THIS is what a new 4,000-home village between York and Selby could look like.

Escrick Park Estate has unveiled plans for a new village dubbed Heronby to be built on 200 hectares of land south west of Escrick.

The site is outside the green belt and is almost entirely within Flood Zone 1 which has the least likelihood of flooding.

It comes in response to the inclusion of land south-west of Escrick in the latest stage of Selby District Council’s new Local Plan consultation, the estate, which owns the land off the A19 between York and Selby, has started to draw up ideas for a masterplan for the new village.

Alongside the masterplan, the estate say they will support, and where possible facilitate, the construction of a new bypass, helping to alleviate many of the existing traffic issues in the village of Escrick, which is on the A19 between Selby and York.

They have appointed a project team to help develop the Heronby proposals, including Brooks Murray as masterplanners, and Turnberry Consulting as planning and development advisors. Both have been involved in the development of several acclaimed mixed-use communities planned or being created in the UK, including Tornagrain and Chapelton in Scotland,

Beilby Forbes Adam from the estate, said: “For more than 350 years, Escrick Park Estate has played a key role in shaping the built and natural landscape of the area.

“As we look forward to the years ahead, we realise there is a pressing need to provide good quality, attractive housing which people can afford and in an environmentally sustainable way. But we do not want to build a faceless, rootless dormitory village with an absence of community and a fixation on the car.

“At Tornagrain near Inverness we found a new town sympathetic to its surroundings, built with community buy-in, and created by a landowner who cared about their legacy and who had taken on the role of master developer themselves.

“Having seen what can be achieved by estates which are, like us, rooted in their communities, we are determined to ensure that we plan and build a Yorkshire village fit for the 21st century – a place where anyone would be proud to live and work.

“We are now working with the teams who helped deliver Tornagrain and Chapelton to begin the process of producing a masterplan for Heronby.”

They want to create a walkable community with a mix of housing including ‘affordable’ homes, set within green spaces for recreation and sport, alongside businesses and schools.

Heronby would be based around a high street and market square, and there would also be new neighbourhood centres offering facilities close to homes.

The vision is for a sensitively designed community, where people can enjoy access to a variety of shops, services and open spaces, all on their doorstep.

The Heronby masterplan provides an opportunity to improve the ecology of Heron Wood, which sits within the site. New, native trees and shrubs would be planted to increase the biodiversity of the area which is largely today a monocultural commercial plantation.

In addition, there would be more tree planting across the whole of the Heronby site which would further increase the biodiversity of the area.

Mr Forbes Adam said: “Heronby will take many years to deliver. Our plans are still at an early stage and we would like to start a conversation with local people, sharing ideas about what Heronby could deliver and how it could benefit its neighbours as well as its residents.

“Covid-19 restrictions mean we can’t meet the community face-to-face to discuss the proposals at the moment, but we have set up a website for people to learn more about Heronby, and to offer us their thoughts. The website, and our contact details, can be found at www.heronby.co.uk.

“In due course, we hope to be able to make arrangements to meet people face-to-face for a design-based consultation where we discuss ideas and alter and improve the masterplan.”