A NEW community centre and sheltered housing complex have got the go-ahead in Clifton.

City of York Council has been given planning permission to tear down the existing Burton Stone Lane Community Centre, and replace it with a new modern community centre, and 33 new homes for older people.

The new homes - 29 flats and four bungalows - will form an extension to the sheltered housing complex at neighbouring Marjorie Waite Court, and the architect told a planning committee they would meet a growing need.

Alastair Mitchell said: “There is currently a shortfall in provision of specialist extra care accommodation. In Clifton ward Marjorie Waite Court is the only extra care provision, and at present it’s the only provision across the north of the city.”

The new accommodation would help elderly residents to keep their independence, but with high-quality care on hand.

The plans had attracted some opposition from heritage experts at York Civic Trust and the 20th Century Society, who said the Art Deco former school gym has links to national health and fitness drives after the 1936 Olympics, and should be preserved.

However, planning officers said retaining the building would add costs and reduce the space available for new homes.

Conservative Cllr Jenny Brooks said: “I think if we kept the gym for its evidential value as part of the wider effort of the city in the 1930s to improve the environment for citizens, we would also keep it as evidential value of failing to do the maximum we can do and house the maximum number elderly people now, and that would be a great shame.”

At the same meeting, permission was given to the Chocolate Works developers for another apartment block on the junction of Clock Tower Way and Campleshon Road. Local residents and Micklegate councillor Johnny Hayes had spoken against the plan, saying it would increase parking problems and hit road safety, but developers said it was simply a response to high demand for apartments in York.