Fonds TRA - York 2000

York 2000 was organised to protest against the building of an inner ring-road around the historic core of the city. It was formally constituted by an agreement dated 4th December 1971 and its purposes were stated to be to oppose the inner ring-road proposals of York City Council and '...to work with like-minded citizens of York and others for the proper examination of alternative solutions to the problems of traffic in York.' At the third AGM in 1975 the objects were amended to include the words '...and to co-operate with those in other places facing similar problems.'

It had been recognised since at least the 1930s that York could not accommodate increasing amounts of road traffic without major changes to its existing road system. The principal problems were the Medieval street plan with narrow streets and tight-radiused corners and the fact that all vehicles had to enter the historic core of the city to cross the river Ouse on one of the three bridges existing at that time. Early plans for a ring-road came to a halt on the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1948 an inner ring-road encircling the city was proposed; this plan was not carried out, at least in part because it would have entailed the demolition of all properties between the road and the city walls, an average distance of some 250 yards! However, its legacy was an unspoken belief that that the solution to York's traffic problems was an inner ring-road, running somewhere near to the city walls.

The City Engineer published a report in 1967 recommending the building of an inner ring-road. Acting on this report, the council engaged the firms of R Travis Morgan & Partners and Landscape Use Consultants to design the proposed new road. They reported in 1970 and the council adopted the report. The new road would avoid the historic core of the city but run through the Georgian and Victorian suburbs, requiring the demolition of many old buildings and blighting (in both the technical and ordinary senses of the word) many other premises and communities. Opposition was at first somewhat muted, since, to borrow a phrase from a slightly later period, it was believed that there was no alternative.

York had several conservation and amenity groups with interests in different aspects of the city's heritage. Members of those groups expressed concern about the plans, but no group felt able to take the lead in opposing them as a single issue. Indeed some groups had officially, albeit reluctantly, accepted the notion of an inner ring-road. York 2000 was organised by persons who were already members of amenity groups or who had interests in conservation. An ad hoc protest meeting in September 1971 by inhabitants of the Mount and Clementhorpe areas of York seems to have decided to organise more formally and York 2000 came into being as an unincorporated body formed by a written agreement dated 8th December 1971 to which there are 20 signatories. It grew to have over 9000 members at its peak.

York 2000 did not see itself simply as opposing the inner ring-road. It wanted to make a constructive contribution to the solution of York's traffic problems. From the beginning it sought, and acted on, professional advice as to how to proceed. Planning legislation required a public inquiry and York 2000 was advised that, of the several ways it might object to the proposals, its best option would be to lead evidence at the public inquiry that the council had not fully considered all the alternatives, in particular the active management of traffic. It engaged the firm of Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners as its planning consultants and Professor Alan Proudlove of Liverpool University to advise on traffic issues.

York 2000 raised funds from its membership fees and various activities. The membership fee was set low (10p) to encourage as many people as possible to join and to ensure that the organisation became a mass movement. Inter alia it published a York Cook Book and held an auction. It also received funding from the Joseph Rowntree Memorial Trust in respect of that part of Nathaniel Lichfield & Partner's work which could be published as a report.

In September 1972, before the public inquiry it held a conference, Planning, Participation and Protest, on the topic of how the public could become involved in traffic issues and the planning process. The conference attracted delegates from all parts of the UK.

The public inquiry took place in October 1972. Nathaniel Lichfield and Alan Proudlove gave evidence on behalf of York 2000. The Planning Inspector reported in favour of the inner ring-road but the Secretary of State called-in the report for further consideration. The Secretary of State did not announce his decision until 1975, but, in dismissing York council's application, he substantially upheld the case made on behalf of York 2000.

After the public inquiry closed but before the decision York 2000 produced a publication York 2000 People in Protest telling the story of the formation of the organisation and its work to date.

York 2000 continued its activities in calling for a ban on heavy lorries using the city's roads as a short-cut between North Lincolnshire and Teeside and their re-routeing via existing dual carriageways. It appears to have ceased to be active by the end of the 1970s, as evidenced by the minutes of the AGMs, but there is no evidence that it was formally wound-up.

Two people seem to dominate the history of York 2000: the chairman, David Cummin, and the secretary, Jean Wallace.