York Minster has received planning approval to allow two modular buildings be placed its shadow to allow construction of its £5m ‘centre of Excellence.’
City of York Council is allowing the buildings totalling 71m2 to remain on-site from January 23 for 72 weeks to provide “essential welfare and office accommodation.”
The Minster’s Work’s department are due to relocate from the current stoneyard in Deansgate to allow demolition to begin, and create the new crafts centre.
The Guildhall Planning Panel had objected to the application, saying the temporary buildings would be ‘unsightly’ and would block views of the minster.
But council planning staff said a suggestion from the panel to use a nearby former school building was not suitable as that is being converted into a Refectory, with completion due this year.
Council planners accepted the time period sought for the buildings was the longest period of consent sought and the Minster making an important contribution to the setting of the city and its visitor economy.
The harm from the temporary buildings would be temporary and reversible, they said, and would allow the relocation of Minster staff whilst the Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills would bring.
This centre “would bring various public benefits”, they concluded, which are “considered to sufficiently justify the less than substantial harm the siting of two modular buildings would give rise to.”
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