DETAILS of how controversial plans to sell one of York’s main coach and car parks were launched have been revealed by the city’s council chief.

City of York Council’s ruling Labour group will next week discuss the proposed sale of the Union Terrace site to allow York St John University to build a campus expansion, a move which has sparked a fierce public backlash.

A report which will go before a meeting of the authority’s cabinet on Thursday has recommended approving the sale, although a six-week public consultation exercise would be carried out before any final decision is made. A petition opposing the plans has been signed by more than 15,000 people.

Kersten England, the council’s chief executive, has now confirmed the university’s vice-chancellor, Professor David Fleming, approached the authority towards the end of last year about the possible purchase of Union Terrace. He discussed the university’s expansion plans with her as well as Coun Andrew Waller, leader of the council’s then-Liberal Democrat administration, and director of city strategy Bill Woolley.

Council officers subsequently began looking into “all the consequences of such a sale”, including loss of parking and the impact on Gillygate businesses, local residents and Bootham Hospital, supported by a study by consultants Halcrow.

“Councillors were aware this work was being undertaken,” said Ms England in a statement. “No commitment was made to York St John that the sale would go ahead because the work [by officers and Halcrow had not been completed and therefore no full assessment of the implications could be made. A fully evaluated proposal would then have been subject to the usual council decision-making mechanisms.”