Infrastructure works
Read more about the infrastructure works which have taken place as park of the York Central project.
Following the approval of the Reserved Matters Application in November 2020, the council’s contractors John Sisk & Sons started site clearance works in January 2021.
We have written to all residents whose properties could be affected by the work. You can get regular updates through the Band app.
The initial works include:
Site clearance:
- general vegetation clearance across the site on land owned by Network Rail and Homes England
- minimal removal of tree line behind Bishopfields Drive
- removal of redundant track (where possible this material will be re-used or recycled)
Demolition of:
- the old and disused concrete works building next to Bishopfields Drive/Phoenix Boulevard
- the disused wagon repair depot on Network Rail land
- the disused Unipart building, adjacent to York Railway Station.
The works require a few overnight closures of Leeman Road tunnel to allow overnight delivery of machinery and equipment to the construction site.
These will take place between 11:16pm and 6.00am so that they do not affect any public transport. Diversions will be put in place.
All the work has been approved as part of the planning approval on the site, which included a detailed assessment of the heritage value of the buildings.
More than 300 mature trees will be planted during the next phases of infrastructure works, while the development also includes the largest park in the city for 100 years and areas to encourage biodiversity. City of York Council is also committed to planting 50,000 trees in the city by 2023.
Millennium Green
When it was created in 2000, the Millennium Green's lease included a 'take-back' option for a small area of land to allow the York Central regeneration.
Following consultation with local residents in 2018, the Millennium Green Trust agreed a package which includes replacements land, landscaping, upgrades to footpaths and facilities and a payment of £375,000 to secure the Trust’s future.
Leeman Road
Applications to the Secretary of State to stop up a highway, for example to permanently remove highway rights from a section of highway, can be made where the highway is no longer required or to enable development to take place. In this case, the stopping up of Leeman Road is to enable the York Central development.
Timeline
In 2019, the stopping up of a section of public highway, Leeman Road, in the vicinity of the Railway Museum was proposed as part of the York Central outline planning application with consent granted in December 2019.
Following approval of the reserved matters application for the main highway infrastructure in November 2020, the Railway Museum progressed the separate stopping up order process with an application to the Secretary of State for Transport. A public inquiry was held in April 2021 and the Secretary of State granted the Stopping Up order in September 2021. Read the decision and inquiry documents.
The stopping up order and walkways agreement
The stopping up order enables a section of Leeman Road to be removed as public highway and will come into operation once the council is satisfied that the conditions of the order have been met. Prior to the stopping up coming into force, the alternative vehicular, pedestrian and cycle routes identified in the Stopping Up Order must be available around the proposed stopped up length of Leeman Road.
In addition to the new and improved public highway routes, pedestrians will also be able to pass through the Railway Museum during museum opening hours. The detail of the building layout and route through the museum was subject to a reserved matters application submitted by the Railway Museum in December 2021, which was approved by the council in August 2022. The detailed arrangements for the operation of the route through the museum are subject to a walkways agreement which has been approved between the Railway Museum and the council. For more information, read the Walkways Agreement, which was considered at the public inquiry.
A deed of variation to the walkway’s agreement changing the layout plan to cover only land in the ownership of the Railway Museum at the time of the inquiry was also submitted to the inquiry. View the 1st Deed of Variation Layout Plan.
A 2nd Deed of Variation to the Walkways Agreement was agreed in March 2023 to align with the layout for the Central Hall development approved by the Planning Committee in August 2022 and the current land ownership. View the Leeman Road Walkways Agreement - 2nd Deed of Variation.