RENEWED calls have been made for an inquiry into management problems surrounding the Lendal Bridge closure.

Councillors are today making fresh demands for answers after a highly critical report emerged about the governance, management and decision making during the trial, which banned private traffic from using the bridge during the day for eight months until last April.

Green Cllr Andy D'Agorne voted against a cross-party scrutiny of the scheme, but has now said he wants to chief executive Kersten England to answer questions from the council's audit and governance committee.

He said the cross party committee should be able to publicly ask questions about the problems which were revealed when the report - by Crown Management Solutions (CMS) - went public on Wednesday evening.

He added: "The CMS report clearly needs to be acted on - we need to fix failings in internal council workings that the review has highlighted. But this needs to be done carefully and focused on the management processes rather than crossing over the work of the Congestion Commission."

A scrutiny committee review - as had been supported by other opposition parties - could take up to a year to complete and runs the risk of becoming a political football, he added.

Conservative councillor Paul Doughty has also called for answers, saying he wants to hear comments from Mrs England on the concerns raised by CMS.

He said: "An inquiry is something we can look at moving forward. I don't want to see a lot of money spent because the scheme has cost us a fortune so far. I hope councillors of all parties would want to see answers.

"The longer this goes on, the worse it is for the city's reputation."

The council had issued a statement about the actions they have taken since the report was produced. They say they have introduced new project management procedures, and a spokesman has said that if a formal request was made by the chairman of the audit and governance committee, the chief executive would respond.