A CONTROVERSIAL bid to bring a London Eye-style observation wheel to York would damage the city's historic heartland if successful, a conservation group has warned.

York Civic Trust has added its voice to the debate about the application to install a 54-metre wheel on St George's Field, Tower Street by calling on city planners to reject it.

World Tourist Attractions wants to set up a £3.5 million, 365-tonne wheel in York for 11 months, after already enjoying its success in Manchester and Birmingham. It has been estimated the attraction could pull in as many as 250,000 visitors to the city, and new staff may be employed on the site.

But York Civic Trust believes the location is wrong for such an enterprise.

It claims it "would have a substantial impact upon the character and appearance of the conservation area and would be harmful to the setting of important historic buildings and views of the centre of York from outside the city".

In a response to City of York Council's consultation, Civic Trust chairman Darrell Buttery points out the proposed site lies next to the Grade II listed Skeldergate Bridge, Grade II houses in Tower Place, the Grade I law courts, and within the setting of the scheduled ancient monument of Clifford's Tower.

He said: "There can be few more sensitive historic locations within the city centre."

Mr Buttery said the wheel would "dwarf" Clifford's Tower and "does not respect adjacent buildings, open spaces, landmarks and settings, nor does it have regard to local scale, proportion, details and materials...

"The application site is in the vicinity of so much of the city's historic heart, and in addition to the wheel itself, it is proposed to erect buildings of a type which should never be contemplated in such a setting."

These buildings include two offices, one toilet block, two pay-desks and an information kiosk, which Mr Buttery describes as "box-like structures of a highly utilitarian appearance". "Added to this disturbance is a prediction that 1,500 to 2,500 people a day will use the ride and queues will be filtered into six lanes. The wheel and its superstructure will also be illuminated when operational," he says.

Clive Booth, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for York, has also expressed concern about the observation wheel after speaking with residents on Tower Street.

He said: "The site is already congested and surely siting the wheel on Knavesmire for instance is more logical given its capacity to accommodate the anticipated 250,000 visitors."

Updated: 08:34 Friday, February 18, 2005