YORK’S council leader has brushed off defeat in a row over York’s Barbican Centre, saying opposition parties have changed nothing.

As reported in The Press, City of York Council’s scrutiny management committee (SMC) voted on Monday that the executive should reconsider its decisions in relation to the redevelopment of the city centre venue. The ruling executive yesterday accepted the committee’s resolutions, but Coun Waller said the wording of what they agreed meant nothing different would happen.

He said the SMC called for the executive to make a decision on the Barbican’s future, to agree to bring the Barbican back into use, and to consider all potential options for the venue’s running, including a community trust.

At a meeting last month, the Liberal Democrat executive decided not to spend the £818,000 required to bring the Barbican back into a useable condition, and instead chose to spend only £90,000 making it windproof and watertight, while a long-term business plan was drawn up.

Opposition parties objected to the decision, and used their combined voting power to call for a rethink, but Coun Waller said the executive had already done all that had now been asked of it.