A SCHEME to build a £35m college campus in the region was unveiled yesterday.

A planning application will be submitted by York College in the New Year to build a new site, probably on the existing sixth-form campus, following consultation with local and community groups.

Plans for the college, which could be open by 2006, come three years after the old York College of Further and Higher Education merged with the city's sixth form college.

York College principal Mike Galloway is hoping that the sale of the campus land will raise most of the cash needed to fund the building.

Bids will be made to organisations such as the Learning and Skills Council for the rest.

He said that the present college facilities were costly to maintain and the new building being considered would save almost a million pounds a year in running costs.

Building on the sixth-form site is just one option being looked at and college governors and management have yet to make a firm decision.

Another option which is being considered is to build it at York Central, the major redevelopment project on the "Teardrop" site behind the National Railway Museum.