PLANS to start knocking down parts of York's Barbican Centre have been deferred.

Developer Barbican Venture had applied to planning chiefs to start work on the site and the adjoining Kent Street car park.

The scheme to build a new pool, centre and refurbished auditorium was given planning permission last September, and a number of planning conditions were attached, including carrying out pollution risk assessments and landscaping.

The conditions specified that no demolition work should start before these were carried out, but the scheme has been shrouded in doubt after legal challenges from protesters.

Residents wrote to planning chiefs objecting to the proposals to start work on the site, saying the conditions should all be met before any demolition work began.

But a meeting of City of York Council's planning committee yesterday heard that Barbican Venture had asked to put the application on hold.

Committee chairman Coun Richard Watson told the meeting that the developer was still negotiating with statutory bodies over some aspects of its plans.

Updated: 10:45 Friday, August 26, 2005