WIDESPREAD protests against plans to divide York and wipe out the Vale of York parliamentary seat have forced the Electoral Boundary Commission to call a public inquiry.

The Commission has announced that objections to the plans had triggered a legal mechanism which allows all sides to have their say at a public hearing.

The inquiry, which will be headed by Assistant Commissioner Edward Bartley Jones QC, will open at York Guildhall in February 4 next year. The proposals - which would shake up every North Yorkshire seat apart from Scarborough and Whitby - could then be scrapped or changed.

A commission spokesman said: "Objections made about these proposals have required the holding of a local inquiry under the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986.

"On many occasions, following consideration of the evidence submitted at the inquiry and the Assistant Commissioner's report, the Commission have revised their recommendations."

The changes, which were announced in May, are designed to make representation of the area's population fairer.

They would give York two MPs - one for central York and one for the suburbs - instead of the current single parliamentary representative. The Vale of York would be abolished, with wards being shared between Ryedale, Selby, Outer York, Harrogate and Knaresborough and Richmondshire.

Ryedale would no longer contain any York council wards, and would gain wards from the Vale of York; Selby would lose its York council wards, but would gain areas from Harrogate; and Harrogate and Knaresborough would gain parts of the Vale of York.

Critics such as Ryedale MP John Greenway have claimed the proposals for York would slash strong community links between the city and its suburbs.

Mr Greenway, whose constituency currently includes some York wards, said having one MP representing inner York and another outer York would be "divisive".

The changes were expected to be beneficial to the Tories, adding sections of the traditionally Conservative Vale of York seat to areas currently controlled by Labour or the Liberal Democrats.

The Commission said it had decided to hold one inquiry only, rather than separate hearings into the proposals for the City of York and the rest of North Yorkshire.

The inquiry will be held in public and any interested person, whether a supporter of, or objector to, the Commission's proposals, may attend and speak out.

The Commission spokesman added: "We would urge all interested parties to attend and make their views known.

"It should not be assumed that the inquiry will only discuss those matters raised in representations submitted during the representation period allowed or that the Commission's provisional recommendations will remain unchanged."

Copies of the proposals, along with a statement from the Commission explaining the inquiry, are available for inspection at council offices and libraries across the county.

Updated: 11:28 Thursday, November 21, 2002