MOVES for a major business park on the outskirts of York have been backed by the city's Chamber of Trade.

In a letter to City of York Council, chairman Adam Sinclair said the Chamber was behind plans to build the park at Monks Cross.

The £50 million scheme, nicknamed Vanguard, has been labelled as "one of the most exciting developments of the decade".

If approved by planning chiefs, a business park, two-storey office block and 750- space park and ride will be built on a 26-acre site to the south of the Monks Cross retail park and Huntington Stadium. The site has already been earmarked by the council as its preferred location for a park and ride scheme.

Mr Sinclair writes that the Chamber supports the application "on the basis of its ability to enhance inward investment and the local economy.

"It would also help Monks Cross achieve the critical mass required to sustain it as an important commerce centre in North Yorkshire.

"We are particularly supportive of the park and ride aspect of this application, given the traffic problems persisting within the authority and the need to reduce congestion. It will create a potential to offer rewarding employment for the local population.

"City of York Council's Economic Development Unit and the York Inward Investment Board have both expressed a desire to find sites which can be made available for more live office accommodation."

A decision on the Vanguard plan is expected by the New Year, and if it is given the green light, then the offices could be built and available for letting as early as the end of 2002.

lYork Chamber of Trade was formed when members broke away from the York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce over the Coppergate Riverside proposals.

Updated: 11:38 Saturday, December 08, 2001