AN Art Deco school gym that heritage experts have been fighting to save looks likely to disappear, after officials advised councillors to approve plans for demolition.

The gymnasium building at Burton Stone Community Centre is all that remains of the school that once stood on the site, but it is set for demolition under city council plans to extend a housing complex for older people and provide new community facilities.

Under the scheme, the existing community centre would be demolished to make way for 29 flats and four bungalows in an extension to Marjorie Waite Court extra care housing complex, as well as 150 sq metres of new community space.

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Heritage experts at York Civic Trust and the 20th Century Society have opposed the plans, but planning papers published ahead of a meeting next week show that planning officials are recommending that councillors approve the scheme.

A report prepared for the committee says York needs the new housing to cope with “sharply increased demand for supported accommodation for those over 75 years of age” and adds: “At the same time the existing community centre buildings are underutilised and in a poor state of structural repair which would be expensive to remedy.”

However, the Civic Trust has spoken against the scheme saying it would be possible to provide new community facilities without destroying a rare piece of Art Deco architecture in York.

The trust’s boss Dr David Fraser said earlier this year that the building could be saved a "little more imagination”. Both the trust and the 20th Century Society say the building is a rare example of its style in York, and the trust has also pointed to its important links to national health and fitness campaigns, and early 20th century attempts to improve the quality of life for York’s poorer residents.

The planners’ report, however, says technical problems would be thrown up trying to design around the old buildings and boilers and the loss of the “non-designated heritage asset” in the gymnasium is acceptable.

The application is due to be decided by the area planning sub-committee on Thursday, July 5.

The school building was designed by architects Penty and Thompson, who also designed the Grade II listed redbrick Queen’s Building at St Peter’s School, and were involved with the Regal Cinema on Piccadilly built in 1937 and demolished in 1989.