A SOGGY clump of earth wrenched from waste ground at Clifton was today the first physical step towards solving York's housing crisis.

Work to build 147 affordable new homes at the site, off Water Lane, was begun at a wet and blustery ceremony this afternoon, and will be completed in time for families to move in just days before the new Millennium.

The project is part of a £5.7 million investment programme by the City of York Council to build new homes and improve existing council houses.

The Clifton project - which will create more than 20 jobs - will comprise a mixture of one, two and three bedroom houses, both for rent and for sale.

Twenty-six of the new homes will be offered at a 20 per cent discount and this reduction will continue whenever the house is sold in the future.

The majority of the homes will be built to York's Access Design Guide which will make them suitable for disabled as well as non-disabled residents.

Councillor Viv Kind, chairman of the Housing Committee said: "This development represents an important step towards meeting the pressing needs for affordable homes within York."

She said it was good news for all those languishing on council house waiting lists. There are currently 113 families in temporary accommodation and more than 4,000 households on the waiting list.

A recent survey has shown that York needs 3,400 affordable new homes within the next five years.

A meeting tonight of the council's housing committee will hear details of a £5.7 million building programme to combat the city's desperate shortage of homes.

About £1.4 million of the money has come from the proceeds of past council houses sales, which the Labour Government is allowing councils to spend for the first time.

Other housing projects on the way include:

* Security measures for homes across the city, costing £100,000.

* Eight hundred homes to be specially adapted for the elderly and disabled, costing £400,000.

* New windows for 90 houses in Clifton, costing £220,000.

* Urgent repairs to 15 houses at Acomb, costing £200,000.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.