A FOCUS group made up of small and large York businesses is to be set up to investigate the best ways to make the city centre more attractive to shoppers.

City of York Council Liberal Democrat leader Steve Galloway revealed details of the new group as the opposition Labour members of the Green Belt Working Group moved to block further development of out-of-town shopping centres.

Coun Galloway said the focus team would look at how to spend the council's £1.7 million annual economic development budget "more cleverly".

Coun Galloway said people were still flocking to York in large numbers, so policy refinements rather than overhauls were needed.

The Labour stance comes in the wake of the publication of two retail studies by the council and independent consultants investigating shopping trends.

Coun Tracey Simpson-Laing said: "A thriving city centre is absolutely essential for York.

"Two separate reports have now concluded a few vital ingredients are missing from York's centre - so we want to strengthen moves to get the food shop, department store and fashion shops into the heart of the city."

Labour councillors argued that a sequential approach should be taken by planners, whereby new out-of-town developments would not be approved while city centre improvements were still being put into place.

She said Labour had succeeded in getting all-party agreement to close a planning loophole, and block new major out-of-town shopping developments, which would have made it more difficult for York to attract the shops it needs into the city centre.

Coun Galloway said sequential planning was "nothing new".

He said: "Since York council was created in 1996 it has been conventional wisdom that we should try and stimulate the city centre rather than go for more out-of-town shops."

Updated: 09:25 Tuesday, November 02, 2004