Bootham Park Hospital in York put on the market for sale

The former mental health hospital's site had been earmarked for redevelopment and was set to be turned into a retirement village.

But in March this year, just seven weeks after the developer's plans were approved by City of York Council, the scheme was sensationally dropped because of spiralling costs.

Now the hospital, which closed in 2015, and its grounds have been put on the market for sale.

An advert on Rightmove says the Bootham site comprises 17.85 acres including the Grade I & II Listed Bootham Park Hospital.

The site has full planning permission and listed building consent for a 172-room retirement village, the advert goes on to say.

Bootham Park Hospital

It adds that offers are sought on a conditional and unconditional basis for the whole of the property.

Bootham Park Hospital had been set for redevelopment by Enterprise Retirement Living (ERL), but The Press understands that ERL never actually owned the site, and that it is still technically part of the NHS, being owned by government body NHS Property Services.

When ERL dropped its plans in March, it said in a letter: "Whilst we’re delighted to have achieved planning for this scheme … unfortunately due to significantly increased construction costs over the last couple of years, we have made the difficult decision that it is not commercially viable to proceed with the re-development of Bootham Park."

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Bootham Park Hospital – which originally opened as the York Lunatic Asylum in 1777 – closed abruptly as a psychiatric hospital in September 2015 after Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors raised serious concerns over safety risks.

Watercolour submitted with planning documents showing how the parkland in front of Bootham Park Hospital might have looked had the redevelopment gone ahead (Image: Planning documents)

Inpatients were sent elsewhere – some as far away as Middlesbrough.

The sudden closure plunged psychiatric services in York into crisis. It was not until almost five years later that a new 72-bed psychiatric hospital – Foss Park – was opened in Haxby Road in April 2020.

Bootham Park itself – a grade one-listed John Carr building described as ‘a jewel in the crown’ of York – has stood empty ever since.

The plans would have involved demolition of the hospital's grade two-listed ‘pauper wings’, which date to 1862.

The 'pauper wings' that would have been demolished had the Bootham Park redevelopment gone ahead (Image: Planning documents)

City of York Council’s conservation architect, David Carruthers, told the planning meeting earlier this year that destruction of the pauper wings would cause 'substantial harm'. He said that estate cottages would also be demolished.

But Peter Martin, representing ERL, said at the time that the developer had tried but failed to find a design which would retain the pauper wings. These had been 'sacrificed for the benefit of the site as a whole'.

Councillors were told the grade one-listed Bootham Park Hospital building itself, and the majority of its grand internal fittings, would be be retained.

An added benefit of the scheme, they were told, was that it would formalise public access to the parkland and allow for the creation of two football pitches, with £2 million spent on landscaping the grounds.

The pitches would have been mainly used by Bootham School - but with access granted to state schools and the public 'at certain times'.

The future of the building and parkland are now once more in doubt.

The Rightmove advert states: "The site is adjacent to York Hospital to the north and Bootham School to the east. York Railway Station is half a mile to the south west and the Scarborough railway line runs along the north west boundary of the site. The site is within the vicinity of the historic St Peter’s School, Kings Manor and the Yorkshire Museum and gardens.

"Views towards York Minster can be seen from the grounds of the site and the property is approximately 0.25 miles from the heart of York city centre."

The sale is being handled by Savills in Leeds.

The Press has approached NHS Property Services for comment.