The Government has given itself more time to decide whether to call a public inquiry into York's Coppergate shops scheme.

Under normal planning rules, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott would have just three weeks to make such a decision - with the deadline looming later this week.

But a Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions spokesman has said that, because of the complexity of the issue, it had issued a directive allowing it as much extra time as was needed.

The decision means that a picnic protest in the car park planned for this weekend, has now been postponed.

Meanwhile, an internal memo leaked to the Evening Press, owners of thisisyork, has revealed that one of City of York Council's own architecture experts had grave concerns about the scheme.

But a report to the planning committee which conditionally approved the £60 million shopping centre scheme on the Castle car park did not fully disclose the concerns of conservation architect Janine Riley.

Opponents of the scheme claim the leaked memo emphasises the need for a public inquiry into Land Securities' application.

But City of York Council today stood by the result of an internal investigation held after claims were made that information was withheld from councillors.

The authority's legal chief Richard Clark concluded there had been no evidence of malpractice, or that "documentation of the kind which would normally have been provided was witheld", and the conservation team was satisfied.

And Lib Dem leader Steve Galloway, who sparked the investigation, said there was nothing in the memo which would have changed councillors' decision. "I don't believe there was any attempt to hide anything."

The document passed to the Evening Press lists a number of concerns by Janine Riley about the architecture and "weak" landscaping of the scheme, size and design of the development, and the "possibly dangerous" service bays in front of Clifford's Tower.

Updated: 15:19 Tuesday, February 06, 2001