A HOUSING company boss has pledged to go ahead with the redevelopment of a former gas works site in York, despite fears that contamination levels are so high the clean-up costs could scupper the scheme.

Ian Hessay, managing director of York-based Persimmon Homes, said his company's plans to build 140 flats on the former gasworks site in Heworth Green would greatly improve a contaminated area of wasteland, currently used as a car park.

He said the company was prepared to spend "significantly more than £1 million" on cleaning the site, part of which would include shipping contaminated soil to a specialist disposal site.

Mr Hessay's assurances came as City of York Council planners expressed fears that the cost of cleaning the site - the most contaminated the council has had to deal with because of the high levels of cyanide, phenols, arsenic and cadmium that are present in the soil - would not be financially viable for a redeveloper.

Mick Britton, City of York Council development control officer, said there was a "real possibility" that further tests, due to be completed this week, would reveal a higher clean-up cost than estimated and could hamper redevelopment plans.

Persimmon Homes has a contract to buy the land from Ashdale Investments, subject to planning permission being granted for 140 flats.

The application was submitted in May last year in conjunction with The Helmsley Group, which hopes to build an office block on the site.

Mr Hessay said the company, which recently built on a former gas works site in Thirsk, went into the deal with its eyes open, and believes it will recoup its clean-up costs through the sale of the properties.

He said: "We were well aware that there was a high remediation cost, significantly higher than £1 million.

"Early indications are that it's going to be viable, but they are early indications.

"At the end of the day we are being encouraged to build on brownfield sites and they are often contaminated.

"It's a good site, strategically placed for the city, and it will improve the area. We went into it with our eyes open.

"Residents say it shouldn't be touched, but there's an obligation to clean up these sites and if Persimmon doesn't develop it they could serve a notice on the landowner to clean it through the relevant Act.

"It's always better to do it through development."

Mr Britton said he was expecting a report from the council's environmental protection team in early March which would reveal whether all environmental concerns had been addressed. The planning process could then start.

He said: "We are not going to do anything until the environmental protection manager says that the contamination concerns have been addressed.

"It's obvious that the contamination on this site is of a higher order then anything we have come up against.

"There was, and might still be, a real possibility that it would not be financially viable for a developer to carry out remediation of a high standard."

The former council-owned land was sold for commercial development to an investment company which leased it to a car parking firm.

No business development was forthcoming so the ban on residential use was lifted, clearing the way for Persimmon's offer to clean up the land in order to build homes there - attracting opposition from unhappy residents on both sides of the site in Layerthorpe and Heworth Green.

Updated: 11:54 Thursday, January 09, 2003