Brownfield land in York: 125 sites on the register
City of York Council has published 125 brownfield sites in York on its statutory land register — land the council itself has assessed as suitable for housing. Together they cover about 183.2 hectares with an estimated capacity of 9,450 dwellings.
Rank these sites with constraints netted off →
Largest sites on the York register
| Site | Hectares | Max dwellings | Planning status |
|---|---|---|---|
| British Sugar Corporation Ltd Plantation Drive | 39.62 | — | not yet |
| British Sugar Corporation Ltd Plantation Drive (CYC Boundary) | 38.64 | 1100 | permissioned |
| York Central Leeman Road | 35.00 | 2500 | permissioned |
| The Retreat 107 Heslington Road York YO10 5BN | 15.00 | 120 | not yet |
| The Cocoa Works Haxby Road (Phase II) | 4.70 | 302 | permissioned |
| Hungate Development Site (Blocks D, F, G & H) | 4.10 | — | permissioned |
| Former Gas Works 24 Heworth Green (Phases I & II) | 3.54 | 607 | permissioned |
| The Cocoa Works Haxby Road | 2.35 | — | permissioned |
Source: City of York Council brownfield land register, published via planning.data.gov.uk under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Figures are the council’s own. 2 further entries repeat the area of a site already listed (councils often record a whole site's area against each phase), so that land is counted once. 8 of the 125 sites (6%) state no dwelling capacity, so the capacity figure covers the 117 that do — the real total is higher.
What a brownfield register actually is
Every local planning authority in England is required to keep a register of previously-developed land it considers appropriate for residential development. Part 1 lists all such sites; Part 2 sites carry permission in principle.
What it is not: an entry is not planning permission, and it is not an offer to sell. The council assessing a site as suitable says nothing about whether the owner wants to sell it or what a scheme would actually get approved. England has no zoning — the Local Plan and the Use Classes Order decide what is achievable.
The registers are public and free. They are underused mainly because each authority publishes its own separately, in its own format, so comparing more than one area by hand is painful.
Working the York register properly
- Net off the constraints first. Green belt, Flood Zone 3 and listed buildings kill more register sites than anything else. Check before you fall in love with a line on a map.
- Treat the dwelling figure as the council’s opinion. 9,450 is what the council thinks York’s register could take — your scheme, your design and the Local Plan will move it.
- Price it off recorded sales. HM Land Registry Price Paid gives you what actually sold nearby; work the residual land value from there rather than from an asking price.
- Find the owner. Register sites are rarely advertised. Ownership status is listed, and Land Registry title records do the rest.
Questions this page answers
- Brownfield land register York
- Development land in York
- How much brownfield land is there in York?
- Where can I build houses in York?
- York land availability assessment
GoSiteHunt is an advertising and analysis platform, not a real estate agent or planning consultancy. Everything here is indicative screening from public data — not a valuation, not planning advice, and never a substitute for the council’s own records or your own professional advisers.