03.03.05
The company that wanted to bring a London Eye-style Ferris wheel to York has unexpectedly withdrawn its planning application today.
York's councillors were due to discuss plans for the Ferris wheel at a planning meeting tonight, but World Tourist Attractions Ltd (WTA) told the council on this morning it was withdrawing its application.
WTA had submitted plans to build a 180ft-high, 365-tonne Ferris wheel, similar to the London Eye, at Tower Gardens on the banks of the River Ouse. The council had received dozens of objections residents living nearby, who felt the scheme would pose a threat to their homes by displacing flood water from the Ouse.
Planning officers had recommended the project be rejected. Council planners feared that the wheel would distract motorists on the York's inner ring road, particularly when illuminated at night. They also said the wheel, which would dwarf York's historic Cliffords Tower, would be 'over-dominant and overbearing'.
The company said it had withdrawn its plans while it tried to answer those concerns. The spokesman added that it was finding it difficult to meet conditions laid down by the council and the Environment Agency aimed at minimising the wheel's effect on flood water flow, but that WTA plans to either re-submit the plans for the same site or for another, as yet undisclosed, site in the city.