City of York Council has approved detailed plans for the initial phase of the York Central regeneration, unlocking 1,014 homes, major public parkland, new civic spaces and a western entrance to the railway station.
Detailed planning approval granted for York Central’s first phase, covering housing, commercial space and new public realms.
Phase one will deliver 1,014 mixed-tenure homes (20% affordable), a hotel, innovation hub and retail/leisure space.
A landscape-led approach centres on Central Park and Coal Drops Square to reconnect the station, museum and city.
City of York Council has approved detailed planning for the first phase of York Central, a major city-centre regeneration on a 45-hectare brownfield site next to York railway station. The scheme is a £2 billion mixed-use development intended to create a new quarter equivalent to more than 40% of the size of York's historic centre.
What the approved first phase includes
The scheme also anticipates around 6,500 jobs across the full development and more than one million sq ft of commercial space when fully built out.
Landscape and public realm strategy
The approved plans place green infrastructure and public realm at the centre of the new quarter. Grant Associates, appointed by McLaren Regeneration in 2025 after a competitive process, led the landscape design work with masterplanner Allies and Morrison.
The design approach treats York Central as a sequence of characterful public spaces that link the station, the National Railway Museum and the wider city. Stepped terraces, generous planting and flexible civic spaces are intended to support events, socialising, walking and cycling.
Peter Chmiel, Director at Grant Associates, described the approval as an "exciting milestone for York Central and its future landscape vision of fostering a new community supported by a nature rich public realm." He highlighted Central Park and Coal Drops Square as central to creating inclusive, active public spaces that connect people with the city and the site's railway heritage.
York Central occupies a 45-hectare brownfield site adjacent to the railway station and aims to deliver at least 2,500 homes across the full scheme. The approved first phase delivers just over 1,000 homes plus major civic and commercial elements. The planning approval clears the way for next-stage delivery activity, including site investigations and construction programming managed by McLaren Regeneration.
The project converts a large underused brownfield area into a mixed-use urban quarter with new walking and cycling routes, public parkland and a reoriented station entrance. The scheme also aims to expand employment space and introduce new civic places that connect to York's railway heritage and the National Railway Museum.
Images in the public release were credited to Grant Associates and the masterplan credits list reflects the multi-disciplinary design team.
York Central, a £2bn McLaren Regeneration and Arlington Real Estate development of more than a thousand homes, alongside a hotel, innovation hub, retail and leisure space, has received approval from the City of York Council, and praise from the Housing Secretary.
The first phase of development at York Central, an urban regeneration scheme, has received detailed planning approval from the City of York Council. As well as delivering 1,000 new homes – at least 20% for social and affordable rent and sale – the scheme will create new public squares, an extensive public park and a […
Phase one work to start next year when site investigation works finish
Scheme includes 20% of homes for affordable tenures
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