Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to make the building at Bootham Park Hospital available for use by public services.

The combined holding costs to NHS Property Services (NHSPS) and the local health system for the former Bootham Park Hospital site from 2017 to date have totalled £2,636,808. These costs are for the entire site, part of which remains in occupancy, and includes security, utilities, site and waste management.

The former Bootham Park Hospital was declared surplus to healthcare requirements by the then local Clinical Commissioning Group in 2016 and the site was vacated by the National Health Service, with the exception of the separate chapel building, in late 2017. The property was subsequently occupied by the NHSPS facilities management team, with the majority of the main building mothballed, and was then prepared for marketing and sale by NHSPS to release the health system from the considerable ongoing costs of managing this property, which is classified as a heritage asset.

NHSPS’s current assessment is that the costs of returning the property to any form of operational healthcare use would be very significant given the current estimate for backlog maintenance and operating costs.

An initial proposed sale did not proceed, and the site was remarketed with the new prospective purchaser developing a scheme and obtaining planning permission for a 172-unit retirement village, which was approved by City of York Council in February 2023. As it is a heritage asset, this matter is now referred to the Secretary of State for the Department of Housing, Levelling Up and Communities to consider, on which a decision is expected shortly, and this will establish beneficial planning consents. Recently, NHSPS has been informed that the prospective site purchaser has withdrawn from the sale contract and the site will therefore shortly be remarketed.

Whilst the former Bootham Park Hospital has been declared surplus to healthcare requirements, if other public sector bodies wish to facilitate the delivery of alternative public services from the building, they would be able to register their interest and make an offer. This will be assessed by NHSPS through the process for sale of surplus assets in accordance with requirements set out in HM Treasury guidance on Managing Public Money and Disposal of Heritage Assets.