YORK St John University is bidding to build a brand new sports hall, with badminton and basketball courts, viewing decks, and changing rooms on its Mille Crux Haxby Road site.

The university has submitted a planning application for a new sports hub with social and sporting facilities to City of York Council.

The proposals will see a brick pavilion at the Haxby Road sports campus which was bought from Nestle in 2012 demolished and replaced with the brand new larger facility.

The university's Chief Operating Officer David Chesser said: “This is the next phase of an overall £7m investment to create a student and community sports park and will cost approximately £3.8m. It will involve the building of a sports centre to house sports courts, changing rooms, gym facilities and multi-use conference and teaching space.

“Investment in the sport park has already created a 3G pitch for football and rugby, a synthetic pitch for hockey and PE, three netball courts and three tennis courts, plus facilities for basketball. There are also traditional grass pitches for rugby, cricket, football and a synthetic sprint track."

He added that St John had reached its highest ever British Universities and Colleges Sport ranking at the end of the last season partly because of improved facilities, and fresh investment would boost participation in both university and community sport.

“As well as benefits to our university sports teams, these new facilities, which are scheduled to open in September 2016, will provide lecture and learning spaces for students on sports and health related courses and opportunities to improve health and well-being for students from across the university and members of the community.”

A planning statement drawn up by planning consultants O'Neill Associates sets out the scheme for a two-storey unheated sports centre, with ten team changing rooms and officials' changing rooms, a strength and conditioning suite, teaching and social space, and catering facilities, and a sports hall big enough for five badminton courts.

This development will leave a modular building currently on site in place; while six new floodlit, outdoor courts for tennis and netball, have already been opened.