MULTI-MILLION pound plans to re-house City of York Council could reap further millions for the city, according to a council report.

The city's ruling executive has approved the latest step in the ambitious project to move hundreds of council staff into new offices.

The plans - which are expected to cost £30 million - would create a council building, incorporating a "one-stop shop" customer contact centre, office accommodation for 1,642 staff, and rooms for councillors.

The new office block, which would be in the city centre, would either be built from scratch or be a refurbished existing building. To accommodate the new services, it would need to have 13,421 square metres of floor space.

The council will now dedicate £200,000 to drawing up a detailed blueprint for the next phase of the project.

Council chiefs say the move to new accommodation could reap investment of up to £50 million in the city, as buildings vacated by its workers are brought on to the development market.

Under the plans, the Guildhall - including the council chamber and committee rooms - and St Anthony's House would be kept for council use.

The De Grey rooms - which currently houses many council staff - is being sold to the York Conservation Trust, as part of plans to create a new "cultural quarter" around St Leonard's Place.

Coun Quentin Macdonald, the executive member for resources, told the authority's executive this week that the council's existing 16 offices were expensive to maintain.

He said the planned move would be a "quantum change" for the council.

Outlining the benefits of the scheme, he said a new office building would be cheaper to run, and would relieve the council of its backlog of repair work on existing buildings.

It would also be eco-friendly, and would provide full disabled access, he said.

Council leader Steve Galloway said the council's existing office system was "a nonsense".

He said: "People are having to guess to which office they should go to get their query answered.

"This scheme will provide better value for money. We shall be doing something that no other council in York has attempted for the past 50 years."

He said council chiefs expected to see "substantial progress" made on the project by 2008.

Updated: 10:17 Friday, February 04, 2005