Work is set to start next year on a £77m regeneration project around York city’s railway station.
City of York Council’s planning committee has given planning approval to the multimillion-pound infrastructure works package for the project, which will deliver 2,500 new homes, up to 1.2m sq ft of commercial development and improved visitor access to the National Railway Museum.
John Sisk & Son will carry out the infrastructure work in York, including the creation of a new bridge over the East Coast mainline, new cycling and pedestrian routes and new drainage systems.
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The firm has already started clearance work at the site, where construction will get under way early next year.
The area, which has enterprise zone status, will also create 6,500 new jobs once completed, delivering and extra £1.2bn to the local economy.
The scheme marks a major step forward in the development of one of the largest brownfield sites in England, following the formation of the York Central Partnership in 2016 by Homes England, Network Rail, the City of York Council and the National Railway Museum.
Homes England and Network Rail have supported the site’s development through land acquisition and master planning, and they will now oversee the infrastructure projects.
Councillor Keith Aspden, leader of City of York Council, said: “This is another vital step towards delivering the York Central scheme and unlocking a £1.16bn boost to our economy, including a new generation of jobs and hundreds of affordable homes when York needs it most.
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“I would like to thank all our partners, including Homes England, Network Rail and the wider York Central Partnership, who have secured funding from West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the York and North Yorkshire LEP. Working together, we are delivering where decades of proposals have failed.
“Our shared vision is for an ambitious development, one which delivers cleanerand inclusive growth in York. This vision underpins the entirety of the project and we will keep playing our part to make York Central deliver for the whole city.
“We remain committed to working with local communities to make sure York Central delivers for all our residents, andwe will begin the next phase of My York Central in the coming months.”
Peter Freeman, chair of Homes England, said: York Central is one of the most important brownfield sites in the country and this exciting project will create homes, jobs and a better visitor experience for the city.
“Starting work on the infrastructure brings this development much closer and we look forward to working with all the project partners on behalf of the government to unlock this challenging site.”
The project forms part of a wider £155m funding package pulled together by the council, which also includes £23.5m of a total of £37.2m from the West Yorkshire-plus Transport Fund and Leeds City Region Growth Deal, which will also fund the ambitious plans to transform the front of the railway station.
The West Yorkshire-plus Transport Fund has been part-funded through the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) Growth Deal, which aims to create around 20,000 new jobs and add £2.4bn a year to the economy by the mid-2030s.
City of York Council has also received a Local Growth Fund contribution of £6m from York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership and agreed to borrow £35m to be repaid using retained business rates from the York Central Enterprise Zone.