(Image: Newsquest)
What is the Public Notice Portal?
The Public Notice Portal carries statutory public notices published in local newspapers and is the fastest and most effective way of finding out what is happening in YOUR neighbourhood.
Search the Public Notice PortalYork and North Yorkshire’s mayor is “committed” to working with the area’s MP to keep the former Bootham Park Hospital site in public hands, his spokesperson has said.
It follows York Central MP Rachael Maskell saying she would write to the mayor over the site’s future, after urging the government to intervene to keep the historic psychiatric hospital due to be redeveloped for the community.
David Skaith’s spokesperson said the mayor is “committed to working with partners and will happily work with Rachael and others to develop and put forward the strongest possible case to government”.
"York is at the acute end of a housing crisis, we can't just build homes we have to build the right homes for our county's needs,” they added.
David Skaith, mayor of York and North Yorkshire
(Image: Supplied)
It comes after Ms Maskell told The Press she met with the government minister over Bootham Park Hospital who said the NHS should work with the council on its potential uses.
She also said the minister wants local Integrated Care Boards to be “more involved in decision making about the NHS estate”.
Ms Maskell said a “coalition of the willing needs to urgently come together to put forward an alternate proposal to keep Bootham Park in public hands”.
“The prime minister's devolution agenda is really motoring forward with more resource and power being placed in the hands of local people,” the MP said. “Bootham Park is a key priority for me and the general public and if we can stop the sell off, it will be of benefit to us all for generations.
“We must remember that £5 million has been spent on keeping the building empty over the last decade due to the mismanagement of this site in not seeking how it could be put to use for public good."
Rachael Maskell, MP for York Central
(Image: UK Parliament/PA Wire)
Planning permission was granted in 2023 to redevelop the 18th century Grade I-listed site into a luxury care home but the previous developer did not proceed with the scheme.
NHS Property Services has since maintained and marketed the site, which has stood empty since the psychiatric hospital closed in 2015.
The former hospital remains for sale under offer.
- People must ‘urgently come together’ to keep ex-York hospital site for public - MP
- Concern over felling of ‘precious’ trees at former Bootham Park Hospital site in York
- ‘Scandal’ of £5.5m wasted on Bootham Park Hospital – 'give it to people of York'
An NHS Property Services spokesperson said its 18-month “programme of public benefits” is underway at the site. The programme includes preserving historic assets, improving cycling and pedestrian access, and delivering sports pitches for local schools and the community, they said.
City of York Council granted the current developers an extension to August 14 for their application to discharge conditions required under the 2023 planning permission. These included work on site remediation, tree protection, and biodiversity and bats schemes.
The deadline has since been extended to October 28, NHS Property Services said.
Bootham Park Hospital in York
(Image: Newsquest)
Ms Maskell said it was “very disappointing that a second extension of time has been given to discharge the conditions for development”.
The NHS Property Services spokesperson said: “NHS Property Services continues to engage with City of York Council in relation to the planning requirements associated with Bootham Park Hospital.
"Our programme of public benefits is underway and will preserve heritage assets, enhance cycling and pedestrian access, and deliver high-quality sports provision for local schools and the community.
“We look forward to providing further updates as work progresses on the approximately 18-month programme, which will deliver new sports pitches alongside enhanced cycling and walking connections through the site.”