In 2004 City of York Council received the outline planning application for the development of an additional campus for the University of York. The application  relates to the development of land between Heslington village and Grimston Bar Park & Ride.

The proposed development includes academic, teaching and research facilities, a new lake, student housing on the campus, new transport links into the site and landscaping.

The Planning Inquiry

A public inquiry into the planning application began on Tuesday 25 April 2006 at the Guildhall and finished on Friday 1 December 2006.

View the application and inquiry documents.

You can also download a factsheet that gives a brief summary of the application and the Development Brief for the site on the right hand side of this page.

Public Inquiry Decision

Following the Inquiry the Planning Inspector sent his recommendations to the Secretary of State, who approved the outline planning application for the Heslington East Campus.

This approval means that the development is accepted in principle. However, it is subject to 35 planning conditions relating to issues such as traffic and access, drainage and sustainability.

Reserved Matters planning applications are also required to be submitted to City of York Council for all buildings on the site. Each of the planning applications submitted will be subject to the usual public consultation process by the council.

The below links are to PDFs on our Planning Public Access system.

View the Decision issued by the Secretary of State (20 pages, 3,350KB)

View the Planning Inspector's Report (161 pages, 588KB)

Documents to download

University of York Master Plan document (pages 1-9, 6MB)

University of York Master Plan document (pages 10-14, 5MB)

University of York Master Plan document (pages 15-21, 4MB)

University of York Master Plan document (pages 22-34, 5MB)

University of York Master Plan document (pages 35-47, 4MB)

Heslington East Community forum

A Community Forum was set up before the outline planning application was submitted and included representatives from local communities affected by the development, students and the University. The Forum  helped shape the thinking behind the proposals for the new University campus.  Since the approval of the outline permission, the Community Forum has been re-formed with local representatives such as ward councillors, parish councillors, planning panels, resident groups, schools and churches as well as the University and the council. The main role of the Forum is to discuss and give comments on Reserved Matters planning applications before they are submitted to City of York Council by the University and to promote overall understanding of the development throughout the community.

You can download the Heslington East Community Forum minutes from the right hand side of this page.

Further Information 

Please contact either Chris Newsome (Community Planning) on (01904) 551673 or Kevin O'Connell (Development Control) on (01904) 552830