YORK'S flats boom has taken an extraordinary twist - as a developer seeks to demolish five homes to make way for a huge apartment block.

While York has become used to pubs, clubs and filling stations falling victim to the flat-building frenzy, residents say the proposal to knock down two semis and a row of three terraced houses in Wigginton sets a worrying precedent.

A petition opposing McCarthy and Stone's scheme for a two and three-storey block of sheltered flats in The Village has already been signed by more than 280 villagers.

They say they are appalled by the scale and density of the complex which, they believe, will even be higher than the nearby parish church if developers manage to buy the homes involved and succeed in going ahead as planned.

"It's too big and totally out of character for the village," said one resident, Simon Welsby.

"I was quite shocked when I heard about it," said another, Julia Wood.

She has calculated that the T-shaped development, which makes use of the properties' large back gardens, would mean 47 windows overlooking her own back garden.

She said the scale and scope of the development were an "absolute nonsense".

She believed similar schemes could spring up elsewhere in York where there were homes with large back gardens.

She said there were also deep concerns about the traffic, road safety and parking difficulties created by the flats in Wigginton which, she said, would only provide 12 parking spaces.

Residents feared flat residents and visitors would end up parking on back lanes, blocking access for emergency vehicles.

It is understood that the developer has approached the households involved about the possibility of buying their properties, but three have declined to comment to the Evening Press and the other two have not been available.

Parish council planning committee chairman Paul Firth said it had not yet been sent details of the scheme, but the scale of the three-storey building and parking and safety were all issues that might be of concern.

Roger Armistead, City of York Council development control officer, said this was the first instance he could think of in recent years of homes being demolished to make way for flats in York, although he thought this would not be unusual in the south-east, where pressure for land was even greater.

He said the council had no powers to control the demolition of ordinary buildings. Its role would be in considering the proposed replacement buildings.

A spokeswoman for McCarthy and Stone said the proposed flats would be sold on the open market for people aged over 60. Each flat would be self-contained, but with a communal lounge also provided for residents, and a residential house manager in place.

Updated: 10:35 Tuesday, January 04, 2005