SPORTS fans will be told early in the New Year whether a new stadium can be accommodated on the York Central "teardrop" site.

The results of an investigation by consultancy firm ARUPS, originally expected to be released at the end of last month, will now be available after Christmas following a delay in the collection of financial data.

But Charlie Croft, the City of York Council's assistant director of leisure and heritage, has warned that a positive study from ARUPS would only represent the first hurdle cleared in a "very long-term project".

Croft added that the landowners on the brownfield site behind York Station would then need to be consulted and the Council would have to consider how a stadium would sit alongside other developments planned for the location.

It is intended that the 3,000-home and business site will become one of the biggest residential projects in Europe and, as well as the Council, the steering board driving the development also includes representatives from Yorkshire Forward, Network Rail and the National Museum of Science and Industry.

York City Football Club will await next month's results with keen interest as a stipulation of their £2million loan from the Football Foundation to regain ownership of their current home at Bootham Crescent was that the club moved to a new stadium within ten years.

It is expected that any new stadium at York Central, which would be unlikely to open before 2013, would also provide a home for rugby league club York City Knights and be used as a conference and concert venue.

Croft said: "We need to know whether a football ground could physically be accommodated on the land, what could be fitted around it and what kind of things would finance it. We also need to know whether there would be suitable access in and out.

"We need to see whether it is technically possible because otherwise we are wasting our time and have to move on and talk about somewhere else."

About the next step should ARUPS decide a new stadium could be accommodated on the site, Croft said: "It's a sensitive issue. The landowners have not given their permission or agreed to sell the land yet and there's also a lot of people wanting schools and museums on York Central."

Updated: 10:59 Wednesday, December 07, 2005