A new five-storey hotel could be built in the heart of York creating a "substantial" number of jobs, the Evening Press can reveal today.

The development, which would include a restaurant and bar, is being proposed for the site of the old Castle Motors, next to the Tyke filling station in Piccadilly.

If York's planning chiefs give the proposal the go-head, the hotel - which it is hoped will revitalise a "rundown" area of the city - could be built early next year.

Graham Connell, of DTZ commercial agents, acting on behalf of the applicant, Land Mark Developments Ltd, said the hotel would bring a substantial number of jobs to the city - possibly just short of 100.

"If the go-ahead is given for the hotel, it will have to be covered 24 hours a day - that is a lot of shifts and a number of jobs. Obviously, this is great news for an area of the city where there were once a great number of jobs," he said.

He said the hotel would revitalise the site, which is "currently under-used and unsightly", with a "quality development."

The luxury hotel would back on to the River Foss, and the applicants hope to participate in the council's proposals to introduce a riverside walk way along that stretch.

Mr Connell said they would also be keen to look at ways of improving the busy Piccadilly junction if the planning application gets the go-ahead.

Ian Thomson, of the City of York Council, said: "Obviously it is very early stages, but we are seriously considering the application and there is no doubt that the proposed site is in need of development."

He said the hotel planning application would probably not be seriously discussed or a decision made until the beginning of December or early next year.

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