Latest news on St George's Field
Work is currently underway to review the layout of the surface level car park as outlined below.
As the revised scheme will be remarking, rather than a built structure, it is anticipated it will not require planning permission.
The council has committed to providing replacement parking before Castle Car Park can close. At the masterplan stage this was proposed to be a multi-storey car park at St George’s Field.
Improved car park on St George’s Field is the first essential development to deliver the centrepiece of the Castle Gateway Masterplan – replacing the Castle Car park with public space around Eye of York and Clifford’s Tower.
The re-design will reflect elements of the brief created through engagement by My Castle Gateway for the development of St George’s Field which:
- establishes a new arrival point for York
- improves pedestrian and cycle routes to the rest of the city
The re-design will seek to balance the following elements in surface level layout:
- improved parking capacity
- pedestrian and cycle connectivity
- coach drop-off facilities
- resurfaced car park
- improved blue badge parking bays
The re-design will not affect existing elements of the site including:
- Environment Agency flood walls
- access to the Foss Flood Barrier
- sewerage plant buildings
- public toilet building
- scheduled ancient monument (footprint of Medieval Church)
See more information on:
Previous plans at St George's Field
The first planning applications for the Castle Gateway Masterplan were submitted in Autumn 2019 for a residential development in the Castle Mills area and multi-storey car park at St George's Field.
This planning application proposed a four-storey car park at St George’s Field to replace the parking spaces which would be lost on the current Castle Car Park, to be funded through the new residential apartment developments on the site of the demolished Castle Mills Car Park.
The footprint of the car park was constrained by several site challenges including underground electric cables, two major sewer pipes, existing flood walls, the footprint of a Medieval Church, and access to the Foss Flood Barrier. The resulting footprint meant that four-storeys were needed to deliver sufficient size and number of bays needed to close Castle Car Park.
This included:
- 372 car parking spaces and 25 surface level coach parking bays. This will reduce the number of parking spaces in the city centre by around 100 and remove the journeys associated with Castle Car Park outside the inner ring road.
- Access to the car park at first floor level so it could be used in times of flood (regularly, up to 6 times a year).
- Use materials and green walls to complement the natural environment.
- External 'feature staircase' to make the most of new views of Clifford's Tower and the city beyond.
- Reinstate the ‘field’ through public realm and green space to draw people in and encourage them to stop and enjoy the spaces. Use tough, easily cleanable surfaces and hardy vegetation which won't be damaged when the area floods.
- Improved pedestrian and cycle links to the rest of the city.
See the vision for the multi-storey car park at St George's Field.
A four-storey car park at St George's Field is needed to replace the parking spaces which would be lost on the current Castle Car Park, and would be funded through the new residential apartment developments on the site of the demolished Castle Mills Car Park.
Because of these challenges, the footprint of the car park proposal is smaller than we originally hoped; therefore we've added an extra layer to get the right number of decent-sized parking bays needed to close Castle Car Park.
The new multi-storey car park will provide 372 large modern car parking spaces and 25 neighbouring surface level coach parking bays. This will reduce the number of parking spaces in the city centre by around 100 and remove the journeys associated with Castle Car Park outside the inner ring road.
Access to the car park would be at first floor level, meaning the car park can continue to be used in times of flood. We're proposing to use natural materials and green walls to fit with the existing high quality environment. An external 'feature staircase' will make the most of the amazing new views of Clifford's Tower and the city beyond.
Artists impression of the main entrance to St Georges Field
Timeline
A planning application was submitted in September 2019 for a multi-storey car park on St George's Field. You can view the St George's Field planning application via the Planning Portal quoting reference number 19/02063/FUL.
On 19 November 2020, Planning Committee asked for more information regarding St George’s Field multi-storey car park and deferred the decision. This information was provided, and the planning application was approved on 7 January 2021.
You can view the webcasts of the Planning Committee meetings from Thursday 19 November 2020 and Thursday 7 January 2021.
On 18 November 2021 the council’s Executive considered a report on the strategic review of city centre access and parking that was undertaken this summer.
In June 2022 the council’s Executive received an update on the Castle Gateway project and agreed that the decision on whether to build a multi-storey car park at St George’s Field be deferred until Executive has a construction price for Castle Mills.
In November 2023 the Executive agreed that the council will not proceed with the building of a multi storey car park on St George’s Car Park, as it does not represent value for money in terms of providing additional spaces. Instead, Executive agreed to develop proposals within a surface level layout. CYC officers are working on these layouts with BDP.