THE new leader of City of York Council is set to ask Barbican bosses to rethink their plans to redevelop the centre.

Coun Steve Galloway has indicated that he has reservations about the current designs put forward by Barbican Venture.

The Liberal Democrat group leader has revealed that he is likely to meet redevelopment chiefs and is set to urge that they "revise the deal". The developers' plans for the leisure centre include a £2.5 million refurbishment of the 1,500-seat auditorium, a new £5.5 million eight-lane county standard swimming pool, and even the possibility of two hotels and a casino. The company is also planning to refurbish the car park, in Kent Street, and would look to built 160 flats. City of York Council would receive £3 million for the site.

But Coun Galloway said: "The Barbican site is high on our agenda. We are going to be talking with council officers in the near future.

"It is quite likely that we will have a meeting with Barbican Venture. Our principle, during the election campaign, was that we had reservations about certain proposals. We are keen to see the fitness suites retained, and we are very keen to see the snooker retained.

"We also recognise that a considerable amount of funding has to be put in." Charlie Croft, the council's assistant director for lifelong learning and leisure, said: "We do expect there to be a lot more discussion with Barbican Venture about their proposals."

The Barbican Venture bid is made up of developer Savills, Shepherd Construction, Canons and Absolute Leisure.

Martin Foster, of FPD Savills, said: "We are already talking with the Liberal Democrats. They want to give the public another opportunity to look at the options, and we are very happy to do that.

"We are continuing with the redevelopment plans, but we will change things because of the public consultation and because of other issues raised by Coun Galloway."

Updated: 08:42 Thursday, May 15, 2003