MORE low cost apartments could be on the cards for empty office buildings on a York business park.

Developers have asked the council to lift old rules on Pioneer Business Park - in Clifton Moor - so they can convert unwanted office space into "starter homes".

The Helmsley Group already has permission to convert one empty office building into 21 one-bedroom flats, and now the developers want to expand the deal into a neighbouring site.

Recently so many applications have been made to change the rules on Clifton Moor offices that the council has set out a formal policy to make sure enough facilities - like parking, cycle shed, bin storage and play areas - exist for the decent housing before the covenants are lifted.

A policy paper produced in June last year said that since the council sold the land for offices and business parks in the 1980s, many have fallen empty and become difficult if not impossible to let, but because the council fixed "restrictive covenants" onto the land when it was sold special permission has to be given for any changes.

Although there is high demand for good quality offices in the city centre, the properties at Clifton Moor offer poor and at best moderate quality office space, and businesses have "voted with their feet", it adds.

The plans are for six small low cost one-bedroomed apartments, but as they are not officially considered affordable housing the council will get a cash sum from the developers to lift the rules - something planning officials have recommended that councillors accept.

On Thursday, February 19 the council leader Dafydd Williams will decide whether or not to grant the permission at a public decision session in the council offices.