£750,000 - THAT'S how much council chiefs stand to rake in if they today reject an Arc Light candidate as the new home for the homeless hostel.

Guildhall sources have told The Press that the ex-Reynard's garage has been valued at three-quarters of a million pounds by authority officers - if the land is used as part of a regeneration scheme for the Castle Piccadilly area.

As members of City of York Council's executive were due to meet today to decide the future of Arc Light, furious protesters rounded on the authority accusing it of sinking the Piccadilly site so it could rake in the cash.

A council spokeswoman said councillors COULD still pick the garage as the preferred site when they meet to consider it as well as the car parks at Nunnery Lane, Union Terrace and Marygate at the executive meeting.

But a report for that meeting, written by Bill Hodson, the authority's director of housing and adult social services, concedes that the garage - at 17-21 Piccadilly - is "located on premium retail and residential development land and therefore would attract a high market value".

He continued: "It is highly unlikely that the commercial value of the property would be covered in full by Arc Light."

That report also revealed that a decision on the garage's use for Arc Light was "probably premature" given the "planning policy context" of the Castle Piccadilly regeneration scheme - and that there were expectations it could provide a "mixed development of retail at ground floor level and residential".

The Press has learned the land has been valued at just £175,000 if it is handed over for Arc Light's new 35-bed homeless centre.

Rob Gray, president of the Claremont Terrace, Union Terrace and Portland Street Residents' Association (CUPRA), said: "The council put this site down on the short list knowing full well its value and knowing full well that there was no intention to use it for Arc Light.

"We are furious to learn of its value and this muddies the water on this whole issue even more. The garage is a suitable site and clearly has a public mandate but the council wants to use the land either for its new HQ or to get the cash from a sale."

Meanwhile, council chief executive David Atkinson has reassured concerned residents the decision to select a preferred site has not already been made.

Mr Atkinson was responding to a letter from CUPRA, which claimed Union Terrace had already been picked to house Arc Light.

But Mr Atkinson wrote: "I have been closely involved in meetings on the future of Arc Light with the leaders of the three political parties and others and have not yet heard of any decided intention for the future of Arc Light.

"So far as members of the executive are concerned (it is the executive who will formally make the council's decision) I have not heard a single comment from any of them indicating which way their thinking might be going.

"Indeed I can vouch for the fact that their minds appear far from made up and that they appear to be waiting until the meeting of the executive to decide upon a site for Arc Light."

Updated: 11:06 Tuesday, May 02, 2006