The York Council is to consult residents on a plan to build on most of the former Lowfields school site.

Last night members of the committee and officials refused to acknowledge the concerns about the plan which were tabled by local Councillor Andrew Waller.

The committee had been told of the results of a survey undertaken in the area over the last week (see foot of page).

The survey results – covering over 300 households – revealed that the community was dismayed at some of the remarks contained in an officer report.

In particular:

• The suggestion that any development should be “piecemeal”. Residents have no desire to see construction traffic accessing the site over an extended period of time and are fearful that the maintenance standards that will apply to any undeveloped plots will be inadequate. They want to see an early completion of the whole of the site
• The inclusion of any “hospital”, police depot or GP surgery all of which would have an impact on 24/7 traffic volumes, put more pressure on parking spaces and bring noise and disturbance to what is otherwise an entirely residential area.  Residents say that any “hub” facilities – such as a police desk – should be located at the Library on Front Street (where there is adequate expansion potential to the rear of the existing buildings)
• The reduction in open space to less than ½ the area of a football pitch is unacceptable.  Residents want green space and want part of it to be allocated as a site for a nature reserve (lack of maintenance had de facto already effectively turned parts of the site into a wild life area over the last decade). Several have said that they would like to see a play park established.
• Building high density houses would exacerbate parking problems. Such problems are acute at the quoted paradigm comparator location (the top of Tedder Road). Bungalows and older persons (downsizing) apartments would be more acceptable as the number of vehicles owned by occupants of this type of property is likely to be low,

Many residents say that they hoped that the Council would agree to honour its historic commitment to the local community and restrict development to a 6.5 acre site.