Eco-money hope for Central site

12:20pm Friday 25th July 2008

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COUNCIL chiefs are set to hold talks with a Government minister about channelling eco-town cash into the massive York Central redevelopment scheme.

York MP Hugh Bayley said today that housing minister Iain Wright was “keen” on the idea of using available eco-town funding to promote sustainable, environmentally-friendly housing on the York Central site.

He said the minister had agreed to travel to York to discuss it with senior City of York Council officers and councillors.

The Press reported earlier this week how developers were being invited to invest more than a billion pounds in to the Central “teardrop” site behind York railway station.

The land is set to undergo the city’s biggest ever redevelopment scheme, including the building of 3,000 new homes, office and retail accommodation and a new transport interchange. The newspaper also reported recently how council leaders from across the region had rejected Government plans to build a new eco-town in the Selby district, but instead wanted the money to be diverted into smaller eco-friendly schemes at sites across the region.

Mr Bayley said today he had met with senior civil servants and Mr Wright to discuss some of the funds being used to create an “eco-district” in York, featuring sustainable, low-carbon housing and other buildings on the site.

He said the idea had met with a positive response, and the minister was willing to come to York this summer to discuss the idea, and he hoped Coun Waller and senior officers would take up the opportunity.

Coun Waller said that council officers had already held talks with Whitehall officials about the issue, and he would be very happy to meet with the minister if the Government had performed a U-turn.

He said he was writing to the Minister to remind him of the regional council leaders’ decision to move against eco-towns and ask for money to go towards environmentally-friendly affordable housing across the region.