A York MP has called on a public school in the city to stop its sporting expansion plans.

Rachael Maskell claims St Peter’s School doesn’t understand the impact they will have on residents and the local environment.

The Clifton school is seeking planning permission for all weather hockey pitches and a car park on its grounds next to Westminster Road.

After meeting local residents at a meeting to discuss the plans, the York Central MP said they had “many very well-informed views”.

She said: “I have met with St Peters but their application does not seem to recognise the impact this development will have, not just on residents but on the environment.

“There are significant flooding implications and I question whether impact studies of flooding will provide sufficient information to the planning committee.

“I have also done a lot of work on issues surrounding microplastics and the impact and contamination all weather pitches have, not to mention the biodiversity of the area. I would like the school to withdraw its application and talk to residents. ”

According to the MP, residents do not believe the school’s claims that the hockey pitches would be a community asset and not impact on residents’ daily life.

They believe that the hockey pitches will be a commercial asset, operating at out of term times and late into the evenings.

Residents at the meeting they were concerned about the noise of traffic, sports teams and spectators, flood lighting and disruption of cars and coaches travelling down a narrow residential area.

Others were concerned about the environmental and flooding impact of building on green belt land in an area that often sees the pumping station struggling to work above capacity and the effect on wildlife, including the bat population.

Ward councillor Danny Myers who attended the meeting said: “The plans to build a coach and car park, which will be used throughout the year, will greatly increase traffic. “The answer first and foremost should be to reduce the amount of journeys made to and from the school, by providing more active, sustainable modes of transport in a transparent School Travel Plan.”

Fellow ward councillor Margaret Wells, who also attended the meeting, said: “Residents are extremely worried. They live in that area because they enjoy the peace and quiet, the trees, the walk to the river.

“They describe it as a haven away from the noisy traffic.

"It’s a narrow road not built for traffic and it is worrying to think of a steady stream of coaches and cars trying to manoeuvre their way through the street.

"These plans, if passed, will reach fruition at a time when the York Central development will send even more traffic into the area.”