PLANS have gone in to build a new public square in York.

A Reserve Matters planning application has been submitted for the new Square at York Central, following a series of public consultation events where members of the public shared their ideas to shape its design.

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York Central – often described as one of the largest brownfield sites in England – is a huge, 111 acre site behind York Station which City of York Council hopes will ultimately be redeveloped to provide up to 2,500 new homes, as well as one million square feet of office, retail and leisure space.

The site was awarded Enterprise Zone status in 2017, which means business moving there in future will be able to receive incentives to start up or expand.

Plans for The Square at the York Central development have been submitted for approval by Homes England and Network Rail Limited on behalf of the York Central Partnership.

It marks the next significant phase of the development since outline planning permission was granted by City of York Council in 2019.

The plan includes suggested alterations to the existing road network.

The applicant say that, although initially anticipated to be submitted in Spring 2023, the submission was delayed to gather additional feedback from members of the public, partners and wider stakeholders in York.

A series of in person and online events were held from November 2022 to June 2023 for people to share their views on emerging plans and help shape the designs.

Natalie Webster, Senior Project Manager on behalf of Homes England and Network Rail, said: “Key feedback which has informed the design has been around safety for pedestrians and cyclists, accessibility, lighting and planting. Greenery and community public space were important to many people too, as well as linking with wider phases of the development.

“We’ve listened to what people wanted and worked closely with the wider design and planning team to incorporate as much of this feedback as possible into the latest planning application. There have also been some great ideas that are not suitable for this particular area of the scheme but could work well elsewhere on the site and we will consider these where appropriate.”

Already £135 million in public sector funding has already been secured to build key upfront infrastructure.

Infrastructure work began in Summer last year to build over two kilometres of new roads plus public footpaths and cycle ways, as well as new utilities and the building of two new bridges over the East Coast mainline. It will also have the potential to create up to 6,000 jobs.

The plans for The Square have been validated by City of York Council will now be considered by its planning team, with a decision expected by the end of 2023. A formal consultation period is ongoing until August 29 and the full application can be found here.

To submit feedback, ideas and questions regarding wider proposals at York Central email: yorkcentral@homesengland.gov.uk