YORK'S tourist slogan is "Living with history". Perhaps this should be changed to "Ditching its history".

First the Dean and Chapter decide to abandon centuries of work and dismantle the Minster Library. Now we learn that the wheels have come off the York Cycle of Mystery Plays.

To lose one historical institution is foolish; to lose two looks like carelessness. It is dismaying to discover that they have been allowed to drift to the edge of the precipice.

No one had the nous or the nerve to shout up earlier, before crisis point was reached. No one had the sheer good manners to consult those who created the library and the plays, the people of York, about their future.

The Dean and Chapter knew about the looming financial crisis at the Minster for months. They could have launched an appeal to save the library, solicited commercial sponsorship, sought the public's ideas on the best way forward.

Instead the Evening Press learnt of the closure proposal on the eve of the retiring Dean's departure. That fait accompli is mercifully being challenged.

Meanwhile, the great strength of the Mystery Plays lies in their community foundations. Hundreds of people have taken part since the tradition was revived half a century ago. Many have found it to be one of the most profound and enjoyable experiences of their lives.

Now we learn that next year's production will not happen. We may have to wait until 2010, a decade after the last plays.

York Mystery Plays attract people from all over the world to the city. They are a major cultural and spiritual event.

There is a real fear that if the next production is postponed, the momentum which has maintained the modern tradition will be lost, and the plays lost with it.

York's artistic and church communities should come together with the aim of staging a 2005 production.

We do not want our prevarication to ensure another 400-year wait for the next Mystery Plays.

Updated: 10:53 Friday, June 13, 2003