CONTINUING delays in choosing a site for the A59 Park&Ride base have held back a school safety scheme in Acomb, a ward councillor claimed today.

Coun Tracey Simpson-Laing said she had learned a safer routes for school scheme for Manor, Oaklands and Lowfields - along Beckfield Lane - had yet to be given a starting date because of the saga in picking a suitable site for new bus routes in the York corridor.

Coun Simpson-Laing claims that at the time of the last council election, in 2003, planning was under way to prepare a scheme for the three Acomb schools.

But the Labour spokeswoman for transport said she had been told by City of York Council officers that siting of the Park&Ride had held up the scheme.

Coun Simpson-Laing said: "Beckfield Lane needs a safety scheme to protect children and parents on the way to school.

"We also know cycling on footpaths is a problem in this area, which we believe is linked to their fears of cycling on such a busy, dangerous road.

"So safety improvements for cyclists and residents are needed urgently.

"It is an enormous let-down that they have taken so long already.

"I have been very concerned about the delay to the A59 Park&Ride site in its own right

"Now I am extremely disturbed to learn that the hold-ups mean postponing vital safety works in Beckfield Lane.

"The Lib Dems have been playing politics with the A59 Park&Ride for far too long.

"Now their shilly-shallying means a schools route safety scheme has been put on hold - which I think is quite unforgivable."

But a City of York Council spokeswoman said: "It is far more sensible, less expensive and less disruptive to traffic for the council to install any bus priority measures at the same time as safe routes to school improvements.

"The alternative is to install safe routes measures now, with the possibility of having to alter them again in the near future, which would be wasteful and possibly more expensive. We will keep York residents informed of A59 Park&Ride progress and local people will be fully consulted on any proposals before their introduction."

Coun Ann Reid, the council's planning and transport chief, said: "We feel it is imperative to get the right information regarding the development of the York Central site before a decision is made on a site for Park&Ride."

Updated: 10:19 Saturday, January 22, 2005