8:26am Monday 15th March 2010
By Megi Rychlikova
THE Green Party in York has alerted a national charity about the city council’s plan to demolish a former hostel for the homeless.
Council officers are hoping the bulldozing of the old Peasholme Centre in Stonebow will clear the way to the site being redeveloped and will prevent the building being vandalised.
But Green Party councillor Andy D’Agorne, believes the building is “perfectly sound” and could be home to 22 homeless people or students on a temporary basis.
His party has reported the demolition move to the independent charity Empty Homes Agency, which campaigns for unoccupied properties to be brought back into use.
Green Party campaigner Denise Craghill said: “The Greens argue that with the housing and property market stalled, this strategy is a gamble that might not even recoup the money laid out on assembling the land for the abortive council project. It runs the risk of either selling at the bottom of the market or creating more derelict land at the heart of the city, rather than using assets to provide services that the people of York need.”
The building has been empty since its occupants moved to a new base in Fishergate last year. The centre for the homeless was originally relocated to make way for the authority to build a new headquarters at Hungate. The council applied for permission to knock it down “to reduce the risk of vandalism and unlawful occupation”.
Neil Hindhaugh, the council’s head of property services, said: “There has been recent interest from the marketplace in developing this site for a range of employment uses which would provide jobs for people in York.”
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