A FORMER leader of City of York Council has hit out at the current regime for its “astonishing attack” on York City Knights’ chairman John Guildford - saying there is a “major question mark” about Labour’s attitude to the community stadium project.

Steve Galloway, a council leader under the previous Lib Dem regime, was commenting on the incendiary statement by Sarah Tanburn, the interim director for city and environmental services, who said the local authority no longer “had confidence in the working relationship” with Knights supremo Guildford so was “unable to enter back into negotiations with him on the community stadium development”.

The move confirmed the rugby league club - whose long lease of the council-owned Huntington Stadium was ended so the venue could be redeveloped to house both them and York City - as homeless, with plans for them to temporarily share City’s Bootham Crescent now being scrapped.

It also means City are the only club now destined for the community stadium.

>>> SCATHING ATTACK ON KNIGHTS CHIEF

Galloway, a Westfield area councillor between 1973 and 2011, wrote on his website that Tanburn had “declared war on York Knights Rugby Club”.

He also said any rugby involvement in the scheme now depended on the council elections in May - three weeks after the Knights’ first home game of the League One season.

Said Galloway: “The acting head of the York Council’s environmental services department has issued a statement containing an astonishing attack on the owner of the York Knights RLFC.

“She effectively says that the club must now make their own arrangements with third-party facility owners.

“The change in policy is entirely contrary to the ethos of the community stadium project which, since agreement was reached in 2010, was always intended to provide a home for both football and rugby clubs.

“While accepting that legal issues between the club and the council were resolved in December, the council now seems to have rejected an opportunity to get round a table and thrash out a deal.

“It is unclear what involvement key Labour politicians (Councillors Dafydd Williams and Sonja Crisp) had in authorising the public attack, but it is likely to inflame the already shaky view that rugby fans have of the council leadership.

“John Guildford has made clear publicly that his main concern about the deal offered by the council was that – contrary to the agreed planning permission – it did not guarantee that the club could play games at Bootham Crescent until the new stadium opened.

“It looks like any opportunity for the Knights to play at the community stadium will now rest on the results of the council elections in May.

“The Liberal Democrats – who devised the stadium plan five years ago – remain committed to involving both sporting codes at the stadium.

“There is now a major question mark about Labour’s attitude.”