ANOTHER student housing development is on the cards for the east of York city centre, with plans for a 100 bed development near Layerthorpe.

Coal merchants Horwell Bros want to put a 104 bedroomed unit, over five storeys, on the site of their depot off Foss Islands Road, while the business moves to a new location in the city.

According to a planning statement submitted by agents Plan B Planning and Design, the new residential use is a better fit for the area, as the access road is "unsuited to modern commercial vehicles" and many traditional industries and businesses have already upped sticks.

The document says: "This area of the city is currently undergoing a major renaissance and re-development in which existing brownfield sites such as the coal yard on Mansfield Street are being replaced by modern built developments. Much of this development is focused on the provision of modern multi-storey development, providing either private residences or student accommodation.

"Many of the older traditional businesses such as the application site and its business activities, are no longer relevant to the site their are located on or the businesses they serve. Or they have become unsuited to the site on which they are located, because of the constraints that now apply to them because of the issue such as access or potential conflict to adjacent newer uses."

The accommodation will be divided between en suite bedrooms grouped around shared kitchens and communal areas, and studio apartments with their own galley kitchens and bathrooms, the document adds.

If approved, the development will swell the already growing numbers of purpose built student accommodation around Walmgate and Hull Road.

The site is close to major student housing sites that have been developed recently on the former Press site on Walmgate, and the Foss Studios development on the Reg Vardy site on Hull Road. New plans have also been approved for Hallfield Road, off Layerthorpe, and the St Joseph's Convent site on Lawrence Street, while an empty office block on nearby Foss Court has plans pending to be converted into 24 residential apartments.