PLANS to build 700 homes on a former York gasworks site have now been submitted to City of York Council.

Joint developers Moda and North Star say their outline application to regenerate the derelict ex-Heworth Gasworks site in Heworth Green takes on board comments made in a public consultation earlier this year.

The height of the buildings at the corner of Heworth Green and Eboracum Way has been reduced and additional information on landscaping and design has also been incorporated, said a spokesman.

He said more than 170 people had attended a public exhibition at the Ark/Trinity Church in Monkgate about the proposals for the nine-acre site, and consultation would take place throughout the development process, with meetings continuing with neighbours.

Tony Brooks, managing director at Moda, said the plans had been "well received", with 93 per cent of the public keen to see the site brought forward.

A spokesperson for North Star said it was "very encouraged" by the feedback during the consultation, with "virtually everyone wishing to see this large brownfield site brought back into use after many years".

He added: “Key issues at the consultation was the regeneration of the site, links through the site, as well as questions on traffic and parking, as we expected.”

A planning statement issued to the council with the application by chartered town planning consultants O’Neill Associates said it represented a "unique opportunity by which an unused, contaminated, large unsightly piece of land, close to the city centre, can be brought back into use".

It said: “For over a decade, the site has lain vacant and unattractive, fenced off from its neighbours. Various planning permissions have been granted over that time for reuse of the site for housing but no development has come forward.”