City of York Council has decided to borrow £46m and as act as developer on a major city centre regeneration scheme in order to boost its financial return from the project.
The council’s executive this week voted to reject options which could have seen it sell parts of the Castle Gateway site to private developers.
Instead, it will take on responsibility for funding and managing the development, which will see new homes, a multi-storey car park, a bridge over the River Foss plus a new riverside park.
A report to the executive said: “This is the option that maximises the financial return to the council to pay for the wider public benefits, minimising the estimated project viability gap that the council will need to fund to £3.3m.
