Photo credit – Sky Filming
The Member of Parliament for York Central, Rachael Maskell, has today spoken out to defend one of York’s most important ancient sites from being turned into a housing development.
Named for the Roman Emperor who is rumoured to have had his funeral there, the site of a former reservoir on Severus Hill, near Poppleton Road in Holgate, is at risk of being cleared to make way for new houses.
That’s if the Friends of Severus Hill, a Holgate-based community group, are not able to raise the more than £150,000 needed to buy the site.
Keyland Development (the sister company of Yorkshire Water) who own the land, have agreed to postpone their auction of the hill to potential developers until the end of June 2024, allowing time for the community to raise the money.
Mrs Maskell told Your Local Link, “A chance to community-purchase an important site doesn’t come around often, and I’m really supportive of the efforts made by the group and wider community.
“I’d urge everyone to go and check the crowdfunder and see if you can be part of a grassroots goal to preserve history and nature through a not-for-profit community organisation.”
The Friends of Severus Hill say that preserving the site is so important, because in the 40 years since the reservoir was closed, the hill has been left completely untouched, allowing a vibrant ecosystem to form, unlike anything else in the city.
It’s an oasis for several migratory species like swifts and waxwings, who use the site as they travel across the country, and is home to several families of foxes, and critically endangered hedgehogs.
Toni Bunnell, a wildlife biologist from the University of Hull describes the hill as “a wildlife area of great importance” due to the populations of hedgehogs that live there.
Andrew Morrison—also the Chief Executive of the York Civic Trust — is one of the group’s key spokespeople. He has said, “Its impact on our city’s biodiversity cannot be overstated, as a green oasis amongst suburban housing. Its heritage and history are unique.”
Not only have Roman road remains and a Viking spearhead been discovered on the hill, but the area is also rumoured to hold an unexploded German bomb — dropped on Holgate by German forces in May 1942.
The hill was temporarily placed on the housing market by Keyland Developments back in October. At the time Auction House described the site as “rather overgrown but of interest to any developers and speculators looking for an opportunity they can add some real value to.”
Keyland say they withdrew from potential sales to developers when approached by campaigners and local councillors.
A spokesperson said, “This is not what we originally planned to do with the site, but we were impressed with the approach taken by the councillors, and we wish them well with the fundraising activities.”
Only after the end of June 2024 will the company reassess their options. In the meantime, they have agreed to withhold discussions with any other potential buyers or developers.
The real need for new houses in York
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics at the end of March demonstrated that the housing crisis in York is one of the worst in the country.
The median house price in the city during 2023 was £265,000 higher than the median wage— making it next to impossible for first-time buyers to get on the ladder.
This prompted Cllr Michael Pavlovic, the executive member for housing at the City of York Council, to tell the BBC that “housing affordability has become a huge problem in York, one that’s pricing out the next generation of homeowners”.
This is especially true of Holgate, where Severus Hill resides, which is the fifth most deprived ward in York— so is in desperate need of more affordable housing wherever space resides.
While Keyland’s auction plan did not give any indication as to what kind of houses might have been erected there, this is not the first time Severus Hill has faced a threat to its existence in the shape of a housing development.
In 2017, the Yorkshire Housing Association applied to build 43 affordable houses on the hill, but when faced by long-serving resident David Ryder and his “Save Severus Campaign’, the developers were roundly defeated.
The council’s reasoning at the time was, that since the proposal had failed to create a plan that protected the rich roman archaeological deposits, and the hill’s unique biodiversity, any potential development would risk “harm to the historic city, which was seen by the council planning committee to outweigh the need for affordable homes.
The Friends of Severus Hill campaign of today continue to uphold that argument.
Jo Patton, another campaign member, has said that any attempt to build affordable houses isn’t realistic to solving York’s housing crisis, “It would take a huge amount of work to get the site ready to build on in the first place.”
This process is likely to take years and would be at the expense of the entire landscape of the hill.
A site like Severus Hill, that is believed by historians to hold the ashes of a Roman Emperor, Viking remains, and an unexploded bomb, and is believed by geologists to hold ice-age fossils, that is also home to unprecedented levels of urban wildlife; should be protected at all costs. Jo says that any sale to housing developers would mean that “there is never a chance to uncover those mysteries.”
To make that goal easier, campaign spokesperson Andrew Morrison has appealed for donations to the community fund. He said, “this really is an opportunity to do something good this Spring.”
You can make a donation to the Friends of Severus Hill campaign by visiting www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/severushill.
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