YORK is to host its first major dance event in a decade this weekend - but only if organisers win last-minute approval from the city council.

The nine-hour, £16-a-ticket club night is due to be staged in a 900-capacity marquee at Huntington Stadium, Monks Cross, between 3pm and midnight on Sunday.

Organiser Phil Caine says Sunday Secrets, featuring seven DJs from around the country including JFK, Rob Tissera and Sarah G, has been advertised to clubbers across the country.

He is hoping for up to 900 people to turn up to the event, with special measures in place to avoid causing excessive noise and disturbance to local residents.

But City of York Council said today it had not yet decided whether to grant a public entertainment licence, and a decision would not be taken until tomorrow morning.

Regulation unit manager Dick Haswell said the authority had to allow 28 days for public objection after receiving an application for a licence, and this period did not come to an end until today. He said the applicant had been made well aware of this tight timescale. If a licence was not granted, organisers would face prosecution if they went ahead with the event.

Noise levels would be monitored by two council officers if the event went ahead.

He said the council had received several "negative" representations from local residents and parish councillors, but he could not indicate what decision officers would come to.

However, Mr Caine said he had been told by the council that, provided he supplied certain information by today, he would be given the go-ahead.

Huntington parish and city councillor Peter Vaughan said today that the parish council was unanimously opposed to the event because of noise, nuisance and transport problems, which he believed would go on into the early hours of Monday, when people had to get up for work. "It is completely unacceptable," he said.

Mr Caine said he believed this would be the first such major dance event to be staged in York since Galactica was held on Knavesmire in 1992.

He says he originally wanted to stage Sunday's dance on Knavesmire, but switched to the stadium after council opposition.

Mr Caine said he would not describe the event as a "rave", which he believed was an outdated term from the early 1990s and implied a disorganised affair full of drug abuse. "This is about music and dance and young people enjoying themselves," he said, adding that all possible steps would be taken on Sunday to control drug misuse.

He said anybody with concerns about noise on the day of the event could phone him on 07941 804184.

He said he had been preparing for the event for months. "I am absolutely terrified of the outcome. I have put so much time and effort into it."

Hs said he and fellow organiser, Shona Blackburn, had travelled all over the country, sampling different tastes and musical expression, and had now turned their clubbing obsession into a dream.

Updated: 11:05 Thursday, October 03, 2002