£37m confirmed to help fund York Central

£37.32m of external funding has been confirmed for the York Central development.It will come from the West Yorkshire-plus Transport Fund and Leeds City Region Growth Deal.That’s a £1 billion package of Government investment through the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP), delivered by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to accelerate growth and create jobs across Leeds City Region.The funding will contribute to a new western access road, bridge and spine road into York Central, a fully accessible western entry into the railway station and the station frontage schemeThecouncil says the scheme will support the delivery of up to 2,500 new homes and over 6,000 new jobs.BREAKDOWN£23.5m of this funding will contribute to the £155m infrastructure funding package for York Central with a further £11.7m towards the costs of transforming the front of the station.Together the two schemes will open up the 72 hectare York Central site which is surrounded by railway lines, and create residential neighbourhoods, cultural spaces, and a high-quality commercial quarter at the heart of York.The plans for the front of the station will demolish Queen St Bridge, improve the public spaces and improve the transport interchange.This funding is conditional upon the award of Housing Infrastructure Funding later this month and on the award of Planning permission.The West Yorkshire Transport Fund money follows the £35m budget agreed by City of York Council in December.This will then be repaid using retained business rates from the York Central Enterprise Zone.The council’s £77m bid for the government’s Housing Infrastructure Fund is at an advanced stage, with a decision expected soon.The outline planning application for the site will be considered by the council’s planning committee on Monday 25 March 2019.