Bootham Park Hospital, York: Historic former psychiatric hospital set to be turned into community care centre

The former psychiatric hospital, which opened in 1777, closed in 2015 after the Care Quality Commission raised serious concerns about safety risks. Enterprise Retirement Living’s (ERL) scheme will see the 18 acre site, a stone’s throw from the city walls, turned into 172 accommodation units for older people, with 24-hour staffing support.

But even if councillors approve the scheme on Thursday (February 2), it will still have to go to the government for final approval because several organisations have raised concerns about the loss of heritage.

While the grade I listed buildings will be restored, the grade II listed pauper wings are to be demolished, along with the estate cottages, to make way for new accommodation.

The Victorian Society said it would mean “the most substantial traces of a historically important aspect of the hospital will be entirely lost”, while York Civic Trust said it could not support the plans due to the removal of the estate cottages.

City of York Council planning officers said the pauper wards were “not rare”, adding that the benefits of the proposals outweighed the harm to heritage.

Under the plans, the public would retain access to the parkland, with Bootham School able to use a new 11-a-side and seven-a-side football pitch during the school day.

The retirement complex itself would feature a dining room, fruit and vegetable garden, a cinema room, a games room, a library and an exercise studio, staff and guest accommodation, as well as a bistro which ERL has said will be open to the public.

In his report, planning officer Jonthan Kenyon said: “This is a large and complex site which requires a new use.

“The scheme has been robustly informed by heritage appraisals that provide an understanding of significance of the heritage assets affected and on balance allow for redevelopment whilst avoiding harm on areas of highest significance.”

Initially called York Lunatic Asylum, the building was created to prevent the mentally ill from being placed in unsuitable institutions like prisons.

But later it was discovered that some patients were held in terrible squalor. Conditions at the asylum were the stimulus for the foundation of the The Retreat at York, which became world renowned for its pioneering treatment of the mentally ill.

A campaign to save the site as a community asset failed when the Department for Health and Social Care chose to sell it, against the wishes of the council, MP Rachael Maskell and local NHS bosses.

The government said at the time that its sale would release cash for reinvestment into NHS services.