EIGHT new apartments could be built on a patch of open space next to a York park as part of a £7 million project to provide more council housing.

Plans for the development on Fenwick Street, in Bishopthorpe, have been submitted to City of York Council by its own officials, with the applicants saying the flats would all have two bedrooms and parking spaces would also be provided.

The site is next to Rowntree Park and documents sent to council planners said the authority’s housing department would build the flats and keep them for rent, with the scheme aimed at tenants who are over 55 and want to downsize.

The council said this would free up family homes in other parts of the city, with other sites included in the project being at the former Beckfield Lane tip, Newbury Avenue, Chaloner’s Road and Hewley Avenue.