THE fate of a popular footpath that runs through a York public school will now be decided by the Deputy Prime Minister - thanks to a blunder by council officials.

The debate over whether to close a footpath that runs through St Peter's School, at Clifton, took this new twist when a council urgency committee reviewed the matter.

The public school originally applied to close the footpath for safety reasons, after police recorded incidents of robbery, criminal damage and assault on its grounds.

But locals said the path was well-used, and more than 180 letters were sent to planning chiefs opposing the proposal.

Earlier this month, City of York Council's east area planning and transport sub committee decided to abandon the closure order, saying the school had not demonstrated that crime there was a direct result of the path being left open to the public.

Members went against a decision made at an earlier meeting to close the right of way. But in an apparent U-turn this week, its urgency committee was asked to review the matter because of a legal slip-up made by officers in their original advice.

They told councillors at the previous meeting that the school would have a right to appeal against any decision, but subsequently revealed that this was not the case.

The urgency committee heard that this wrong advice could leave the council open to a charge of maladministration.

Council alleygating officer Stephen Bushby said the matter was not being sent back to the original committee that decided the matter because it was not due to meet until June 9 - nearly two months after the mistake had been made. John Prescott will now appoint a planning inspector to investigate the case. This could result in a public inquiry.

Ward councillor David Scott, addressing the meeting on behalf of Clifton residents, said: "The perimeter fence of St Peter's School is woefully inadequate - it's got holes even I could climb through.

"Clearly it wouldn't matter whether the footpath was closed if those holes were there."

But school parent Joy Robinson told the meeting the path was a "conduit for crime" and urged them to consider the safety of children.

Clifton Path Action Group campaigner Philip Crowe said after the meeting the group would "make representations" about the way the matter had been handled, saying the original committee that abandoned the order should have decided the case.

"This is totally unacceptable," he said.

Coun Scott said later he was "appalled" and the previous committee had made the right decision.

Suzanne Hemingway, the council's legal chief, told the meeting it was important to resolve the matter well within the maladministration deadline of three months.

A school spokesman after the meeting he was "delighted" at this latest decision.

Updated: 08:32 Wednesday, June 01, 2005