STUDENT flats could be built on parts of York's flagship Barbican site, the Evening Press can reveal today.

Council chiefs have been staying tight-lipped over the future of the key leisure complex since announcing in August that they had received 11 bids from potential developers.

The centre and surrounding land currently used as a car park were put on sale in July, with the only proviso being that public swimming and other leisure facilities must remain.

The council said then that it intended combing through the proposals, with the likelihood that they would be whittled down to four or five which would be discussed in more detail. A spokesman said yesterday it was still unable to make any comment on the submitted bids "for reasons of commercial confidentiality and out of consideration to all the bidders."

He said the public would be informed at a later stage of what was being proposed and it was highly likely there would be a public consultation exercise.

But the Evening Press has discovered that a number of the potential developers have been investigating the possibility of building student flats on at least part of the site.

York St John College, formerly the College of Ripon and York St John, confirmed that it had been approached by a number of concerns who had submitted development proposals for the Barbican Centre.

It is not known where developers are suggesting the flats might be built, although one possible site might be the Kent Street car park.

A York University spokeswoman said she did not think the university had expressed any interest in the Barbican site.

Updated: 11:17 Friday, October 05, 2001