A proposal to join the West Yorkshire Transport Fund will go before the Executive at its Thursday 24 November meeting, which if approved would deliver over £72m for infrastructure projects in York, including an allocation of £32.3m part funding towards progressing access plans for the massive York Central site, one of the largest areas of potential brownfield developments in the north.
Crucial to unlocking the potential of this huge but complicated area adjacent to the railway station is providing suitable access and, should the Executive vote to join the transport fund, the money identified for York Central will enable the administration to push forwards with identifying the best access plan into the site from among five choices.
Feedback from the public consultation regarding development of the site has shown that, although there is high overall support for development (79% in favour from 1,224 responses), the location of the access road is one of the main concerns of residents and local community groups
For this reason CYC and its partners have committed to meet regularly with residents and communities affected by the development, and have established a York Central Community forum to gather community views. As part of the Executive meeting on Thursday 24 November councillors will be asked to agree that further consultation on the site access options is undertaken.
Cllr. David Carr, Leader of the Council with responsibility for Housing and Safer Neighbourhoods said “York Central represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to deliver major growth in York. We must however ensure that local communities have been fully consulted on the choice of access route and that residents are fully engaged with the proposals. As we all know this is a difficult and expensive site to develop and we need to work closely with local residents and local businesses to get our plans right.”