A MAJOR jobs boost could be brought to York by a £30 million industrial development on Green Belt land, according to city developers.

They say 1,750 manufacturing jobs would be brought to the 30-acre York Technology Park, proposed for land next to the National Grid at Grimston Bar and opposite the Hull Road Park & Ride site.

P & O Developments, which linked up with York University to create the city's successful Science Park, has already negotiated to buy Boretree Nursery - which forms 13.7 acres of the site to the east of B & Q - subject to planning approval, and is poised to negotiate with other private landowners there.

It would involve a total of 350,000 sq ft of buildings, of varying sizes from 1,000 sq ft to 30,000 sq ft or more, as offices and manufacturing or assembly areas.

It is anticipated that a planning application will be submitted "imminently".

Ian Melville, P & O's development director, said: "We have been catering for high-tech businesses at the Science Park, but there is a huge demand for good, inexpensive mid-tech facilities, firms which are looking for a site with some offices and some assembly or manufacturing plant.

P & O has objected to the council's designation of the land as green belt, and is hoping to be allowed to move on to the site by late 2005 or early 2006.

Mr Melville said that P & O would be backed by an unnamed major York firm, which was seeking to consolidate its offices and assembly space on one site, and an agreement was close - subject to planning consent being granted being granted for the new technology park.

He said: "When Segal Quince Wickstead reported on the Green Belt and release of the land for York city two years ago, Grimston Bar was near top of the list of strategic locations that could be given up.

"It has the added advantage of being close to Park & Ride, and therefore accords with the local authority's travel policy for the city." P & O has been considering this site for four years. It has already formed a limited company, called York Technology Park Ltd, to push the idea through to reality.

He said: "The next step is for us to publish a brochure and make a planning application imminently.

"We have the same team as we have had on the York Science Park, where we have already spent more than £25 million, ready and eager to spring into action.

"Should we get the go-ahead there would be few problems of access, given that the site runs parallel to the A1047 and we can easily get vehicles onto it without disruption."

Updated: 12:13 Friday, February 22, 2002