York University looks set to win council approval for its controversial campus expansion. But would a city centre site be better for students and residents alike? CHRIS TITLEY reports.

AT the moment it looks like the backdrop for an episode of The Sweeney. You could easily see Regan and Carter screeching on to York Central in their Ford Granada, duffing up the villains in one of the empty warehouses and delivering the predestined payoff: "You're nicked."

York Central is an industrial wasteland of the type favoured by gritty cop dramas. Weeds poke through the vast swathes of concrete behind the railway station. Scrapped cars are piled in one corner and handsome old brick buildings look down on the mess with glassless eyes.

But a group called Central Vision has big ideas for this wilderness. Under their blueprint, fast forward a decade of so and the lifeless backwater is teeming with life and colour. Terrific modern buildings mingle with the renovated railway hangars amid a green, landscaped environment.

Students cycle by on their way to lectures as a delegation of Britain's finest health professionals enjoy the short stroll from the station to the conference centre.

That evening, some York residents make their way to the concert in the new auditorium while others attend classes in everything from medieval art to kick-boxing.

Wow. Modern living at its best. What was an abandoned rail depot becomes "an educational quarter at the heart of the city".

A nice dream. But could it ever come true? Yes, they insist - but only if York takes the one-off opportunity afforded by the university's expansion plans.

These will see student numbers grow from 8,500 to nearly 14,000. The university believes the only place to put the new students is at Heslington East: 65 hectares of development on greenfield land next to the existing campus.

City of York Council officers agree. They are recommending that the outline planning application is approved by councillors at a meeting a week today.

Such a huge development was always likely to attract objectors. Both Heslington and Fulford Parish Councils are among those opposing Campus 3 on grounds that it eats up valuable green belt land, will damage the character of the area and will create unacceptable traffic levels.

They argue that brownfield sites are available and one of these should be the preferred location. Central Vision has taken this further with its detailed submission as to how a campus at York Central would be good for town and gown.

Central Vision is an informal group of like-minded York residents who know one another from previous environmental campaigns, most notably the successful defeat of plans for a dual-carriageway inner ring road.

Architect David Strickland is one of its leading lights. He is also a Heslington villager, which inevitably casts a cloud over his objectivity.

"Although I live in Heslington, my main interest is not nimbyism," he insists. "It's a concern that York is going to miss out on the chance of a lifetime to do something very special."

This could be defined as constructive opposition. Rather than merely trashing the university's plans, Central Vision puts forward an alternative.

Its submission to the council is stirring stuff. Instead of more soulless Monks Cross shopping depots, "the city and university together would produce the necessary ingredients to attract high value, quality investments, conference and performance venues and smart hotels...

"It would transform York's cultural life, providing a magnet for the arts and culture with a national collection and a major performance group located close to the city's restaurant and pubs.

"A major modern university at the heart of an internationally renowned historic city, served by a modern transport interchange would create unrivalled attraction for investment and revenue generation."

From being regarded by many in York as peripheral and self-contained, the university would finally become a real part of the city.

Dave Gamston of Fulford is another Central Vision exponent. He believes it could be a "civilising influence on the city centre at a time when there's all sorts of concern about binge drinking".

"This is all being looked at in a skewed way," he added. "It's all about what the university wants. From what I have seen this proposal is very thin on the benefits to York.

"The word vision is important. It's about vision."

David's partner Angela Fisher believes the university campus fits with the city council's stated aims for York Central.

These include creating jobs, building a conference centre and providing training and educational opportunities.

She believes that the current plans are driven by expediency rather than a desire to do what is best for the city as a whole.

Both David and Angela have long connections with the university, David as a one-time designer of its buildings and Angela in her role as an education consultant. As such they support the university, but believe Heslington East is the wrong place for its expansion. It would damage the green belt which protects the historic agricultural setting of York.

If the plans don't get thrown out, they would happily settle for a public inquiry to consider them.

"What really matters is there's a public debate about it," David said. "If it means putting these plans on hold for a while, that's all right."

According to Dave Gamston, if the plans now on the drawing board go ahead, "it will be a half-hearted failure for York".

University view... York Central wouldn't work

WE'VE looked at the idea and it won't work. That, in essence, is York University's stance on the suggestion it should expand on to York Central.

As part of its work preparing the planning application for Heslington East, the university considered 16 other potential locations - including the "teardrop" site - and ruled them all out.

It has drawn up a number of main principles on which the new campus is based, and these include two which a split site could never fulfil: "integration of uses across the campus" and "physical proximity of the university community".

A York Central campus "would have dispersed university activity across a wide area," said Professor Janet Ford, the university's pro-vice-chancellor for estates.

"The environmental impact of that would have been very significant - I would suggest more significant than it will be at Heslington East.

"We would be duplicating facilities that would increase the use of natural resources. And we would also be creating huge traffic problems in terms of students and staff moving backwards and forwards between the two sites."

By contrast, the university aims to make the expanded Heslington campus "virtually car-free" with a shuttle service moving people around the site.

"That seems to me to be a very important environmental benefit for members of the university and the local community."

The plan would replace farmland of limited biodiversity with woodland, wetland and a lake. An independent assessment had found that the flora and fauna would increase and "the biodiversity of the site will be considerably enhanced".

This parkland, as well as future sports and leisure facilities, would be available for York residents and visitors to enjoy.

Another black mark against York Central: it has been earmarked for other uses by the city council, Prof Ford said. Moreover, the cost of providing adequate roads and cleaning up industrial contamination at the site were prohibitive.

That would also delay the campus project far beyond the university's four to five year timetable.

York University, now the sixth smallest in the country, needs to expand to allow more people access to a top quality education; to enhance its world class reputation for research; and to create more hi-tech spin-off companies. All this will create prosperity and jobs, many for York people, she added.

Prof Ford said the university had nine consultation forums in the run-up to submitting the application last April and had made changes to its plans in response to local concerns. The community would continue to be consulted.

Updated: 09:24 Wednesday, March 09, 2005