A HOUSING plan that will put 70 new homes on playing fields off Hull Road looks likely to go ahead, despite a heated campaign against it by locals.

Neighbours on Windmill Lane, close to David Lloyd gym on Hull Road, have protested against plans to build on playing fields opposite their homes, but planners have now backed the scheme.

The field is owned by York St John University, but the institution’s bosses say with the improvements across town at Haxby Road, mean student sports teams no longer need the Hull Road site.

Instead the university has applied for planning permission for 70 houses and flats - something which has promoted objections from people who live nearby.

Some 49 formal objections have been made, saying neighbours do not want to lose valuable and well-used open space in the area, or see congestion get worse. The university’s new sports pitches on Haxby Road are too far away to be used by people in the area, they said, and children growing up nearby have played on the field for years.

Both York Hockey Club and David Lloyd gym have objected as well, saying Haxby Road was not developed to replace the Hull Road site, and it is difficult to hire pitches at the other site.

But planning documents show that city council workers do not agree with those concerns and want the development to go ahead.

Any negative impacts it would have would be outweighed by the benefits of new housing in a “sustainable and accessible” location, they added.

A report prepared for the city’s planning committee shows that 30 per cent of the planned new houses would be affordable - either social rented homes or for sale at discount prices.

It also says highways workers at the council think the new houses will create an extra 50 car trips in the area during rush hour, which will have a “small detrimental impact” on the traffic lights at the Melrosegate junction.

The Hull Road ward does not have enough open space, it adds, but when the provision is combined with neighbouring Heslington and Osbaldwick wards it has more than enough open space and sport provision but a deficit in children’s play areas.

If it gets the go ahead, the planners have said developers need to make sure there is a children’s play area built on the new estate and sports provision either made on-site or paid for elsewhere.

On top of that they are asking for more than £200,000 for Badger Hill Primary School and Archbishop Holgates CE, and £20,000 for new electronic signs at bus stops.