A NEW apartment development on the site of a former nursery school has been given planning go-ahead, saving a row of 180 year old stone arches that once adorned York Theatre Royal.

The stone arches at 79 Fulford Road date from 1834, and were moved to their current home when the theatre was remodelled in 1879.

The building behind the stonework was most recently used as a children’s nursery, but lay empty before it was demolished in recent months.

The site has been at the centre of a lengthy planning wrangle, but this week planners confirmed they were approving plans for a ground floor cafe in a new building incorporating the arches, with six apartments above and three houses in historic coach house buildings at the back of the site.

In their report, the planners said: “The proposed development has evolved since its first submission to a scheme that can be supported by officers. The site is compact and a balance has been struck by preserving the existing stone arcade arches in situ whilst creating a development that sits comfortably within the site and preserves the character of the conservation area.”

Several neighbours opposed the plans, saying the new flats would overlook their gardens, blocking out light and impinging on their privacy.

The area’s conservation advisory panel welcomed changes to the proposals to keep the stone arches, and the fact the coach houses will be saved but said they still feared that would create an over development of the site.

The new homes will all be accessed down Howard Street, off Fulford Road, and neighbours were also concerned that more cars using the narrow residential road will worsen congestion, while pulling out on to Fulford Road is already hazardous because of parked cars. Council officials, however, did not lodge any objections on the grounds of highway safety and instead simply asked that new residents be excluded from residents’ parking permits for the area.