Welcome to Heronby
A new community should be more than houses. It should be somewhere with its own character, its own green spaces, and room for the next generation to put down roots. That is the ambition behind Heronby, Escrick Park Estate’s proposal for a new community of around 3,500 homes between York and Selby.
Heronby will focus on meeting the housing needs of today's young people, but in a way that makes sure it is recognised as a distinctly Yorkshire place.
A team of leading architects, planners and specialists has been shaping Heronby since 2021. A planning application to North Yorkshire Council is expected towards the end of this year, and before then there will be opportunities to view the proposals
and share your views.
2031
THE YEAR HOMES WILL
BE ready for occupancy
30
years IT WOULD TAKE to complete 3,500 homes
3
NEW SCHOOLS
2 primary, 1 secondary
47
HECTARES OF COUNTRY PARK
(that’s about 24 times the size of Selby Park)
30%+
biodiversity net gain
£1BN
CONSTRUCTION VALUE
FOR THE LOCAL ECONOMY
The proposal
The proposals for Heronby include a new high street, two primary schools, a secondary school, a health centre and sports facilities, in addition to almost 3,500 homes, all designed so that daily life works on foot, by bike or by bus as easily as by car. There are proposals for park and ride facilities, a cycle hub and improvements to the A19.
More than half the site would be green space, including a country park of almost 50 hectares – the equivalent to 70 football pitches – and at the heart of the community sits Heron Wood, the ancient woodland Heronby is named after.
Learn more about Escrick Park Estate
Why new homes
are needed
The need for Heronby is clear and pressing. Skipton Building Society’s Home Affordability Index, which measures how many years of earnings it takes to buy a home area by area, found that only around 12% of households in the former Selby district could afford to buy a home today, and in York the figure falls to just 7%.
At the same time, the latest figures show more than 9,500 households on North Yorkshire Council’s housing waiting list, which is more people than live in Selby itself.
No single development can change that picture on its own, but a new community designed around the people behind those figures can make a real difference, and it is why the housing needs of today’s young people sit at the centre of the proposals for Heronby.
Explore the Skipton Affordability Index - skiptongroup.com
Help shape Heronby
Heronby is being designed with future generations in mind, so we want the people who might one day live there to tell us what a new community needs to get right.
What sort of homes would work for you?
Think about size, gardens and outdoor space, room to work from home, and homes that can adapt as families grow.
Would great cycling and walking routes help you leave the car at home?
Tell us what it would take, whether that is safe separated routes, secure storage or reliable buses to York and Selby.
What should a new high street offer?
Tell us about the places you would actually use, from cafes and food to a gym, and the kind of spaces that bring people together.
How would you use the country park?
Running, riding, walking the dog, space for children to roam, or something we have not thought of.
WHAT SHOULD COME FIRST?
New communities are built in phases, so tell us which facilities matter most from the very beginning.
Share your ideas
The feedback form takes a few minutes, and everything you tell us will be considered as the proposals are refined ahead of a planning application.
What is happening
right now
An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) scoping request
has been submitted to North Yorkshire Council.
This is not a planning application. It is a formal way of asking the council’s planning officers what a future environmental report on the proposals should cover, on subjects ranging from wildlife and drainage to traffic and noise.
Because it is a public document, it will appear on the council’s planning portal, and we know that can make it look as though an application has already been made. It has not. A planning application is a later step, expected towards the end of the year, once we have heard what people think.
WHY A WHOLE NEW COMMUNITY
New homes are often added in smaller numbers to the edges
of existing towns and villages, which in some cases can put pressure on the schools, surgeries and roads already there, because small developments rarely bring new facilities and infrastructure with them.
A community planned from the outset can deliver its infrastructure alongside its homes, so the schools, the health centre and the green spaces are there when people arrive rather than promised for later.
What happens next
Now
EIA scoping request submitted to North Yorkshire Council, and through this website your chance to share your ideas through the feedback form.
OCTOBER 2026
A public exhibition will be held in Escrick, where you can see the proposals in detail and talk to the team. More details will follow closer to the time.
END OF 2026
A planning application is expected to be submitted to North Yorkshire Council, shaped by the feedback we receive.
Nothing is decided yet. An application will be considered by North Yorkshire Council through the planning process, and the feedback gathered now and at the exhibition will form part of that application.
A community for
the next generation
Please tell us what would make Heronby
somewhere you would want to live.
Register for updates.
