Arc Light On

The City of York Council has selected the Union Terrace Car Park as its preferred site for the new Arc Light Centre.
York Arc Light will now have to apply for planning permission to build its new centre for homeless people in York on the car park
There has been a well organised campaign by local residents opposing the site and I have no doubt it will continue. It is a campaign I have chosen not to support.
I trust that if the centre is built there will be open and effective communication between the centre and the residents. I am under no illusion that it will at times be challenging to provide for homeless people so close to our homes. But in some ways nothing changes because they are already here. Many of them come to the Salvation Army at the end of the street for their meals, and until recently they congregated in Exhibition Square. Now they will have a purpose built centre designed to help them find their place in society. It will staffed by people qualified to assist them. I wish them all the best.