CAMPAIGNERS fighting student housing plans in their neighbourhood have had to call it a day after the Government refused to step in.

Plans to knock down the old Pullman Bus Depot, in Navigation Road, York, and replace it with housing for 231 students were approved in May - despite fierce opposition from locals.

A group of residents formed the Student Flats Campaign Group to try to overturn the decision, saying the influx of so many young people in a quiet, residential area would be too disruptive.

They wanted to see the development instead used for a health centre and elderly accommodation - in keeping with the age of most residents living in the area - and the students moved instead to the nearby Foss Islands development.

The campaigners appealed to the ombudsman and then to the office of Ruth Kelly - secretary of state for communities and local government. But the group has now received a letter back from the Government saying it cannot intervene.

Don Gittins, from the campaign group, said: "They said they couldn't interfere in the democratic process.

"We feel that the Government must be correct that it couldn't interfere. I felt they might have been able to help us, but they just couldn't.

"We have tried, we've made an effort, we might have been able to do something, but nothing came of it.

"I don't feel too good about it at all. We just felt that a vast number of students - 230 in an area of old people - just wasn't right. There were a tremendous number of objections.

"This is going to take place now. We'll just have to make the best of it. It's the trouble that could be caused by drinking and anti-social behaviour."

Malton builder S Harrison Developments Ltd is still in talks with St John's University College, York, about the scheme. Charles Vyvyan, from the company, said: "Harrison will work closely with the community groups during this process."

Dave Stockton, president of the college's Students' Union, said: "We put a lot of effort and a lot of money and a lot of time into (developing) a good relationship with the community around us."