St.Mary's Castlegate, with its fine stand of trees to Piccadilly, is on the left. The large block next to it uncannily foreshadows the Copper- gate Centre development of the early 1980s.The new municipal offices, with portico and steeple and the depressingly linear clinics extending to the Castle Museum. are a late and debased evolution of McMorran's award-winning design.

Tower Street is widened to 65ft and passes over the Foss to Merchant-gate and on to Peasholme Green.

In the 1930s the Castle Precinct was associated with the Hungate area further east along the Foss,. Tower Steet would be widened to 65 feet, and from its junction with Clifford Street would pass east over the Foss by a new bridge to Merchantgate. It would cut through the east side of Walmgate, continuing through back properties over another new bridge to the Hungate area and Peasholme Green, passing out of the walled city at Layerthorpe. (A second new road would extend from Aldwark/St.Saviour's Place though the Hungate area and over a third new bridge to Navigation Road.)

A neccesary preliminary was the removal of the Castle gatehouse and walls to Castlegate. This may be one reason for the 'clean sweep' policy for the Castle area. Earlier proposals had been to open up the view of the Precint by demolition of the prison wall facing the Ouse only.

The Hungate plans were controversial.York's slum clearance scheme was the first to be approved under the 1930 Act, There was no compensation for those dispossessed of their property, beyond the value of the plot. Landlords had to pay for the demolition of property and site clearing. There were complaints of lack of public consultation about Hungate, that no representations had been passed on, and that mass demolition was being preferred to selective improvement. Hungate became a leading issue in the municipal elections. It was asked: "Is it possible that the area is being cleared for the benefit of a private company, who have already had a great deal in York at the expense of the ratepayers, and who blandly carry on expecting more?"

Similar fears were expressed by the County Committee as a reason for selling the Castle Precinct to the City: "the land should not come into the ownership of an individual or company who might utilise it for profit, irrespective of its amenities."

The comprehensive redevelopment of the quadrant of the city between south and east has seldom been observable in its entirety as clearly as on the Hungate model. Stonebow, Stonebow House, the develop- ment of Foss Islands, Navigation Road, the south part of Walmgate, etc. are all shown. Much of the building of the last sixty years responds to it.

The 1930s is the key decade for understanding the modern development of York. It is the time when the City's legacy of worn-out inner city housing was comprehensively tackled - with new estates at Acomb/Dringhouses, Kingsway North/Burton Stone Lane, Tang Hall/Heworth, etc.- and its boundaries extended. It was convenient to give the Castle Precinct the character of the hub of 'social welfare' for the expanding city.