Plans for Bootham Park: new buildings in the area around the chapel, from ERL planning application

Hard to believe that in a few days it will be exactly six years since Bootham Park Hospital closed. This month, after years of concerns about its future, and with various visions for it publicised, there’s an actual planning application available to view on the council’s planning portal:

21/02108/FULM

(if that direct link doesn’t work, go to planningaccess.york.gov.uk/online-applications/ and enter the reference number 21/02108/FULM in the search box)

Local media reports in recent months covered the sale of Bootham Park to ERL, and the ‘visions’ for how it might look. These included a rather idyllic looking representation of all kinds of lovely things going on in the green space in front of it.

How Bootham Park might look … (Image: ERL)

There would be a walkway around it, a picnic area, an edible garden, a sensory garden, sports pitches, and perhaps a pop-up outdoor cinema occasionally, and a temporary market.

I wondered how all that was going to fit in, and work together. Boring of me, perhaps, but I wondered about those messy but important details like dog poo on sports pitches.

Anyway, we now have the actual planning application, not just nice representations.

Inevitably, it’s an application with a huge number of documents and a huge amount of detail. It’s such a historic and complex site, containing many buildings from different periods, and a large area of parkland around them. Here’s an aerial view, from ERL’s website boothampark.co.uk:

Bootham Park site, aerial view, from boothampark.co.uk

Note that the application site is marked with the red line boundary. The plans aren’t for the whole of the site we think of as Bootham Park, as the NHS has retained in its ownership an area of land in the north-eastern corner.

I’ve written about this place many times before, being one of those locals who has a certain sense of connection to it, having lived in the area close to it for some time — 30 years. I probably took it for granted for most of that time, but certainly haven’t in the six years since the hospital closed, as it was clear that it might end up a gated, privatised place. For a while, after the hospital closure, it felt like it already was that, with a security guard on patrol to keep us off the field.

As I’ve said before, it seems to me that the most important aspect of any development is that the current access through the grounds, from Bridge Lane and Clarence Street to Bootham, is preserved, and protected, for pedestrians and cyclists. If not, then we would lose something many of us have valued for many years.

In the available planning application documents I looked for information on the right of way, specifically.

Apparently it isn’t, technically, a right of way at present, but under these plans would become one:

Pedestrians and cyclists can also access the site from the north and south running from Bootham/A19 to the south and to the north to the pedestrian pathway there, linking Grosvenor Road with Bridge Lane, that divides this application site from the
York Hospital site. The pedestrian/cycling route is called ‘The Avenue’; while the public make use of this it is not a Public Right of Way and remains in private ownership.
Should planning permission be granted then a formal right of way or similar dedicated right will be granted in perpetuity.

– Planning statement (PDF)

Sounds great, good news. But I also know that elements of planning applications get changed later, after public attention has moved on to other things, so I hope that this aspect is focused on and legally protected, and that the route through doesn’t end up as a ‘permissive path’, but a properly protected right of way.

The planning statement also emphasises that the developers are committed to preserving the wider public access to the grounds:

Enabling and securing (in perpetuity) public access, including sports pitches use by the adjoining school and other schools during term time. In addition, public access will be secured of the large open area in front of the main listed building.
This will include a 680-metre exercise route around the perimeter of the open space which will be accessible at all times. The open space area will include sensory planting/edible gardens, flexible break out spaces, seating, and spaces for
contemplation alongside natural play equipment as well as biodiversity enhancement. All, of course subject to the Council’s approval.

It looks convincing, and like it’s meant, and I’d like to believe it is. But there’s clearly going to be a huge investment in the site, and it’s clearly intended as a ‘luxury’ kind of place for its residents, so I can’t see how the kind of public access suggested is going to work, without more fencing off/gating of various parts, particularly at night.

Presumably there’s more detail on these aspects in the other documents submitted with the planning application.

A massive investment will of course be needed for all this. The mere cost of the work needed on repairing and repainting the rusting dilapidated railings around the site – a kilometre in length, apparently – will be huge. Which is why it seemed a bit ludicrous that at one time there were vociferous calls for the whole place to be kept ‘for the people of York’. How on earth would we pay for it, and its upkeep?

So into its new life it goes — eventually, when yet another massively complex application for yet another historically important site eventually works its way through the system. I really hope there are enough staff in the planning department to cope with all of this. So much interest in this blossoming/gentrified city, so much money coming in, so much of the old place becoming the new place.

There are other aspects of this planning application I’d like to cover, when I’ve looked at more of the planning application documents. Intending to return to it in stages, coming in from the edges. Near the edges of the site are many trees, and various interesting smaller buildings.

. . . . .

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The post Bootham Park: planning application, and public access appeared first on York Stories.

Bootham Park Hospital, by Irene Hawkins, circa 1940. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

From Bootham Crescent (football ground) to Bootham Park, very close by. I’ve been wanting to write an update on this for some time, and as the council has recently announced it would like residents’ views on the future of the site, now seems like a good time.

After publishing the previous piece on the Bootham Crescent football ground I received by email this aerial view of the area, including both Bootham Crescent and Bootham Park. It dates from around 1909.

Bootham Park aerial view, circa 1909 (Evelyn collection, yayas.org.uk)

The Bootham Crescent football ground, then a cricket ground, is towards the bottom right, marked ‘B’. The line of the old ‘Asylum Lane‘ (now Grosvenor Road and Bridge Lane) is a distinct line running through the centre of the image from right to left. The footbridge on it — crossing the York-Scarborough railway line — is marked ‘A’. The large open area on the bottom left is now the site of the city’s main hospital. Bootham Park Hospital buildings are just above the ‘A’, and its extensive grounds, towards the top of the image, are marked ‘C’.

The photo looks like it was taken during one of the galas held on Bootham Park, presumably by someone enjoying one of the balloon rides from there. Here’s another view of Bootham Park at gala time, looking towards the hospital building, across the grounds.

The gala on Bootham Field, 1909 (source)

I’ve mentioned before Charles Brunton Knight’s book This is York, published in the 1950s. I particularly appreciate the way the author includes snippets of recent history from his particular perspective, alongside the established ‘proper history’. Mr Knight was born in 1877, and so would have been in his later 70s when the book was published. In one of the walks in the book, which takes the reader along Bootham and past the hospital, he writes:

Between the Hospital and the street are the Hospital grounds, consisting largely of meadow land. For a period of about sixty years commencing in 1859 these grounds were the scene of York’s greatest public holiday since the times of the mediæval Corpus Christi pageants—the Grand Yorkshire Gala. Beginning as a flower show (a feature which continued throughout its history) it speedily developed into a three days’ festival with “all the fun of the fair”, balloon ascents, and nightly firework displays. Railway excursions brought multitudes of visitors to York at Gala time, and tens of thousands of visitors passed the entrance turnstiles daily. Bootham Park, as the grounds are now called, was always spoken of in those days as “The Gala Field” — and is yet, by many of us.

‘And is yet, by many of us’, he wrote, in the 1950s. Perhaps not now. I’ve not heard anyone refer to it in this way. Some other older texts also refer to what we now call Bootham Park as ‘Bootham Field’, or ‘the Asylum Field’.

Whatever we call it, I hope we’ll all be pleased that the sale of the site has been paused while other options are explored. It was bad enough that the hospital closed, then worse to see that the site might be sold off with no thought about its importance to the city and its residents. I wrote a lot about Bootham Park (approaches 1, 2 and 3) after the closure.

I’ve lived close to Bootham Park for 27 years, and in recent years in particular have cycled and walked through it many times. For me my main interest is the grounds, the open space, and public access to it. After the hospital closure, I was concerned about (annoyed by) a security firm’s signs on the boundary, and being asked to leave the open space while walking around its perimeter.

That was then. Now, there are some interesting ideas in the recent council proposals regarding the site’s future, and how it might link in with areas of land alongside it.

The site has very definite boundaries on three sides: the main road of Bootham to the front of the site, the York-Scarborough railway line down one side, and Bridge Lane on the other side of the boundary wall to the back, with the main general hospital on the adjoining site there. But on the remaining side, to the east, there’s more scope for change, and it’s interesting to see the ideas for that in the proposals from the council. Part of that side of the site adjoins the Union Terrace car and coach park on Clarence Street, which is council-owned land. Ideas include opening up more cycle and pedestrian access from there.

The ideas also include the possibility of opening up the long-closed rusty gates at one end of the Bootham boundary, mentioned on an earlier page.

Bootham Park railings and gate, 2 April 2015

That would be nice. They look like they haven’t been opened since the days of the galas.

More recently closed are the main access gates at the other end of the Bootham frontage, the double gates onto the access road. When I’ve been past and through the site recently only a narrow side gate is open, for pedestrians and cyclists, which is a bit annoying and inconvenient. Perhaps those gates could be opened up again without us all waiting for the results of the consultation on the various ideas.

The field is generally now seen as ‘underused’ — a term which often makes me a bit nervous, as it’s often used about places that aren’t making money for someone, places that only local folks appreciate, and wander across for free. The council proposals hint at making more use of the grounds, to generate income.

The site has always been appreciated by local residents, and some of its more hidden corners in particular seem to have been quite well-used, judging by the finds from an interesting archaeological dig here, in 2011. (See my 2012 page ‘It’s all connected’. Homeless heritage mapped‘, and the ‘further information’ links below for more.)

I’d rather it was left as it is. But perhaps, if income-generating things are needed, an annual gala/celebration could be reinstated? (But without wildlife-disturbing fireworks.)

Or how about a modern re-imagining of an event held here in 1866?

The Yorkshire Fine Art & Industrial Exhibition, 1866, on Bootham Field (source)

The street of Bootham runs across the bottom of the photo, and a rather splendid temporary building sits imposingly on the field in front of the hospital. (For more images of this see my page from a few years back – ‘Bootham Field and its rusty relics‘.)

Another view of the same building must have been taken from the top of Grosvenor Terrace, before the tall trees grew on the boundary alongside the railway line.

The Yorkshire Fine Art & Industrial Exhibition, 1866, on Bootham Field, from Grosvenor Terrace (source)

The railing and brick piers at the bottom of the photo are still there by the edge of the railway line, though so many other things have changed.

No balloons taking off from here now, but part of the land in front of the hospital is often used by a more modern form of aerial transport.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance taking off from Bootham Park, by the former chapel, 5 April 2018

The air ambulance often uses Bootham Park to land. I’ve seen it many times from the local area, on its approach, but only this year saw it on the ground in Bootham Park, as I happened to be walking through, and watched it take off.

As well as the large field in front of the hospital there’s green space to the side of it, around the chapel pictured above, and also the area where the nurses’ accommodation used to be. I suspect that some of this green space will be built on, and perhaps gated off.

I think it might need another page at least to try to cover other parts and other aspects of the site, in light of what I’ve just read of the proposals for its future, and after completing the online survey.

But for now, I hope this page has been of interest. Further links are below. Before you leave here and perhaps follow them, I just have to fit in my regular reminder of how to sustain this much-loved community resource. 

Virtual coffees are always appreciated, thank you.

More information

Proposals for the future of the site: see the city council’s page about the Bootham Park site. Comments need to be made by 9.00am on Thursday 1 November.

York Central MP Rachael Maskell has set up a petition: Public Land for Public Good: Bootham Park

More on Irene Hawkins’ painting, pictured at the top of the page. Worth a read.

Information on the Bootham Park archaeological dig in 2011, from the University of York, Department of Archaeology, and a YouTube clip of it on this link (should start at the relevant point, 14:48). A proper exploration of place, one of the most inspiring things I’ve seen. There was also an exhibition. I missed the dig and the exhibition, but wrote about the project in ‘It’s all connected’. Homeless heritage mapped‘, in 2012, after watching the video. See also a nice article on it from Stephen Lewis (York Press).

The history of the Yorkshire Fine Art & Industrial Exhibition, York – official publication on the 1866 exhibition on Bootham Field, published in 1867 – available to read or download from the Internet Archive. Some of the images above of the exhibition buildings come from this publication.

There are many lovely postcard images of the galas held on Bootham Field on cardindex.com. This link should take you to them.

I’ve compiled many pages about Bootham Park over the years. This link will take you to all pages tagged Bootham Park.

The post Bootham Park, the ‘Gala Field’, and the council’s survey appeared first on York Stories.

On the previous page we were looking at Groves Chapel, a building on the edge of the Bootham Park Hospital site. Time to revisit Bootham Park, and also to have a look at the site where its proposed replacement would be built, as this has been confirmed in recent weeks.

The site on Haxby Road has been chosen. Some readers will know it as the former Bio-Rad/Vickers site.

There was a consultation, asking for opinions on three sites. The majority of people who responded wanted the new facility to remain at Bootham Park. The Haxby Road Bio-Rad/Vickers site was the second most popular choice. Least popular was a piece of land to the north of the Clifton Hospital site. I visited that some time back (more here).

Since then I’ve paid more attention to the Bio-Rad site, and had a quick visit in recent months, as a riverside walk along the Foss passes the back of the site, and I noticed that there’s a hole in the wire fencing …

The factory buildings were demolished some years ago, and the site is now ’empty’ – though as is always the case on these brownfield sites it’s full of growth, nature breaking through.

Impressively long brambles snake across the old factory floor and car park areas.

And vigorous shrubbery has grown up around the edges of the site, shielding it from the road.

Remnants of the old structure of the buildings once here are visible in a few bits of broken glazed brown brick, and girders cut off at ground level.

I remember the factory building, but only from seeing its Haxby Road frontage when passing occasionally. It disappeared before I got around to getting any photos, but Google Street View captured it. If you use their option to view a previous year’s view you can see the factory site in 2008, then move forward a few years and it’s gone, then move forward to now and it’s rather hidden behind a hedge that’s a bit taller than it was when regularly pruned.

So on this site a new mental health facility will be built — that’s the plan. I wonder if I was the only one to raise an eyebrow at the reporting of this as being ‘in 2019′. Are the designs done already? When’s the planning application going in? All the media reporting seemed to accept the press release information without question, and present this as a good news story, when for many people the closure of Bootham Park is still a source of anger and concern, and when the construction of its replacement is still just a promise, and some years off.

It’s not a bad location, the Haxby Road site. Actually quite a good one, if we accept, as I think most of us do, that green and pleasant surroundings are important for restoring and maintaining good mental health. The riverside walk along the Foss is very close to the back of the site. This photo from that walk was taken just before the photos above, on the same day in April this year:

To put the site in context, from an aerial view (from Google maps, on this link):

The Foss is curving off to the upper right – it has quite a bend in it here. It’s just visible again in the bottom right. An area of open space with trees is between it and the site in question (where the large signs are, previously mentioned, pointing out that ‘this field has not in any way been dedicated to the public’). There are many mature trees at the edge of the site and on the green area alongside it. Bootham Stray isn’t far away, and the area is in general quite nicely green and open, though of course the busy Haxby Road runs along one side of the proposed hospital site.

Bing Maps have an bird’s eye view of the site with the factory still there:

It seems appropriate to include a short account of how that factory came to be there, and the reasons for the site being chosen, back in the 1930s. The existing facilities, in the Bishophill area, were inadequate, for the expanding business (of Cooke’s, as it was then):

In 1937 the managers therefore began to look for a site which met certain conditions of size, access to roads and mains services, and suchlike. It is interesting to note that the principal factor was their wish to stay within two, or at most three, miles of York city centre, so as to retain their skilled workforce, now standing at 700 men.

After investigating a number of possibilities, Cooke’s were able to purchase a site on Haxby Road which had emerged as their first choice. It was 1.65 miles from York Railway Station, 5.5 acres in extent, with all mains services, and the buildings could be laid out to receive north light. The factory was built during 1939. It was a one-storey building, designed to accommodate 1,000 workers.

Anita McConnell — Instrument Makers to the World: A History of Cooke, Troughton & Simms (1992)

The book also records the interesting detail that during the war the new factory was named ‘Kingsway North’ – ‘in the hope of disguising its true whereabouts from enemy spies’.

For more on the history of Cookes/Vickers/Bio-Rad see the further information links below.

Back to the present, and back to Bootham Park.

It’s looking inevitable that it will be sold and used for another purpose. As I’ve mentioned before and as has been obvious for years to anyone who lives in the area and passes regularly, the health service trusts aren’t up to maintaining heritage assets. There’s a huge span of rusty railing around Bootham Park, with bits dropping off. The neglect wasn’t a bad thing in terms of the grounds and their greenery. Last spring the area just inside the railings off Bootham was a magical place, screened from the road by lush shrubbery, and wild enough to have lush cow parsley and forget-me-nots in exuberance, with a desire line path through the middle of it. A bit of woodland edge so close to the city centre.

Since then there’s been a slash and burn approach, with the shrubbery and ground level greenery hacked at and removed, destruction of something that was quite special.

Some observers appear to have thought that the hospital buildings should be more visible from the road, and that this ‘neglected’ green area obscured them. Now the hospital is clearly visible, over the brown sparse bit under the trees, so we can get a better view that thing that isn’t of any use to us anymore, the place that was closed so suddenly and with so much distress to so many.

If greenery is good for your mental health, then it’s obvious that seeing the brutal destruction of it isn’t. It appears that weedkiller has been used too, on the cow parsley, so this year in spring, instead of a celebration of that season here in the Bootham Park woodland edge we had a lot of brown dead stuff, with a few bluebells that had managed to survive. I can’t see how this is an improvement. Let’s hope they have a gentler approach to the greenery at the edges of the new site.

I’ve lived close to Bootham Park for more than 25 years, passing it often via its Bootham and Bridge Lane boundaries and walking/cycling through the grounds. So though I’m interested in the new hospital and its development, I’m also concerned about what happens here. Specifically, I care about the grounds, about the large area around the main hospital buildings. Focusing on the hospital itself, in terms of ‘preserving our heritage’, seems to me the wrong focus. It’s listed, it has protection, I hope it finds a use that means the interested public can visit some of its rooms and appreciate its history and meanings. But more important to me is that we, the people of the city, retain the large area of land around it, including the huge area in front, which not that long back we knew as the ‘Gala field’. Perhaps the old chapel building too, for community use? Well, we can dream. And then of course there’s the right of way through the grounds, and the other part of it which I don’t believe is a right of way officially, but part of the local cycle path network, taking us through to Bridge Lane on the other side.

As York Central MP Rachael Maskell said recently in York Mix, it is now ‘vital that the public interest in the site is placed above all considerations’.

I hope that the citizens of York will fight to keep some of this green space, which many generations have appreciated, and perhaps, ideally, we can not only keep it but use it more, and in better ways. It shouldn’t end up as just another part of an investor’s property portfolio. Enough of the city already belongs to people just in it for the money. We should ensure that this part of it doesn’t end up gated and inaccessible when the buildings are sold, as it seems likely they will be. If the buildings are sold and see a change of purpose, perhaps a hotel would be better than residential accommodation, as at least a hotel allows some public access to some of its public areas, whereas conversion to residential accommodation effectively closes a building down, to benefit only those who live there. And we know what kind of accommodation it would be – like Groves Chapel. Luxury accommodation completely out of reach of the locals who need the housing.

But that’s all speculation about what might happen in the future. For now we have the promise of a new mental health hospital. The Press and other media reported confidently that ‘York will have new Haxby Road mental health hospital in 2019‘. Yet looking at the state of things we might wonder if we’ll still have a functioning NHS by then, never mind a brand new hospital.

Further information

See my earlier ‘approaches to Bootham Park’ pages: 1, 2 and 3. There’s also a Google map showing the two sites.

For more on the history of Cookes/Vickers/Bio-Rad: Focus falls on Vickers Instruments , A look back at Vickers Instruments in York and Mapping out the past (York Press)

Information about the Vickers Instruments archive at the Borthwick Institute

. . . . .

This long-running resident’s record of York and its changes continues to be added to as often as I can manage — generally once a fortnight at the moment. It takes a lot of time and effort but it seems important to keep track of local issues affecting the built and natural heritage and to share the local knowledge I’ve built up over the years. If you enjoy this site, find it useful, and would like to support this work, you can buy me a virtual coffee. Your appreciation is appreciated.

(via ko-fi.com. “Ko-fi helps creators get support from people who love what they do”)

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The post From Bootham Park to Bio-Rad: new hospital promised appeared first on York Stories.

Bootham Park, 7 Nov 2015

This is important, and doesn’t seem to have got the interest it deserves. Following the closure of Bootham Park Hospital there’s a consultation on plans for a replacement facility. The deadline has been extended but it’s closing soon, 16 Jan.

There’s a question about the number of beds, but we’re focusing here on the other question, of location. It has one obvious answer: ‘Bootham Park’. Residents who need to access the hospital facilities and family and friends visiting them deserve a central and accessible location, not some place on the outskirts of town. Perhaps the existing building can’t be used, but there’s a large space next to it.

Consultation: developing a new mental health hospital for the Vale of York
consultation deadline extended to 16 January 2017

You can comment in several ways:

• Completing the form at the end of the consultation document (form is also on this link (PDF) and gives the basic questions (2 of them)
• Filling in this short survey — seems to be possible to skip questions and just fill in preferred location
• Emailing your comments to valeofyork.contactus@nhs.net

It might be easiest to email on valeofyork.contactus@nhs.net, stating support for Option 1: Bootham Park Hospital site, and giving reasons why. For example, as stated in the consultation document:

• It is close to the city centre amenities and has good transport links

• The site is adjacent to York District Hospital

• It is an established mental health site

• There are views of open spaces to the front and side of the building

The fact that the deadline has been extended from the original date of 16 December suggests that few people responded when it was first publicised. I must admit that I haven’t yet, feeling rather cynical about the whole thing after the way the closure of Bootham Park Hospital was handled. But then it’s not good if it looks like we don’t care, and it won’t take long to comment on the location question.

There’s some background information in the consultation document:

“The new hospital development will bring these services together on a single site, replacing Meadowfields, Worsley Court, Cherry Tree House and Peppermill Court. … a single site will also help us maintain safe staffing levels and provide easier access to cover and support in times of emergency or increased need. The unit will also contain the 136 assessment suite (place of safety) currently provided at Bootham Park Hospital (which will transfer to Peppermill Court) and the ECT suite, currently provided at York District Hospital.”
from the consultation document (PDF)

The same document also states that “Over recent years more and more people are able to receive the care and treatment they need at home and hospital admission is becoming the exception rather than the norm.” But clearly a mental health hospital is still needed and it should be on the large piece of land where it’s been since the late 18th century, close to the city centre.

Much more could be said, but because I’m looking after my own mental health and find that spending too long at computers isn’t good for either physical or mental health, I’ll just leave you with a comment left on one of the articles on the Press website, which I reckon sums things up well:

If there is one phrase that is banded about when something that is not in the public interest occurs it is “we should embrace the change”. No we should not, we should demand that we have what has been taken away from us, that is, a functioning mental health facility in the city centre.

— “X5019c”, comment on this story, 29 Sep 16

Here’s the info again:

Consultation: developing a new mental health hospital for the Vale of York

or email your comments to valeofyork.contactus@nhs.net

Deadline extended to 16 January 2017

Further information

Bootham Park: Hundreds to join demonstration in York, one year on (York Press)

These are the 3 possible locations for York’s mental health hospital (York Press)

I’ve written about Bootham Park several times before, view those pages on this link

I’ve also written about one of the proposed alternative sites, at Clifton Park

Defend our NHS York – all posts tagged Bootham Park Hospital

Poster from the ‘Walk Back to Bootham’ march, 30 Sept 2016

The post Let’s hang on to Bootham Park: your views needed – now appeared first on York Stories.

Bootham Park, Union Terrace entrance

If you carry on walking along the road through Bootham Park, on our imaginary walk of the previous page, from the Bootham entrance, past the ‘gala field‘ and following the road/path as it bends to the right, you’ll get to the eastern boundary of Bootham Park, pictured above. The exit to Union Terrace and Clarence Street is on the right.

But we’re not going off to the right — we’re staying here in Bootham Park, looking at how it all fits together. And on this page we’re looking at a particular area. The woman pictured above is walking by one of its corners.

It used to have buildings on it, housing for nurses and doctors, a 1970s development called Bootham Park Court. This photo shows the buildings being demolished, late 2012. I wrote about it at the time.

Bootham Park Court demolition, 7 Dec 2012

If you’re walking along Bridge Lane, heading towards town, there’s an opening on your right in the brick wall boundary of Bootham Park Hospital, and for the last few years it has offered a new and rather cheering view of the Minster, across what was Bootham Park Court. A view previously blocked by the accommodation blocks.

After the demolition and clearance of the site I always looked through here when passing, to get the glimpse of the Minster, and occasionally stopped to take photos. The view changed in subtle ways through 2015.

Across the Bootham Park Court site, 23 April 2015

Across the Bootham Park Court site, 12 Aug 2015

Across the Bootham Park Court site, 7 Nov 2015

There were a couple of interesting things about this piece of land, apart from its Minster view through the trees.

Firstly that it was fenced off, for no apparent reason. Many of us ignored the fences and cut across it diagonally to get from the opening in the boundary wall to the Union Terrace/Clarence St exit by the most direct route. The fence was low and we just stepped over it. A pleasing desire line formed through the long rough grass, as shown in that photo from August 2015, above.

The other noticeable thing was that it was an ’empty’ piece of land in a city where any piece of land so close to the city centre seems unlikely to be empty for long.

I’d read that it was going to be reused by the NHS Trust, and I wondered when that would happen.

After the shocking and rather sudden announcement that Bootham Park Hospital itself would have to close, I wandered through the grounds of Bootham Park on the evening of 1 Oct 2015. And noticed that the old Bootham Park Court site had been stripped of most of its vegetation (mainly grass), and covered with topsoil, which was then reseeded with more grass.

I was quite surprised to see this, in the circumstances. The hospital itself had closed because apparently bits of ceiling were falling off and it had numerous problems too expensive to fix, but they’d managed to organise the tidying of this bit of land right next to it, a not exactly urgent problem. In fact not a problem at all, rather a nice wild area developing. It even had rose bushes on it. Which appear to have been removed, for no apparent reason.

A sign instructed us to keep off.

I noticed a fruit tree dropping its fruit to the ground, inside this fenced-off area.

Which seemed a bit wasteful.

But perhaps just another bit of waste to add to what appears to be an awful lot of waste, wasted resources.

The temporary ‘landscaping’ of this area was presumably thought to be necessary because that’s what was agreed in the planning application a few years back. After the demolition of the buildings of Bootham Park Court the site had to be tidied up. So money is being spent on that.

But it seems reasonable to wonder, if the old hospital buildings really aren’t fit for purpose and are unsustainable, perhaps something could be built here instead, on what used to be the Bootham Park Court site?

A point raised by Dr Bob Adams, reported in the Press:

“York deserves a state-of-the-art unit near the acute hospital, near the centre of the city, with easy access to transport hubs. Why should mental health take second best?”

Apparently the site isn’t flagged as surplus, which is why it can’t be considered in the ‘possible replacement’ sites, while sites much further out, away from the city centre, are being considered.

Does it make sense to you, dear readers?

More information

My Google map showing the location of the site

There’s a petition to use the Bootham site rather than the other suggested sites: more info here. I’d urge everyone to sign it.

Mental Health Action York ‘formed to challenge the closure of the city’s only NHS mental hospital, Bootham Park’, led by Dr Bob Adams, quoted above. For more information see this article in the Press, and @ActionYork on Twitter
Also on Facebook (needs login to view)

Healthwatch York are asking for your views (by 12 Feb), see this piece in the Press

The post Approaches to Bootham Park, part 3 appeared first on York Stories.

Bootham Park gates, July 2014

On the previous page I left us hanging around on the boundaries of Bootham Park. Here we are again, at the gates. Pictured above in July 2014, when the TdF saw the street of Bootham decorated with yellow. The tape was perhaps a contribution to that, as it had some yellow in it.

What I’ve been wanting to do for a while and what I’m trying to do now in these Bootham Park pages is what I’ve always done, when I’ve had the energy and the time – to try to draw attention to things I think haven’t got enough attention elsewhere. I’m hoping to do that in a reasonably succinct way in pages of manageable length, so that you don’t get bored and leave.

It’s quite hard work. But let’s push those gates open. Actually, we don’t have to, as the side gate for pedestrians is always open, in my experience. So let’s go via that into this piece of land called Bootham Park, which has Bootham Park Hospital on it, and other buildings, including a handsome chapel. But there’s a lot to cover. Let’s just do a bit at a time. Let’s just start with its massive great piece of green open space, just inside that gate and those rusty railings.

Bootham Park, 1 Oct 2015

The photo above is from a wander through here on 1 Oct 2015, the first day the hospital was closed. The hospital may have been closed but its grounds weren’t.

There’s a road and path through here, under an avenue of mature trees. I’ve walked through here many times. Here’s a photo from many years ago, more than a decade ago.

Bootham Park, tree-lined avenue, 4 Nov 2004

And one from ten years after that, in the summer, when the trees were in full leaf, in July 2014. It’s beautiful in the evening in particular.

I’ve found a document suggesting that this a public right of way, this road and path through Bootham Park. It’s also part of the city’s cycle network. So I’d like to be able to assume that it would remain open if the hospital stayed closed, if the facilities moved elsewhere, and if the building was turned into a hotel or really expensive apartments.

But I’ve found it’s best not to assume anything. And I can’t spend the time researching it all, and trying to get all the answers. So I thought I’d just ask the questions.

What protection the main massive area of green space has I don’t know either. It has some, and views of the hospital seem to be thought of as important, from Bootham. But protection isn’t the same as public access.

Do we value our access to this massive area of green space and mature trees and interesting buildings near to the city centre? I do. And have in recent years become increasingly concerned about it.

I wonder how much this land is worth, this old ‘gala field‘ and the larger area. So much to consider.

More later. It needs several approaches, from different angles.

Bootham Park, 7 Nov 2015

The post Approaches to Bootham Park, part 2 appeared first on York Stories.