YORK'S city centre streets could host evening events, music, dancing and open air bars if a council plan gets the go ahead.

City of York Council has applied to its own licensing department for permission to have drinking, dancing, live music, plays and films in the streets, including Exhibition Square, as late as 11pm - two hours after the current licences for the footstreets would force events to shut.

A council spokesman said the application ties in with plans for the Great Yorkshire Fringe - a ten-day festival of music, comedy and theatre coming to Parliament Street.

The festival will run from July 24 to August 2 in 2015, and organisers have already said they will stage it for at least three years.

A council spokesman said they planned to use the new licence for performance in Parliament Street throughout the festival, starting at around 8.30pm and finishing around 10.30pm.

The application will be decided by a panel of three councillors and if they agree to the plans, other companies would then be able to do deals with the council to run events under the new licence which would come into play in mid-April.

The spokesman added: "Once in place, and as per the current licensing arrangements, companies or organisations can approach City of York Council about holding events, including those involving dance/music/alcohol."

The Great Yorkshire Fringe is scheduled to start two weeks before the Edinburgh Fringe, with organisers hoping to attract artists as they warm up for the Scottish spectacle.

It has been organised by York man Martin Witts, who reopened London’s Leicester Square Theatre in 2008, and founded the Museum Of Comedy in London earlier this year.

Public representations on the licence plans will be accepted by the licensing department until Wednesday, March 18. Contact licensing.unit@york.gov.uk or ring 01904 552512.