PROGRESS on the major York Central "teardrop" redevelopment will come under the spotlight at a seminar tomorrow.

The sessions, which are open to the public, have been introduced before meetings of full council to enable councillors to explore major issues.

Councillors will gather at the Guildhall between 5pm and 6pm tomorrow to look at the York Central proposals before the meeting of full council at 6.30pm.

Officers, including Sue Smales, the council's principal development officer, who has been seconded to help steer the project, will be at the presentation, which is being given by Roy Templeman, the council's director of environment

and development services. Mr Templeman will also answer

councillors' questions.

The project was unveiled in March last year and involves the

redevelopment of a 35-hectare, teardrop site west of and next to York railway station with hopes for 6,000 new jobs and almost 3,000 new homes in a mixed development worth hundreds of millions of pounds.

A project steering group has been set up by the consortium of the major landowners in the area - including Railtrack, Jarvis and the National Railway Museum - along with the city council and the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.

A planning brief for the site is currently being prepared and will go out to public consultation at the end of the year or early in 2003.

The site is described as a "once-in-a-Millennium" opportunity by

consultants.

It is seen as an opportunity to expand the city with a mix of modern offices, well-integrated housing, leisure, cultural and associated retail activity and a Central Business District for York serving the region. Richard Clark, the council's head of civic, democratic and legal services, said tomorrow's seminar would allow councillors to get the latest news on

progress and ask questions about the plans.

He said: "These seminars are meant to be more than just a briefing session for councillors. They are designed to provide an opportunity for councillors to have a more reflective and longer discussion on major issues than is possible at a normal council meeting."

Mr Clark said that while members of the public could not join councillors in the seminar discussion, Tuesday's event would help raise residents' awareness of the issues involved and the importance of York Central to the development of the city.

Updated: 11:47 Monday, September 16, 2002