PROPOSALS to build 83 new homes on a former York school’s playing fields look set to be approved by planners next week.

City of York Council is seeking to build the houses - 38.5 per cent of which would be ‘excellent quality’ affordable housing - within the grounds of the former Burnholme Community College.

A report to a meeting next week of the authority’s planning committee says the site is allocated for housing development in the draft Local Plan.

It says five of the homes would be self-build and nine would be bungalows, but some would be up to three storeys high.

They would also have very high levels of insulation which would achieve a 75 per cent reduction in heating requirements compared to current building regulations.

The report said there had been 16 public representations, raising concerns including the impact on the locality and claiming that surrounding roads were already unsafe and in poor condition, in particular Bad Bargain Lane, and didn’t have the capacity for more housing.

Objectors claimed facilities for pedestrians in the locality needed improvement, and signalled pedestrian crossings, on Bad Bargain Lane, particularly adjacent to the Burnholme development, and at the junction with Tang Hall Lane, were essential to safe movement of cyclists and pedestrians travelling to and from the city centre.

They also claimed the site was not as close to local facilities, and bus services were not as frequent as was suggested within the application.

They also claimed: “The amount of development is excessive for the site and the local area does not have the services, amenities and road network to accommodate such.”

Neighbours in Penyghent Avenue had objected to the proximity of houses to the boundary and their proposed height, which would lead to a loss of light, be over-bearing and cause a loss of outlook and of privacy.

But the report by Jonathan Kenyon, recommending approval, says the scheme has been designed to promote sustainable modes of travel, health and wellbeing, the latter through both the design of the housing itself and the surrounding public realm and movement network.

It also says the housing on the western side of the site has been re-designed to address concerns over neighbours’ amenity and there will be measures to retain the hedgerow at the western boundary.

It says the scheme has ‘strong sustainability credentials’ with housing to be built within an attractive and landscaped setting.

It says private car ownership is discouraged, with alternatives promoted and facilitated, and a sufficient number and range of homes will be provided to meet the needs of present and future generations and open spaces would support the communities’ health, social and cultural well-being.