The Lord Mayor's Parade in York will be a "waste of time" unless its date is changed, it was claimed today.

The parade is scheduled for the morning of Sunday, May 24, heading off from Knavesmire at 10.30am.

Liberal Democrat city councillor and former city Lord Mayor Ann Reid said it was pointless having the event on a Sunday morning.

She will be pressing for the event to be changed to either the Saturday afternoon or on Monday, May 25 - the Spring Bank Holiday - at a meeting of councillors on Thursday. It is the latest controversy surrounding the parade.

As reported in yesterday's Evening Press, councillors are now considering changing the route of the parade after pressure from police.

Original plans to route it around the inner ring road have been labelled by police as too risky and likely to cause traffic congestion.

Councillors will now consider a route through the city centre - in line with last year's successful event.

It was a row over the route which forced last year's organisers, York Junior Chamber, to pull out of the 1998 event. The group of volunteers withdrew support because the council said the parade should go around the inner ring road. The chamber wanted to use the city centre again to maximise the attendance at the event and raise even more money for charity.

Coun Reid said: "On Sunday morning it would be a waste of time. The whole point is to raise money for charity.

"People put a lot of effort into doing a float. They don't do it for prizes, they do it for charity."

However Lord Mayor-elect, Labour councillor Derek Smallwood, dismissed the charge. Last year's event was also on a Sunday - albeit with an 11.30am start - and proved to be the most successful ever, with a record 40 floats and raising an unprecedented £3,000 for charity.

He said as long as the event was given maximum publicity, there was no reason why it could not beat last year's record.

And he added: "I hope it will work two ways - it will be good for the shops open on Sunday, and at the same time not disrupt as many people as it might have done if it was held on a Saturday."

He said he hoped the discussions would help set in stone the date and time for future parades. He said: "It will be a test bed. If we get it right this year, it will be right for all time."

See COMMENT, A proud parade

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