COUNCILLORS are to use a meeting this week to call for a major overhaul to the way City of York is run.

Thursday will see the city council meet for the last time before the election in May, and Liberal Democrat councillors are to call for a radical change to governance and accountability at the authority.

They want to return to the committee system where cross-party groups make the key decisions. They say that under the "leader and cabinet" model, decision-making power is concentrated in the hands of six cabinet members.

Now a Lib Dem motion to the council at Thursday's meeting will argue that the current system is "mot-fit-for-purpose” and a more “open and collaborative” approach is needed.

The group's leader Cllr Keith Aspden said: “Since 2011, this system has allowed the Labour Cabinet to shut Lendal Bridge, propose closing Castlegate and Yearsley Pool, and bring forward a Local Plan which would bulldoze York’s Green Belt.

“We need a system where different viewpoints are heard and policy is discussed and challenged fully.

“A committee system would help to ensure that councillors from all parts of the city can contribute.”

A change would be possible with the Localism Act brought in in 2011, and the Lib Dems want it to happen straight after the election.