As part of York Walking Festival and York Environment Festival, York residents joined a creative riverside walk to help shape the new York rivers trail.
The trail, co-designed with schools, stakeholders and local communities, will blend art, science and local voices to tell the city’s flood and climate story when it plans to launch in summer 2026.
Starting at North Street Gardens, participants explored the city’s long history with the river including flooding – discussing the science behind the Viking Recorder, and community-led improvements already underway along the river. Along the way, they shared memories, exchanged ideas and captured these on a doodle cart – contributions that will feed directly into the trail’s design.
Cllr Jenny Kent, Executive Member for Environment and Climate Emergency at City of York Council, said:
York’s rivers shape our city, and this trail will bring their stories to life.
"It will also help understanding of the importance of land management upstream; tree and hedge planting and natural dam building can make a big difference to flooding in York, and there are actions we can all take at home. The event on 28 September was a great opportunity to hear people’s ideas, to make the trail as engaging and informative as possible.”
Victoria Murray, Ousewem project manager, added:
The River Ouse is at the heart of York’s flood story.
"Our data and defences matter, but so too do upstream natural flood management measures and the voices of local people. The York rivers trail is a new way to connect people with that work upstream.”
Wider engagement
The soft launch walk builds on trail’s wider engagement programme:
Stakeholder listening – ongoing conversations with partners including the Environment Agency, York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, St Nicks, upstream farmers, and more including community groups.
Schools programme – following a summer 2025 consultation, teachers joined an introductory workshop on 25 September. Development workshops with educators, project experts and artists will follow in November to co-design new classroom resources on rivers and resilience. Resources will be piloted in schools from March 2026.
Themes emerging from this work include using field work to explore local environments, learning how rivers change and understanding relationships between living things and their habitats. These will inform the creative interpretation of the rivers trail, along side additional activity.
Next steps
Ousewem will now focus on working with local schools, supported by engagement partner, Innovate Educate, to gather ideas and feedback from students and teachers. Updates will return as the York rivers trail builds towards its planned summer 2026 launch.
Members of the public can stay connected the new mailing list: simply email ousewem@york.gov.uk with the words “Yes, please add me to the York rivers trail”. Updates will be shared on the Ousewem website.
The York Environment Festival continues until Sunday 2 November, with a full programme of walks, talks and events across the city.
Watch the video below to find out more about the soft launch event.