THE Wilberforce Trust is to sell its residential home and offices in York to a housing developer - allowing it to invest millions of pounds in local services for the disabled.

The Trust, which has owned the 27-bedroom home in Tadcaster Road since the late 1960s, provides supported residential care and training opportunities for adults with visual impairments and additional disabilities.

The building and three-acre site, which is next to St Leonard's Hospice, will go on the market in the next few weeks, general manager Keith McKee confirmed, and the trust has already secured outline planning permission for the demolition of the building and the construction of approximately 50 houses.

All 25 residents were previously moved to six houses around York to provide them with independence and the chance to get involved in the local community.

Mr McKee, said the trust was now seeking new office space in the city for its six staff.

He said: "It's only really in the last 18 months that we have come to the conclusion that the disposal of the land and existing home was a realistic option.

"We always expected that we would continue to have some presence on this site for many years to come but the new care standards for residential care homes were published and we knew that to continue we would have to spend a considerable amount of money.

"A funding opportunity also arose which would allow us to provide services to our residents in a better way, by offering them houses to live in - something we would always have wanted to do."

Mr McKee said he had no idea how much the site would fetch, but said it was likely to be several million. He said: "We have borrowed to help us finance the individual houses so a proportion of the money we get will be set aside to repay those borrowings some time in the future.

"The rest of it is likely to be invested in the development of new services for people, perhaps for people just with visual impairments or those with other sensory disabilities.

"I look on the sale as a very positive choice rather than one we were forced into."

Updated: 10:26 Thursday, July 03, 2003