A SPECIAL meeting is due next week to ensure the new political balance of power at City of York Council is reflected in the make-up of its key committees.

Seats on committees will be re-allocated so decisions can be made on controversial projects like the Local Plan and the Castlegate centre after the major shake-up of politics in the city.

The meeting comes after the defection of former Labour councillor Helen Douglas to the Conservative party, the decision of two more Labour councillors to leave their party group and become Labour Independent councillors, and Thursday night's Westfield by-election.

Lord Mayor Cllr Ian Gillies has officially called the meeting for Thursday at 7pm, at the request of other councillors who want the new political balance of power to be reflected in the membership of key committees.

He said he was anxious for the council's unusual situation to be resolved quickly. Since the Labour majority has been eroded by five defections and resignations, the current political balance on the full council is not reflected on smaller committees.

Cllr Gillies added: "I am concerned we don't let problems fester, and that's why the extraordinary meeting is happening so quickly next week."

He said he was also considering using the meeting to urge councillors to work with each other and improve the standard of politics in the city, for the benefit of everyone in York and to make sure the city’s reputation is not damaged.

He added: “My concern is that I don’t want politics to York to disintegrate any further. I want to do everything I can to prevent that.”

The last full council meeting on Thursday, October 9 saw a shock vote against the Labour administration's plans for the Local Plan. It means the proposals now need to go through another meeting of the Local Plan working group and a fresh report on housing figures has to be done before a consultation can begin.

And although the vote to close the Castlegate centre went through, the decision has since been "called-in" by opposition councillors and a scrutiny committee meeting will look again at the proposals after committee seats have been re-allocated on October 23.

Cllr Gillies said there was currently a clear problem in proportionality across council committees.

He said he wanted to make sure he did everything possible to avoid questions over the Local Plan and Castlegate becoming stretched out any further by the political situation.