COUNCIL chiefs in York have today announced the site which they want to house their new headquarters.

City of York Council's executive is to be asked to approve West Offices, in Station Rise, as the preferred location for the authority's new base.

The former rail HQ scored more highly than the other option on the shortlist - insurance giant Aviva's nearby Yorkshire House building on the corner of Rougier Street and Station Road - following an evaluation process.

If the bid is rubber-stamped when the executive meets on December 15, a contract will be signed with York Investors LLP - the firm behind the West Offices scheme - in January and a public consultation event will follow, with the council hoping to move in during the autumn of 2012.

The decision to focus on developing an existing building for the council's HQ came after it abandoned controversial plans for a purpose-built HQ at Hungate.

The authority's director of city strategy, Bill Woolley, said today that the project would still be carried out within its original £43.8 million budget.

"Both bids offered an excellent solution for the council, but there had to be a winner and a loser," he said.

"This will give customers and staff a better deal, it will be cheaper to run than staying where we are, and it will be a much more efficient and effective way of delivering council services.

"What could be better, in a city like York, than creating a modern environment within a historic building?"

* For the full story, see The Press on Saturday.