LESSONS must be learnt after a council blunder lost York citizens an area of open land, councillors will be told this week.

Planning bosses admitted records were not checked when permission was given to fence off land in Beans Way, Heworth.

If they had, they would have found the land was classed as "public open land".

Councillors meeting tomorrow will be asked to demand that the same mistake is not made again.

Cliff Carruthers, City of York Council's head of development control, said: "If the archives had been checked, it would have been clear that there was a change of use of the land and that planning consent would therefore have been required.

"Because this archive information was not checked, a view was taken that there was no change of use involved in enclosing the land and that the means of enclosure proposed did not require planning consent."

Legal documents were issued giving owners permission to fence off the land before the mistake was known.

They cannot now be recalled, meaning that the decision to allow building cannot be reversed.

The land is on the deeds for 5 Beans Way.

But in 1988, Ryedale District Council, which then covered Heworth, ordered the owners to pull down hedges and fences they had put up and leave it in an open state. Mr Carruthers said: "It is clear that procedural steps were missed in dealing with this determination.

"In order to address this issue, the head of development control has issued a guidance note to staff setting out the steps to be undertaken in making these assessments.

"The guidance ensures that team leaders check the assessment of each case before a formal letter is issued."

The mistake was spotted after a neighbour complained that the land was being fenced off.

Updated: 15:00 Wednesday, January 30, 2002