RESIDENTS have attacked plans to make new student accommodation blocks in York even higher than was originally intended.

Builders have already started constructing the accommodation for 368 students on the site of the former Shepherd Construction HQ off Fulford Road, Frederick House.

But a planning application has been submitted to City of York Council to increase the height of the parapets to all of the buildings by 45 centimetres, as well as to replace timber cladding with masonry and remove 'Juliet Balconies.'

Watkin Jones Group says the height change was needed 'to allow for compliance with building regulations.'

It said that during a review of detailed design, it had been highlighted that parapet heights did not allow sufficient height for insulation and waterproofing and 45 cms was the minimum necessary increase to ensure building safety.

But householders in Kilburn Road, whose back gardens border on the development, have written to object to the height increase in particular, which one branded 'unacceptable.'

One said the change would block significant amounts of sunlight from most of their garden for lengthy periods of the year, with the ground-shadows of the proposed blocks extending about a further 17m north than the shadow of Frederick House.

Another said: "An increase of 45 cm is not slight. The buildings are very tall already and very close to the properties on the south side of Kilburn Road."

A third said: "The Kilburn Road community is very firmly opposed to any increase, for whatever purpose, to the height of any of the blocks."

The Fishergate Planning Panel said the buildings' height had been a major concern in responses to the original application. "To seek to increase the parapet height at this stage suggests that the original proposals were at best either inadequately planned or over hopeful," it said. "Surely the architects should be required to find a solution that does not increase the height of the buildings."

Fishergate councillor Dave Taylor said residents had expressed concerns to him over many months about the height of the development and the overlooking of their properties, adding:"Personally, I think that the increase in height of the proposed buildings is unacceptable and this should be refused or the plans amended further to reduce heights."

He and fellow councillor Andy D'Agorne have successfully called for the application to be called in and considered by a planning committee.