Wilson, Richard, fl 1980-1982

The campaign to preserve the open space to the south of Beverley Minster began in the late 1970s. It followed the circulation by the Chief Planning Officer of Beverley Borough Council, Deryck Solman, of a draft development brief for the St Andrew Street/Lurk Lane area of the town in March 1976. Although the document recognised the value of the site, which was partly within the Beverley Conservation Area, the consultation process which began in April highlighted a number of contentious issues. Consultees ranging from the Minster Residents' Association and Beverley and District Civic Society, to the Director of Planning of Humberside County Council, objected principally to Mr Solman's assumption of the need for extensive demolition of properties in the area and the expansion of housing development to the west of Lurk Lane, encroaching onto a stretch of land designated as Public Open Space by the Beverley and District Development Map. Originally the location of the Minster Boys' School, this site was purchased from the York Diocesan Board of Finance Limited by the Borough Council in September 1975 for the sum of 4000, on the understanding that it would be utilised for open space purposes. In response to the brief, a report by students of Hull School of Architecture was produced for the Civic Society which favoured the creation of a Housing Action Area in St Andrew Street/Lurk Lane, combining both rehabilitation and selective demolition and rebuilding of existing housing (DBE/1/5-6 13, 18; DBE/2/7).

As long ago as 1961 however, the Borough Council had resolved that housing conditions in St Andrew Street/Lurk Lane were such that this course of action would be `undesirable and uneconomic' and that the choice was therefore between demolition and clearance or redevelopment of the area. The establishment of the St Andrew Street Development Co-operative Limited (SASDC) in 1977 indicated that residents preferred the latter option and the Design Unit at York University was commissioned by the Co-operative in July of that year to undertake a feasibility study. It was from this study by David Crease that the controversial development scheme emerged which involved the expansion of housing west of Lurk Lane, necessitating the purchase of the Minster school site from the Council. SASDC paid 40,500 for the property in October 1979 and in August of the following year submitted an outline planning application for Phase I of the project, incorporating residential development of the site by Stepney Developments Limited. After consultation, outline planning permission was granted by the Council on 23 October 1980, in spite of opposition by such councillors as David Barley and William Hamilton, and the emergence of a compromise solution on 20 October suggested by Sir Hugh Wilson and William Whitfield of the Royal Fine Art Commission (DEB/1/6, 8, 19; DBE/14/1).

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