COUNCIL bosses have been accused of keeping crucial information on the city's Local Plan secret.

Opposition Liberal Democrat councillor Nigel Ayre submitted a Freedom of Information request about a key report by consultants Arup, and said that weeks after the legal time limit ran out the questions remain unanswered.

Cllr Ayre wanted to see discussions between Arup staffer Fiona Boden and key York officials Richard Wood and Martin Grainger, and has said the council's failure to meet its legal obligations in responding to questions within 20 days is worrying.

Cllr Ayre said: "The Arup report is the key evidence on which the council is basing its housing strategy and plans for growth. My simple request is to find out what email discussions went on between the council and the authors before the report was published last year. It just needs a basic search through the council’s email system.

“However, the council has delayed at every turn and gone beyond the 20 day limit it has to legally reply to FOI requests. "

But responding to Cllr Ayre's complaints, council chief Mike Slater, the Assistant Director of Planning and Sustainable Development , said officers were simply taking important precautions before releasing sensitive information.

Mr Slater said: “As was explained to Cllr Ayre earlier this week, the request submitted falls under the Environmental Information Regulations rather than the Freedom of Information Act. This means that we must ensure that the relevant commercial confidentiality considerations and then public interest are taken into account before information is released into the public domain.

"As discussed with Cllr Ayre, this process will be completed as soon as discussions with the third party have concluded”.