PLANS for 425 new homes on the site of the former Nestle Rowntree factory are set to be approved by councillors.

But concerns have been raised over the impact the scheme will have on traffic in Wigginton Road.

An outline planning application for the land at the Cocoa West site, off Wigginton Road, will be discussed at a City of York Council meeting on Thursday.

The plans would see 118 homes and 307 apartments built at the site, as well as a crèche, community building, office block and convenience store.

A report prepared for members of the planning committee asks them to approve the application. It recommends that, as a condition of the approval, the first residents should be offered £200 towards either bus passes or cycles to promote sustainable travel and that 20 per cent of the homes should be affordable.

However, one person responding to a consultation on the plans said: “The addition of so many new homes will make an extremely bad traffic situation even worse.” And York Civic Trust raised concerns about the impact on Wigginton Road and Crichton Avenue junction, saying “it is clear that the evening peak conditions are further worsened by the new proposal”.

The report says: “This scheme would generate 228 vehicular movements in the morning peak and 235 in the evening peak. When the remainder of Nestle South is factored in these increase to 336 and 343 respectively to be distributed between the two junctions (Haxby Road and Wigginton Road).”

But it adds that this is a “relatively small level of change” and there is already queueing at the Crichton Avenue junction at rush hour, so officers do not require any mitigation. The application will be discussed at a meeting at West Offices on Thursday at 4.30pm.