MORE than 250 "green" homes could be built on the site of one of York's oldest engineering firms.

York-based developer Wainhomes has put in a bid to City of York Council for permission to build 11 blocks of apartments on the six-acre Melrose Works site in Hull Road, which is currently home to Bootham Engineers.

The development will include "green" homes built from environmentally-friendly materials and, being within walking distance of the city centre, could feature a ban on cars.

Council planners have already given the go ahead for 20 affordable homes, planned for the back of the site, to include a car ban - a move condemned by York's Conservative leader John Galvin as an attack on human rights.

Earlier this year the Evening Press revealed the engineering firm's plans to move its 70-strong workforce to a new purpose-built plant at Clifton Moor as part of a multi-million pound site-swap.

A complex deal was struck with Severfield-Reeve DesignBuild, of Thirsk, which owns the land at Clifton Moor. It will hand over the site and the new building to Bootham Engineers free of charge in exchange for the vacated land in Hull Road.

The blocks will range from two-and-a-half to four storeys and are expected to make provision for City of York Council's affordable housing, which takes people off the authority housing list.

Because of the site's proximity to the environmental centre of St Nicholas Fields, some of the homes would be specifically built with conservation in mind, said Bob Pickthall, managing director of Wainhomes (Yorkshire).

He said: "The plan is for some of the homes to be environmentally-friendly, which would include things like no cars allowed in the area and being built with particular materials.

"The majority of the proposal is for one or two bedroom apartments, in compliance with the movement to city centre living which is being encouraged by City of York Council and the Government."

He added that the development would be sympathetically designed to fit in with the surrounding area by an award winning architect.

He said: "Discussions with the council have been on-going for the past six months and we are keen to progress it."