The vast potential of York’s largest brownfield site has been unveiled by City of York Council, Network Rail and the National Railway Museum (NRM), who have announced plans to consult with residents and businesses on what has been labelled as the King’s Cross of the North.

Over the past 12-months, the council has been working in collaboration with Network Rail, the NRM and the Homes and Communities Agency towards a high level masterplan of York Central – a 72 hectare site located in the heart of the city.

The city’s new vision could provide up to 120,000 sq m of high-quality office space, creating up to 7,000 new jobs, a new residential community for up to 2,500 new homes, with opportunities to expand and enhance the National Railway Museum, make improvements to the railway station and create a network of vibrant public squares, green spaces and routes linking to surrounding neighbourhoods.

Cllr Keith Aspden, Deputy Leader of City of York Council and Executive Member for Economic Development, said:

“This planning framework outlines the key principles for redevelopment of York Central and the next steps forward. It includes a vision to deliver high quality office space, new jobs and up to 2,500 homes as well as proposals to expand the National Railway Museum, improve the railway station and create new public squares, green spaces and transport routes.

“The launch of this framework is the first step in an ongoing conversation with residents over York Central, including a full public consultation in January. We have a tremendous opportunity and we need to work hand-in-hand with local residents to get these plans right. If we do then the redevelopment could successfully transform our local economy and provide a historic boost to our city.”

York Central was recently identified as an Enterprise Zone by the government during its Autumn Statement, thanks to a joint bid by City of York Council and the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership, which will potentially unlock over £100million to help deliver the York Central site.

Enterprise Zone status will mean that 50 per cent of business rates for the York Central site, which would have gone back to government, will be retained in the area. The council is now developing a funding strategy which will deliver upfront infrastructure to facilitate development of the site. Further details will be brought back to councillors next year. A further report will also be taken to Full Council next year to ask to agree to future expenditure against the £10m capital budget allocated to the delivery of the York Central capital budget.

Next week, councillors will be asked to approve proposals at an Executive meeting (15 December), to progress a Planning Framework for the site which will establish key principles for all development. If approved, a detailed consultation will launch in January asking for views to help guide the framework and the different options presented.

To ensure the development scheme can be delivered, Executive will also be asked to approve plans to purchase plots of land on York Central, one owned by Unipart and one by a private individual, which are essential to the development of the site. The council is working closely with Unipart to secure an alternative site in York.

Further investment has also been allocated by the HCA, which has earmarked £9.4m of equity investment in to the site (subject to final agreement of the partnership arrangements and the actual expenditure). The council is set to invest up to £250k to help fund professional advisors and the NRM are also set to invest £20k towards further development costs, which is also subject to final agreement of the partnership arrangements.

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