A TRIAL A-board ban will go ahead in the city centre a month later than planned, it was confirmed at a meeting on Thursday night.

Business owners asked the city council’s ruling executive to reconsider the deal, but with campaigners for blind and partially sighted people and older people backing the proposed ban, it got the go ahead.

Dawn Argyle, of the Luxury Ice Cream Company, was among the business owners asking for a rethink.

She said small firms like hers were “the goose that lays the golden egg” for York, paying business rates and wages, and said A-boards were only used because they work and bring in custom.

Instead of banning them, the council should be trying to find other ways of supporting small businesses, she added.

"A ban is easy to come up with, something to help small businesses is harder."

Harry Bains, of Love Cheese on Gillygate, added: “The difference between profit and loss is very close. Even the slightest loss of footfall can make a difference”.

Businesses on “corridor streets” like Gillygate have to work hard to attract customers, he said, and losing an effective and flexible way of advertising will hit them hard.

The plan got a much warmer reception from the Civic Trust's Sir Ron Cooke, and Diane Roworth of the York Blind and Partially Sighted Society, who said she was pleased councillors were finally considering the ban.

The York Older People’s Assembly also backed the idea, and the RNIB's Maqsood Sheikh told councillors it would help combat the "internal injuries" people with sight problems suffer when they lose confidence about walking around the city centre, and decide to stay at home instead.

City of York Council’s executive met on Thursday to consider the proposals, and approved the 12-month trial ban in the city centre, but pushed back the start date by a month until 1 February next year, extending the transition period.

They had welcomed the move to help people get around the city, but some had asked questions about whether the 1 January deadline left enough time for businesses to come up with alternatives - like hanging signs - and get them through the planning process.

The proposed "City Approved Boards" mounted on walls to help point people to businesses on smaller streets and alleyways also got their backing, but the council's highway development manager Richard Bogg admitted that getting them in place by January would be a challenge.

The exemption for Micklegate was also approved, and traders will be able to apply for licences to display an A-board