THE GOVERNMENT will reimburse City of York Council for money it has committed to keep the York Central project moving forward.

And the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has written to the council to confirm the arrangements for £77.1 million of essential funding for the scheme.

But the letter, from James Hood, director of housing strategy markets and delivery at the department, did not include any discussions about relocating the House of Lords or government departments to the site.

Two weeks ago the council committed a further almost £2 million towards keeping the York Central project moving - with the money to be spent on the local authority's project team and consultancy support costs, further essential survey works, and funding an early enabling infrastructure works contract.

A spokesperson for the council says the Government letter confirmed the council will be reimbursed for the money it has committed to keep the project moving.

Council leader Keith Aspden welcomed the news - saying it is "yet another important milestone" for the scheme.

He said: “This is fantastic news for York. Our early investment and continued commitment, even during the pandemic, was essential to secure this investment.

"The funding is a vital step to unlocking a £1.16 billion boost to our economy, and delivering a new generation of jobs and hundreds of affordable homes, when York needs it most.

"The York Central Partnership is delivering where decades of proposals have failed. Our shared vision for an ambitious development which delivers cleaner, greener growth and a fairer economy in York underpins the entire project, and we will keep playing our part to make York Central deliver for the whole city.

"It’s also yet another important milestone following outline planning approval last year, funding agreements with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the York and North Yorkshire LEP.

"This is the result of a lot of hard work by the York Central Partnership, and further demonstration of our commitment to an ambitious scheme which will give York the jobs and homes it needs as the outline planning application for York Central includes proposals to build up to 2,500 homes, including affordable homes, and a commercial quarter creating up to 88,000m2 of high quality office space."