Bootham Park: York residents ignored over sale, MP claims

The Grade-I listed Bootham Park Hospital was built in 1777 and closed in 2015

The government has "ignored" York residents over the sale of a former psychiatric hospital, an MP said.

On Friday it was announced that Bootham Park Hospital is to be sold off after attempts to keep it publicly owned failed.

Rachael Maskell, Labour MP for York Central, said it was "public land that should be used for public good".

The Department of Health and Social Care said the move would "release cash for reinvestment into NHS services".

Bootham Park Hospital was shut in 2015 after the Care Quality Commission said it was no longer fit for purpose.

City of York Council and NHS bosses had applied to pause the sale of the seven-hectare site in the hope it could remain an asset to the city.

A joint statement from the council, Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and York Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said they were "very disappointed" by the decision.

"We will continue working together to help NHS Property Services work with any bidders to understand the importance of the site and the opportunities it could offer the people of York," it said.

More than 8,000 people backed a petition stating a sale of the site would "not deliver the social value that is so desperately needed".

The main hospital building dates from 1777 and is Grade I-listed, while the site also includes number of Grade II-listed buildings.

The estate includes cottages, a gate lodge, outbuildings and open parkland

A new 72-bed mental health hospital replacement will open at a site off Haxby Road in the city.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "The Bootham Hospital Site was confirmed as surplus by the Vale of York CCG in 2017.

"The sale will remove the cost of securing and maintaining the site, currently being met by the local NHS, and release cash for reinvestment into NHS services."