YORK

• Built Environment: Historic City - narrow streets = congestion on inner ring road , Venturi effect by minister , lack of airflow causes increased pollution e.g Gillygate
• Flooding CAUSES: Large catchment area, low lying topography , increased development
• Flooding : 2015 floods = 453 homes + 174 buisnesses flooded
• Flooding Management: SUDS - Dewenthorpe 5km2 pond - successful in 2015 floods
• Flooding Management: £45 million flood defences - DEFRA e.g increased river banks by 2m
• Flooding Management: £17 million upgrade to Foss Barrier
• Flooding Management: EA said it will be unable to deliver all improvements to Yorks flood defences
• York Waste: 43.2% is recycled vs 62% in St Albans
• York Waste: 411 kg / person / year is collected by YorWaste
• York Waste: Rufforth landfill -> converted to nature reserve - waste now goes to Allerton
• York Waste: Waste dumping sites on York ring road ( Poppleton ) -> under pressure from Joseph Rowntree who want to build houses to meet Yorks 2% annual growth rate/ demand for 1000 houses each year
• York Waste: Allerton Waste Recovery Park - opened in 2018

  • Cost £1.4 billion
  • Processes 320,000 tonnes of waste + reduces landfill by 90%
  • Creates renewable energy for 40,000 homes 
  • Opposition from residents due to disruption of landscape and pollution
  • Produces hazardous fly ash - but proposed plans to safely dispose of it in licensed landfill sites
• York waste targets; failed to meet target of 50% recycling by 2020
• York Air Pollution CAUSES:

  • Congestion - ring road 
  • Bootham and Gillygate 17 µg/m3/m3/day of PM10 ( WHO recommends 20 as safety limit)
  • Increase in car ownership - over 2 per household 
• York Air pollution: Monitored by CYC with 8 stations
• York air pollution MANAGEMENT

  • Low emissions strategy - 6 P+R sites carry 4 million passengers/ year
  • Fully electric P+R fleet - first in UK - 35 buses funded by Deparment of Transport in 2018
  • 3 year trial of Tier Scooters - only 10 accidents - over 60,000 users - but being removed
  • ‘Pay as you go’ electric vehicle charging network - 50 sites across York
  • Derwenthorpe - £150 incentive for bike/bus pass
  • Electric buses don't reduce PM10
  • Connected cycle routes e.g Route 66
• Water Pollution CAUSES: Rain drains - oil and other pollutants washed from roads/ gardens / roofs into drains. Floods overwhelm water plants and wash sewage into rivers
• Water Pollution Issues:2016 - Yorkshire Water fined £1 million for illegally discharging sewage into Ouse after 2013 pump failure

  • Outer York MP - applied pressure on Yorkshire Water after residents in Rawcliffe complained of sewage smells 
  • Pathogens enter ecosystem 
  • Items create blockage at plants e.g wipes , false teeth
• Water Pollution MANAGEMENT:

  • Naburn Water Treatment Plant - serves 145,000 - discharges 108 million litres of treated water into the Ouse per day. Takes 26 hours to treat water
  • Closed sewage networks 
  • 50 pumping station and 2 treatment works
  • EA do a water quality assessment 
  • 2015= £1 million upgrade to Castle Mills pumping station to protect it from floods
• Socioeconomic: Nearly 50% live in the least deprived areas (IMD 2015)
• Socioeconomic: No clear patterns to locations of depravations around York
• Socioeconomic: Kingsway North = 2nd depravation decile
• Socioeconomic: Clifton Green = 7th depravation decile
• Socioeconomic: Joint Health Report 2017 - link between level of depravation and life expectancy
• Socioeconomic: Childhood obesity - 1700 primary children are obese
• Socioeconomic MANAGEMENT: Infant feeding group - provide early nutrition advice and support
• Socioeconomic MANAGEMENT: Daily Mile initiative - encourages children to do physical activity - but only 5 schools take part
• Socioeconomic : 4705 children live in poverty - concentrated in Westfield (18.60%) , Heworth and Hull Road
• Socioeconomic MANAGEMENT: York childhood poverty strategy - aims to lift 1000 out of poverty
• Socioeconomic MANAGEMENT: Local Area teams - support families in financial difficulties
• Sustainability: York aims to be carbon neutral by 2030
• Edwardian/ Victorian expansion

  1. Industrialisation

  2. Deindustrialisation
• Edwardian/ Victorian expansion


  • Terrys and Rowntree factories converted into Chocolate and Cocoa works (flats and carehomes)
• Period terrace housing - Bishopthorpe Road


  • Gentrification = house prices increase + locals pushed out
  • Parking and green space conflict
• Interwar expansion

  • Clifton Green - local authority housing on Kingsway North
  • Airfield turned into Red Row housing
• Modern Expansion

  • Limited by green belt (conservatives 1960's)
  • Shortage of 1000 homes per year
  • Brownfield sites
  • Increase flood risk + congestion
  • Sustainable e.g Derwenthorpe
• SUBURBANISATION : Clifton absorbed by York in 1925
• SUBURBANISATION : Clifton = 10,134 residents - 5% Yorks population
• SUBURBANISATION : Clifton = IMD 2/21
• SUBURBANISATION : Clifton = NHS hospital has 17% overseas workers