PLANS have been re-submitted to convert a long-empty York pub into student flats.

The move comes despite the scheme being rejected by councillors, against officer advice, for a property that has been on the market for years.

Wetherby-based Alfa Homes seeks to convert the former Castle Howard Ox off Townend Street into 16 flats, with a two-storey extension to its side.

Planning documents submitted to City of York Council says the need for the scheme are “even more compelling” than when the plans were refused by City of York’s planning committee in November 2021.

Then, councillors said the developers had not provided enough evidence that the property could not be viable as a pub, believing it should remain as a community facility.

But now documents from the applicants show no ‘acceptable’ offer has been made for the venue, which has been empty since 2017 and had been marketed for £450,000.

Fleurets say they tried selling the property for 11 months, which followed CBRE also marketing the site for seven months.

The offers also included alternative uses such as residential or a community centre.

CBRE says it received 12 offers from developers and investors but none were from pub or restaurant operators.

The planning application also said there was a need for purpose-built student accommodation for York to keep up with the growth of its universities, which drive the local economy.

Such accommodation also allows non-students better access to existing housing stock.

Such a need was outstripping supply, with trends for this set to continue, also beating forecasts.

The application also said: “The property is of no value to the local community at present, having remained vacant for yet another year. Continued marketing has not brought forward any further realistic interest for its community reuse.

“Without intervention and a new use for the building, there is a risk the property’s condition will continue to deteriorate further and it will become an eyesore and attract anti-social behaviour, to the detriment of its historic interest and character of the local area.”

National planning policies give “substantial weight” for brownfield sites to be used for housing, including student housing.

The application concluded council planning staff believed the previous application for the same type and form of development on the site was acceptable, appropriate and would not harm the local community.

The council’s planning committee had sought evidence of a year’s marketing of the site, which has now been given. It would need ‘significant investment’ to return to its former use and this was not realistic.

The proposals “represent an effective, sustainable, and viable reuse of a vacant building” meeting a need and “delivering a raft of material public benefits that weigh heavily in favour of the grant of planning permission. “