Issue - items at meetings - York Railway Station Gateway

The Corporate Director of Economy and Place to present a report which provides an update on the current status of the Station Frontage project and seeks approval for a phased approach to delivery and a series of actions enabling progress while mitigating the risks to the council.

Resolved: (i) That the scope, budget, delivery and procurement strategy of the project be approved.

Reason: To enable arrangements to be put in place to purchase land, place orders with utility companies and proceed with the detailed design and procurement of Packages 1, 2 and 4 of the scheme.

(ii) That the Station Gateway budget be increased by £12.250m to reflect the WYCA Transforming Cities grant funding.

Reason: To ensure that the capital programme reflects the latest funding position.

(iii) That authority be delegated to the Corporate Director of Economy & Place, in consultation with the s151 Officer and the Director of Governance or her delegated officers, to draw down further funds from the West Yorkshire-Plus Transport Fund to complete the land purchase negotiations and take such steps as are necessary to enter into the resulting legal agreement(s).

Reason: In order to acquire land from Canada Life (George Stephenson House) and Network Rail to enable the delivery of the scheme.

(iv) That authority be delegated to the Corporate Director of Economy & Place, in consultation with the s151 Officer and the Director of Governance or her delegated officers, to draw down funds from West Yorkshire-Plus Transport fund to place orders with utility companies to fund Package 1: Enabling Works (package value £2.04m) to divert services from Queen Street Bridge through the station car park.

Reason: To enable delivery of Package 1: Enabling Works.

(v) That authority be delegated to the Corporate Director of Economy & Place, in consultation with the s151 Officer and the Director of Governance or her delegated officers, to draw down funds from West Yorkshire-Plus Transport fund to issue a task order to commence detailed design of the scheme.

Reason: To enable the production of detailed cost plans and to progress the scheme to procurement.

The Assistant Director of Transport, Highways & Environment presented a report which provided an update on the current status of the Station Gateway project and sought approval for a phased delivery approach to the project and a series of actions to allow progress while mitigating the risks to the council.

Key milestones and current activity on the project were set out in paragraphs 20-28 of the report. In spring, the project team and the development consultant, Arup, had submitted an addendum to the 2018 planning application to address issues raised in the original planning consultation. A planning decision was expected in December 2020 or January 2021. The team had also worked with partners to agree a preferred delivery strategy, as attached at Annex 1. This aligned with the current funding profiles by proposing five Packages of work, as described in paragraph 21, with LNER having agreed in principle to deliver Package 3.

The Chair noted the progress made on the project after extensive consultation, welcomed the external funding secured, and thanked all those involved in bringing the project to this stage.