MORE than 2,000 people have signed up to a protest against a plan for a controversial new homeless centre in York.

Residents in Bootham and Clifton have been putting their names to a petition demanding that proposals to use the old Shipton Street School site as the new Arc Light homeless centre should be dropped.

Campaigners have been going from door-to-door mustering support against the scheme for a new 24-hour homeless centre. Arc Light has secured Government funding and has identified the old school as a prospective site.

But a local councillor today warned Arc Light that they could not ignore the strength of feeling against the centre, and told council chiefs they would ignore it "at their peril".

Helen Douglas, speaking for Clifton Residents' Association, said she believed more than 2,000 had signed the petition.

"It's a tremendous achievement," she said.

"No one has yet refused to sign. We will be meeting on August 1, at Burton Stone Community Centre, between 1.30pm and 3pm, and at that stage we will decide what to do. We have also contacted (York MP) Hugh Bayley."

Clifton councillor Ken King said: "This is one of the largest petitions I have heard of. The council and the Arc Light centre cannot ignore it.

"It's an amazing amount and that is a petition that has been put together without the assistance of ward councillors. If the powers that be ignore this petition then they do so at their own peril.

"The city council has got to rethink its ideas on the Shipton Street School and Arc Light needs to rethink its own needs."

Coun King disassociated himself from an anonymous leaflet sent round Clifton homes which, he said, used derogatory language to urge people to fight the Arc Light plan.

Jeremy Jones, head of Arc Light, said: "We understand the concerns of local people about the feasibility work we have been doing to look at whether the site of the former school in Shipton Street would be a suitable location for the new Arc Light.

"We have always intended to meet with local residents to explain why we have been looking at the school and to provide more information on how the scheme could operate.

"An essential component of any consultation process is to provide accurate information about the project. This is why we have organised the open evening on August 16 at St Luke's Church Hall, where residents will have the opportunity to see the plans for themselves and discuss their concerns informally with representatives of the project board, other project partners, as well as Arc Light staff and residents.

"There seems to be a feeling that the key decisions have already been made. This is not the case."

Council chiefs will decide on September 19 whether the building should be sold to Arc Light. The proposal would then have to go through City of York Council's planning procedures.

Updated: 09:57 Thursday, July 28, 2005