Plan to net building to stop falling masonry

Plans to put netting on a building close to York Minster to stop masonry from falling on to the street below have been submitted.

The application, by the Minster's Works Department, said it was necessary to fit nets at 8-9 Minster Yard to protect members of the public.

It said immediate repairs to the stonework could not be carried out because the governing body of York Minster faced "significant economic constraints," in part due to a £5.5m restoration project at St William's College.

The netting would replace a scaffolding "crash deck" currently installed at the site.

According to the planning application, masonry on the Minster Gates and Minster Court sides of the 19th Century building has started to crumble.

The building was originally constructed as two private houses between 1837 and 1838, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

It was designed by architect James Pigott Pritchett in the neo-Gothic style as part of the wider redevelopment of the Minster Yard area.

The Grade II-listed building's architectural features include embattled parapets and octagonal turrets.

The application said masonry was falling from the some of the turrets, gables and window heads.

It added that repairs to the building were expected to begin within the next five years.

They added the benefits from those works would outweigh the harm caused by fitting the netting in the meantime, which is deemed to be minor.

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