YORK'S council leader David Merrett WILL get a personal assistant after all - and the move was approved on his own casting vote.

Councillor Merrett (Lab) shelved the plans a month ago after Liberal Democrat leader Steve Galloway pulled out of an arrangement to share the assistant.

But the huge workload faced by the council leader meant it was brought in front of the strategic policy panel last night.

And Coun Merrett had the final say in approving the position after councillors were equally split in a vote.

As chairman of the strategic policy panel, he had the casting vote.

Coun Merrett said: "My clear priority is to make sure the council provides the best possible services for the people of York. That's where I want to focus my efforts.

"In order to do my job effectively, it will be a great help to me to have someone to look after the administrative tasks."

He said leading the council brings a huge workload.

But Coun Galloway said the expense of the position, which he estimates to be £20,000 a year, should not be picked up by city taxpayers.

He said: "As we face another inflation-busting six per cent council tax increase next year, together with around £1 million in cuts to service standards, this proposal is both ill-timed and unnecessary.

"We would invest any surplus cash in dealing with problems such as addressing the bed-blocking crisis and dealing with crime concerns."

Last night's meeting saw Conservative leader John Galvin vote with Labour.

A Labour group spokeswoman said: "Most councils provide officer support to their lead members .

"Some Liberal Democrat councils, including Liverpool and Islington, have whole teams of staff and a number of Liberal Democrat opposition leaders have personal assistants. Unfortunately, the Liberal Democrats in York opposed the appointment, preferring the leader's valuable time to be tied up in routine administrative work rather than responding to the needs of York's residents."

Updated: 15:39 Thursday, November 21, 2002