THE sale of Strensall Barracks and Towthorpe Lines have been delayed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) - after they were removed from York’s Local Plan.

Both sites were due to shut in 2021 but the government announced on Thursday that the disposal of the land has now been delayed until 2024.

Members of City of York Council’s Local Plan working group agreed on Wednesday to remove the Queen Elizabeth Barracks site in Strensall from the plan. Natural England raised concerns about the impact that building 550 new homes on the land would have on neighbouring wildlife reserve Strensall Common.

Conservative councillor for Strensall Paul Doughty welcomed the deferral and said: “We hope it will lead to either a rethink on the part of the MoD to retain it in its present form or to provide it with a use which leads to a more permanent future.

“The barracks is an important part of our community, and should it have to close any future use will need to be compatible with the fragile ecosystem of the adjacent Strensall Common. A five year buffer will hopefully give time to progress a secure future for the site, and Cllr Wiseman and myself will be keeping a watching brief on all future developments.”

Councillors heard at the meeting on Wednesday that the Local Plan had been delayed previously so that the sites could be included.

A letter from the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) to the council about the proposed removal of the sites from the plan said: “This proposal is, without question, a total surprise to DIO and is unusual from a procedural perspective, given that, at this late stage, a major modification to the submission Local Plan will now be required to delete a strategic allocation for, at least, 545 homes. Our concern is exacerbated by our inability to respond to this unfortunate position within the unreasonable timescales advised by CYC, i.e. by February 27, 2019. Frankly, we find this situation entirely untenable.”