Proposals unveiled for York Central

The council is working with Network Rail, Homes England and the National Railway Museum to develop proposals to regenerate the 45 hectare York Central site – one of the largest brownfield sites in the UK.

As the largest landowners, Network Rail and Homes England secured outline planning permission in 2019. This established the principles of the regeneration, creating up to 2,500 homes, an estimated 6,500 jobs, and a range of public spaces, including the city’s first new park in a century.

Each partner will now develop detailed ‘Reserved Matters’ planning applications covering different parts of the scheme.

The council has prepared the first of these, in line with the outline planning application, as it is responsible for the funding and delivery of the essential infrastructure. Homes England and Network Rail are responsible for future applications for housing and employment space.

The first Reserved Matters application proposals include:

• Access routes throughout the site, including 1.85km (1.1m) of segregated cycle and pedestrians pathways;
• A 3.5m wide bus lane on Cinder Street, and routes for two park and ride services to run through the site;
• A bridge in weathering steel – the material used on the new Scarborough Bridge foot and cycleway – across the east coast mainline;
• A 4m shared pedestrian and cycle bridge added to the Water End bridge;
• New streets and access points, including Leeman Road Spur, changes to Leeman Road tunnel and Marble Arch;
• A replacement rail link which will be used by the National Railway Museum;
• Mature tree planting along the routes, additional pathways and landscaping through Millennium Green.

Councillor Keith Aspden, leader of City of York Council, said: “York Central has enormous potential to deliver a wide-range of benefits to the city, including new homes, new jobs and new sustainable transport links in the heart of the city.

“Together with our partners, we have placed public engagement at the centre of our proposals to provide the homes, jobs and public spaces which the city needs. We are sharing these plans to demonstrate how we have responded to what residents have been telling us, particularly with regards to pedestrian, cycle and bus routes.

“I would strongly encourage everyone to look and engage with these proposals, as it is incredibly important to us that the York Central development happens and works to the benefit of everyone in the city.”

People can see the proposals online at www.yorkcentral.info