Community homes plan for former library site

The old library was demolished after it closed in 2018

Plans for a community-led housing development on the site of a former library are expected to be submitted in August, according to council documents.

It would mean the proposal for the homes, to be built on the site of the recently-demolished Tang Hall Library in York, would be considered by planners in November.

If approved then work on the homes would begin in February and be completed by December 2026.

The former library, designed by York's city architect Ernest Firth, opened in 1962 but closed after it was replaced by the Tang Hall Explore site, in Mossdale Avenue, in 2018.

The proposed timescales for the development, from Kendal House Properties Ltd, comes after the council approved releasing £51,933 in government funding for the project.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the council accepted £116,000 from a central fund to redevelop brownfield sites in 2021 when it decided to dispose of the site.

The empty library building, on Fifth Avenue, has been demolished and the council has completed some of the works needed to prepare it for development.

Leftover cash from the government funding has been granted to the developer to stop it being clawed back after a 31 July deadline.

The council was not able to complete the enabling works because a viable scheme with a developer behind it has only recently been brought forward, according to council records.

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.