COUNCILLORS have blocked plans to raise the capacity of a York city centre bar, after police warned the change could lead to increased crime and disorder.

Police officers lodged a formal objection to proposals to increase the total number of customers allowed at Yates's Wine Lodge, situated just off Low Ousegate, by 90 people - from 560 to 650.

They said in a report to a City of York Council licensing committee that they believed the change would increase the number of people attracted to an area which already had the highest concentration of people in the city at night-time and had problems with violent crime.

"It would be reasonable to expect that an increase in capacity at Yates's (of over 16 per cent) would mean more people congregating in this area, which would have an adverse impact on the area beyond the control of the applicants, thus leading to an increase in crime and disorder incidents, as well as public nuisance problems," said PC Mick Wilkinson, of the police's Central Area licensing unit.

"Managing additional numbers of people in the area would ultimately fall upon the police and this would mean bringing additional officers into the city centre."

Inspector Mark Khan, pictured, told the committee that the bar was within York's Cumulative Impact Zone (CIZ), which had been identified by the local authority as having the highest levels of night-time crime and disorder.

He said crime pattern analysis had shown assaults had increased in the past 12 months, with a total of 635 violent crimes committed within the zone between December 2006 and November 2007. Almost 90 per cent of these offences were committed between 9pm and 5am.

Lawyer Rob Westwood-Payne, representing Yates's, strongly denied the application would lead to an increase in crime or disorder.

He said the application had been submitted in connection with the granting of permission last year for a first-floor area at Yates's Wine Lodge to be opened up to the public.

This area would be used mainly for dining and as a "chill-out" area for people later in the evening. He said there wasn't a "scrap of evidence" that the change would have a negative impact, and claimed that at one stage police had said in a phone call that they would not oppose an increase in occupancy of between 50 and 100 people.

The committee refused the application, saying it had concerns that the change would by likely to undermine licensing objectives.

Mr Westwood-Payne said he was unable to say at this stage whether the company would be appealing to magistrates against the committee's decision.