by Patrick Gouldsbrough

CAMPAIGNERS battling to save a park near their homes are to set up task groups to take their fight forward.

City of York Council plans to build a road from Holgate Road to Leeman Road at the back of Wilton Rise, Cleveland Street and Upper St Paul's Terrace as part of the York Central plans.

Residents of the area held a meeting last weekend to decide their next course of action on the matter.

A petition will be launched imminently by the campaign group, setting out their agenda, and they will also establish an environmental task force.

Annabel Jelley, who held the meeting in the garden at the end of Cleveland Street, said: “We are looking to split the people who attended the meeting into task groups to tackle the issue.”

The gathering was attended by more than 50 supporters at the garden and follows the creation of a Facebook group, which now has over 120 likes.

While Annabel is looking to drive the issue forward, she was keen to say: “We have an agreement as a group that we are just protecting our park. We are not there to say where it should be placed and that it should be there instead because we aren’t at all.”

Ben Hall, a resident of Cleveland Street, added: "Building a road through here would bring pollution, noise and disruption, destroy trees and wildlife. Not to mention devaluation of our houses due to an undesirable road."

Neil Ferris, director of city and environmental services at City of York Council, said: “No final decision has been made on site access, and detailed road designs have yet to be approved. We are working through all likely impacts of the scheme as a whole which will be informed by further community consultation and technical assessment."

York Central has long been a priority site for York but various attempts to spark development have come to nothing.

The site was designated last year as an Enterprise Zone however, which the city council has said could help unlock as much as £100 million in investment.

The council carried out a large public consultation on its plans earlier this year.