AN EXHIBITION will be held tomorrow about plans for 48 new homes in York, which a housing association says will help tackle the city’s housing crisis and provide families with badly needed homes.

The proposals for a hilly area of land off Bouthwaite Drive, known as Severus Hill, have prompted concerns from local residents about extra traffic, noise and overlooking of existing properties.

The exhibition will take place between 3pm and 7pm at the Poppleton Road Memorial Hall in Oak Street and give residents a chance to comment on the design proposals.

A Yorkshire Housing spokesman said it was holding the public exhibition so residents could come and look at - and comment on - proposals for the new development of 48 two and three-bedroom family homes.

“We are keen to hear local residents’ views on the proposals,” he said.

“The new homes will be available for sub market or social rent and as shared ownership properties, to help people get on the housing ladder.

“ Too many families in York find it difficult to find a home which they can afford which meets there needs. Developments like this will help tackle the housing crisis.”

One local resident, who preferred not to be identified at this stage, has leafleted some neighbours, saying the scheme would ‘impact significantly on all of us and the neighbourhood around us,’ and saying a number of people considered the proposals to be ‘unacceptable.’ He said the impact would be in terms of increased noise, traffic and visual intrusion, and it was essential people attended the exhibition to show the community had an opinion on the scheme.

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“The whole community need to be aware of this,” he said.

A City of York Council spokeswoman said terms had been agreed fora land swap involving the site and a parcel of near the former Reynards Garage in Piccadilly.

“It is now with legal services and completion of the transaction is expected imminently,” she said.

“The deal was not subject to planning consent for development on either of the sites.”

An officer’s report last October said Yorkshire Housing owned the land in Piccadilly and approached the authority to seek the acquisition of land in Bouthwaite Drive to provide an improved access.