THIS is how a multi-million pound tennis centre at Clifton Moor could look if planning permission is granted.

The artist's impression of the £8.5 million tennis and leisure centre was exclusively revealed to the Evening Press today.

The centre would provide six indoor and four outdoor tennis courts, new indoor and outdoor swimming pools, badminton courts, a gymnasium and sauna suite, as well as crche, health and beauty areas and function rooms.

A rival scheme on green belt land off Hull Road, York, has met with opposition from local people, while an earlier application to build a tennis centre at Monks Cross was rejected by planners.

According to developers Harrison, of Malton, the Clifton Moor centre, which would be opposite the site of the Ikon and Diva nightclubs, would offer significant advantages.

Bryan Bell, Harrison's project manager, said: "The recent road improvements at the Wigginton Road junction with the outer ring road mean the network can take the traffic.

"The proposed tennis and sports centre is adjacent to an area already designated for commercial use rather than residential use.

"York desperately needs good tennis facilities but it is vital that they are sited where they will be accessible and cause minimum disruption to existing residents.

"Clifton Moor, we believe, provides the best available solution."

City of York Council planners are provisionally scheduled to consider the Hull Road application in August, but have yet to set a date to consider the Clifton Moor proposal.

PICTURE: The artists' impression of how the new tennis centre at Clifton Moor might look