ONE of York's biggest city centre redevelopment schemes should finally get under way this autumn, creating hundreds of jobs for the following six years.

Work is expected to start on the first phase of a massive project to revitalise the semi-derelict Hungate, site off Stonebow, almost four years after proposals were submitted to planners.

The initial phase will involve about 140 town houses and apartments in an area of the site formerly occupied by Northern Electric, and bounded by the River Foss and a nature reserve, said Phil Darcy, managing director of Crosby Homes (Yorkshire) Ltd, which along with Evans Property Group and Land Securities make up the Hungate (York) Regeneration joint venture partnership.

Outline consent for the redevelopment of the whole site was granted last year by City of York Council.

Mr Darcy said he hoped a legal agreement outlining a series of conditions would be rubberstamped in the next couple of weeks, after which a detailed application for the first phase would be submitted.

He hoped the application would receive permission by the late summer, enabling construction work to start later in the year.

But he said archaeologists from York Archaeological Trust were expected to move on to the site this spring, to begin the city's biggest dig since the Coppergate excavation in the late 1970s.

He said their initial project would be an assessment of the first phase area, involving digging exploratory trenches as well as later keeping a watching brief as construction work got underway.

The area was used for dumping rubbish during medieval times, but other parts of the site to be explored later in the project may uncover fresh evidence about the Roman occupation of York.

Mr Darcy said other work that would take place over the summer would include the diversion of a modern-day sewer which currently runs across the site.

The Hungate scheme involves 720 new homes, a major office, now expected to be occupied by City of York Council staff, restaurants, bars and some shops, a square and a riverside piazza.

A new footbridge is also planned over the River Foss, linking the site with Navigation Road.

Dr Darcy said the project was due to run in six, overlapping phases, with the final phase expected to be completed in 2011/12.

The second phase, involving an area facing onto Stonebow and close to York city centre, was likely to start in 2007.

No plans to move site of city library

YORK'S Central Library is not moving to Hungate, the city's council leader has confirmed today.

Coun Steve Galloway told a full meeting of City of York Council that the authority had no plans to move the centre to a site close to the authority's proposed new office complex.

The Evening Press reported on Monday how council bosses had floated the idea of creating a new "library learning centre" as part of the redevelopment of the Hungate site, off Stonebow.

A spokeswoman said the site had always included within it sufficient space - with planning permission - for a "community building".

She said that ideas, such as the establishment of that centre, had been discussed "along with a host of proposals".

But Coun Galloway told members while outlining the council's future plans to move its headquarters: "There has been some speculation over the last few days that we have plans to move the library to an adjacent site in Hungate. Can I make it quite clear that we have no such plans.

"I would expect that the future of the community building allocated in Hungate will be determined within the next 12 months.

"Currently the most likely use for the building would be a facility specifically aimed at providing for the leisure needs of teenagers."

The library's present home, at the back of the council offices in St Leonard's Place, was opened on September 23, 1927, by the Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, chairman of the Carnegie UK Trust, which contributed £13,000 towards the cost. It had almost 850,000 visits in 2004/05, is at the back of the council offices in St Leonard's Place.

The council is considering selling St Leonard's Place as part of a scheme to create a single £30 million council building in Hungate - housing 1,600 staff and saving the authority nearly £29 million over the course of the first 30 years of its operation. The council has been looking at its library services and, in November, called for steps to boost their usage - after learning 70 per cent of residents did not utilise the service.

Coun Galloway said: "We have received scrutiny reports on both the future of the libraries and our archives. I am grateful for the work done by those members serving on both those bodies.

"They have contributed effectively to the long-term strategy of the council and, in the latter case at least, we are now in a position to move forward with some certainty."

Updated: 10:19 Friday, January 27, 2006