SLAMMED: Plans to demolish York's Victorian fire station buildings spark fury

Plans to pull down the old fire station have been scrapped after opposition from influential groups including Historic England and York Civic Trust.

Developer John Reeves has confirmed they will soon put forward alternative plans, but said they could not save all the historic buildings on the site.

He said: "We have taken the comments made by various people and interested parties on board, and we are trying to protect the frontages on Peckitt Street but the big problem is the lodge building on the riverside."

Historic England and several other groups had written to council planning officials, objecting to the plans.

The Peckitt Street facade of the old York Fire Station

They said there was no justification for destroying the facade of the 1856 Trinity Chapel and neighbouring Sunday school, which is still visible on Peckitt Street, and also say that the lodge building at the river end of Peckitt Street, built as a house in the 1860s and used latterly as fire brigade offices, is of value.

Circled: The riverside building that forms part of the dispute. Below: a closer view

The original plans, submitted in October, were for nine four-bedroomed town houses running down Peckitt Street and along the river front, with a five-storey building containing a restaurant and five apartments on Clifford Street.

The building dates to 1856

Conservation expert Alison Sinclair was among opponents. In a letter to City of York Council, she argued the existing scheme overlooked how significant the fire station buildings were on the grand Victorian thoroughfare of Clifford Street.

Dr David Fraser, chairman of the York Civic Trust, added: "We object to the scheme because it does not take as a starting point the retention of buildings of historic and townscape value; and because the quality of the proposed new buildings is not sufficiently high for this site in the centre of York."

The Victorian Society said the proposals "would cause serious and unjustified harm to the significance of the York Central Core Conservation Area".

Yorkshire Architectural and York Archaeological Society said the lodge overlooking the Ouse should be protected, and said it was hard to take the plans seriously given how little information they gave about the buildings earmarked for demolition.

Mr Reeves and architects at dc-architecture say they are close to being able to submit alternative plans that would save the chapel facade but the flood-prone lodge building creates more of a problem.

Above and below: The proposed before and after images, as viewed from Clifford Street and the riverside

A new building would be easier to "flood-proof" with all the habitable rooms kept above the water level, but the current building will keep letting in water, Mr Reeves said.

He said that if planners insist the Lodge building is kept, investors would have to "seriously reconsider" the scheme's viability.

Council archaeology experts said the site included a significant portion of the precinct of the 13th century Franciscan Friary and called for more archaeological work before any development.