A LEADING York conservationist has attacked plans to bulldoze a former York bus depot and transform it into flats.

Housebuilder Wimpey has applied to turn the depot, in Navigation Road, off Walmgate, into 69 new flats.

In a separate application, Shepherd Homes has applied to build 65 flats in Blue Bridge Lane, off Fishergate.

Peter Brown, the company secretary of York Civic Trust, said the trust found the Navigation Road application "disappointing and out of scale."

He said: "The quality of the design does not seem to bear any relation to the environment.

"It is like an outer Leeds block of flats dumped into the middle of York.

"There is also a complete lack of amenity. There is no green space."

Architect Andrew Scott, of development designers The Jesmond Group, said there was still work to be done on the Navigation Road plans.

But he said care would be taken to make sure the flats were appropriately designed.

Mr Scott said: "It is a sensitive site, within the city walls."

Ward councillor Janet Looker said she would be looking closely at the proposed height and size of the block of flats, and whether it would have any effect on traffic in the area.

Coun Looker said: "It is an area that is crying out for some sort of development, but I know residents are anxious about what goes in there."

Mark Hill, Green councillor for the Fishergate ward, said he was concerned the Blue Bridge Lane development could be too big.

But he added: "The principle of building there is generally acceptable. The site has been slated for residential development for some time now.

"Though 65 is quite a lot, this city needs the housing."

In August, the Evening Press revealed the astonishing rate of York's flats explosion.

The number of flats built in York over the last year has risen by 65 per cent.

Planning chiefs said the rise was a result of Government policy for building on brownfield, or previously developed, sites.

Updated: 10:20 Saturday, November 15, 2003