A MILLION pounds of public money was used to help lure Thrall Europa to York, according to documents leaked to the Evening Press.

Fears were growing today that at least some of the taxpayers' cash could be wasted if the freight wagon factory closes through lack of orders, and another manufacturer cannot be found to occupy the site.

Yorkshire Forward revealed today how it was trying to make contact with Thrall's parent company, Trinity - which is based in Dallas, Texas - to clarify the future of the York plant.

The leaked papers, from a meeting in October, 1997, of the York Regeneration Partnership Board, reveal that English Partnerships, the then government development agency, approved a £950,000 contract to refurbish the former York Carriageworks buildings for Thrall.

Up to £50,000 of Government's Single Regeneration Budget money was set aside to help Thrall's recruitment process.

"The money was a significant factor in persuading Thrall to move to York," said Coun Steve Galloway, Liberal Democrat leader on City of York Council.

He said that the issue was whether York got value for money; and, if wagon manufacturing moved out, how much of the fruits of that spending could be used to replace the site with alternative industry.

He warned that if anything other than manufacturing went there, then much of the public money investment preparing the way for Thrall would have been wasted.

However, Labour leader Coun Rod Hills, who was a member of the Regeneration Board but did not attend the meeting in October, 1997, pointed out that much of the investment was necessary to attract employment to the site. "That money, in a sense, has not been written off."

These points will be uppermost in the minds of City of York councillors tonight when they discuss the plight of Thrall which desperately needs an order beyond July, when the five-year deal to provide EWS with 2,500 freight wagons runs out.

The likelihood of another factory to succeed Thrall at Holgate Park appears remote, given that other empty heavy industrial sites in York such as the vacated Tenneco land, and the now-empty RR Donnelley printing complex in Boroughbridge Road are being considered only as prospects for housing.

Yorkshire Forward spokesman Keith Crane said: "We understand that people from our Chicago office have had talks with Thrall's parent company, Trinity, in Dallas, and we are now awaiting news."

Updated: 10:46 Tuesday, March 05, 2002