A FATHER and son have bought prime York land for more than £1.3 million with the hope of turning part of it into yet another riverside hotel for the city.

If their scheme is approved by planners it will be the third announcement of plans for an Ouse-side hotel in the city over the past four months.

PD Smith Holdings, of Strensall, run by Philip Smith, chairman and managing director, and director son, Craig, beat more than a dozen bidders to obtain a large chunk of York riverscape. It consists of Grade ll listed buildings, Woodsmill, and Millbank House, plus a quarter-of-an-acre of open land at Queen Staith where they want to build and operate a sophisticated budget hotel. In the run up to the final bidding there were more than 150 inquiries about the site where buildings have remained empty for the past five years.

Organising the sale was Sanderson Townend & Gilbert, of York, representing receivers for the Scottish Heritable Trust, the conglomerate which owned the land and had its headquarters at Millbank House.

Ian McAndrew, of DTZ Debenham Thorpe in York, acted for PD Smith Holdings, which owns two nursing homes - Moorlands at Strensall and Birchlands at Haxby - plus Moorside Developments, a house building firm, and Moorside Caravan Park, both at Strensall. The Smiths are hoping to persuade planners to allow some residential housing within the combined 21,000 sq ft of Millbank House and Woodsmill. Craig Smith said: "The area got a bit run down and it will be wonderful to see some life put back into it. Everything depends on planning consents and we are very carefully preparing our planning brief, but we would hope to get moving on the project this year.

"Any hotel which does arise there will provide quality service at an affordable price."

It will be the third hotel dream to emerge on that stretch of the river over recent months.

A £25 million international-style 80-bedroom hotel with 48 apartments is proposed to open in the new millennium on the site of Foxton's garage in Leeman Road, adjoining Memorial Gardens upstream from Lendal Bridge.

And consent is being sought for another 55 bedroom "budget" style hotel at Varvil's warehouse, known as the Merchant Exchange - formerly the Remploy Building - between Ousebridge and Skeldergate Bridge.

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