FORMER City of York Council leader Steve Galloway has revealed that land behind York Racecourse is being considered as a site for a new community sports stadium.

In a Liberal Democrat survey form, aimed at canvassing residents on their opinion about the possibility of selling Huntington Stadium to help fund a new sports venue, Coun Galloway cites land between the former Terry’s factory and the College of Law as a potential place to relocate York City and York City Knights.

Coun Galloway, who is now city strategy executive member at Guildhall, has also told The Press that the land, known as Bustardthorpe and accessed from Bishopthorpe Road, is now a frontrunner, along with the previously-publicised site at Nestlé, as the most likely new home for the city’s football and rugby league clubs.

He said: “There is the area of land near Nestlé and land close to the racecourse known as Bustardthorpe and, at the moment, they seem to be the most likely locations for a community stadium although other sites have not been discounted. The area to the rear of the racecourse has been raised as a possibility during informal council discussions but no more than that.

“Our reason for mentioning the two sites in the survey distributed to residents in Huntington and the Westfield Ward, was to get across to people that the options will not necessarily be close to Huntington Stadium. I’ve no strong feelings either way as to where a new community stadium should be but, if you exclude Huntington Stadium, the two areas mentioned are big enough, although the area next to Nestlé is bigger and would offer more opportunities.”

As previously reported in The Press, a separate planning issue has brought stadium negotiations with Nestlé to a standstill, meaning Bustardthorpe is now likely to present the football club’s preferred home for a new stadium.