PLANS to introduce CCTV cameras to watch over rubbish dumps in York have been put on hold.

Councillors hope to introduce cameras to the household waste site at Beckfield Lane, Acomb, which is already staffed by security guards after various violent incidents there.

They included last year's assault on a Yorwaste employee, which saw him kicked and punched in the head.

Members of City of York Council's executive were forced to defer the proposals while officers work out if they can be afforded.

A staff member was also threatened with a knife a year earlier, after a string of confrontations with youths at Beckfield Lane.

More than £20,000 is needed to install the cameras at Beckfield Lane and another site at Moor Lane, Towthorpe, near Strensall.

The Foss Islands Road site is already covered by CCTV.

Scrutiny board chairman Mark Waudby said: "The executive is very keen on carrying out the recommendations but it comes down to the age old problem of money.

"It will happen in time but may have to wait until next year."

The executive also noted a report detailing the preferred scheme for York's sixth Park & Ride, serving the A59 corridor.

Residents were given the choice of five sites where the new service could be situated.

In a leaflet sent to every York household, people have backed site A, which is located inside the outer ring road behind the Civil Service sports ground.

The scheme could also have the potential for a "park and rail" feature with the new site being linked by a new rail halt to the York to Harrogate line.

Updated: 09:10 Saturday, March 22, 2003