TWENTY acres of sports pitches used by Nestl Rowntree teams could be sold off and redeveloped with hundreds of high-quality homes.

Nestl says Mille Crux Field, in Haxby Road, is underused and should be redesignated in York's Local Plan from recreational use to housing.

It says some of the capital raised would make possible a major upgrade of remaining sports pitches on the other side of the road, which might even include provision of indoor sports space.

The improvements could be opened up for more use by the local community, in addition to the eight or nine Nestl clubs and dozen or so affiliated clubs who currently play on the pitches.

It also says a couple of acres currently used as a car park and a football pitch should be redesignated for employment use, to allow the company room for future expansion. The proposals have been put to City of York Council as part of the company's response to the third draft of the city's Local Plan.

Mille Crux, which includes several football pitches, a cricket pitch, hockey pitch and a pavilion, was provided for the benefits of workers by the philanthropic Rowntree family. Site facilities manager Ian McKinlay said the pavilion dated back to the 1950s and was outdated.

A company spokeswoman said Nestl was continuously looking at how its land and building assets could be used, and concluded that the underused sports fields could be greatly improved in quality and availability with suitable development.

The company had spent considerable time and effort on reviewing the third draft of the Local Plan before coming up with the idea, she said.

"This proposal would make possible an improved quality of sports and recreation provision that is available to more people, a high-quality residential development and business benefits to a major employer."

A council spokesman said it would consider the proposals as well as other suggestions which had been put to the authority during a consultation exercise on the Local Plan third draft. A spokesman said they might be put to an inspector at a public inquiry to be held at a future date.

Even if the redesignation was eventually agreed, a full planning application would still be needed at a later date before any construction work could start.

Updated: 10:27 Thursday, April 17, 2003