WORK has finally started on building 650 new homes on York’s Germany Beck site – some 40 years after plans for one of the city’s biggest housing schemes were first mooted.

Persimmon Homes Yorkshire has begun the £120 million construction project in Fulford - which includes 227 ‘affordable’ homes - after overcoming protracted protests from local residents and archaeologists.

Claims were taken to the High Court that the 1066 Battle of Fulford took place there prior to the Battle of Hastings and that the site should be protected from development.

Villagers have also raised fears that the development will exacerbate congestion on the A19 Fulford Road.

A spokesman for Persimmon, whose headquarters is just a short distance from the site, confirmed work had now commenced and said there was strong demand for the development.

“We are hoping to release our first homes for sale in August, with a view to having homes ready for our first homeowners to move in from November,” he revealed.

He said the main carriageway works on the A19, from which an access road runs into the site, had been completed, the final tarmac surface had been applied and white lining had been finished.

“The traffic light columns are installed and awaiting commissioning,” he added.

“Located less than two miles from York city centre, we are thrilled to be bringing more than 650 new homes and a wealth of community facilities to the development.”

The scheme will include a £1.75 million contribution to sports facilities and a £2 million contribution to school facilities, and will lead to the creation of 120 construction jobs.

The raising of the A19 to create an access road into the housing site is intended to help prevent the key route into the city from the A64 and Selby being blocked by floodwater when the River Ouse is flooding severely.

City of York Council has said that other flood defence measures are also planned to protect the A19 and substantially reduce the risk of the route being closed by high river levels.

Archaeologist Chas Jones said his objections had never been to the housing but to the route of the access road into the site, which he had now shown beyond reasonable doubt was part of the site of the battle and "irreplaceable heritage".

Fulford Parish Council has previously slated the appearance, landscaping, layout and scale of the homes and associated facilities, claiming design changes had resulted in a "characterless and monotonous estate, which lacks distinctiveness and any sense of place".

Householders said last month they hoped their twice daily traffic nightmare, when a convoy of school buses trundles along Fulfordgate to enter and leave Fulford School, would soon be over through the creation of a new entrance road from the housing site. Persimmon said it would be providing a road up to the school boundary.