Joe Gerrard

Plans to convert the long-closed Murton Arms in Murton, York, into a ground-floor café with a three-bedroom apartment above have been submitted for approval of outstanding conditions. The pub closed permanently in 2018 after struggling to attract customers, and no viable pub operator emerged when it was marketed in 2024. Supporters, including Mark Warters and York Civic Trust, say the café would restore a community meeting place in a village lacking facilities. Yorkshire Barn Café and the Campaign for Pubs oppose the scheme, citing competition, hospitality-sector pressures and the loss of a unique pub resource.

Pure Cremation plans to convert a former mobile network switching centre at York Business Park in Nether Poppleton into a 24-hour mortuary capable of storing up to 700 bodies. The company’s agent, O’Neill Associates, says the facility would be screened from nearby homes, generate negligible traffic and noise, and employ up to 35 people. Bodies would be stored in coffins for three to four days before transport to crematoriums or third-party facilities. Local funeral directors, other objectors and Liberal Democrat councillor Anne Hook have criticised the proposal as undignified and potentially harmful to neighbouring businesses, while the agent says similar premises in Knutsford have caused no reported problems.

Federal Café has lodged plans with City of York Council to convert the former Lush store at 5 Coney Street into an Australia and New Zealand-inspired café and bar. The proposals include a kitchen, interior refitting of the Grade II-listed building, an accessible toilet, courtyard repainting and new signage. The Manchester-founded chain, which now has three Manchester cafés and one in Leeds, is seeking to expand into York as part of the wider Coney Street regeneration scheme, which will add retail and leisure space, a new waterfront public area and 358 student bedrooms.

City of York Council has approved plans for 703 solar panels on the roof of Network Rail’s National Records Centre at Clifton Moor Retail Park. The array could generate up to approximately 358 kilowatt-peak and will be installed across four roof areas. Planning officers concluded that the panels would fit the surrounding industrial setting, would not be visible from public viewpoints, and would not create significant glare or loss of residential amenity.

The Chapter of York has outlined plans to transform the Old Palace Library and surrounding area near York Minster into a dedicated museum, educational centre and public sensory garden. The project would require £30 million in fundraising, which is currently under way. In the short term, City of York Council has approved plans to resurface the deteriorating Old Palace car park for continued staff use. The proposals form part of York Minster’s longer-term neighbourhood plan through 2035 and aim to support heritage conservation, education and community wellbeing.

York’s public health director has warned that the city is vulnerable to outbreaks because coverage for both doses of the MMRV vaccine among five-year-olds is 87.7%, below the World Health Organization’s 95% target. The warning follows a national rise in measles cases, outbreaks in the West Midlands and London, and England losing its measles elimination status. The Local Government Association is calling for councils to receive greater authority, funding and accountability for local vaccination programmes, while planned changes will transfer immunisation commissioning from NHS England to Integrated Care Boards. Public health officials say clearer responsibility and improved access, particularly in deprived communities, are needed to reverse declining uptake.