which led to Coin Street’s purchase and redevelopment of a 13-acre site on the southbank of the Thames. Hear from Coin Street’s Iain Tuckett in the opening session of ‘Don’t Extract, Redistribute!’.
Don’t Extract, Redistribute! How to Co-Own Your Local Economy – 1st and 2nd June
If you’ve read the YoCo community plan for York Central you’ll know the importance of local economy, so we have set up an event with speakers across the UK who are creating the kind of local economies that will make and sustain the places they care about. Join ‘Don’t Extract, Redistribute! How to Co-Own Your Local Economy’ to hear the stories of community-led initiatives – both long established and newer – and engage with policy leaders’ and funders’ perspectives on the next directions for economies that create the homes and neighbourhoods we need and build community wealth. Throughout and after the event we’ll be seeking to apply everything we learn to York and to York Central, so we hope lots of YoCo members and York people generally can come.
Big Tent Ideas Festival
On 16th and 17th June there is an event happening in Dean’s Park with the strapline ‘a new way of doing politics: the annual non-partisan platform for people and communities to engage with political leaders and influence public policy’. YoCo will be involved in the invite only day on 16th June on a panel looking at ‘Lessons from and for York Central’ and on the public day on 17th June where we’re running a session and will be sharing a Gazebo with Yorspace and Spare Handle. Once we know the details of the public event on 17th June, we’ll share them but do plan to come and see us in our small tent at Big Tent. Book a free ticket for 17th June here.
The old Goods Office now part of the National Railway Museum.
York Central Heritage Forum
We’ve had a terrific run of events as part of York Central Heritage Forum, from our launch with the Civic Trust’s Andrew Morrison exploring the pre-railway history of York Central, to a visit to Holgate Windmill, to York Explore to see the different archives holdings for York Central to an exploration with Andrew McLean of the local histories of the National Railway Museum. Our next event will be ‘Christine Waddington – A Shop on Every Corner’, 16th September, 1-3pm at St Barnabas Church, book your free place here.
Upcoming Monthly Open Meetings
Our next Monthly Open Meeting is next Saturday 20th May. It is a drop in between 1-3pm at St Barnabas Church and there’ll be different areas of activity: Come, bring, swap and/or take plants and get advice for the planting year – in collaboration with Edible York. Help build a map of our local growing systems, where is food being grown, where are our local glut shares – in collaboration with Morrell House Co-Operative. Join a discussion about the public spaces on York Central and how they might be shaped by the My York Central big idea of allowing people to be collectively creative.
On 10th June (1-3pm, meet at St Barnabas) our Open Monthly Meeting will be on Wild Streets where we will explore the wildness already in the streets of the Leeman Road and Poppleton Road areas and ask how much wilder streets might be on York Central? Book your free place here.