COUNCIL leisure chief Charlie Croft threatened to walk out of a public meeting during a stormy debate over the future of York's Barbican Centre.

Residents accused him and his colleagues of not being open enough over the issue of a casino being built at the proposed new facility.

Mr Croft angrily told the Fishergate ward meeting: "This is just becoming a personal attack and I'm not prepared to continue."

But the leisure chief, who stressed that all the plans were put in the public domain, stayed on to face more questions after the meeting's chairman Jonathan Tyler restored order.

"I'm being placed in a very difficult position," Mr Tyler said.

"There is a limit to what Mr Croft can answer."

Mr Croft attended the meeting to update residents on the Barbican saga and to answer concerns.

He revealed that Barbican Venture (York) Ltd were seeking to find a new housebuilder before work could get under way at the site, but said that would be resolved "within a few weeks".

He also stressed that the £10.3 million the council was originally set to receive from the scheme could be reduced because of the recent downturn in the housing market.

"The value is purely speculative," he said.

The Evening Press reported yesterday that Absolute Leisure, which plans to refurbish and reopen the centre, has warned it will walk away from the project if it fails to get a licence to sell alcohol there until 2am.

Company boss Tony Knox said the late licence was essential to the economic viability of the scheme and customers would not be drunken lager louts.

Councillors, who will make a decision next week, have received more than 200 objections from local residents.

Fishergate councillor Mark Hill told the meeting, attended by about 35 residents, that he felt "utter despair" over the scheme.

"We had an excellent resource that was effectively our community centre," he claimed.

"If the application goes through there will be disturbances until 3am in the morning. There would be aggravation, drunkenness and mess. It's just astonishing how little the community has ended up with as a result of this plan."

Updated: 09:53 Tuesday, July 05, 2005