A DECISION is due next week on whether to keep York's historic Walmgate Bar closed to traffic, amid warnings about the continuing impact on bus services.

The bar was closed experimentally last October, after being repeatedly hit by vehicles too high to get through.

Inbound traffic was re-routed through the adjacent Victorian archway, which was previously used only by outbound vehicles.

Now bus company First is calling for the bar to be reopened, saying that the closure has continued to cause extra delays for rush-hour services.

It says that during the afternoon peak, it can take up to four cycles of the Walmgate Bar traffic lights for an inbound bus to get through the junction, and the outbound queue along Walmgate can stretch as far back as the Evening Press building.

The company is warning that unless the bar is reopened, it will have to put another bus on the route to maintain frequencies.

But a report to a meeting of City of York Council's executive member for planning and transport and advisory panel on Wednesday next week said that initial analysis of bus company data showed that closure was only having a marginal effect on the reliability of Service Ten.

The majority of Park & Ride buses from Grimston Bar was completing the round trip in well under the allocated 40 minutes at all times of the day, said the report by principal traffic engineer Julie Hurley.

She also said an enhanced detection system installed in March had helped reduce the problem of long queues developing either side of the bar, and reopening it would leave the historic structure vulnerable to being struck again.

She said English Heritage stood by its support for any measure which would reduce the risk of damage to the fabric of the bar, and considered that road closure was the only viable option.

If the bar was reopened, officers would need to review options for protecting the structure with an overhead height detection system, to see if a suitable and effective arrangement could be found.

She dismissed the safety worries of cyclists turning right from Lawrence Street into Foss Islands Road, who feel vulnerable to vehicles cutting across their path to go into Walmgate.

She said the "slight increase" in risks for right-turning cyclists was outweighed by the improved safety for cyclists going through the bar segregated from any traffic - with more cyclists making this manoeuvre.

Coun Ann Reid, executive member for transport, said she had always supported the closure option, which she felt was the only sure way of protecting the historic bar. However, she would listen to the arguments of First before making her decision.

Updated: 08:40 Tuesday, May 24, 2005