BOATERS are calling for a marina on the River Ouse to be built into the development of the old Terry's chocolate factory site.

Anthony Martin, secretary of the local Inland Waterways Association (IWA) called for developers to look at building riverside moorings on the old employees' car park, opposite the Bishopthorpe Road factory.

He said a marina could be built into the redevelopment and would offer extra facilities for river users and benefit the city, as does a similar scheme in Ripon.

He said: "It would only be a small marina, but it would still be a good thing that would benefit York.

"I think a marina in York either there or at the Foss Basin would be great to bring more facilities here."

Mr Martin said a marina scheme would further open up the waterway and could replicate the success of a river taxi service used when Royal Ascot was hosted by the racecourse in 2005.

He said: "It would bring more boaters on to the Ouse and we pushed for that to happen in a small way with a boat service during Royal Ascot.

"There is a man near York who wants to start to run a river taxi service into the city."

He added: "I think it would be a great plus for the site and it would be a tremendous asset for York if we did have one."

Steve Davis, director of Grantside, said: "We are preparing a draft travel plan and we are considering the inclusion of a river bus service, but this will be dependent on feasibility and planning considerations.

"Our current proposals don't include for any form of significant development on the riverside land.

"However, a site as significant as Terry's means we have received lots of interest from the local community and many ideas have been raised all of which we are taking on board and considering at the moment."

The news comes as a final planning surgery was held yesterday to get the views of local people's on the redevelopment.

More than 100 people have attended the events to give their view on developer Grantside's blueprint, which includes plans for office space, hotels, flats and houses and community facilities.

A spokesman for Grantside said: "We have been seeing a lot of people visiting. Most of the surgeries have been full. We have had a lot of interest in people coming along and talking about the development.

"It is reassuring because a lot of work went into the development brief and people have been giving their views, a lot of which have been similar to the developers'.

"We have had former employees coming back, people wanting to live on the site and people interested in the services that could be there."