THE National Railway Museum and York Station are being lined up for a major overhaul and expansion as part of a plan to redevelop one of the largest brownfield sites in the country.

Parts of the Leeman Road area of the city could be closed or diverted under the proposals, to give the museum more space to expand and modernise, while creating 120,000 sq m of office space and 2,500 new homes among public squares and green spaces.

The details are emerging after a Government announcement last month that the York Central site would become an "Enterprise Zone".

Councillors are set to consider a new blueprint for land close to the station and the museum known as York Central, which is considered among the most important development sites in the region.

The latest plans for the site set out a vision for 2,500 homes as well as offices for 7,000 workers.

A new bridge across the East Coast Mainline would connect the site to the rest of the city and consideration will be given to closing Leeman Road where it runs through the National Railway Museum.

Paul Kirkman, director of the National Railway Museum, said: “We are working on big plans to transform our museum to tell the epic story of railways, increase our contemporary relevance and grow our visitor numbers to over one million per year.

“We aim to engage and inspire new and broader audiences, including schools, families, and more of York’s existing seven million visitors, with this world-changing story that continues to affect all our lives today.”

A consultation is due to launch soon so people in the city can have their say on what happens to the land, and ruling councillors are being asked to approve Compulsory Purchase Orders to buy pockets of land crucial to the ambitious plans.

Documents released today show the estimated £78 million development of the whole site could take 15 to 20 years to finish.