Roads need rethink for festive traffic - councillor

Festive events in York, such as the Christmas market, attract thousands of visitors

York's roads need to be used "more efficiently" to cope with the high level of traffic in the run up to Christmas, a senior councillor has said.

Kate Ravilious, executive member for transport at York Council, said change was needed following a busy weekend on roads in and around the city.

Motorists complained of long delays that affected bus services, journeys to the Designer Outlet and into the city centre.

Ravilious said traffic was caused by a combination of Black Friday sales, the Christmas market, the UK Snooker Championship and Designer Outlet Winter Wonderland, but she said that a "change needed to occur".

Several residents told the BBC they had abandoned their journeys at the weekend because of the traffic, while one posted on social media that it had taken two hours to drive from York railway station to the outer ring road.

Arriva Yorkshire, which runs the 415 bus service between Selby and York, said it was unable to stop at the Designer Outlet on Sunday "due to heavy traffic" and passengers were asked to board and exit at Persimmon House.

Kate Ravilious said York's roads cannot accommodate the volume of traffic in the run up to Christmas

Paul Tyler, manager of McArthur Glen Designer Outlet said the firm had taken steps to tackle congestion, but had been affected by factors "beyond our control".

"Traffic and congestion were particularly challenging this past weekend, especially on Saturday afternoon," he said.

"We understand that several issues beyond our control affected the local road network and the ring road, which in turn restricted the ability of vehicles to leave or access the Designer Outlet.

"Once these external issues were resolved, traffic did begin to flow more freely again, but we recognise that some drivers were delayed for lengthy periods."

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that while he hoped the situation would not be repeated in the future, Park & Ride services had placed "substantial pressure on the centre's parking capacity".

"The Designer Outlet has more than 2,700 parking spaces, however the Park & Ride service can occupy up to 1,000 of these on busy weekends," he said.

The shopping centre applied for permission to create an extra 340 parking spaces for staff, but the plans were refused by councillors in July.

'Change is needed'

Ravilious said the council had put measures in place to manage traffic across the city, including additional Park & Ride services, increased event parking charges and parking marshals.

However, she said the council was limited on measures it could introduce around the Designer Outlet because National Highways had concerns about traffic backing up on to the A64.

She acknowledged it was "clear that York's roads can't accommodate this volume of traffic and change need to occur".

"Ultimately, the only way we can accommodate the number of visitors this time of year, short of knocking down homes and widening roads, is using our roads more efficiently," she said.

She added that the council was implementing a number of bus improvement schemes, such as a bus priority corridor through the city centre, which "should put them in a better position this time next year".

'Critical for economy'

Visitors also saw queues in the city centre for several car parks.

Figures released earlier this year found the number of people visiting York's Christmas market rose by 7% between 2023 and 2024, with a footfall count in Parliament Street of more than 1.2 million.

The market has faced criticism in the past because of concerns about overcrowding and accessibility, but tourism body Make it York said it had made changes this year to ease access.

These included fewer huts and the relocation of food stalls to widen walkways.

Sarah Loftus, managing director of Make It York, said the organisation was already working on improvements for next year's event.

"It's all about improving the experience to make it really, really Christmassy for people who want to visit York next year," she said.

She said that annually the Christmas market generated £81m of revenue and it was "critical" for the local economy.

Footfall count in Parliament Street exceeded 1.2 million in 2024, market organisers said

Peter Taylor, managing director of Nidhoggr Mead, is a regular trader at York Christmas market and said while he understood people's frustration at the congestion, for a local business it marked an "increase" in revenue.

"Every year, we get all these wonderful people from all over the country and also York locals who get to try and buy our products for Christmas," he said.

"Unfortunately I think any city you go to at this time of year is going to be too busy. And what is too busy at the end of the day?

"It's not just ourselves that see an increase, it's hotels, it's restaurants, it's shops - it's probably places where local people work."

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