The NIMBY city
The parable of York, a place that does not want to grow
LAST DECEMBER York City Council considered a proposal to demolish a Mecca bingo hall and replace it with student housing. The building was acknowledged to be architecturally undistinguished. It was also unused—it had closed during the covid-19 pandemic and never reopened. Still, some councillors objected. One argued that the bingo hall was “clearly a cultural facility, if not institution” and called on the chairman to resign.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “NIMBY of the north”
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