YORK council leader Steve Galloway has pledged that if a group of York residents wished to keep the Mystery Plays alive in 2005, his officers would be prepared to offer advice and assistance.

"They will find the door is open to professional advice from our leisure and education officers," said Coun Galloway, speaking for the first time since the Evening Press revealed that the Plays might not be staged again until at least 2010.

We revealed on Saturday how much the lack of a 2004 production will hit the city's crucial tourism industry, with hotels already losing bookings. Northern rival Chester is attracting tourists from all over the world with its plays, which are to begin in a week's time.

The lack of a 2004 production - as would normally have happened under York's traditional four-year cycle - has bitterly disappointed the acting fraternity and residents, some of whom have called on the council to play a leading role in reviving the Plays in time for 2005.

Coun Galloway accepted the Plays' tradition was important to both tourism and a large number of local people. He said there was an argument that having a less frequent cycle of Plays added to how special they were and added to their impact. The arts community needed to get together to discuss the issue, he said.

The Plays had been out of the authority's hands for many years, but if an interested group would like to talk to its officers, they would be able to do so.

The assistant director of the council's economic and development unit, Tony Bennett, who is responsible for looking after events and festivals, said: "Clearly, there's some disappointment that it looks as if they are not going to be performed for a while.

"The council has been out of the loop for a while. It's not for me to decide whether it should come back into the loop."

He stressed that there was a whole series of festivals and events in the city, including Food & Drink, St Nicholas Fayre, Viking and Early Music, and these were to be much more actively promoted in future by an events co-ordinator.

Updated: 11:14 Monday, June 23, 2003