CAMPAIGNERS have responded to a barrage of criticism by explaining exactly why they want a public inquiry into the Barbican Centre redevelopment scheme.

York council leader Steve Galloway last week said calls by the Save Our Barbican (SOB) campaign and others for an inquiry were "highly irresponsible", and the developers, Barbican Venture, accused opponents of the scheme of running a "mischief-making" campaign.

But one of SOB's leaders, John Issitt, said the proposals, approved last month by City of York Council's planning committee, were wholly opposed by 95 per cent of the people he met in York, including 6,100 who signed a petition. "Why? Because we need it to keep fit, because it is affordable and because it belongs to us," he said.

"There was no real consultation - only a charade in which real questions were never asked.

"By prematurely closing down the operation of the Barbican - by not booking acts, by handing out redundancies to employees, and by announcing the closure of facilities before planning is awarded - the council have abused the people of York by anticipating the outcome of their own proposals."

He claimed "smokescreen tactics" had been used by the council in an attempt to "hoodwink" the public into believing the proposals were a good thing.

"One example of this is calling the £2.5 million business investment by the developers a 'refurbishment', which suggests the Barbican will open again as it was.

"In fact, it will close as a civic health and leisure facility and open as a privately-owned bar, restaurant, nightclub and conference centre - as if we haven't already got enough of those!"

He said all members of society, including the vulnerable, the less wealthy, young families, those with special needs and senior people, could use the Barbican, in which the values of social care and responsibility were embodied.

He branded selling off the Barbican as "short-term, quick-fix thinking and bad stewardship" of York's resources. "With vision and managerial skill, the Barbican could be commercially viable and remain the property of the people of York."

Coun Galloway today called Mr Issitt's comments "only too typical of the muddled thinking of a small number of people who are opposing the Barbican scheme".

He said that nearly three years of consultation into the future of the Barbican had taken place, and the current scheme was the best way to fulfil public wishes for improved facilities at Yearsley and Edmund Wilson swimming pools.

"We don't have a large conference facility in York and the tourism industry will tell them that it is badly needed," he added.

"It makes much more economic sense to bring money into the city than maintain a space that is largely empty most of the time."

Updated: 10:53 Tuesday, May 04, 2004