A BLUEPRINT for the future of the Terry's site will be published this autumn, with councillors still determined that fresh jobs must be created to compensate for the hundreds lost.

The draft development brief is being produced as it emerged that the chocolate factory - closing with the loss of more than 300 jobs - will now shut a little later than originally expected.

Remaining staff on the site, thought to number about 80, had thought they would finish their last shift at the end of next week.

But a union leader has revealed the company had now asked for some of them to volunteer to work a few more weeks until towards the end of September.

John Kirk, of the GMB union, said about 40 might go next week and another 40 carry on producing Chocolate Orange - the only confectionery still being made at the factory in Bishopthorpe Road.

A Terry's spokesman said the company had only ever stated that production would end during the second half of 2005, with no firm date being fixed for closure.

He said the ending of Chocolate Orange production on the York site was timed to tie in with the start of manufacturing at a factory in Poland, and he could not say when the closure would happen.

The spokesman added the site would be placed on the open market, following the ending of production, but its future use would be primarily determined by the local authority.

In spring last year, City of York Council leader Steve Galloway sought to quash rumours that the site would easily fall into the hands of residential property developers, saying the authority would "vigorously" resist a substantial part of the site being used for anything other than industrial or manufacturing use.

He said it would only consider a change-of-use planning application for the site when all such possibilities had been exhausted.

A city council spokeswoman today said it was working on a draft development plan for the site, which would guide prospective developers on how it should "look and feel".

She said: "We are as determined as ever that any future use of the site should involve job creation.

"The site is highlighted for employment in the Local Plan, though we will not rule any ideas out at this stage."

Asked to comment on reports carried in the Evening Press' sports pages last week, suggesting that York City Football Club might eventually move to the Terry's site, she said it was too early to say, adding: "We are ruling nothing in and ruling nothing out."

Updated: 11:13 Friday, August 19, 2005