AN ACADEMIC has blasted his own university's "selfish and unimaginative" plans to almost double in size.

Biology lecturer Dr Richard Firn has added his voice to the growing clamour against the plans to expand York University at Heslington East.

He said staff were not properly consulted about the plans and had meetings with the vice-chancellor outlining the plans only after they had been presented to councillors.

Dr Firn, a lecturer at York for 32 years, is on the university's Environmental Performance Working Group which looks at how well the university is performing on "green issues".

He said the group was presented with the plans as a fait accompli when they were completed and not involved in the consultation process.

"The scheme as it stands is selfish - it's to the advantage of the university rather than the city. I'm not arguing the university mustn't change and expand, but I think there's better ways to do it.

"The plans as they stand are lazy and unimaginative and the environmental considerations are poorly thought through."

People living near the planned £500 million Heslington East development, which would double the size of the university's campus, have complained about increases in traffic, "student ghettos", noise and security.

The controversial 65-hectare campus extension on green belt land received outline planning approval at an eight-hour meeting in March, after councillors agreed the social and economic benefits of the expansion outweighed environmental concerns.

After the meeting, protesters said they were now pinning hopes on a public inquiry.

The new campus could eventually create an extra 4,500 jobs for the city and increase the student population by one-third to 15,500.

Dr Firn also argued that the new buildings should only be used for academic purposes and any office space could be far better housed in the Terry's factory building in Bishopthorpe Road.

A university spokesman said it had carried out exhaustive consultation with staff and students during the preparation of the proposals and this had shown the majority were in favour of the development.

He said: "Staff drawn from all parts of the university's workforce and students are involved in the 12 different working parties we have established to develop various aspects of the Heslington East proposals. The Heslington East project is an area of active, productive and inclusive work for a huge number of staff and students.

"The university is a collection of 3,000 staff and more than 10,000 students and, within that number, you are bound to have some people with differing opinions.

"If individuals wish to speak out about Heslington East, they are free to do so."

The plans are now almost certain to be called in by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, triggering a costly inquiry.

Updated: 08:52 Monday, May 16, 2005